If you’re reading this post, it’s either because you 1. have plans of going on Erasmus in Spain; 2. want to go on Erasmus in Spain; 3. are an avid reader of Ars Currendi blog posts (yeah, right). Either way, here’s everything you need to know about studying abroad in Spain.
I’ll be arranging this post in the form of short, to the point tips that should help you survive your stay in Spain. I can’t give you any specific information about housing, weather or nightlife, because I only experienced those things in Salamanca. What I can do, however, is give you loads of information about those things specifically in Salamanca.
To start off, here are some images to give you an idea of what it was like.
Seriously. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to make any friends and have to spend 5 months crying myself to sleep because I felt so alone. Well, with the end of my Erasmus stay in Salamanca comes the realization that I had never made friends as easily as I did here.
As an exchange student, it’s incredibly easy to find other people who are right there with you. Most of you will arrive in the city at around the same time, which means that there is a truckload of people who are right there with you – alone and confused in a foreign city.
Obviously, student organizations know this. It happens every year. So they organize countless events to give all those students a chance to get to know some people and find friends.
I actually met most of my friends through these events, so I can tell you this. If you think you’re too awkward to go to these things, you’re not. I’m just about as awkward as they come around new people and I managed to make it work.
As Jan Levinson so eloquently put it in my all-time favourite episode of The Office, people in Spain often don’t even start eating until midnight.
Of course, that’s a bit of an overstatement, but it is true that the daily rhythm in Spain is very different from what I’m used to in Belgium. For example, Spanish people usually only have lunch around 2-3 pm. And then they take a nap.
The thing is, basically everything happens two hours later than it does in Belgium. In Spain, you get up later, you eat lunch later, you have dinner later and you go to sleep later. And that’s actually surprisingly easy to get used to.
This paragraph will have a number of very cheesy, or even cringe-worthy, statements. You have been warned.
If someone asks you to do something while you’re on Erasmus in Spain, do it! Whether it be a party, a picnic or just hanging out at someone’s apartment, I can guarantee that it’s going to end up being a lot of fun. Even if you don’t really feel like it.
After all, we only regret the chances we didn’t take. I’m just saying, I’ve never heard anyone say they regret spending time with friends.
This is your one chance to do some crazy things without anyone back home finding out. It’s your time to say YOLO and really mean it.
Having spent four months abroad, I am now certified to tell anyone and everyone that it goes by a lot quicker than you’d expect. It feels as if I just arrived here last week, but here I am back in Belgium. I’ve said goodbye to some amazing people and it breaks my heart to know that I probably won’t see some of them again.
Before I went to Spain, I thought that four months might be a bit much for a first-timer like me. But now, I realize it wasn’t even close to enough to do all the things I wanted to do.
So believe me when I say you should take advantage of the opportunities you get. You will most definitely regret it if you don’t.
I know, I know. Saying this makes me look like the biggest jerk you’ve ever met. But hear me out. School in Spain is relatively easy, especially if you’re coming from a country like Belgium, The Netherlands, the UK or Ireland. (There are obviously other countries that qualify as having “tougher education than Spain”).
That being said, you should not feel ashamed or bad about yourself if you skip on some schoolwork to go to a party or hang out with your friends.
This wouldn’t be a travel blog if I didn’t talk about travelling at all. So, here it is. If you’re studying in Spain, you have tons of opportunities to go travel and see lots of beautiful places.
On that note, go take a look at some of my videos (Salamanca, Bilbao/Gaztelugatxe, Segovia/Ávila, Barrio del Oeste, Morocco) to get some inspiration!
This is an important point because it’s often overlooked. Contacting the people responsible for your Erasmus stay in Spain is essential. For example, you should email your professor before the term begins to see if they even like exchange students. You need to find out what the assignment is if you didn’t hear it in class and you don’t have anyone who can tell you. You need to know when classes start and end. (I think you get the idea)
I said that making friends as an Erasmus students is very easy – and I stand by that. I’m just saying, you shouldn’t expect most, if any, of these friends to be Spanish people.
Anyone who has been an exchange student will agree with me when I say that natives don’t really care about them. I’m not judging them, because the exact same thing happens at my home university.
People won’t hate you, but they’ll mostly be indifferent about you. And that’s definitely okay, because you’ll have a very fun group of international friends to share your adventures with.
It’s terrifying and amazing at the same time. You’re independent but you share everything you experience with your friends. At times you’ll feel demotivated and lonely, but that only makes the other moments so much more worth it. After all, without the lows, you would never reach the highs.
I think it’s easier to explain what my stay in Spain was like with a video. So, without any further ado, here it is. The culmination of four months in Salamanca. Enjoy!
And as always, thanks for reading!
-S
I know it can seem like an intimidating task to find someone to take your next trip with. But it doesn’t have to be. Let me show you how to decide who you’re going to be traveling with efficiently. Picking a travel companion has never been easier.
Perhaps you’ve never traveled with anyone else than your parents. That’s okay. But let me tell you, a whole new world will open up for you when you decide to do exactly that.
I decided to make this post because after some looking around on the internet, I couldn’t find any thorough, specific posts about this subject. I’m here to change that. You’ll be provided with a list of potential travel companions that you can choose from, based on what you need.
Still wondering who you should travel with? Let’s take a look!
The most basic (and probably also the most common) form of travel: going on a trip with your family. Parents love to take their kids somewhere, and the kids love to go somewhere with their parents.
Photo by Natalya Zaritskaya on Unsplash
It’s riskless. You know having your parents (and siblings, if applicable) as travel companions is a safe bet. They know you better than anyone and there will be no surprises.
They’re reliable. Friends might promise that they’ll come visit you when you’re abroad for some reason, but most of the time, they don’t. Your family will always come through for you.
You get to know your family even better. They say that you don’t know someone until you’ve traveled with them. You get to see people from another perspective, and that’s no different when you travel with family.
You will have a lot of memories. At any time, you can think about how you hiked a mountain together, or you got lost in a city together. The trips you take will inspire a great deal of beautiful memories.
Destinations. You, as a youngster, probably want to go do some adventurous things while you’re abroad. Your parents might prefer an easy, safe destination. (Then again, they might not.)
Personal space. When you’re traveling with family, you spend a lot of time together. You’re basically going to be seeing each other all day, every day. If that’s not something you’re prepared for, you should consider traveling with someone else.
Friends are most likely among the more popular travel companions as well, and they have good reason to be. Traveling with them is a splendid way of testing how strong your friendship really is. If you’re not afraid of that, here is why you should travel with friends.
Photo by Mike Erskine on Unsplash
Freedom to choose. As opposed to traveling with family, your friends might want the same things in your trip as you. You might be able to go hiking, visit a monastery or trek through South America.
Good company. If you’re traveling with friends, you know for a fact that you’re going to have some great people alongside you.
You know what you get. This point kind of blends in with the previous one. Your friends are your friends for a reason. They’re a you know what you’re going to get type of deal.
Safety. It’s true. A group of friends abroad is less likely to get robbed or to have anything happen to them than a solo traveler or a couple chasing their wanderlust.
Isolation. When you travel with friends, you tend not to get to know – or even talk to – people who are not already in your friends’ group. That means you’ll miss out on a huge part of traveling.
Stressful situations. When you’re traveling with friends, your friendship truly gets tested. You might find yourself in situations you haven’t been in before, and you might have to make some tough decisions.
This category is nothing but an extension on the last one, really. Having your BFF as travel companion could be amazing, but it could also turn out to be a bit of a disaster.
Photo by Cole Hutson on Unsplash
Your friendship will grow. You’ll get to know each other even better than you already do. When you’re on the road together, you see your travel companion(s) in ways that you would never see them at home.
Happiness. Every time you think back to the time you went city-tripping with your best friend in some foreign country, you’ll find yourself smiling about little things that happened. Even when you’re not back at home yet, you’ll share the happiness with your best friend. And isn’t that what friendship is all about?
Teamwork. There’s always going to be something you suck at, but that doesn’t mean that your best friend isn’t awesome at it. If you’re truly good friends, you’ll complete each other in different circumstances and you’ll be a team if there ever was one.
