A Playlist for Traveling & Study Abroad

I’ve always loved creating playlists for when I’m traveling. Whether they’re made weeks in advance or when I’m sitting at my departure gate, picking out music helps me get excited and into a creative headspace for wherever I’m about to be. Oftentimes, making playlists distracts me from nerves or homesickness. Favorite songs remind me of home, and when I hear a new song I like, I always remember the situation surrounding when I first heard it: the people I was with, where I was, and how I was feeling. Likewise, on the outbound leg of my travels, I use music to acclimatize myself to returning home by listening to longtime favorite songs.

There’s a bit of a travel theme in the below songs, and they’re what I’ve been listening to this past semester and during the past two weeks in Europe after my program ended. I hope you enjoy, and maybe discover something new that you like!

Part 1: Getting to SA

• Off She Goes by Bad Suns

• You Know It by Colony House

• Travelling Song by Passenger, feat. Gabrielle Huber & Cameron Potts

• Another Travelin’ Song by Bright Eyes

• Fun by Sir Sly

• Youth by Glass Animals

• This Was a Home Once by Bad Suns

• Disappeared by Sorority Noise

• Little Wanderer by Death Cab for Cutie

• Above The Clouds of Pompeii by Bear’s Den

• Such Great Heights by Iron & Wine

• Amsterdam by Gregory Alan Isakov

• Sweet Talk by Saint Motel

• First Class by Rainbow Kitten Surprise

• High by Sir Sly

• Technicolour Beat by Oh Wonder

Part 2: SA

• Pretoria Girls by Desmond and the Tutus

• Victoria Falls by Flyte

• Two Wrongs by Absofacto & Kranium

• Threat of Joy by The Strokes

• Sons & Daughters by The Decemberists

• From Afar by Vance Joy

• Blossom by Milky Chance

• Whole Wide World by Bahamas

• For Elise by Saint Motel

• Good Nights feat. Mascolo by Whethan

• Let’s Move to Vietnam by Ezra Bell

• Junk of the Heart (Happy) by The Kooks

• Two High by Moon Taxi

• Gold Angel by Minke

Part 3: After

• Call It Home by Cinders

• Master Of None by Beach House

• Hold On by Dan Mills

• Worth My While by Jacob Early

• Passenger by Noah Kahan

• Bulletproof by Griffin Oskar

• Way It Goes by Hippo Campus

• L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. by Noah and The Whale

• Red Eyes by The War on Drugs

• Turn On Me by The Shins

• Movie In My Mind by Saint Raymond

• The Story I Heard by Blind Pilot

• The Way It Was by Coast Modern

• Lost in The Light by Bahamas

• Give It Time by Wrabel