It may only be week 5 of the first term, but I have already found myself absentmindedly looking back at my summer photo albums, gazing longingly at my summer dresses and even researching last minute breaks for Opportunities Week. Autumn is definitely here and that means the inevitable rain that never seems to stop for us in Exeter. I find that a good way to distract myself from the feeling that our evenings will never be light again is by looking forward to and planning what exciting things I can get up to when summer eventually comes around again, as it must do at some point!
This summer myself and my flatmates decided to go interrailing – a pretty typical and somewhat cliché trip for studenty-types to go on. The word conjures up images of teenagers fresh out of sixth form, ready to go wild in Berlin or Amsterdam and to sample the up and coming nightlife of Croatia or the Greek islands for 30 days. When I’ve told other friends about my trip the first question is normally “How much did your trip cost?” because, unfortunately, interrailing normally comes with a price tag. My trip would have been expensive if we’d gone for the full month and we’d bought an interrail pass at one price – great if you are just going with the flow and seeing where your travels take you – but from my experience, I would say that you can save a lot of money by planning ahead and marking your route out from the start.
We decided to go to Italy for 10 days, starting in Milan, ending in Rome and stopping in Florence and Pisa along the way. We bought our train tickets directly from the Italian train website which meant that we travelled on the high speed trains that aren’t included on an interrail pass. They felt like luxury hotels on wheels and our 3 journeys cost us less than £50 despite travelling around about 600 kilometres (roughly the distance from Exeter to Newcastle). Add that to our budget flights out of Gatwick and the cheap cost of youth hostels and we had plenty left for the daily pizza and evening boxed wine.
From going on my albeit short interrailing experience I learnt a few things that you may want to consider whilst procrastinating and possibly thinking about planning your own trip this summer: do proper and thorough research before you go. By this I mean check up on the costs of museums etc, and don’t just rely on the guidebook as they’re often out of date. Go somewhere obscure for the brilliant stories that you’ll be able to tell – I’m not talking about going to a city in a country that few people have heard of, I’m talking about getting lost in Paris or ditching your map in Rome. But most importantly: wear comfy shoes.
Photo credits: www.gapyear.com, bubblyprofessor.files.wordpress.com, www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk