“How to Plan Weekend Trips While Studying Abroad”
by Lindsay Robbins via “SR[Trends]”
If you haven’t already left for your study abroad experience this fall, you probably will soon. And one of the first things you’ll want to do is plan trips to the other countries you want to visit while you’re there. It can be a little confusing and scary to be planning all of these on your own without the help of your parents. But it really isn’t that difficult, and I have some tips to help you figure out how to book your trips, save money, and have fun on your weekend trips!
1. It’s definitely better figure it all out early, so that you can find cheaper travel and places to stay. If you try to book a trip a couple of days before you leave, the prices will be jacked up. By that point, people are willing to pay more as long as they get the trip, so that is why businesses do that. So avoid that by planning it all out early! Beside a spontaneous trip I took to London at the end of the semester (expensive!) and my trip to Greece after school ended, all of my weekends were planned out way far in advance, and I was able to get cheaper prices because of it. When my roommate and I first went to London (the end of January, yes I did go twice), we were able to get plane tickets that were only £34! Which was like a little less than $40. And most of our flights ended up being less than $90, and our hostels were usually pretty cheap too. RyanAir tended to have the cheapest flights, so we ended up using them a lot. Just be prepared for a chaotic and slightly uncomfortable trip. It’s first come first serve in the seats so you want to get there early!
2. Using comparison sites when booking. If you use a site that shows you many options, instead of using the airline site or the airport site, then you will be able to find a better deal, for both flights and hotels/hostels. You’ll have more options, so you’ll be able to pick the one that best fits both your budget and your schedule! A good site to use isBookingBuddy, who will give you tons of choices for flights. You could save up to 50% just by using their site!
3. Know what you want to do before you get there. I wouldn’t say plan out each trip right when you book it (if you book early like I suggest), but a couple of days before you leave, you should check out which attractions you want to go. Often, if you check online, you can get discounted prices, or you can check to see if they have student discounts so you know to show your student ID at the ticket counter. Sometimes they’ll have packages for a couple of different attractions, which can save you money if you plan on going to every one of those places, but if you aren’t, then I suggest avoiding those. Some of the best things I did was free walking tours of the cities. First of all, it’s free, and walking is a great way to take in the city and figure out your way around it. Plus, the tour guide usually has lots of cool stories and things that you wouldn’t get from a bus tour. One time we even got to taste some cheese from Amsterdam. The only thing you pay for is tipping your tour guide at the end, however much you think it’s worth. You can buy tickets online so you don’t have to worry about finding out where to buy it there. So before you leave, definitely see what you want to do so you can have some sort of schedule and not completely miss what you want to do or forget a site to see.
4. Use sites like Hostelworld.com to help you get better rates on places to stay. This is how I booked all of my hostels, and I had no problem finding nice places in good areas that weren’t too expensive. They have reviews from people who actually stayed there so you can see what they say and base your decisions off of that, so you know exactly what you’re getting at your hostel. To get the lowest prices, you’ll usually be sharing a room with more than just the friends you’re traveling with, but it’s always fun to meet new people! If that makes you uncomfortable, there are private rooms, and you should be able to find a place that will have those, or room that only house 4 or 5 people in a room, for a low price. . . . .
Student Ramblings 