Student Travel | How I Fit Travel into College Life

A lot of my content on this blog has been travel-based. This is because for a period of time I was travelling every few months, or, at times, even more frequently. It started off with Portland in September, Budapest in January, Berlin in June, Nottingham in November, Barcelona in January, and Kerry in August. All within two years of college. 

How did I do it? Read on!

Get Your Priorities Straight

How much do you want to travel? Is it on the top of your list? Or could you think of better ways to spend your hard earned dollah? Or is it the only way you want to spend it!? You have to start realizing where your passions lie. New clothes? Or, new city? New phone? Or, plane ticket? Work an extra hour? Or, stay in bed an extra hour? A bucket list is a nice place to start for some people. What do you most want to see? What countries are you dying to delve into, and experience their culture? Or, if you're like me, look at the cheapest flights, and what city looks the most interesting, for the best price. European cities were my go-to in this circumstance. 

You Gotta Werk

SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. SAVE. 

Got a saving scheme in work? SAVE.

Got a Post Office account that makes it that bit more difficult to withdraw money? SAVE.

Got a Credit Union account? SAVE.

Got a part-time job that's offering you more hours? SAVE.

I worked every weekend in college up until now. I always said yes to the extra hour or two when it was offered. I always used the saving scheme offered to us. I put by €20+ a week in first year, and then €50+ a week in second year. At the end of a few months, where I managed to save up a lump sum in my bank account, I would take out 80-90% of it, and stash it somewhere that it was not easily accessible. I have a Post Office account where I stash some extra dollah, and when it goes there, it is not allowed to come back out unless it is for a travel related reason. It's too much effort to get at for frivolous expenses anyway. 

Just on the topic of finance, picking somewhere that has the same currency as your own country always feels like a winner. No confusing conversion rates, no constant calculations over every purchase, unless you head to Budapest like I did, where everything is dirt cheap and it is as cheap to eat out as it is in.

You Gotta Rise&Grind Too Baby

It's all well and good working every weekend and saving all the dollah bills, and paying for flights and accommodation for your inter-semester break, or even for mid-term/study week, but you gotta remember your studies too! It depends on what year you're in, on how much work you absolutely have to put in. Unless you're me, and you have to work your butt off 24/7 to feel in anyway accomplished. What I mean by this is, in first year, (at least in Maynooth) your grades don't go to your degree, and you just have to pass into the next year. So, you might not be as stressed to get all your work done before you go away.

However, if you do have a lot to do, or a lot of assignments due for when you come back from your holidays that took place during study-week, then you got some hard-grafting to do! There is no easy way around this. You just got to work hard. By working hard, I don't mean break your balls in the last week of lectures so you can hand in your half-assed assignments when you come back. I mean work at your assignments on an on-going basis. Once you receive your assignment task, sit down and research it. Find out what is necessary to complete it, make a list of all of the steps you have to take, and start right away. 

I don't know how many assignments I have managed to hand in early, jet off for a few days, and come back stress-free because I didn't leave it to the last minute. Be the friend that everyone hates. Be the friend who is always in the library, always doing the readings before class, always has their own notes from independent research. Be the friend who has already handed in their assignment when someone comes looking for help on theirs. People will be jealous, but you've worked hard for this. Reward your hard work with travel. Work harder, travel farther. Give them a damn good reason to be jealous. You deserve it!

If this sounds like a load of bxll, then travel really isn't top of your priorities. Go back to the top of this post, and re-evaluate. Maybe travel isn't on your list!

Plan Well In Advance

Keep that bucket-list/cheap-list going, and make it early. Always add to it. Read blogs (check my posts eyyy), scroll through Instagram accounts, spend some time on Lonely Planet, find where you want to go. What do you want to see? Where do you want to go first? Then, don't hesitate. Book it! Holibops are hella cheap, hella early. Forward-thinking is the way to go in this instance. Then, you know you have to work hard and submit your work on time, so you don't have the chance to subconsciously decide against the trip because you think you have too much work to do. If you have it booked in advance, you're on the ball, and ready to go.

 Line up those rewards like gummy bears at the end of every chapter. 

(I roll into my exams...what? Don't you?)

Off-Peak Perks

This tip is just personal preference, but I like to book city-breaks at off-peak times. By that I mean I like to book typically sunny/summery cities in January. For one, it is a hell-of-a-lot cheaper. I feel like the weather is a big factor in this, as it is an off-peak time tourist wise, but also, because it's after Christmas. Feck-all people go on holidays after Christmas because they can't afford it, but book it in advance and you'll get a cheap holiday, kill the post-Christmas blues, and you won't have to deal with streets mobbed with tourists. 

Win. Win. Win.

Another perk of there being less tourists around, is that you feel like much less of a tourist yourself. This really helps, especially when you book an Air BnB, because you definitely feel like much more of a local for the week, or what-have-you. With regard to that, I feel much safer in a city when it isn't bustling with tourists, and I don't feel like a tourist. It's comforting to be asked for directions in a city that's foreign to you. I feel like during busier times, there are more scumbags around who are trying to trick tourists with schemes and robberies. Off-Peak safety! Another win. 

Be Realistic

If you love the idea of jetting off really often, and you do it as often as I did, or more, but you're starting to feel a little tired of it, tired of the sporadic few days in a city you wish you had more time in, or you're too tired to face another jam-packed long weekend. City breaks are genuinely tiring. Myself and Sam have decided that we want to do a longer-haul trip the next time we take off, and that means sacrifices. 

That means we need much more money, many more plans, a lot of hard work, but also, giving up a lot of things. We just accepted that we weren't going to be going away for a long time. We accepted that we needed to work and save as much as possible. We will be resisting cheap flights, accommodation, and we will be working hard. Although, I have a few friends in different parts of the world at the minute, and I might not be able to resist the free accommodation! 

Guilty!

But do what you can, travel as far as your heart desires. The hard work is worth it! Trust me.

Do you like to travel often? How do you fit it into your schedule?

As always, thank you for reading!

Lots of love

How amazing in the artwork on this post?! Isn't it bloody gorgeous?

My girlfriend Sam is a ridiculously talented illustrator who is now going to be plastered all over my blog, not just on my theme. If you like her work, be sure to go over to her social media, her online portfolio, her website shows you all of her work, where you can buy it, and she even pens a monthly blog post herself! Check her out, give her a like, follow and show your friends!

Thank you for your continued support of my material, go show some love to Sam!

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