Tips for Traveling while Abroad (Part 2)

While studying abroad in Salamanca, it is inevitable that you will want to travel to different cities in Spain or other countries. Whether a full weekend getaway or a quick day trip, here are some tips to make sure you are successful and safe while visiting other countries! 

1. Plan your excursions ahead of time! 

This is HUGE! When going to a new city, there are so many exciting things you will want to do, but most of the time you will only have two to three days to enjoy your time. Take it from me, these days go by EXTREMELY fast! (I am writing this while on a train back to Salamanca from Valencia, Spain—my two and a half days here went by too quickly). Because of this, I highly recommend that you plan ahead for what you want to do on your trips. Scour TikTok or ask for recommendations from other people in the program who have been to your location so you can ensure you get to all the things you want to do. Sometimes your plan for the city may just be to walk around and see what you find, and that is totally awesome too! But most of the super cool things my friends and I got to do while abroad were because we planned ahead (plus, having a plan helps to save time, so you don’t have to spend much time in these cool locations thinking of what to do). 

2. Don’t be afraid of staying in hostels 

I had the same fear at the beginning. I had always imagined hostels as dangerous, dirty, low quality places. I could not have been more wrong. In Europe, hostels are extremely common, and quite nice. Of course, the rooms are very tiny, but if you’re traveling right, you will rarely be in the room. I most often was traveling with a group of eight, so we filled up the hostel room completely, which was really nice. If you travel with a group of five to eight, in most hostels you will be able to fill the whole room. But fear not if you’re just traveling with one or two other people, you can lock your stuff up and choose room that are all the same gender, if that makes you feel more comfortable. But, at the end of day, even if you aren’t the most comfortable (physically, not safety wise—always make sure you feel safe!!) that’s okay, you’re in an incredible, beautiful, new city, and hopefully this new experience outweighs the three days of hostel life. For some recommendations, I’ve listed the hostels I’ve stayed in during my time abroad below: 

Madrid: La Troupe

Prague: Luma Terra

London: Wombats Hostel 

Amsterdam: Stayokay Hostel Amsterdam Oost (Zeeburg)

Happy Hosteling! 

3. Pack light

You do not need your whole closet! Check the weather for the city you are traveling to, plan your outfits out, and get really scrappy with what you bring and how you pack it. If you are taking the train to your destination, you can get away with packing a little bit more, because usually their bag policies are laxer than airlines’, but if you are flying to your destination, packing can prove to be a little difficult (especially if you are travelling via Ryanair—Read: you will be traveling via Ryanair). You’ve probably seen the TikToks about people wearing multiple layers of clothing just so that their luggage meets the Ryanair luggage requirements; these videos are not overexaggerating. Ryanair can be is very serious about the baggage policy, and if you don’t want to be hit with a €70 fee, make sure you pack as light as possible. Sometimes, you might get lucky with a flight and have a free carryon, but most times, it will be you and your backpack against the world. Pack wisely! 

4. Don’t spend all your weekends away from your study abroad location!

Yes, it’s incredibly exciting to be able to travel to a bunch of different cities, especially if your study abroad country is part of the EU and you can easily travel throughout the region. But remember, you chose your study abroad country for a reason, so make sure to actually spend some time in it! Plan out some weekends that you will stay home and explore the city you chose to call home for four plus months! (You’ll also need some time to recover in between all the travelling, trust me!)