Prep & packing

Pack this, and not much more

17 nights, carry-on only, no checked bag: one roller/rollaboard each plus one backpack each as a personal item, and a self-service laundry stop built into the last evening in each city, four in all, so nothing dirty gets packed for the next stop (see Laundry, the real plan below). October runs warm in Barcelona and Rome (~70°F days), cool and damp in Paris and London (~55°F, dark by 16:30). Everything below layers. Buy full-size toiletries, sunscreen and blister plasters at a pharmacy on day one, they are cheap and everywhere, and the French pharmacies are a highlight in themselves.

The bag

• One roller/rollaboard each + one backpack each worn as the personal item, that's the whole plan, no checked bag on any of the four flights. Cabin-size limits differ by airline, pack to the tightest one: LEVEL (LAX-BCN) allows a 56×40×25cm cabin bag + a 40×30×15cm personal item, up to 10kg combined, included even on the Economy Light fare booked. Vueling (BCN-FCO) includes both a free 40×30×20cm underseat bag and a large 55×40×20cm/10kg overhead-locker cabin bag for both passengers, confirmed on the actual booking confirmation. Transavia (FCO-ORY) includes a cabin bag up to 55×40×25cm in the fare booked, plus a 40×30×20cm personal item, 10kg combined. American (LHR-LAX) allows a 22×14×9in (56×36×23cm) carry-on with no weight limit, plus an 18×14×8in (45×35×20cm) personal item. Pack the roller to fit Vueling's 55×40×20cm cabin-bag limit, the tightest of the four, so it clears every leg without a gate-check.
• Two universal adapters (they cover both UK Type G and EU Type C) + one small multi-port USB charger.
• A genuinely dual-voltage handheld steamer (100-240V, confirmed on the maker's own spec page, not a US-only unit that needs a bulky converter over here) travels well and works unchanged in the US, Mexico and every stop on this trip with just a plug adapter. The pick: the Rowenta Origin Travel (DR1050), ~$50-70. More than double the power of the closest Conair alternative (1100W vs. ~450W), a 25-second heat-up, and reviews consistently call out stronger, steadier steam and a stainless-steel soleplate that holds up over years of travel, exactly what you want from something you'll reach for often. Folds to about the size of a paperback. Empty the tank before airport security, it's an ordinary carry-on appliance, no special TSA rule applies.
• No-foreign-transaction-fee card as the primary for nearly everything, plus a backup card kept in the room safe. Cash is the small secondary: about €10-15 each a day in Barcelona and Paris, €20-25 each in Rome, £5-8 each in London. See Tipping, and the cash to actually carry for the floats, the ATM rules, and where tipping is and is not expected.
• A foldable tote. Two refillable bottles, metal or plastic, not glass (Rome's street fountains are clean, refill everywhere; Sainte-Chapelle bans glass containers outright and the Eiffel Tower won't let a glass bottle or can go up, a normal bottle is fine at both).
• One small crossbody or fanny pack, under about 21×15cm, for the Borghese Gallery day (20 Oct), it's the strictest bag rule of the trip, medium and large bags don't get in at all. The everyday daypack works everywhere else; leave it at the apartment or check it that one day. See what each place won’t let you bring for the rest.
• One compact travel umbrella, shared, Paris and London will earn it. Everything else can be a cheap buy on the first wet day.
• Passport + a photo of it on your phone + a paper copy kept separately. eSIM installed before you fly.
• A corkscrew for the room: a waiter's friend has a small blade and won't clear carry-on security with no checked bag to put it in, so just buy a €3 one on day one instead. You love wine; don't get caught out.
• Skip packing full-size toiletries and sunscreen, there's no checked bag to carry them in and full-size liquids won't clear carry-on security either. Buy travel sizes now or full-size at a pharmacy on day one, cheap and everywhere.

Laundry, the real plan

Four stops, one per city, on the last evening before you move on to the next one, each already built into that day’s itinerary with its own time block, address, phone and walk time. All four are self-service, wash and dry run back to back so it is a real ~75-130 minute errand (mostly the machines, the walk itself is short everywhere but Barcelona and London), never something squeezed in. Hotel laundry/valet is the backup at every property if a laverie is ever closed or you would rather skip the errand, but it is typically priced per item and can run $80-150+ for a two-person load; self-service is the default because it is roughly €10-20 a stop.