Arguments. Most arguments that start while you’re traveling will stay with you for a long time. After all, you can always come back to that time you/your friend got you both lost in a bad part of town, or got scammed and lost all of your money.
Responsibilities. Either one of you could potentially be a more responsible person than the other, and that can lead to frustrations with the other one. If you are doing all the work and your friend is just leeching, you won’t like that.
Choosing your significant other as a companion on your trips can be a refreshing change of pace. Whether it’s your boyfriend, fiancee, husband or partner, here are some reasons why you should (or shouldn’t) travel with them.
Image by Yuri Catalano
You’ll rediscover each other. Once again, travel is an excellent way to find out things you didn’t know about one another. How else would you figure out that your boyfriend speaks Conductor? (Yes, How I Met Your Mother, that’s a wink at you.)
It’s cheaper. Traveling in group is almost always cheaper than traveling alone, even if that group is just you and your SO. You can avoid pesky fees for booking rooms alone, you can share a private room at a hostel, … The possibilities are endless.
You can leave your comfort zone. Being in a foreign country with the one person you love more than anything in the world can really bring out another side of you. It can make you want to do crazy things you wouldn’t even consider doing back home.
It’s romantic. A weekend in Paris? A couple of days strolling through Venice? Nothing is more perfect for you and your significant other than a romantic getaway.
Your relationship will be tested. It’s almost guaranteed that you will get into some fight during your trip, be it a small disagreement or a huge blowout. These are the times when your relationship will only survive if it’s solid.
Cliché destinations. The destinations I mentioned before – Paris and Venice – are great and all. But if you are a couple that require something more adventurous, you might have to look a little bit further than that.
I know traveling alone defeats the whole purpose of finding a travel companion, but hear me out here. Solo travel is something different entirely, and I strongly believe everyone should give it a try at least once in their lives, even if it’s only to realize that you don’t like it at all and you never want to do it again.
Photo by Nina Uhlíková
You’ll learn a lot of lessons. You’ll be forced to solve problems you never would have gotten involved in otherwise, all by yourself. You get a creativity boost, because you have no choice but to be creative. You learn things that you would never find out if you don’t travel alone.
Absolute freedom. You can literally do anything you want to do. There’s nobody there you have to depend on, and nobody depending on you. If you want to skip some tour you had booked, nobody is going to tell you you shouldn’t.
Making new friends. When you’re abroad alone, you can make friends in a lot of ways. It’s very easy to meet new people and become friends with them when you’re traveling by yourself.
Experiences. Solo travel is very different from any other kind of travel. Although you might feel like you learned a lot from backpacking through South America with your friends, I can guarantee you’ll experience things more thoroughly.
You’re alone. The obvious disadvantage of having no travel companion is that you don’t have anyone to fall back on. Then again, as a solo traveler, you’re more approachable, so you might make friends more easily.
It’s more expensive. When you don’t have a travel companion, you might miss out on special deals, twin rooms, etc. Some hotels add a so-called single supplement: people who travel alone have to make up for the money they miss out on because the room is only being used by one person instead of two.
In the end, what it all comes down to is your personal preference. For some people, the disadvantages of traveling with friends won’t weigh up at all against its advantages. Other travelers will prefer being alone on the road time and again. You have to decide.
What do you prefer? City tripping with your parents? Or hiking in the mountains with friends? Let me know in the comments below.
As always, thanks for reading!
-S
Whether you’re looking for destinations around Europe to visit during your European road trip, or you’re just looking for a quick city trip, chances are you might have considered Zagreb. Here’s why you should, or shouldn’t, go there.
Disclaimer: most of the images I’m sharing with you in this post are taken from my travel video, which is why they’re low quality. I’m sorry, I didn’t really take a lot of pictures, but I focused mostly on the video.
As you may or may not know, my family and I spent four days in Croatia last week. The main objective of our trip was to visit Plitvice, but we stayed in Zagreb for accommodation and to explore the city. Yes, I realize that strolling around in a foreign city for three days doesn’t really make me qualified to tell you why you should and shouldn’t visit – but I was able to get a pretty good understanding of Zagreb’s positive and less positive points.
