Bon Voyage: Travel on a Budget
- Shiuology
- Apr 18, 2019
- 4 min read
Studying abroad gives exchange students the amazing perk to travel locally or venture nearby countries. Yet, with air-tickets, accommodation and food expenses, travelling can be costly! Living with a tight budget, exchange students often need to seek various ways to cut costs. Having done several trips to nearby French cities and nearby European countries, I have come up with 4 tips, that could be useful for you to make your excusions wallet-friendly!
University Association Trips
Student associations of your universities abroad organise weekend trips regularly to nearby cities with almost everything planned and arranged for you! The prices of these trips also very reasonable and you will expect each of them costs 15 euros to 50 euros depending on where and how long it is. Studying in Toulouse, I always want to visit the cultural monuments or UNESCO heritage sites in nearby towns. Toulouse-based student organisations, ESN and EIMA have been organising weekend trips to Albi, Carcassonne and Cordes-sur-Ciel.
After visiting to Gaillac & Cordes-sur-Ciel with EIMA, I think joining these uni-arranged trips are worth the money. First, you can travel to places of far proximity. For example, unless you have a car, travelling Cordes-sur-Ciel could be a hassle. With coaches arranged by EIMA, you can reach the site without getting a shuttle-bus after a 2hr train ride.
Second, you can visit places that normally cater group travellers. Before going to Cordes-sur-Ciel, EIMA also planned a wine tasting session in a local winery in Gaillac, which was an amazing experience. You can get to know more about the brewing process as well as try out house wine. It is very difficult to arrange wine-tasting trips by yourself and joining wine trips organised by other external organisations could be expensive as they tend to charge more.
Third, you can visit with a bunch of Erasmus friends! It is amazing to go on the wine trip with people I know well! Along the journey, you will also meet other Erasmus students from not only your university, but also other neighbouring universities. With lunch and transport included, the Gaillac & Cordes-sur-Ciel trip was only worth 17 euros!
Off-peak Travelling
Travelling off-peak is essential as the price could be a lot cheaper than travelling during holidays. Of course, most of our long holidays happen during vacation periods, such as Christmas and Easter. Yet, for a weekend getaway, you can get nice travel deals! Transport services companies, such as OUI bus and SNCF will offer deals such as 15 euros to Bordeaux, 10 euro to Marseilles… Sometimes, budget airlines send promotional deals as well. I have once received a promotional email from the airline company Volotea, a return flight to Venice only costs 60 euros .
Since many Erasmus students arrange their own classes, many deliberately spare one or two days from their timetable, such as Thursdays or Fridays for travelling. This semester, I managed to free my Thursdays and Fridays and visited several nearby towns. Having spent 20 euros, I went to Bordeaux for a day trip with my friends and it was a blast!
Venture with a Group of Friends
Travel with a group of friends is another way to save money as the same cost can be split by more people, i.e. ‘economies of scale’ (learnt that in IB Business management). This could be useful when you are travelling to places with higher living costs, such as the capital cities.
The ideal number of group travelling I personally will recommend is 3 to 4, as Airbnb for 3 or 4 persons are tend to be cheaper and a room in a hostel tend to be 4 beds. Even booking a hotel room with 3 beds are cheaper! Yet, it all depends on your preference! When I am travelling to Paris with my other two friends during Christmas and New Year’s Eve, we stayed in a hotel in 5e arrondissement (highly recommended area). After a 5-day stay, each of us paid around 156 euros overall for a hotel with a walking distance to Notre Dame and Shakespearean Bookstore.
Another advantage to travel in groups is that you can split the cost of travelling. When my friends and I were travelling from Paris to Toulouse, we only bought one ticket with hold luggage. The rest we bought are the cheapest tickets you can get from discounted flights. Dividing the sum by 3, we are paying less than travelling alone and we make good use of the luggage limit as well.
Besides, you can try different dishes without paying all! When travelling with a group of friends, you can try more food as everyone can get something different from the menu. While sharing, You can try out local specialties without ordering all the food for yourself as we all know ‘sharing is caring’!
Alternative Modes of Transportation
Looking up for various possible ways to travel could help reduce costs as sometimes, travelling by plane can be cheaper than by train! Therefore, researching for possible travel plans in advance is key! The cheapest among various modes of transport is definitely coach, yet you might have to sacrifice more time and comfort as sleeping on coach could be quite an experience. Train could also be an alternative choice. They tend to be cheaper than flights and you do not need to pay for luggage fees! My friend and I took a train from Lyon to Geneva and it costs twice cheaper than flights.
In addition, when looking for cheap tickets, you are advised to use ‘Incognito window’ as sometimes, cookies on ‘normal window’ prohibit websites to show the cheapest price available. Moreover, make good use of travel websites, such as Expedia and Booking.com, to compare prices and find more budget-friendly ways to travel to your dream vacation destinations!
That’s all for today! As Easter is approaching, I have to pack my bags for my upcoming adventures! If you guys want to know more about how to travel on a budget, check out my friend, Alice’s blog post: How to Travel For Less. Also, if you are interested in learning basic, conversational French for getting around French cities, check out my latest blog post: French it UP: Lost in France, funded by Stevenson scholarship!
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À suivre!
Shiuology
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