While studying abroad, you’ll likely be dazzled by the charm and excitement of living and learning in a foreign country.

Some students are so consumed by wanderlust that, after a week or so, they feel the need to discover something new. I was one of those students. I studied abroad in Ireland and it was just as thrilling and amazing as I thought it would be, however, I needed a change of pace.

Nearly all study abroad programs include built-in weekends that are available for independent travel. Formulating a practical plan for a weekend trip is difficult, especially because your parents won’t be around to help you make your flights, book your hotels and generally prevent chaos from ensuing. There are a few basic steps to take to ensure that your weekend trip will be worth the money.        

Decide where to go.       

Paris, London and Madrid may sound like magical weekend getaways, however, you have to take into account what you can squeeze into two to three days. Originally, I planned on traveling to London, chilling with Harry Styles, meeting up for tea with the Queen and exploring every inch of the city. After some research, I quickly learned that I would only be able to experience a fraction of the city over the weekend. I turned my search elsewhere -- to Belgium. Brussels, the capital, seemed like the perfect destination: it had architecture, exciting things and it was small enough to explore and absorb in a weekend. I settled on Brussels and thought, “Belgium waffles, here I come.”        

Decide who to go with.             

This is nearly as important as choosing a country to visit. The group you travel with largely affects your experience in a country. Make sure you travel with at least one other person, and if you’re terrible with directions and airports, make sure that person can compensate for your weaknesses. Having a big, diverse group can be fun, but it’s a bit of a tradeoff. While a crowd can be fun, it can be difficult to walk around a capital city with 10 or 15 people.         

Find transportation to and from the airport.         

The airplane is not going to pull right up to where you live and let you hop on. Most of the time, you’ll have to take a taxi or bus to the airport and it’s important to budget for this because it can be expensive. Similarly, the airplane won’t drop you off at the hostel, hotel, or bed and breakfast of your choice, so you need to coordinate your flight arrival time with public or private transportation schedules.

Find a flight.         

Unless you’re rolling in cash, you’re probably going to want a cheap flight. In order to get it cheap, you need to book a flight as early as possible because the prices spike as the departure date arrives. I recommend using Ryanair if you’re traveling in Europe. It’s also important to print all of your receipts for your records.

Find a place to stay.         

No doubt, you’ve heard that the most affordable places to stay while traveling are  hostels. They are, essentially, like living in a camp cabin except you’re sharing bunks with complete strangers. I don’t enjoy sitting next to strangers on public transportation, much less sleeping in close proximity to them, so I opted to find an inexpensive hotel in the city center. These are more difficult to find, so another option would be Airbnb.com. This website offers dozens of housing options in over 190 countries. These housing options range from bed and breakfasts to apartments and they’re always willing to accommodate how long you plan on staying, whether it is two days or two weeks.        

Plan what to do.         

This varies from city to city. Hopefully, you’ve chosen your destination well and you’ll have a reasonable range of things to choose from. While in Belgium, I grouped my itinerary into two categories: things to see and things to do. Things to see included visiting the European Parliament building, the Grande Palace, the Manneken Pis and several other architectural achievements. Things to do included trying Belgian waffles, eating Belgian chocolate and getting lost in the city, just for fun. Once you get a good ratio of what you want to do and see, plan your schedule so that you’re just busy enough to stay interested, but not so busy that you get stressed out and can’t enjoy the trip.        

Pick what to wear.        

The temperature of the country you visit for the weekend could be wildly different from the one you’re studying abroad in. Additionally, some countries have more modest styles and it’s important to do a little research, beforehand, to ensure that you respect their culture.        

Plan for setbacks.        

There is no way that you’ll make it through the entire weekend trip without at least one setback. You’ve got to have a physical plan of how to deal with these situations and an emotional plan to ensure you don’t crumble after one little thing goes wrong. When I arrived in Belgium, we didn’t realize that Belgium had just won a match in the World Cup. Because of our lack of research, we were terrified when screaming, drunk people filled the streets, shouting and blaring horns until the wee hours of the morning. If we had known better, we might have planned for the next day to start a little later, but we adjusted because we remained flexible.

Planning a trip on your own can be terrifying, yet exhilarating. When I look back on my trip to Brussles, I’m able to take pride in the fact that I planned an amazing and overall successful weekend in a foreign country, without my parents.