I love traveling. Like, really love it. If I could, I would go to a different place every few weeks. There's only one problem: I'm a college student.
Sometimes, I look at people on Instagram or read travel blogs where the writer gets to travel to all of these exotic places, and I think, "Why can't my life be like that?" Then I remember. Those people on Instagram either have a ton of money and free time, or they have a really awesome job.
If you are like me and spend countless hours of your time pinning travel tips on your Pinterest board, looking at cool pictures on Instagram, or reading through travel blogs, then you have a serious case of wanderlust.
Like I mentioned earlier, it is really hard to travel when you are in college unless you have a lot of time and/or money. You might try to make plans to venture into the nearest city for one weekend, but then you realize that you have a term paper due the following Monday. Even if you are free, travel is always more fun when you have a partner, and your partner's schedule might not always be as free as yours. What about transportation? Do you have a car that is able to make the journey? What about gas?
Money is the deal breaker. If you go anywhere overnight, you need a place to stay. Food can also be expensive if you don't have a budget. I've never been one to let money influence my decisions, but it is getting increasingly hard to do. For instance, this coming summer, I was accepted into an ecology program where I would be living in South Africa for a month in order to study sharks. As much as I wanted to have that experience, I had to tell them no. I simply could not afford the program fees on top of a plane ticket.
In order to fulfill the travel bug, I try to plan small weekend trips. This past October, my friend and I went to Toronto for three days and stayed in a hostel. It was honestly so much fun, and I would recommend a short trip like that to anyone.
The decision to go to Toronto was a fairly easy one. It's only about four to five hours from school, so driving there was very simple. We managed the entire trip on a tank and a half of gas. The entire three-day trip cost us about $100 each, and one of our biggest expenses was parking in the city. To save money on lodging, we stayed in a hostel named Planet Traveler. For only $25 a night, we got free breakfast each morning, fast wifi, clean rooms with hot showers, and a very welcoming and knowledgeable staff. It was my first time staying in a hostel, but after that experience, I would definitely do it again.
To save money on food, we ate breakfast at the hostel every morning. We would also take some of the fruit they offered us for a snack later on while walking. For lunch one day, we went to the St. Lawrence Market. The market offers over 100 food and produce stands. Instead of buying individual meals, we walked around sampling. If we did see something we wanted to try, one of us would buy it, and then we would split it. At restaurants, we would do the same thing. When traveling, you don't want to eat huge meals that are just going to sit in your stomach. Not splurging on food also helped us to save money in order to be able to enjoy fun activities like the Royal Ontario Museum and the Steam Whistle Brewery Tour.
One aspect of the trip that we didn't plan for that ended up costing us a good amount of money was parking. Before leaving, we assumed that the hostel would have ample parking because that is what they stated on their website. Little did we know that "ample" parking was actually stalls behind the building that you had to pay $20 a night for. Because we couldn't use their parking, we had to park overnight in municipal parking. Then in the morning, we had to move the car before 7 a.m. to avoid larger parking fees. Before going to any city, research parking so that you know what to expect. Parking ended up being our greatest stressor and expense.
In the end, I would do a weekend trip again. I would just make sure to research the city a little more before leaving.
Most colleges are within a reasonable driving distance of some sort of city. If you are feeling the bite of the travel bug and want to go away, plan a small trip with some friends! Exploring a new and unfamiliar place can be exciting!