Mid-stay option in Paris: six nights there is long enough that a wash partway through is worth knowing about, even though it is not on the itinerary. While you are still at the Marriott Rive Gauche (17 Boulevard Saint-Jacques, the first four Paris nights, before switching to L’Empire), the nearest self-service option is Julice Laverie, 30 rue Raymond Losserand, 75014, open daily to about 22:30, +33 6 52 07 72 39, about a 25-minute walk (roughly 2 km). Optional and backup-only, use it if something needs washing before the Oct 26 stop near L’Empire.

Two kits worth packing on purpose

The long-haul under-seat kit (LAX-BCN and LHR-LAX)

• Pack this as one pouch and keep it under the seat, not in the overhead bin: compression socks, eye mask, earplugs, an empty refillable bottle, lip balm, moisturiser, a travel toothbrush + toothpaste, your regular meds, a hoodie or light layer, phone cable, power bank, a small snack, passport, and a backup card.
• Both long-haul travel days on this site just say “long-haul kit packed”, this is what that means.

The daypack, walking-day foot kit

• Hydrocolloid blister plasters (Compeed-type), a couple of regular bandages, an anti-chafe stick, and one spare pair of socks, kept in the daypack every day, not just on the big ones.
• Treat a hot spot before it becomes a blister. Five minutes with a plaster the moment you feel a rub saves several painful walking days. The heaviest days flag this as a reminder.

The Sudoku Method, the clothes plan

The idea Le Andra found: pack clothes like a Sudoku grid. Nine pieces each, 3 tops, 3 bottoms, 3 layers. The one rule, borrowed from the puzzle: every piece has to work with every other piece. Lay them out three by three, one top / one bottom / one layer per row and per column, and if every square makes an outfit, you did it right.

The math: 3 tops × 3 bottoms × 3 layers = 27 outfits from 9 pieces. Two pairs of shoes makes it 54; two scarves makes every one of those look different again. More than enough for 17 days with one wash, out of a carry-on.

The rules that make it work

• One tight palette. Two neutrals that everything shares (navy + cream, or black + camel) and one accent, nothing else. If two pieces don't go together, one of them is wrong, fix it before you pack.
• The three layers carry this trip, because it spans two climates: a light knit for Barcelona and Rome, a warm sweater and one smart layer (a blazer or a tailored knit) for Paris, London and the churches.
• Outside the grid, worn or carried, not counted: a proper warm coat, gym clothes, underwear, socks, sleepwear.
• One bonus piece each: a packable dress (her) or the blazer doubling up (him), an instant dinner outfit that needs no square.
• You're shopping for this, so buy to the grid: merino wool tops (warm layered, cool bare, no smell, packs to nothing), one palette, and hold every new piece against two you already own before it comes home.

The dress code, for him

One shopping trip, one palette: navy and charcoal as the two base neutrals, oatmeal as the warm light one, mid-blue denim, and burgundy as the single accent. Every piece below is one of those colours, so any top goes with any bottom goes with any layer.

Everyday walk: oatmeal tee, jeans, grey knit    Smart-casual / church: navy tee, charcoal chino, overshirt    The big dinner: charcoal polo, charcoal chino, navy blazer.  Every other path through the grid is an outfit too, 27 in all.

Shoes, two pairs

A clean white leather sneaker for the day (does gym duty), a dark-brown suede derby or low boot for dinner. Belt in the same brown. Brown reads warmer with navy and burgundy than black does.

What that actually looks like

A sample from the grid above, so it stops being abstract. Swap in your real photos once these pieces are bought and you've settled on the fits — same layout, real garments.

