If you’re a student who loves to travel, you might wonder whether you will have to postpone your travels for a few years while you focus on school. After all, school can be expensive. In fact, it’s easy to travel on a budget and often more rewarding, and as a student, there are many opportunities for discounts. The tips below can help ensure that when that wanderlust strikes, you can balance it with your education.
Organize Your College Finances
Travel is great, but you don’t want to spend the money you’ve set aside for your education on even the best trip. To avoid this, you should make a budget. You can take out loans from a private lender to help pay for school and have tuition be less of a worry. Once you know exactly how much you need for room, board and other expenses, you can figure out what you can spend on travel.
Look for Student Discounts
One of the first things you should do when planning a trip is seek out student discounts. You will find plenty of them on everything from bus and train tickets and passes to admissions to museums, restaurant meals and more. Be sure to take your student identification with you when you go traveling because you never know when showing it will get you a lower cost.
Find Budget Accommodation
Youth hostels, couch surfing and renting a room in someone’s home are all cheap sources of accommodation. The additional advantage is that you meet more people this way than if you stayed in a hotel or a vacation home. In hostels, you will meet other travelers, and with the other two options, you’ll get to know locals. If you are of a nontraditional student age, you can still stay in most youth hostels as few of them actually have age limits and most welcome budget travelers whatever their age.
Choose Your Time and Place
Choosing inexpensive destinations over pricey ones and going in the off season can save you a significant amount of money. However, when you are choosing the destination, keep in mind that it is not just about what it costs once you are there but what it costs to get there. On top of that, you should be savvy about the cost of getting there. If you are flying, take some time to find out how much ticket prices fluctuate so that you can be sure of getting a good deal. If you are going by rail, be sure to get your ticket well in advance to save money.
Plan Carefully
You don’t have to plan everything down to the last detail unless that’s an aspect of travel you particularly enjoy. In fact, leaving some things up to chance can give you some of your best travel experiences. However, if you are on a tight budget, you can’t afford to leave accommodations and transportation up to chance. If you do, you may find yourself with nowhere to stay but the most expensive option or paying too much for a taxi because the local bus you needed doesn’t run every single day.
