I paid $50 for an Eras Tour ticket in Europe. The whole trip was a great value considering what I spent seeing Taylor Swift in the US.

I regret not booking our hotels and flights sooner

To help lower our travel costs, I used credit-card points and travel rewards for plane tickets and some of our hotels.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to use points for our hotel in Poland as I’d planned and I ended up having to book closer to our trip.

By then, many hotel prices in the area had drastically risen. Some hotels in Warsaw reportedly increased prices by 154% for bookings during Swift’s tour dates.

By only booking a few months before the tour dates, I wound up overpaying for our accommodations — it was an expensive lesson.

If you’re traveling for a concert, chances are other fans have the same idea. So, book your hotels and flights as soon as you get your tickets.

We made sure to look up local concert rules

Even throughout the US, venues have different rules around tickets and what you’re allowed to bring to a show.

At Swift’s Warsaw shows, each ticket was personalized with a name and IDs were checked at the gate. This was unlike any show I’d been to in the US.

Plus, at that venue, bags had to be small and could only have two compartments. If I hadn’t looked up the rules in advance, I may have missed the concert or been forced to leave my bag outside.

Meeting other fans and connecting with fellow concertgoers ahead of time made our trip better

One of the best parts of our trip was connecting with other fans and meeting Swifties from all over the world while in Europe.

I also joined a social-media group for Swifties in Warsaw before our trip and got valuable information about where to eat near the stadium, underrated must-see sights in Poland, and the best way to get back to our hotel after the show.