My plans—I was studying abroad in Paris at the time and I was going to go from Ireland to London, come home for class for two days, go to Amsterdam, come back to Paris for a few days and then travel Italy. Little did I know this would drain my bank account and make me crazy. Sleeping on the floor in Ireland, London and Amsterdam was horrendous (I was kicked out of my hotel in Amsterdam for harboring my friends). I almost missed my flight to Italy. All I could think about was “if only I had planned those two and a half weeks more carefully.” So in order to avoid my mistakes, here is a list of traveling ideas for college students spending time abroad:
Figure it out
The whole point of being abroad is living in a foreign country. So you should actually LIVE there. You can get the touristy stuff out of the way in the first month and then you can really discover the city you are living in. I suggest traveling every other weekend and during your breaks at most.
You should make a list of the places you want to go, rank them by preference or by geography (this saves a lot of time if you have a long break!). Figure out how many of those countries you can actually go to and which cities you want to visit.
You should also keep in mind if there are any seasonal attributes to the city (I wouldn’t go to Switzerland in the summer—I would go in the winter to utilize the Swiss Alps just like I wouldn’t go to the South of France in the winter—some of the nicest beaches in the world are there).
Why travel alone?
Unless you are hoping that you will find a mysterious guy or girl and fall in love on a gondola in Venice, you are probably going to want to vacation with some friends.
Book it ASAP
I really cannot stress this enough. Flights and hostels are a lot cheaper when you book early. The prices go up and availability dwindles so once you decide where you want to go and when, book it! There are even some travel groups that leave from certain cities in Europe. My friends, who were in Florence, saved a lot of money by traveling with Florence for Fun.
Planes and Trains
Keep in mind that depending on where you are, taking a train could be cheaper (it probably will not be faster, but you are a student traveling on a budget). My favorite website for trains is RailEurope.com. It supplies you with timetables and prices and a student discount.
When traveling by plane be aware of the airports in the country. Some people think, “I’m going to travel by Ryan Air because it’s so much cheaper.” Fast forward to the day of travel—the airport that Ryan Air flies to is 3 hours from the city you want to be in and the bus you have to take to get from the airport to your hostel costs 30 euro. Educate yourself on these matters beforehand; it will save you a lot of time and money.
Another question that we encounter when travelling by plane is “how do I get from the airport to my hostel?” The simple answer is public transportation. Most hostels provide you with directions by public transportation when you make a reservation. If you are not into the idea of potentially getting on the wrong train in a foreign country, you can book shuttles from the airport to your hostel that are a lot cheaper than taking a cab.
Hostel or hotel?
Horrifying stories surround the idea of staying in hostels. Newsflash: most of these stories are from 25 years ago. Hostels today are incredible. I stayed in a hostel in Prague called the Mosaic House. It had room service, private bathrooms with a waterfall showerhead, two bars, a restaurant and 24 hour concierge.
Hostels are definitely the cheaper option in most cases. If you are traveling in a large group they are even better because the rates go down depending on how big the room you choose to stay in is.
The only time I recommend staying at a hotel is if you decide that you have one big trip and you want to splurge. Oktoberfest and a hotel went hand in hand, but we booked months in advance and ended up having eight people staying in the room so it was really cheap!
Some hotels have really strict rules about the number of people you have in your room. They will not let you in to someone’s room if you haven’t paid for it and if your name is not on the reservation. They WILL threaten to call the police (Ahem, hotel in Amsterdam).
Find out if you have friends in some of the places you want to stay. In most cases, if they are not in a home stay, you will be able to stay with them. Still, it may not be the most comfortable thing—think sleeping on concrete floors with little to no hot water left when it’s your turn to shower.
Pin It For Later:
