Tag: adventure

Weekend Trips- everything I wish I knew…

Published on by AdriLeave a comment

(TRAINS, PLANES, & PLANNING)

When I was a sophomore (and even a freshman) I was already eagerly looking forward to studying abroad. I was always looking at the experiences of people who were studying abroad at that time. Whether it was through TikTok or instagram I started to form my bucket list, travel places, and expectations.

Before studying abroad I knew I wanted to take advantage of my time abroad, and travel every weekend, taking cheap flights and train rides. Exploring, staying in hostels and traveling with friends. Experiencing the (often overly) romanticized budget travel experience. But the truth is that budget traveling is not always so budget anymore. I feel like people on social media are always talking about all the inexpensive travels in Europe, but because of this mass popularity, when I got to Europe, the prices of hostels and flights had definitely gone up.

If you look at ALL your potential options, and book in advance, it is still possible to score those $35-$75 flight deals. But, here’s why I don’t entirely recommend that.

The summer before studying abroad, I spent countless hours mapping out my travels on trains, using Eurail, and trying to roughly plan everything. I knew tourism would still be in PEAK during the end of august-november, so I wanted to make sure I’d be able to travel where I wanted before things got booked. But no one really plans and books all that before getting to their study abroad destination, and realistically I was not going to.

However, I will say some things do book up, especially popular hostels or cheap airbnbs in popular locations. And restaurants too (elsewhere and in your host city too) ! Basically most things that blow up on TikTok.

When I actually got to Florence, most of my travel plans unraveled a little bit. Everyone had different modes of transportation they wanted to take (train, planes, bus, etc) and more importantly, different budgets and interests. Sometimes finding a good group to travel with, or even a friend or two can take some trial and error. Some best friends travel together, and decide to not do that again. But for others it works out (like when my best friend visited me from the US). You just have to put everything on the table and at least try to roughly plan out all your trips!

The key for weekend trips is to find people with similar interests and travel styles as you. For example, will we want to walk everywhere, take taxis, do a guided tour? Will we be going out to eat every night? Or budgeting? Shopping or sightseeing? Etc etc… communication is key to having a stress free, enjoyable time for everyone. Without worrying about accommodating everyone’s expectations.

Here’s why I reccomend going one weekend at a time, and booking one trip at a time:

You may want time off (traveling can get really tiring!)

You can mix up your experiences. It best to mix budget and not-so-budget weekends.

Weather may create a change of plans (be flexible)! When I was in Italy, Austria and other countries flooded. This greatly damaged/stopped modes of transportation, especially trains, for many many weeks!) If I had trains or trips booked, I would have been out of luck.

Booking trips one at a time can help keep your bookings, expenses, and plans straight. Ensuring that everything is booked correctly, dates, times and also making sure you stay in budget.

Now, if you know you are traveling by train, with the Eurail Pass especially, and you know your route in advance. I do recommend to book your seat reservation/plan it as soon as you can!

The high speed train routes between major/popular cities often book up fast. For example Amsterdam to any major city/paris/london/etc… and all high speed trains require you to have a seat reservation with the eurail pass. These little costs can add up. I could do a whole blog post on pros/cons, and other things I wish I knew about Eurail, pass vs other options (I may do for those interested).

Lastly, it is easy to compare experiences to others. But everyone’s situation and program abroad is different. You could be somewhere with little to no DU students, or walk down the street everyday and see at least 3 people you know. The world is a small place! While traveling, I saw some people from DU in the most random, “what are the odds” places. For example, one girl in 1 of 3 customs lines at the London airport. Or another time in a hostel in Amsterdam. That is always a fun aspect of travel and solo traveling. You’re never truly alone.

Something that surprised me, or I wish I knew, is how many people choose to study abroad with their entire friend group/ or best friends. I on the other hand, set out on study abroad to try to meet entirely new people, from different schools/countries. I also went random with my housing. Which ended up coming with its pros and cons. But anyways, sometimes it can take a while to find your people abroad, but it shouldn’t intimidate you from wanting to branch out, and make new friends!

Traveling while abroad is doable (even on a limited budget). But it doesn’t always need to be a big ordeal. It can be something short, yet impactful. Such as a day trip, or a couple hour long trip to another city in your host country. Just get out there, find what’s best for you, but also and don’t be afraid to branch out, and explore on your own either!

Why you shouldn’t (or should) go on an overnight bus.

Published on by miadervisevicLeave a comment

This week started our fall break, or “reading week.” I decided to use my time to explore the UK even more and head up to Edinburgh, Scotland, with 5 of my friends! With luck, one of my great friends also lives in Edinburgh so I was delighted to catch up with her and hang out. The trip up there lasted about 9 hours, as we had decided to take an overnight bus from London.

Pros: the bus was very cheap (compared to the train and/or plane) and hypothetically you would be sleeping for most of it.

Cons: Something could go wrong, and you’re delayed a while and then can’t go to sleep.

We all started off with high spirits and headed towards the Victoria coach station Friday night, excited to start this little trip to Scotland! Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned. As we got further away from London and towards Heathrow (which is an hour away), a guy on the bus made us aware that he was not completely in his right mind. He was singing, and mindlessly talking when people were trying to sleep. So, at midnight the bus had to pull over and have help from the police in the area, who promptly took him off the bus and spoke to those who were around him. While the incident was calm and handled well, we were about an hour behind the schedule, and we still had 8 hours on the road to complete. Next, was the fact that neither me or any of my friends could fall asleep for more than an hour at a time. I was so exhausted when we finally arrived in Edinburgh! The bright side? I got to see the Scottish countryside during sunrise!

While we were all tired and wanting to take naps, we wanted to hike Arthur’s seat more! So, we separated for some breakfast, where I went and met my friend and dropped off my suitcase at her apartment. And then, off we were to hike Arthur’s seat! Truly, an easy hike up, and it was quite a warm sunny day! However, the wind at the top was so insane, I stumbled and felt like I was getting pushed! It was so much fun to experience the wind, the view, and being with my friend in Scotland!

This trip truly was wonderful, with amazing memories and people. I got to hold an owl, which was so surreal, and explore the Edinburg castle, as well as try the surrounding cafes. We also walked around Dean Village, which was a charming little village that reminded me of Germany and Austria. It was similar to the countryside of England, where it was very silent and a peaceful place to walk around. My friends left 2 days before me, as I wanted to spend as much time with my other friend and in Edinburg as possible! While my friend went to her classes, I walked around more and explored on my own! It was so much fun to explore and go where I wanted to, on a whim. I ended up sitting at a park, journaling, while having a wonderful view of the castle. I also got over my shyness of asking someone to take a photo of me.

However, as the trip came to an end, I smiled at all my memories and the beautiful city, said a “see you later” to my friend, and headed back to London, but this time on the train. I always wanted to take the train from Edinburgh to London (or vise-versa) and it was so much fun to travel like this. I got a window seat, and looking at the beautiful countryside, the sea, and listening to my music made the 4 hours fly by. Alas, there was also something wrong with the train, so about 3 hours in, we had to make a train-switch, which by all means was easy and fast. It shows how things could go wrong in travel, but to make the most of it because it turns out to be wonderful. I still had an amazing trip in both Edinburgh and the train regardless.

Now, here I am after a jam-packed past few days, recounting all of this with a smile on my face. Not to mention Halloween! After Scotland, I celebrated Halloween with my friends. During the day, I walked around a beautiful park, with orange leaves littering the ground, kids dressed up as Harry Potter running around, and swans swimming in the lake. I picked up a delicious chai and chocolate croissant and enjoyed my time walking around, journaling (again) while sitting up against a tree and watching the people walk by. It was such an amazing day enjoying the nature hidden in a city and with my own self. At night, I rejoined my friends and had a fun time dressing up and hanging out with them. By all accounts, I had a wonderful past week, with some incidents, but it all makes for a wonderful story!

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