Most people are only students once, here are a few travel related ideas to add to your student bucket-list to make the most of your time at school.

Study or Live Abroad

You’re a student – go study! Seriously though, I studied for 1 year in England and it was my favourite year of university. You many not actually learn that much from school (I certainly didn’t), but you gain so much independence and cultural awareness. Plus I’m still friends with people from my exchange. in fact we do a trip together every year.

Most universities will have some sort of study abroad program where you only have to pay the fees associated with your home university. Even if your university doesn’t have a study abroad program there are a lot of other options that can provide a similar experience. I think living in a foreign country should be added to any student bucket-list.

Study Abroad Bucket-list Inspirations

• Co-op or intern abroad
• Archaeology & anthropology field research programs like Institution for Field Research
• Language Immersion School – Go Overseas has a good selection of language schools

Extreme Budget Trip

Budget travel is both a necessity and a right of passage for student travelers. There are only a few years when you can get away with sleeping on airport floors or eating beans and rice for weeks on end. You’ll be forced to become more resourceful and responsible with your money which will serve you in the long run. Not only can you see the world on your student budget, you’ll have some great stories to scare your mother.

Budget Trip Student Bucket-list Inspiration

• Backpack South East Asia or Eastern Europe
• Exchange work for lodging with sites like Workaway
• Hitch hike Europe (preferably with a friend)

Party Trip

Being able to recover from hang overs is my super power, or least it was until I turned 24. Suddenly I couldn’t drink till 3am then go one a run at 10am. Recovering from a hang over became much harder no matter how hard I tried. As sad as this is, it happens to every including you. Take full advantage of the alcohol tolerance and miraculous recovery time developed over your student years and plan a massive blow out trip.

Party Trip Student Bucket-list Inspiration

• A Vegas Weekend (or any other city known for parties like Budapest)
• A music festival (Tomorrowland or Ultra)
• Full moon party in Thailand or pretty much anywhere is Southern Thailand
• St Patrick’s Day in Dublin

Travel Solo

Part of being a student is discovering yourself and becoming more comfortable and confident with who you are. One of the best ways to do that is to travel solo. Solo traveling for the driest time is pretty scary, but facing your fears and getting out of your comfort zone is a good thing. Shit happens when you travel and you’ll have to figure out how to deal with it. I started traveling solo when I was a student and I’m very glad I did because it is now one of my favourite methods of traveling.

Travel Solo Student Bucket-list Inspiration

• Get a working visa for Australia – tons of solo traveler congregate there
• Backpack in Iceland
• Euro-rail across Europe

Friend Vacation

Student’s have a lot of free time, probably more free time then most people will have for the rest of their lives. Take full advantage of this and plan a trip with all of your friends! After everyone graduates it becomes harder and harder to see your friends, let alone all of them at the same time. People move across the county, don’t have holidays or just generally have mismatching calendars. While you’re a student everyone having the same holidays and add traveling together is a great bonding experience.

Group travel can be difficult at times, but very rewarding when done right – see my post for some tips on how to plan a group trip well.

Friend Vacation Student Bucket-list Inspiration

• Rent a cheap vila in Bali or Greece and just enjoy the fact that everyone is together
• Spend your entire vacation chatting on the Camino
• A university club trip – lots of university club will organize group trips, like on I took with the Expedition society to Romania