Outside the grid

• 4 undershirts, 7 underwear, 5-6 pairs of merino socks, 1 set of sleepwear, a reversible belt, the collar stays for the polo.
• 1 packable warm jacket or light puffer for Paris and London, worn or carried.
• 1 burgundy or grey merino scarf, worn over bare shoulders at Sagrada Família, the Vatican, Notre-Dame and Westminster Abbey (all four expect shoulders covered, and the Vatican wants knees too, a scarf alone doesn't fix shorts), plus Paris evenings, and it's the accent. 1 cap; a beanie only if you run cold, and it comes off indoors at Notre-Dame. Skip the gloves.
• Your workout hoodie can also be a casual evening layer, but keep the gym set separate (below).

Shoes, two pairs

• 1 broken-in walking shoe (does gym duty too). Closed-toe, no sandals, the Colosseum's own rule requires it for the arena floor and Palatine's uneven ancient stone.
• 1 that works for dinner, a dark leather sneaker or a smart low shoe.
• Shower sandals: bring lightweight ones that double as apartment slippers, or buy €3 flip-flops there.

Gym, keep it minimal

• 2 sets of gym clothes. Pack swimsuits, not gym-only: L’Empire Paris (the last 2 Paris nights) has a real spa with a jacuzzi and hammam, and Room Mate Anna’s rooftop terrace has a small seasonal plunge pool that may or may not still be open in mid-October, worth having a suit in the bag either way. Neither Hotel Santa Prassede, the Marriott Rive Gauche, nor citizenM London has a pool, hot tub or spa, so it's a light pack either way, not a daily-use item.
• Pre-workout as a few single-serve stick packs, not the tub (a tub of powder invites a bag search). The refillable bottle covers both pre-workout and the day.

Meds and health, carry-on, original packaging

• Your regular allergy meds (Claritin-D type) and a Benadryl equivalent, bring enough: diphenhydramine is not sold over the counter in much of Europe, and pseudoephedrine is behind the counter or restricted.
• Nasal spray, daily vitamins, ibuprofen / paracetamol, Imodium, rehydration salts. Blister plasters live in the daypack foot kit above; top up at any pharmacy, they're on every shelf.
• Any prescriptions in their original bottles + a photo of the scripts. A couple of masks for the plane if you want them.

Electronics, one device

• iPad only (leave the laptop unless you truly need it). Download shows, films and the trip PDFs offline, and sign in to the logins before you fly.
• One small Bluetooth speaker. Leave the HDMI cable unless you know you'll plug into a TV.
• Chargers and cables for what you actually brought, nothing spare.
• Power bank, cabin only, always. Power banks and spare lithium batteries stay in carry-on baggage, never checked. If a bag gets gate-checked, pull the power bank out first.

The dress code, for her

Straight off the pieces you were laying out: black and camel as the two base neutrals, cream as the light one, mid-blue denim, and soft slate blue as the accent (it picks up the paisley scarf). One trip, one palette, everything mixes.

Everyday: cream henley, jeans, blue-grey knit    Layered day: camel knit, black trousers, blue-grey knit    The big dinner: black on black, the blazer.  Every other path through the grid is an outfit too, 27 in all.

Plus the packable knit midi dress (black or camel), a standalone outfit that needs no square, and the Burberry camel-check + blue paisley scarves as the resetters.

Shoes, two pairs

A low white or tan sneaker for walking, a black ankle boot for dinners and the cool days. Black boot goes with black, camel, cream and denim, the most-combinable dressy shoe for this trip. Day bag the tan crossbody, a small black clutch for dinner.

What that actually looks like

Same idea as his, a sample from the grid. Swap in your real photos once these pieces are bought and you've settled on the fits.

Bonus piece + outside the grid

• 1 packable knit midi dress (black or camel), an instant dinner outfit (Le Train Bleu, The Ivy), and church-ok with a scarf. No grid square needed.
• Tights / opaque leggings, October gold, warmth plus instant knee cover in churches.
• 7 underwear, 2-3 bras, sleepwear, socks.
• 1 warm packable coat or trench for Paris and London. The waxed olive jacket only if there's room, it overlaps the coat.
• The Burberry camel-check and the blue paisley scarves, the outfit-resetters, worn as wraps over bare shoulders at Sagrada Família, the Vatican, Notre-Dame and Westminster Abbey, the four venues that expect shoulders covered (the Vatican wants knees covered too, the tights/leggings above handle that).

