Traveling Tips...

view of the Algarve Region, Portugal

downtown Faro

I just got back from Portugal!!! I randomly went on a ski trip to the Alps a few months ago, and I ended up meeting these two people who are living in Faro, Portugal. We hit it off and they invited me to visit. And you better believe I took them up on it!!


Anyway, instead of blabbing incessantly about my thoughts and feelings about study abroad, I thought I'd share a few traveling tips I've learned along the way...

1) Make friends!!! 
The more involved you are, the more people you will meet, the more places you have to stay! After almost one year in Europe, I now have free places to stay in Dublin, Brighton, Amsterdam, Tuebingen, Konstanz, Munich, Berlin, Estonia, Australia, Faro, Rome....all over the place!! And all these people have a free place to stay in San Francisco! Networking...it works!! Couchsurfing is definitely where it's at!!
http://www.couchsurfing.org/

2) Cheap airlines:
-Ryan Air
-Easy Jet
-German Wings
-Air Berlin
-Iceland Express
-Wizz Air

Check these airlines periodically, if you can be flexible, you can find great deals. Sometimes German Wings does a thing called "Blind Booking", where you get a list of cities you might visit, then you check off the cities you don't want to go to. Each check adds more to the price of your ticket (so if you are willing to go to any of the cities listed, you will have the cheapest possible flight). You don't know where you are going until your credit card goes through! Super fun! Be careful with these cheap airlines, they have a lot of small print--for example, my friend forgot to print off her Ryan Air boarding passes before she left, and they charged her 40 euros to print the tickets for her. Also, they charge 30 extra euros if you want to check a bag. Stuff like that. If you read the fine print and follow all the rules, you can find really great deals.

3) Trains
Ok, so the Eurorail really just isn't that cheap. At this point, you can find better deals on the airlines. They have all these different passes you can get, that allow you to go on certain trains to specific places within a certain number of days....I haven't found the tickets to be very realistic. And I've heard horror stories about people who didn't sign and date their ticket, meaning the ticket is invalid, and they've had to buy a completely new (and expensive) ticket right there on the train. (By the way, if you ever by a pass or a ticket and it has a place for a name and/or date, fill it in!! It's not valid if you don't!)

If you are traveling in Germany, you can sometimes find good deals on the Deutsche Bahn.
http://www.bahn.de/i/view/USA/en/index.shtml

If you look under "offers" you may find some good deals--every once in a while I found tickets from Tuebingen to Prague for about 60 euros. But if you plan on doing a lot of traveling within Germany, a Bahn Card is definitely worth it. The Bahn 25 Card will get you 25% off of travel within Germany, and the Bahn 50 Card will get you 50% off travel within Germany and 25% off certain travel in other countries. I've used my Bahn Card a million times--one trip to Berlin and it pays for itself. Students under 27 can get the Bahn 50 Card for half price. But if you mostly plan on traveling outside of Germany, I'd say check the airlines.

4) Rental Cars
Hmmmmmm, yea, too expensive and too complicated if you ask me. You can find automatic cars, but most cars here are manual, so if you don't drive stick, you're out. Most cities in Europe have a decent metro, so having a car really isn't necessary.

5) Ride Sharing
For travel in and around Germany, check out Mitfahrgelegenheit:
http://www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de/

This is great!! It's an organized ride share--safe hitchhiking! It was recommended by my program coordinator in Tuebingen, so I tried it out. Basically, drivers that are making a trip from one city to another who want someone to ride with them, for gas money or maybe just for company, will post their trip on the website. And if you're looking for a ride, you can go to the website, check out the trip you want to take, and see if there are any rides offered. If so, you call (or even text) the person and set it up. It's normally quicker and easier than the train (no changing trains and worrying about missed connections) and usually cheaper too. I got a ride to Berlin for 30 euros (Deutsche Bahn charges 60-130 euros) and to the Memmingen Airport (Ryan Air!) for 12 euros. It's a nice way to travel and an opportunity to meet new people! I made a new friend last time I went with Mitfahrgelegenheit, I highly recommend it!

So travel on! It's so easy you have no excuse not to!! Thanks again Gilman :)
http://www.iie.org/en/Programs/Gilman-Scholarship-Program

Praia do Faro, Portugal