If you’re going to Zagreb, the chances of you finding some junk on the streets are incredibly slim. The city centre is ridiculously clean. Admittedly, this wasn’t something I was expecting from a big city in eastern Europe, but hey, no complaints here!
When I say the city is clean, I’m mostly talking about the streets and public places, though. Some of the buildings look a little rough around the edges, and at times even straight up unappealing. But I guess that’s the case in most, if not all, major cities around the world.
If you’re doing a road trip through eastern Europe, Zagreb is the perfect place to begin. For starters, Croatia is located fairly centrally within Europe. Most other European countries and major cities are easily accessible by plane, train or bus.
Besides, it’s easy(ish) to find a fairly cheap apartment or hostel in the city centre of Zagreb. That means you’re in the centre of the centre of the centre. Could it get any more central than this? (Spoiler alert: no)
Compared to other major European cities like Paris and Rome, Zagreb is a cheap place to travel to. You might pay a little more for your airplane ticket, but I guarantee you’ll make up for that lost money with the money you spend on food, drinks and shopping.
Quick tip: if you’re coming from a country other than Croatia, you’ll have to convert your cash. The official currency is the Croatian kuna (1 HRK = 0.13 EUR = 0.15 USD).
I’ve heard that the people in Zagreb have been called the Dubliners of the East. Both people possess the immeasurable quality of being friendly and open-minded toward strangers.
To continue the analogy with Paris and Rome, inhabitants of the big European cities will definitely give you weird looks when you take a picture of yourself, when you look on a map to see where you’re going or when you put on sunscreen. In Zagreb, people are accepting and accommodating of tourists and they don’t make a big fuss out of them.
Another thing that surprised me about the people in Zagreb is their knowledge of the English language. Obviously, most people in big cities have a basic understanding of English and know how to express themselves, but the Croatian people even have a great accent and can speak with ease and with a broad range of vocabulary. I must say, as an English major, I was impressed.
Now, on to the drawbacks of Zagreb. First – and foremost – the food. Croatian cuisine isn’t really something you should incorporate into a culinary road trip. I mean, there are obviously worse things to survive on than schnitzel and French fries, but it’s not something I would travel across Europe for.
Opposite to what Perk 1 would have you believe, there are very few sincerely beautiful locations in Zagreb. Undoubtedly, someone living in Zagreb would tell you something else, but that’s just because they’re too proud to admit that they really don’t have that many things to see.
Keep in mind, I’m not saying that there’s no Croatian heritage and culture to be found in Zagreb. I’m only pointing out that the actual buildings and sites left much to be desired.
People from India, New York City or Italy might feel tempted to object, but I felt like the traffic in Zagreb was pretty crazy. There were traffic lights, but nobody cared whether they were on green or on red. People crossed the street whenever and wherever they saw fit, speed limits appeared to be relative and you can pass cars on the highway left or right.
To an experienced driver who is used to being in these traffic situations, it might not seem like much. But to me, a whimsy kid who doesn’t even have his license yet, it was a true sight to behold.
Zagreb is a decent city. I feel like it’s a good thing that I’ve seen it once, but I don’t feel the need to return to the Croatian capital any time soon – if ever.
You have to make the decision for yourself, and weigh out the benefits and the disadvantages of visiting Zagreb. If you want to visit a place where you can take loads of beautiful pictures to show off to your friends, I’m afraid Zagreb is not for you. If you want to explore Croatian culture and maybe take a day trip to Plitvice, go for it!
As always, thank you guys very much for reading!
-S
If you’re ever planning to take a trip to anywhere in Croatia, you have to add Plitvice to your itinerary. Still having doubts? Let me convince you of the beauty of Plitvice in this post.
Disclaimer: I took every picture in this post myself. I did that with my phone, which is the reason why the quality may not be ideal and why most of the pictures are in portrait mode. My apologies for that.
For those of you who are reading this post and are still not sure what Plitvice actually is, I’m going to try to explain. Plitvice, also known as Plitvička Jezera (Nacionalni Park) or Plitvice Lakes National Park, is a nature reserve located in Croatia.
The park is mainly known for its beautiful hiking routes and stunning lakes and waterfalls.
Now that everyone knows what I’m talking about, we can move on to the reasons why you should consider giving the park a visit. Buckle up!
If you’re coming to this nature reserve, you’re most likely going to be combining it with a visit to one (or several) key city in Croatia, such as Zagreb and Split. There are some convenient ways to get to Plitvice from these cities.
First off, the easiest option is to hire a rental car and drive yourself. That’s what we did. Coming from Zagreb, it took us about two hours to get there. According to Google Maps, a trip from Split would take you around two hours and 45 minutes.
The main advantage of hiring a car is that you have more freedom on the road. If you want to stop in a small town to grab a bite on your way back, you can do that. For example, we stopped in Rastoke, a very small town (only 62 inhabitants!) between Zagreb and Plitvice.
Secondly, it’s possible to get to Plitvice by bus. Using Flixbus, a one-way ticket from Zagreb would cost you €13 and about two hours of your time. If you’re starting in Split, you’d have to pay €22 and you’ll lose around four hours.
I recommend taking the bus if you don’t feel like driving, if you don’t have your driver’s license yet, or if you just want to chill for a couple of hours before spending a day hiking along waterfalls and lakes.
Staying in line with the generally cheap Croatian prices, the entry fee to Plitvice Lakes is definitely worth it. You can check out the price you’ll need to pay on this website. Keep in mind, the prices are listed in Croatian kuna (HRK). You can convert your currency to HRK here in order to get a better understanding of the prices.
Without a doubt, the most important reason that so many people want to visit Plitvice (even though you might never even have heard of it before now) is its fascinating nature. If you’re a fan of travel inspiration, you should honestly consider creating a trip based around Plitvice.
Does this picture really even need any explaining?
If I’m honest with you, I’ve never seen anything quite like the lakes, waterfalls, forests and hiking routes at Plitvice. It’s something that can’t really be explained. You’ll just have to find out for yourself.
Some people might go crazy when this happens, but others enjoy it thoroughly. When we were in Plitvice, the other tourists weren’t so bad. That’s because we went at the end of June. There were some groups of Chinese people and other tourist families, but we were still able to go wherever we wanted without too much interruption.
If you’re going during the summer, you could be confronted with lots more tourists and other people. It could be something you might enjoy. If not, I recommend going between October and June, as that’s when most people don’t even consider traveling.
This reason mostly applies to people who go to Plitvice by rental car, although you could also have a lot of fun on the road in a bus.
There are a lot of things you can do to make your trip more fun. For example, you could play road trip games, you could listen to some music, you could talk about the meaning of life, … The possibilities are endless.
For this specific Croatian road trip, there are some other things you could do. As it turns out, a lot of the Croatian houses, buildings and landscapes on the way to Plitvice are quite fascinating to watch. Many buildings still show signs of the Croatian War of Independence. For example, we saw one house that was completely pierced with bullet holes, but it was still standing.
For anyone who likes walking through nature just for the sake of admiring nature, Plitvice is the way to go. (Also, for all of you people who are always trying to find cool Instagram picture spots, look no further!)
When you’re visiting Plitvice, you’ll be walking on cute pathways like this one
After a day of hiking in Plitvice – you can do tours ranging from one hour to 8 hours – there’s no doubt that you’ll be tired, but you’ll also be more than satisfied. I, for one, have never hiked in a more beautiful place.
Fun extra: you’ll be doing tons of cardio, so there’s no need to go to the gym!
When you’re visiting Croatia, this might not apply to you. But when we were there, it was SO HOT. The mist coming off the waterfalls was a welcome source of cooling down after walking in the nature park.
Then again, if you’re traveling between October and June, like I recommended earlier, chances are that you’ll already be cold enough when you’re there.
If you’re coming by rental car, you should consider leaving your car at entrance 2. This entrance is located right at the centre of the park, which means you could go to either side relatively easily. We parked our car at entrance 1, which was also okay.
Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope I might have convinced you to consider Plitvice for your next holiday. Feel free to let me know what you thought about this post.
Thanks for reading!
-S
No, writing a fully fleshed out travel itinerary isn’t essential when you’re going abroad. But if you want to have control over the situation, it can help. A lot. And it doesn’t have to be as confusing as you might think. Here are 8 steps to help you create the perfect travel itinerary.
Latest update: 23 January 2022
If you only need to check one particular part of this tutorial or you only need to add a few things to your travel itinerary, click one of the links below to skip ahead to the part you’re looking for.
Planning your next journey and writing out a decent travel itinerary, when done thoroughly, is not something you can just bang out in an hour. If you really want to do this in-depth, you’ll have to get comfortable. So put on some good music, get a blanket and bring out the mint chocolate chip ice cream (Feel free to alternate these variables to your own liking).
Note: before you get on to the next step, it’s probably a good idea to decide who you’re going to be travelling with.
This is arguably the most important and influential step of your travel itinerary. Admittedly, you might already have a destination in mind for your next trip. If you do, feel free to skip ahead to step 3 (just click the link!). If you don’t, great! That’s what I’m here for.
Now, there are a lot of ways to figure out where you want to go next. Let me introduce you to some of them.
Yet another thing the Internet can help you with. Nowadays, there are so many people who tell the world about their travels, one way or another. You can find travel videos, blog posts, pictures and maybe even songs about their wanderlust. You can even find an entire travel itinerary for your trip online, without having to put in any work yourself!
My favourite thing to do is look at fellow travel bloggers’ websites and get inspired there. After all, if people like me enjoyed their time somewhere, why wouldn’t I?
Another Internet-related source for travel inspiration you could use is Instagram. Just like there are thousands upon thousands of travel bloggers, there’s a huge number of Instagram accounts dedicated to bringing you beautiful pictures of the world. (Of course, I have an account as well)
The classic destination decider. Throw a dart at a world map and travel to wherever it lands. Of course, if you do this often, your beautiful world map will be ruined by dart holes. Luckily, there are alternatives that don’t involve destroying your map.
For starters, if you have a globe lying around, you could spin it around and put your finger on it whenever and wherever. Then, you travel to the location under your finger. If it’s someplace you can’t travel to (ocean, restricted countries, North Pole), you spin again until you get a viable destination.
If you don’t have a globe, there are still alternatives out there. More specifically, there are websites that replicate the effect of a dart on a world map. You click the button and the dart gets fired. All without ruining a perfectly good world map! The main problem with these websites is that you get a dart firing into the ocean quite often, but that can be fixed quickly with another click on the button.
One of my favourites is Dart On Map.
If you have any adventurous friends, chances are they would be able to recommend some destinations to you. Even if you don’t have any people like that in your life, you could ask anyone else. After all, virtually everyone has a favourite place they’ve been.
For example, they might recommend you to go to Paris with your significant other. They might send you backpacking through South America. Or, if you’re lucky, they might even tell you to go on a city trip to Tokyo. There’s a whole range of places you might not even know of that opens up. I’d say it’s definitely worth a shot.
Cultural items can have a big impact on what we want to visit/see in life. For example, TV shows like How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014) and Friends (1994-2004) have always made me want to visit New York City to see if the big city life is really like that. Oldboy (2003) implored me to visit South Korea and see their beautiful culture and the way it differs from western society, while Cicade de Deus (2002) sparked my interest in Brazilian favelas.
If you’re feeling adventurous, why not let someone else decide where you’re going?
You don’t have to worry about any of the planning and you’re up for a nice surprise.
There are many websites and initiatives dedicated to this concept.
Okay. By now, you should have a good idea of the destination you want to go to. So let’s move on to the next step of your perfect travel schedule!
Read more: My favourite solo travel destinations in Europe
The spine of your journey planning will consist of basic information. As such, it only makes sense for this part to be the backbone of your travel itinerary.
What you want to do once you’ve found your location is look up hotels, restaurants, transport, … of said location.
Let’s assume you’re going to fly to your destination. After all, if you’re driving, you won’t need to plan it out as much; just type the destination in your gps system and off you go. If you need to catch a flight, though, a little more planning goes into it.
Please consider taking a bus or a train if you’re not going far away from home. It’s a lot better for the environment and it’s probably something different than what you’re used to. That being said, let’s move on, assuming you want to fly to your destination.
Looking up flights online is all the hype now, and if you know what you’re doing, you can get some great deals out of it. Here are some tips to help you find the cheapest flights possible:
Use multiple websites. Not all meta flight search engines display all airlines, so combine them to get the best possible results. My favourite flight websites include Google Flights, Skyscanner, Cheapflights, Kayak, Momondo, Skiplagged and Cheapflightsfinder.
Set up email alerts. If you’ve found a flight you like but the price is too high, set up an email alert. This way, you’ll get an email when the price for that flight changes and you might be able to do some great deals.
Turn on incognito mode (Control / ⌘ – Shift – N) and delete your browser cache to prevent the websites from using your past browsing behaviour to increase flight prices. (This is one of the most heated debate topics in the travel industry and many people don’t believe this helps. I, however, believe it doesn’t hurt to try)
Be flexible on your dates. The more flexible you are, the more chance you have of finding cheap airfare.
Once you’ve found the flight that is right for you, you can go ahead and book that. Make sure to have a hard copy of the flight reservation as well as a digital one. You never know what might go wrong. (Also, this hard copy is the start of your physical travel itinerary. Yay!)
Note: for some people, it might be a good idea to hire a rental car from the airport to get around more quickly. I don’t know a lot about that, though. I’m just putting it out there that this is something you may want to look into.
As a student, my travel budget is rather limited. This is why I prefer sleeping in hostels over hotels: they’re cheaper and most of them provide similar services of high quality.
My favourite hostel booking website is Hostelworld. Click the image below to go to their website.
Another advantage of hostels is that you can get to know other travelers from all over the world. Other cheap (or free) possibilities include Couchsurfing, overnight transportation, Airbnb (get €35 off your next trip by signing up through this link!), house sitting and sleeping in public places.
Related: How to find cheap accommodation as a solo traveller
I probably spend most of my time working on a travel itinerary looking for restaurants that look interesting.
However, this really depends on your personal taste. Food is something you can spend as much or as little money on as you’d like to. That being said, it’s entirely possible to survive on $25 a day. One of my favourite places to look for restaurants online is Tripadvisor. Everyone knows it, everyone has used it at some time, and everyone likes it. Therefore, I’m not going to explain how it works in this post – let’s just say that’s general knowledge.
If you want to find a restaurant where you can eat like the true locals, here are some tips.
The next step of making your travel itinerary will involve finding activities you want to do. These activites depends entirely on your personal preference and on the personalities of you and your travel buddies.
On the one hand, an advantage of travelling alone is that you get to choose everything you want to do. On the other hand, if you travel with other people, you might do things you never would have done otherwise.
The kind of activities you’re going to include in your travel itinerary depends mostly on what kind of trip you’ll be taking. If you’re camping in the wild, there’s no need to find a lot of projects to do on your vacation. By contrast, if you’re going on a city trip for three or four days, you will have to spend some time figuring out what you want to do.
That being said, there is no right or wrong choice. The point of traveling is doing exactly what you want to do and freeing yourself from the daily grind.
So if anyone recommends something to you but you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it.
There are always people who like to do sports when they’re abroad. If you’re not one of these, feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph. If you are, though, allow me to introduce you to some kinds of sports you can do while on a holiday.
Once again, this is a category that pretty much applies to every kind of travel out there. Food is a great way to find out about your host culture and to try and live like a local. Here are some possibilities if you want to add food-related activities into your travel itinerary.
Related: How to find cheap food and drinks as a solo traveller
Admittedly, adventurous activities aren’t for everyone. Some people are born with the adventurous gene in them. These are the people who live for the adrenaline rush. Others, not so much. If you’re one of the adrenaline junkies, or if you want to try something that will scare you, keep reading.