Shoes, two pairs

• 1 broken-in walking shoe. Closed-toe, the Colosseum's arena floor and Palatine paths require it, no sandals that day.
• 1 low ankle boot or dressy flat that carries a dinner and still walks a cobbled street.

Rotate the two pairs when you can, rather than wearing the same one every day. Put the proven walking shoe on the 15,000-20,000 step days and let the other pair air out and dry overnight.

Toiletries, skincare, the rest

• Travel sizes only. Skincare and a few pharmacy treats are worth buying in Paris, the pharmacies are famous for a reason.
• A minimal makeup kit. Leave the good jewellery at home, bring only what you'd be fine losing.
• Enough of your preferred feminine-hygiene products, the brands differ over there. Hand cream and lip balm for the planes and the cold.
• Skip the hair dryer, the apartments and hotels have one. A dual-voltage travel styler with an EU/UK plug only if you truly need a specific one.

Shared, health and safety

• A small anti-theft crossbody each, worn in front on the metro, the guide flags pickpockets in every city.
• Meds kit as on his list. Any prescriptions in original bottles.
• Graduated compression socks, 1-2 pairs each, properly fitted knee-highs, for both long-haul legs (LAX to Barcelona, LHR to LAX), and any other unusually long seated travel day. They help with circulation on a long flight, they don't replace getting up and moving, so still get up and walk, or flex your ankles and calves in the seat, every hour or two. Cheap, packs to nothing, keep them in the long-haul kit above, somewhere easy to reach in the carry-on. If either of you has a known clot risk, recent surgery, a prior DVT/PE, or another significant risk factor, ask your doctor whether to take any extra precautions for a long flight.
• Split the backup up. Each of you carries your own primary card, a backup card, a little cash, the night's address, and an emergency contact, separately from each other, not both backups in one bag or wallet. A photo of the passport photo page too.

What a week off the grid looks like

Same nine pieces, different day

• Barcelona or Rome, warm afternoon: any top + jeans or a chino, the layer tied round the shoulders or left at the apartment. Walking shoes.
• Cool Paris morning: top + bottom + the merino sweater, scarf on. Walking shoes.
• A church day (Sagrada, the Vatican, the Abbey): any top + a knee-covering bottom (chino, trousers, the skirt) + the scarf over the shoulders.
• The big dinner (Le Train Bleu, The Ivy): the “nice” top + a dark bottom + the blazer + the dressy shoes. Her: the dress + blazer + boots.
• A travel day: wear the coat and the bulkiest layer, pack everything else flat.

What each place won’t let you bring, or wear

Pulled from each venue’s own official site, September 2026. The full version of each row lives on that item’s reservations card, under “Know before you go”, this is the scan-it-once summary, grouped by city in the order you’ll hit them. Where a site wouldn’t confirm a figure (marked not confirmed), that’s a genuine gap in what they publish, not something skipped, don’t rely on the number.

Leave it home, buy it there

Cut from the usual bag

• Bath towels, every apartment and hotel supplies them. A beach towel only if you actually plan to lie on Barceloneta sand, which is a maybe in mid-October; if the afternoon turns warm, buy a €6 one at a Barceloneta stall and leave it, or let it be your picnic blanket for the Búnkers and the Seine.
• A full-size clothes steamer, the tabletop kind, is still the one to leave home; hang things in the bathroom during a hot shower, or the Marriott has an iron and a steamer.
• Toilet paper / wipes, that is a Mexico-trip habit; Europe is fine.
• Full-size sunscreen and toiletries, one small sunscreen for day one, then buy from a pharmacy.
• The laptop, spare watch bands, the HDMI cable, gloves.
• Detergent, bring a small pack of laundry sheets for the four wash stops (see Laundry, the real plan), not a bottle. Not every laverie includes soap.

What to buy on the ground

The short shopping list, by stop, with the errand time already worked into the day it belongs to. Groceries, coffee and pastries are a near-daily small spend and sit in each day’s food line, not here.

Only the arrival basics (~$40) and the plasters (~$12) are counted in the budget, on Day 2. The rest is either optional or already its own line.

