I have always been interested in travelling and seeing new places. Maybe it was Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants that sparked my interest many years ago, but as far as I can remember, I have always wanted to explore the world. So far, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel a lot while living in my twenties and believe it or not, it was school that got me there many times. My general life strategy has been to work, save, travel!
It all started in High School when I heard about the Grade 11 Europe trip. I spent my summers working at a day camp to save up for that trip. It was a 2-week trip that was fast-paced and brought us to 6 countries (Italy, France, England, Austria, Switzerland and Germany), which was an awesome introduction to travelling.
My second trip to Europe was through this epic history class in Dawson (hopefully it still exists). The class focuses on one country for the semester, where you learn the country’s history and culture and finally visiting that place for two weeks. The year I took the class the destination was Spain, and yes time spent in that beautiful place drinking sangria counted as class hours! There were still educational elements and work involved like giving my semester’s presentation on Isabelle of Castile in front of her actual grave, which is pretty cool when you embrace your inner nerd. Spending 2 weeks in various cities across one country was a completely different style of travelling compared to my high school experience and I found that I loved it as well.
My third and greatest trip to Europe was a 7 month adventure through Concordia’s student exchange program. I lived in Amsterdam for 6 months and backpacked Europe for a month after the semester was done.
I took trips during the semester as well. It’s mind-blowing how cheap it is to travel within Europe once you are already there. While at first staying in the hostels might sound intimidating, it opens you up to meeting people from all around the world, hearing about places you missed on your “to visit list” and some really fun times. Hostelworld is my favourite site for hostels, their reviews and rating have not let me down yet.
I was travelling with friends so we also stayed in Airbnbs. Depending on the city it could be cheaper, so research is key. While well known I still recommend TripAdvisor for key activities, and to keep an eye out for top local restaurants.
These trips were the first major travelling where I (along with my friends) controlled the pace and itinerary. We found ourselves following a hybrid style of my first two trips, exploring some cities and countries in depth while others in a short and sweet day or two.
With Covid-19 indefinitely suspending travel plans, sometimes it feels like we might never travel again. I know we will beat this pandemic and when we do, if you are in a position to leverage school to allow you to travel, I hope this inspired you to do so.