Learning things is a great way to become richer without getting more wealthy. When you learn something, you get knowledge that you can use for the rest of your life. And isn’t that more valuable than anything money could buy?
For this one, I’m not going to make a list of things you can do, because it really all comes down to personal preference. You could take ceramics classes if that’s something that speaks to you, but if it doesn’t, great. This is where you get to be creative and do what you REALLY want to.
One of the main points of travelling is to get a glimpse into the lives of others. You want to know what the differences and similarities are between your home culture and the culture you’re visiting. If you’re only staying somewhere for a short time, however, it could prove difficult to see these things.
If you’re like me, incorporating culture into your travel itinerary is one of the most important things to keep in mind.
But let’s not forget culture in a more specific sense: architecture, music, art, history, customs. These are much easier to notice and look for. Here are some ideas.
By now, the hardest part of planning your travel itinerary is over. Congratulations! From here on out, it’s smooth sailing until the end and you can start looking forward to your next, perfectly scheduled, trip to wherever. I might even say you could stop after this step. But I suggest you don’t, because this is where the fun really starts.
Though you might be tempted to schedule your journey as closely as possible, I urge you to leave some space for imagination, emergencies and flashes of spontaneity. If you don’t do that, you’ll be stuck with your timetable and you’ll find yourself not enjoying your journey as much as you could (and should) be.
Situational sketch: you’re in a hostel on your first solo trip and you’ve made some new friends. One of them asks you if you want to explore the city with them tomorrow, but you already have plans. That sucks.
I made many mistakes when I went to Dublin, and one of the biggest ones was that I over-planned everything.
The point I’m trying to make is that you lose parts of your ability to be spontaneous if you plan too much. I agree that having some kind of security blanket, or something to fall back on, can feel reassuring. However, I’ve also never heard anyone say they regret doing something spontaneous as opposed to regretting NOT doing something.
This step applies mostly – if not only – to people who travel with friends, family, colleagues, … If you’re travelling by yourself (or if you’re creating your travel itinerary along with your travel companions), feel free to disregard this step and move on to the next one.
At this point, you might feel like your travel itinerary is pretty much perfect. It’s not. You’re not the only person who is going on this trip. If you’re like me and you enjoy planning everything out for everyone in advance, you should take some time to consider the feelings and needs of those people you’re traveling with.
Even your soul mate could want and expect very different things than what you’ve been crafting up. Make sure you consult them before finalising your plans and putting the final touches on your travel itinerary.
This step is also very important when you feel like you know your travel mates enough to make decisions for them. I’m not trying to jeopardize any relationships, but you don’t know enough. You really do need to keep them in mind and ask them if they’re okay with what you’ve come up with.
That’s right! Now that you know for sure where you’re going and which activities you’re going to be doing, it’s time to buy a map. Side note: this could also be a great opportunity to come together with anyone you might be traveling with. Get some coffee and food, take out a notebook and start discussing your trip and getting hyped!
A map can be an excellent way to visualize your trip. The kind of map you’re going to be using also depends on the kind of trip you’re going to be taking. If you’ll be road tripping through the USA, buying a map of the streets in New York City isn’t going to get you very far.
Getting right down to it: indicate your activities / stops / cities on the map. This will give you a better view of your schedule and it’ll make you realise whether or not your trip is actually doable. It can also help you find the best way to get from one place to the next.
Yes! If you got this far, be sure to give yourself and your friends a big high-five. This is the last step of your travel itinerary. In this step, you have to carefully and thoroughly go over everything one last time. Check if you:
Once you’ve checked everything on that list and fixed any potential problems, there’s really nothing more to do than pack your bags and wait until you can get going. I truly hope you’ll make the best of your travels, and you’ll enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing this guide for you.
By now, you should have a pretty good idea of how to make the perfect travel schedule.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. I hope you’re happy with the way your travel itinerary turned out and I hope you found this guide somewhat useful. If you did, please be sure to share it with your friends and to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram.
Are you someone who always plans too much or do you prefer to take things as they come without a fully fleshed-out travel itinerary?
Once again, thanks for reading!
-S
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