Do, don't, be ready for

Do

• Be at European airports 2.5-3 hrs early, US passport control adds time even on “domestic” legs.
• Travel between cities late morning. You lose no sightseeing and you make check-in.
• Ask the host, then walk two streets off the landmark. Photos on the menu or a tout out front = walk on.
• Let dinner run 2-3 hours. Ask for the check once, then wait, rushing it reads as rude.
• Cover shoulders (Sagrada, Notre-Dame, Westminster Abbey) and knees too (the Vatican, strictly). Bag in front on the metro; phone off the café table. Full list: what each place won’t let you bring.

Don't

• Do the Colosseum or Vatican without a guide or audio, “you're looking at bricks.”
• Over-plan Rome, or return to a city you've “finished.”
• Sit at a piazza café without reading the menu, table + view is a premium; the bar is a third of the price.
• Go up the Arc de Triomphe (paid). Galeries Lafayette's roof is free and higher.
• Buy tickets from anyone on the street, or rent a car in a city centre.

Be ready for

• Clocks go back Sunday Oct 25 (EU + UK). You gain an hour, but sunset moves ~1 hr earlier by the clock, do outdoor and viewpoint things earlier from then on. London is dark by ~16:30. Phones auto-update; check watches and cameras.
• The first 36 hours in Barcelona will be rough. First evening: a walk and tapas, not a plan.
• French transport strikes, check the SNCF, RATP and airline apps 48 hrs out. Backup routes are on each travel day.
• Timed entry everywhere, Vatican, Colosseum, Sagrada, Louvre, Eiffel. No booking may mean no entry in October.

When to carry your passport

The plan is to leave passports in the apartment safe and carry a photo of the ID page plus a driver's licence day to day. You've already confirmed both passports are valid past 1 May 2027 (the six-month margin Schengen and the UK want) with blank pages to spare, so that's handled. On these days the real passport comes with you, it is checked against a booking or a border:

Passport days

• Mon 13 Oct, land in Barcelona (passport control on arrival).
• Wed 15 Oct, Sagrada Família, the ticket is nominative and ID-checked at the door and the tower.
• Fri 16 Oct, fly Barcelona to Rome.
• Sat 17 Oct, the Colosseum tour checks ID against both booking names.
• Mon 19 Oct, the Vatican guided visit is name-checked at the desk.
• Tue 20 Oct, the Borghese Gallery is strictly nominative, ID at the entrance.
• Wed 21 Oct, fly Rome to Paris.
• Wed 21 Oct, the booked Louis Vuitton Saint-Germain consultation, bring the two covers; bring passports only if separately required for travel or another booking.
• Tue 27 Oct, the Eurostar is a full border crossing at Gare du Nord.
• Fri 30 Oct, fly London to Los Angeles.

Booking order, and when tickets drop

How to show your tickets

Same detail as each reservation card, grouped so the print list is obvious. Anything in the first group, print it and pack it before you fly, everything else lives on a phone.

The final 7-day check

Everything on the trip that can quietly change between now and then. Run this list the week before you fly.

Hours, schedules, conditions

• Búnkers del Carmel October access hours (they change with the season, and it's a daytime-only, fenced site now).
• Sagrada Família ticket inventory, it loads in batches, check daily from ~60 days out.
• Versailles Oct 25, settled off the ticket: music 10:00 to 19:00, groves open 9:00 to 19:00, gardens evacuated and closed at 17:30. Nothing left to reconfirm here.
• Eiffel Tower summit operating status (weather and maintenance close it) and the exact Oct 22 sunset time for the cruise.
• Paris Museum Pass price, and any change to the Louvre / Versailles entrance rules.
• Trevi Fountain paid-access hours, and re-book any restaurant that only holds tables 2-4 weeks out.
• Marriott Rive Gauche, the four Nightly Upgrade Awards are confirmed (Family Suite, 16 Oct); just confirm the suite shows in the Bonvoy app before you arrive.

