Top Travel Tips For Students Looking To See The World

Travel is something almost every student wants to do. Some students will take a gap year and spend the year working and travelling. Others will try and do some travel alongside their studies, both are viable options for students looking to see the world. I have been fortunate enough to travel a great deal during my secondary school years so here are some travel tips for students looking to do the same.

1. School Trips

This is specific to secondary school students or college students. Most UK secondary schools provide excellent travel opportunities that are often jam-packed with activities. Even if it is a UK based trip you will have still travelled somewhere you have never been. My secondary school did trips to France, Spain, Croatia, Morocco and Tanzania and whilst not everyone can go on every trip it would still be incredible to say you got to go any one of those places before you even left school. School trips are likely to be cheaper too as they have group booking discounts and what not.

2. Semester Abroad/ Exchange Programs

This is less of a travel tip and more like common sense. If you want to travel and experience other countries cultures to the fullest then why not live their and study. I know a lot of universities will have Erasmus or exchange schemes which means you can live and study in another country for an extended period of time. Often universities will give you grants and bursaries to help you with the cost of travelling and living in another city.

3. Book With A Specialist Company For Students

There are travel agents who cater specifically to a student audience. For example, STA Travel does tours, working abroad opportunities and cheap flights specialised for students and at a reasonable price so it doesn’t break the student budget. I booked my recent trip to Riga with Expedia and whilst this isn’t specialised to students it was handy in helping me book my hotel and flights in one, thus saving confusion and money.

4. Interrailing

This is probably one of the cheapest ways to travel to many places in a short place of time. With interrailing you can hop on a train and pass through several countries in just a few days or a week. And there are companies who can plan it all out for you, you just select where you want to go and they can sort the rest. If you purchase an interrail ticket you can hop on and off any train in Europe (with very few exceptions).

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5. Clubs and Societies

If you are an active member in societies and clubs (both in and outside of uni) you are likely to be offered more opportunities to travel as a group. I have been a member of Girlguiding throughout secondary school and into Uni and this has provided me loads of opportunities to travel far and wide. I know many societies at Universities will run trips to various places which are organised for you and likely to be cheaper than if you were to go it alone.

6. Save and Plan

Travelling is not really something you can do on a whim. If you want to travel extensively over the course of a year then you need to be saving money and carefully planning your trip with a budget in mind. And if you plan to travel whilst being a student then maybe keep trips short and close by. For example, UK students can easily travel to EU countries ( Brexit aside) because they are close by.