One of the best things about weekends while studying abroad is traveling. Going from London to Paris is like driving from New York to Pennsylvania. It’s about three hours away and is as easy as hopping on a train. Of course, you need to remember that making a weekend trip means you’ll be away from your study abroad location. So, you need to have a good balance between other countries and your study abroad spot.
The best way to figure out where you want to travel is to look at a map. What places are close by? What places have your friends traveled to? Is there somewhere that sounds interesting? For me, I tried to pick out popular cities that I had heard of before such as Amsterdam, Prague and Berlin. You also need to remember if you are traveling to make sure you have enough time to enjoy each city. Although a five hour train ride might sound like a piece of cake, it can actually be very time consuming and take a lot out of your day.
Once you establish where you want to go you need to figure out whom you want to go with. A piece of advice—go with people who you feel will be easy to travel with. Although you and your roommate may be best friends, she may be so hard to travel with. When you’re going to new places you have lots of things to think about, including the language, the currency, public transportation, and how you’re going to spend your time. Find someone who clicks with your personality. For example, I love going out and seeing sights but I also need down time. I needed to make sure my travel partners felt the same way about traveling. Also remember that traveling in large groups is very complicated. If you travel in groups of three or four you will have a much easier experience.
Where are you going to stay? Of course, if you want to travel to tons of places keep in mind that hotels are pricey. You also need to remember that you cannot sneak people into hotels and you will not be able to trick the staff (trust me, been there, done that). Your best option is to stay at a hostel. Coming from someone who is pretty needy, it’s not that bad. You can stay in a room for four or six. If you are traveling with this amount of people then life is good. Usually you will have a public bathroom, which is just like a dorm. Just remember to bring your own flip-flops and towels and you’ll be fine. If you’re worried about things getting stolen just bring them along with you. I carried my Bose headphones and iPad with me the entire time I was out. As long as you are careful you don’t need to worry.
I’m sure you’ve heard rumors about Rynair and Easy Jet. They are super cheap and easy right? Wrong. They may be inexpensive but you will have to take flights at random hours of the night. Not to mention not all of these flights will leave from random airports. It will be pricey to travel to the airport, go through security and dealing with takeoff. Sometimes, flying makes sense but in most situations trains work out best. I would suggest Eurostar, which also gives you student discounts.
The hardest part of all of this is that you need to sit down and actually book everything. I know this sounds insane but I would suggest going to a travel agent. Here at SU London, there is a travel agent that students can use for free. They will help you find the best deals. Also, make sure to ask your agent about fun free things to do at these places. I went on free walking tours thanks to my travel agent finding it for me.
Overall, one of the best parts of being abroad is seeing the world at an inexpensive price!