Crowds, transit, the clock

• Paris, check the official attraction advisories for Toussaint school-holiday crowds, and the SNCF / RATP apps for strike or disruption notices.
• London, check attraction hours for half-term week, and confirm the Warner Bros. Studio Tour reservation (the most half-term-sensitive booking of the trip).
• Oct 25 clock change, verify every phone, watch and camera will roll back automatically, or plan to do it by hand.
• London 2FOR1, only if a train you're actually taking has a qualifying ticket, check daysoutguide against the attraction.
• ☑ UK ETA approved for both travellers on 20 Sep 2026, valid to Sep 2028. Done, nothing to carry (see Entry paperwork on the reservations page).
• ☐ ETIAS status re-checked (see Entry paperwork), still not required as of the last check.
• ☐ Power bank / spare-battery rules for whichever airline you're on that leg, confirm nothing changed.

The daily rhythm

Europe is an evening trip. The good hours are 21:00-24:00, music in the streets, everyone out. Build the day around protecting them.

How each day runs

• Sleep, aim for 8 hours in bed, never below 6. When you were out past midnight, sleep in; the cities don't wake up early anyway.
• Nap, up to 2 hours in the afternoon on the heavy days (Colosseum + Forum, Versailles, any 20,000-step day). It's on the schedule as an optional block; take it.
• Gym, optional 1-hour session in the morning. Each city page lists the nearest option (the Paris Marriott has its own; elsewhere a day pass or a park run). Do it before breakfast, or skip it guilt-free.
• Out late. Aperitivo ~19:00, dinner 21:00, then walk, each city page has an “Out late” list of where people gather, live music, and the free street shows.
• Pastries are a treat, not a habit, a pain au chocolat / maritozzo / custard doughnut every few days, not every morning.
• London breaks the pattern: it's an earlier city (pubs done by 23:00), so use the mornings there, and after Oct 26 it's dark by 16:30.

Getting around, and airport time

Walk vs. ride

• Julian's rule: a 20-minute walk and a 20-minute drive are the same trip in these centres, traffic and one-way streets eat the car's advantage. Walk unless it's raining or you've already seen the route.
• Every day's schedule shows the walk (and, where it matters, the drive) between stops with a rough time, so you know when to leave.
• City transit: Barcelona T-casual (10 rides), Rome single tickets or a Roma Pass, Paris Navigo Semaine on your phone (Mon-Sun; add a day pass for Mon Oct 26), London contactless (auto-caps ~£8.90/day). Buy on arrival.

Airports, you are “foreign passengers,” so add time

• Be at European airports 3 hours before an intercontinental flight, 2.5 hours before an intra-Europe one. US passports clear a separate, slower line, even on flights that feel domestic.
• Carry-on only, no checked bag on any leg, so it's online check-in the day before and straight to security, no bag-drop queue to allow for. On the Eurostar (Oct 27) you wheel everything on yourself too, plus add 20-30 min at Gare du Nord for the PABLO tax-free kiosks.
• Each travel day's page shows the full timeline: leave the apartment by HH:MM, at the airport by HH:MM, flight HH:MM, with the buffer already built in.
• Heathrow on the way home: 3 hrs early, straight to security (carry-on only, nothing to drop), then the lounge. The UK has no tourist VAT refund, there is nothing to claim there.

Tipping, and the cash to actually carry

Three of these four countries barely tip at a meal. London is the exception, and it is the one place where getting it wrong is noticed. Each city page repeats its own rule under How it works here; this is the whole picture in one place.

The short version

• Barcelona, Rome and Paris: you are not expected to tip at a meal. Rounding the bill up is the whole gesture. Leaving nothing is normal and is not read as rude.
• London is the exception. Check the bill for a service charge before you reach for anything: adding 12.5% on top of a 12.5% service charge is the most common way visitors overpay here.
• An American 15-20% is the tell. In the three euro cities it reads as a tourist overpaying, not as generosity.
• Taxis, everywhere on this trip: round up to the next euro or pound. That is all.
• Hotel housekeeping is the one place a small note is always welcome and never expected: a euro or two a night left at the end of the stay, if you want to.

How much cash to carry, each

The card is the default here, and cash is the small secondary. All four cities run on contactless, so the no-foreign-transaction-fee card covers hotels, museums, transport, shops and most restaurants. Cash exists for the handful of places that are awkward about cards. Two numbers below, per person: what you will really spend in a day, and the float worth having on you so you are never stuck.

