I just came back from studying abroad in London for a semester, and my plan was to travel to as many countries as I could. My budget for traveling wasn’t the highest, so to see as many places as I could, I had to plan out my finances and find the cheapest ways to get around.

The best way to do this is to plan out things before hand… like hostels, airfares, and trains. We had a 4 week break in which a group of my friends and myself were planning on going to 6 countries. With careful planning, we booked all the flights and hostels ahead of time, figuring out how long we would stay in each city, when we would arrive, etc.

My advice to you would be to always look out for student discounts everywhere, because you never know where they will pop up! I did get an ISIC card because it came with my study abroad package, but I honestly did not use it once. I guess it is good to have though to use as a spare ID in case you lose something like your license or passport.

Another thing about traveling from country to country which I enjoyed was taking trains to the next destination because it’s comfortable, smooth, and you can just watch the countryside outside your window. There is less of a hassle with airport security, what you can bring with you and things like that.

Planes are good to take sometimes as well because you can get to your destination quickly and can be really cheap. A lot of college students tend to use sites like RyanAir, but I found a lot of really good deals on StudentUniverse.com.

When looking at hostels, try and find the best of both worlds: the cheapest hostel with a high rating. Sometimes it is good to pay a few dollars more and not find bandaids in your bedsheets. J