Tips and Tricks for Backpacking : A Student Guide
One of the best ways to travel and see the world is to go backpacking. As a student, it offers you a cheap and exciting way to have new experiences and to meet new friends. Travel opens the soul and expands your mind. It’s a fantastic thing to do as a student during the summertime, or maybe as a gap year before you head off to university. Alone or with a group of friends is great. Below are some of the best backpacking tips to help you make the right choices for your next trip away.
Benefits of travel for students
Before we get into the specific backpacking tips and tricks, what are the benefits of travel for students? There are so many advantages to going travelling, in the UK or abroad, during your summer break as a student. These include:
Build your confidence
The first benefit of travelling is that it helps you to build up your confidence. Living and working in a different location with a different culture, language, food, and other ways of living help you to grow in confidence and prepare for the obstacles and positive challenges of life post-studies.
Compassion and empathy
Seeing different places, meeting people from different backgrounds and broadening your awareness of different ways of life helps you to build compassion and empathy for others. Such awareness helps you to develop as a person, learning more about your own life and where you want to be in the future.
New friendships
If you go backpacking with friends, you’ll create bonds that will last a lifetime. If you travel alone, you will always meet people along the way, staying in hostels, travelling certain legs with others, and touring new cities with new friends from all over the world.
Problem solving skills
Travelling brings out the best in you in terms of building skills to last a lifetime. Working out walking and hiking trails, directions, navigating transportation hubs, tickets, and metro systems in foreign languages, must all be worked out by you. It’s the best way to learn how to get through life effectively.
Backpacking tips and tricks
No, onto backpacking specifically. Here are some pointers to help you make the most of your trip.
Planning your journey
Before you leave, it’s best to have a good idea of where you are going and when. It’s good to have some flexibility, of course, but research different countries and cities that you might want to visit. Where is the best for history and sightseeing? Where is best for nightlife? Know the route you’re going to take and a loose idea of how long you want to stay in each place.
Get your budget in order
Split your budget into different categories, such as transportation, accommodation, food, activities, souvenirs, and that little extra for emergencies. Your planning and choice of destination will rely on the budget you have to play with.
Visa
Unfortunately, since Brexit, UK residents can no longer travel through the EU and the Schengen-area as easily as it once was. Although you don’t need a Visa to enter the EU, there are restrictions on how long you can stay there. Similarly, if you are travelling to other areas of the world, check whether you need a Visa and what you must do to get one, before you travel.
Careful packing
Be strategic in what and how you pack for the trip. The less you pack, the easier your travel will be, but you don’t want to be left short while you are away. Choose clothing that you can mix and match, that you can layer, and that suits both daytime hiking and activities in hot weather and evening dinners and strolls when it’s cooler at night. Ensure that your travel documents, ID, and money, are securely packed away so it is difficult for pickpockets to access.
Get some travel insurance
You might not have even thought about travel insurance, but it is important to have some. Good travel insurance helps to cover you should you suffer from illness or injury abroad, for damage to certain items and goods that you are travelling with, stolen cash, or cancelled/delayed travel that is beyond your control. You can also apply for a UK Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) that lets you get necessary state healthcare in the European Economic Area (EEA).
Noise cancelling headphones
One of the biggest tips we can give you, is to invest in good noise cancelling headphones. Staying in hostels, sometimes sleeping on buses and trains overnight, are all challenging locations. Headphones that cancel out the noise and a good eye mask can make the best of the situation and make sure you have the best chance of getting some sleep.
Protect your skin and stay hydrated
When you are backpacking (and travelling generally), the likelihood is that you’ll be outside in the sun for large portions of the day. Make sure that you have good protection on you at all times. Sun cream is essential but also have adequate cover from the sun in the form of a cap or other head gear and stay hydrated at all times. Carry a refillable water bottle with you, one that can be securely stored and easy to reach on your backpacking gear. It can get hot out there, so you need to be prepared!
Final Thoughts
What do you think to our backpacking tips for students? It’s one of the best ways to find a cheap holiday as a student, opens up your mind to new experiences, cultures, food, history, and language, and gives you memories and stories to last a lifetime. These backpacking tips will stand you in good stead whether you are heading out around the UK on hiking trails and camping for a week or interrailing around Europe for the whole summer. Where is your favourite backpacking holiday destination?