The float is what is on you, not what you spend. Keep the rest in the room safe. Across a stop that works out to roughly €100 each for the five Rome nights and well under that everywhere else.

Carrying it, and not losing money on it

• Each of you carries your own float and your own cards, roughly €75 each in Rome and €50 each in Barcelona and Paris, about £25 each in London. Keep the rest in the room safe. This is the same habit as the split-your-backups rule above: never both sets in one bag.
• Take it out in one go, not in dribs. One €200-300 withdrawal per city beats five small ones, because most fees are charged per withdrawal rather than per euro.
• Always choose to be charged in euros or pounds, never in dollars. When an ATM or a card machine offers to “convert” for you, that is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is deliberately poor. Decline it every time. This single habit saves more than any tip you will leave.
• Use a bank's own ATM, not a standalone one. CaixaBank or Santander in Barcelona, Intesa or UniCredit in Rome, BNP or Société Générale in Paris, a high-street bank in London. Avoid the blue and yellow Euronet machines in stations and tourist streets; they carry the worst rates and the heaviest fees of anything you will see.
• Do not buy euros before you fly, and never at an airport exchange desk. Those rates are the worst available. Withdraw from a bank ATM once you land.
• Keep €1 and €0.50 coins. Public toilets in Paris and Rome want them, and so do a few church crypts and lights.
• The no-foreign-transaction-fee card stays the primary for everything else. Cash is for the places that are awkward about cards, not for the day.

Register before you go

A few minutes, done once

• STEP: done. Both of you are enrolled in the State Department's Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, under the group plan Avitia Europe 2026, 13 to 30 Oct, 2 travelers, confirmed 18 Sep. All four countries came back Level 2, exercise increased caution, the standard level for Western Europe, flagged for terrorism and, in France and Spain, civil unrest. Nothing there changes the trip; it means the usual crowd-and-pickpocket sense in stations and at big sights.
• Confirm an emergency contact at home who has your dates and your city-by-city addresses.
• Passport copies live in the shared Drive folder (Europe 2026 / Reservations & Vouchers), plus a printed copy kept separately from the real passport, plus one left with family at home.

Enrol at step.state.gov

Emergency

One tap, not a search, if something goes wrong.

The numbers

• Spain, Italy, France: 112. Police, fire, ambulance, works anywhere in the EU, English-speaking operators available.
• United Kingdom: 999 or 112. Same coverage.
• Card lost or stolen: use your bank's app to freeze it instantly, or call the number on the back of the other card in the pair (see “Split the backup up” above).
• Lost passport: file a police report first (you'll need it to replace the passport), then contact the nearest US embassy or consulate, most issue an emergency passport same day or next.
• Tonight's address and host contact are on that day's page here. Passport copies are in the shared Drive folder.

US embassies and consulates on this route

• Spain · Embassy, Madrid
• Italy · Embassy, Rome
• France · Embassy, Paris
• United Kingdom · Embassy, London

If it goes wrong

The five

• Delayed flight, every intra-Europe leg is a morning flight with the day as buffer; transatlantic legs run twice daily.
• Missed the nonstop home, Oct 31 is slack before the evening wedding; the same flight runs again plus 3 more LHR-LAX nonstops.
• Attraction sold out / rain, every day names a close, open backup.
• Pickpocketed, a backup card in the apartment safe; know your bank's freeze number; file a police report (needed to replace a passport); the nearest US embassy or consulate handles a lost passport, usually same or next day.
• Illness, EU pharmacies handle minor things directly and well.

Small things that make a big difference

The quick-reference version. Everything here lives in full further up this page, this is just so it’s easy to find again.

The recap

• On the long-haul flights: compression socks on, move every hour or two, sleep toward Barcelona time on the way out.
• In the daypack: a blister plaster the moment it pinches, a spare pair of socks.
• With money: keep the two backup cards apart, one per person.
• With electronics: the power bank stays in the cabin, always.
• At the borders: UK ETA done for both of you; ETIAS reconfirmed, still not required as of the last check.
• In an emergency: 112 in Spain, Italy and France; 999 or 112 in the UK.