What to Do
NomadicMatt – Love, love, LOVE this site! Lots of super helpful tips and tricks on how to get around, save money, and figure out what to do in countries and cities around the world. I've been using this site for a lot of my trip planning so far!
Thinklesstravelmore
Tripadvisor – Keep in mind this site has a generally older target audience, so you might have to look a little more to find things that are fun for younger travelers.
Neweuropetours.eu – This site(otherwise known as sandemans) has some great free walking tours brought to you by locals in the city that will make it fun to learn about the city you're in.
Fun Extras:
Festicket – if you’re into music festivals, check to see if there are any going on near where you’ll be!
GapYear - Thinking about taking a year off before or after school to travel? Check out this site to see if you qualify to volunteer in a new country and get your traveling paid for!
Google Maps (website / app) - Download the city map of your destination before you go to get around offline (helpful if you don't want to pay the big international data fees).
CityMaps2Go (app)– Similar to GoogleMaps, this app is able to show you where you are without using up all of your data.
Where to Stay
HostelWorld.com - When searching for a hostel to stay at, look for ones with thousands of reviews and quality ratings that fit your needs (I stay away from hostels with safety or cleanliness ratings less than 9).
Sidenote: If you're planning on going to Switzerland –
Balmers hostel sounds AWESOME! So many crazy events planned
for students traveling, but be aware that most are
probably pretty pricey!
Airbnb – This is a really great site where home owners actually let you stay IN THEIR HOME for a nightly fee that's way below what you'd pay at the hotel next door. Really cool way to live like a local in a new city; sometimes your host will even give you tips about where to go and what to do while you're in town! Keep in mind that this is probably not your best bet if you are by yourself, save the airbnbs for when you're traveling in groups.
If you're on a budget or just a brave traveler:
Hitchwiki– This is a site full of hitchhiking tips for those not wanting to pay for their traveling endeavors! I know a couple people who have tried this in Europe in the past, and they've loved it.
Couchsurfing – Too cheap to pay for hostels and airbnbs? Try couch surfing! Signup now: the sooner you do this the better! Make yourself sound both interesting and responsible so people are more likely to let you into their home.
Getting Around Europe
My first stop for flights is always SkyScanner. They make it super simple to browse a lot of sites to compare prices at the same time AND you can even see if it's cheaper to fly in or out on a different day than you were originally planning. Once you find a flight, the website redirects you to the airline's site to purchase your tickets. They also have a super user friendly app (yay!).
When looking for a cheap flights around Europe, make sure you don't forget about luggage fees! Most likely if you see a flight at a much lower price than you would expect there are crazy fees for checking bags or extremely strict carry-on limits. Check this out before you book to make sure you're really getting that great deal!
Short (Cheap) Flights
Skyscanner - Check this first. Just do it.
RyanAir (airline)- Allows one personal item (35cm x 20cm x 20cm) and one carry-on item (55cm x 40cm x 20cm & 10kg)
WowAir (airline)- Allows one personal item (42x32x25cm / 17x13x10in & 10kg / 22 lbs.) and one carry-on item (56x45x25cm / 22x18x10in & 12 kg / 26 lbs.).
Eurowings – low-fare calendar & group bookings & blind booking
Long Flights
Skyscanner - Check this first. Just do it.
Momondo - Similar to sky scanner, but I've heard it's a little bit better for longer flights rather than short ones.
WowAir
SeatGuru - This is a service offered by trip advisor that provides you with Aircraft seat maps, flight shopping and flight information.
GoogleFlights – Nice thing about GoogleFlights is that you plan out your whole big itinerary in one place! Say you're flying from London to Paris to Rome, you can plan both of those flights at the same time and decide when the best times to fly are while you're there.
NOTE: Make sure you buy your tickets directly from airline sites– if your flight for some reason gets cancelled, the airline can only rebook flights that they have sold on their own website.
ScottsCheapFlights – If you pay a membership fee, you get cheap international flight offers sent to you via email.
ThriftyTraveler — They also offer emails with flight deals as well as a lot of info on travel credit cards.
Ground Transportation
Rome2rio – This is seriously so cool! Simply put in where you are and where you want to go and Rome2Rio shows you all the possible ways of getting there. This includes flights, trains, buses, and ferries and shows you the average prices and travel times of selecting each route. Super helpful if you're not sure whether you want to fly or train around
Raileurope - Probably the best way to book a train ticket around
BlaBlaCar – This is basically a giant carpooling site that allows users to hitch a ride with people going to the same places they would like to go.
Extras
Tipping in Europe – 10% pretty much everywhere
The Chase Sapphire Card – by far the most recommended travel card I've encountered, with travel insurance, travel points, and zero foreign transaction fees.
Don’t even try to bring your discover card, it most likely won't work when you need it too and you'll rack up ATM fees because of it.
While having a credit card will save you a ton of time and ATM hassles, don't forget to have some cash on hand just in case. In many countries , cash is still king and will get you a lot further than card alone. About 50 euros (tops) will be able to cover an entire day of expenses in case of emergency.
Arriving early for your program — ask past students or program coordinator how feasible this is. most likely there's a specific move in date for study abroad students, so arriving before this date might mean you'll need to grab a hotel for the first few nights.
CityPass – These are offered in most of the larger, more touristy cities and allow you to use public transportation and visit museums for a lower cost. I'm not generally a big museum girl, so I pass on these mostly but if you're into it try it out!
ISIC card – These tend to be a little less popular now, but they're essentially just student ID cards that are recognized internationally. Might be helpful if you're trying to get student discounts on attractions in a new city.
Lycamobile – This has been recommended to me as one of the better discount phone plans that you can get in
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