Traveling while abroad can be a very fun and rewarding experience. Before I discuss my experience while traveling to Germany, I would like to share my advice to anyone who is planning on exploring other countries while abroad. The first piece of advice I have is to plan travel early. I ended up paying more money for later tickets because I didn’t have a plan on where I wanted to go and when I wanted to travel. My suggestion is after receiving your schedule, make a calendar for travel dates and places and to buy tickets at least 2 weeks ahead of your travel date. Another piece of advice is that you should use hotwire to book hotels for cheap. I was advised to stay in hostels, but was always nervous to sleep in a room with other strangers. A cheap solution for me was to use hotwire and I got to stay in very nice hotels for a very cheap price.

Some of my friends used Airbnb as well but when comparing the prices including the large cleaning fee that most of the Airbnb’s have, hotwire ended up being cheaper. Another suggestion is to invest in a good backpack. I only brought a backpack on my trips and I paid for a pretty cheap backpack that ended up being a pain to lug around due to it not having the correct support for my back. My final suggestion is to engage in as many cultural experiences as possible while traveling. I ended up doing this while in Germany and it was my favorite trip that I took while abroad. I tried many traditional German foods, listened to traditional German music and went to the famous German Christmas markets. I highly suggest going to Germany around Christmas time, if possible, because the cities are transformed into a Christmas wonderland. Traveling really opens your eyes to different cultures and was a critical part of my study abroad experience.