Taking it abroad: traveling 101

Traveling to one destination in general is a great experience. However, if you should ever find yourself in a situation like mine living in a foreign country for an extended period of time, or even if you plan a multi-country trip in a short period of time, you will need to know how to get the most out of travel plans for the best cost.

The key is planning ahead. The earlier you search/book flights, you will have more available flight options at cheaper costs. This is true for U.S. traveling as well as for traveling abroad. Keep in mind that an international flight from the U.S. to Europe, Asia, and Africa can cost upwards of $1000, depending on the airline and the time of year. This part of your travel plans you will want to plan out as far in advance as possible.

When traveling abroad, especially in Europe, international travel becomes much easier and much more affordable (Thank you, European Union!). There are numerous airlines available, and prices range from hundreds of euro a flight to less than 10 euro a flight. (True story, one of my flights from Spain to Northern Italy was only 5 euro).

The best method I found for sorting through the airlines was using skyscanner.com. On this site, you can pick your start and end locations, and either view flights available for a specific date period, or just look in general at what is available during the month you are looking to travel. It sorts all of the available flights by the best price, whether you want non-stop or layover, and just saves you a ton of time in looking at the vast variety of flights available.  

RYANAIR is definitely one of the cheapest flights available. While it is a smaller plane type, and they need to blast a celebratory horn recording when they have a safe landing, I had nothing but good experiences with flying RYANAIR. About 12 of my international flights were through RYANAIR – and yes, the “we made it!” celebration horn was tooted every time.

Word of warning, there are bag restrictions with most of these airlines, as in one bag per person. No, it does not mean you have your purse and then your carry-on bag. They mean one bag: one, uno, un, wahiid.

It also better fits in their size constraints (yes, they do check) otherwise it will be checked and you will pay for it. You will definitely learn how to pack like a pro when in Europe.

Trains and buses also make for great traveling, but trains tend to be very expensive unless you sign up for a multi-pass deal. Just be sure to read the fine print, because some railroad package deals often have some strings attached.

Buses are a great way to travel long distances within a country, but you often will have to look up the bus companies available within the specific country you are traveling in.  

You need to be prepared: bring a scarf. It makes a great pillow/barrier to lay your head on to sleep, and it also works to cover your nose if someone extremely smelly sits near you (this only happened once during a seven hour bus ride, and the man looked well put together, but WOW did he smell disgusting).

When looking for lodging, hostelworld.com becomes your best friend. Hostels are designed for young people like ourselves to stay for an extremely affordable price. Yes, it can be communal lodging with strangers, but you also meet some fun people that way. Just plan ahead on what you will do with any valuables you have.

I don’t recommend traveling with any valuables, but usually the hostel can hold things in their safe, or just keep anything valuable on your person at night so that it can’t be touched.  This goes for when you are walking around during the day as well. If your valuables are on your person, either with a money belt or a strong, secure zipper and belt over the shoulder bag, you can keep better track of your passport, cash, and credit cards.

Once travel plans and lodging are settled, the fun stuff begins! Look into tours, plan the sites you particularly want to see, and just get out there and explore a whole new world!