Just around the corner

When you are living in Amsterdam, you are nearby many places that abound in attraction, history, landscapes and traditions But how to get to know this places?

Before coming to Amsterdam, I never thought that it would be so easy to pack my bag and face a new adventure in a new place. First of all because in Argentina, where I am from, I’m not that used to do it, and also because I thought I didn’t have enough money to visit everything I wanted to. However, I hope this experience had changed my way of thinking when going back home, because I have learnt that traveling has never been easier. Low cost and budget friendly buses, hostels, free tours and trip advisor are going to be your best friends during this time.

What are the essentials required? Time to travel, small budget and desire for exploring.

First of all, a good idea is to have a list of the places you want to visit, obviously tentative, but this will make you determine the best and desirable option to get there. And then, star with the research. Goeuro is a website which I use a lot because it compares the prices and length of flights, trains and buses to the places you want, providing you the most suitable option. Then, of course, Skyscanner and Google Flights which allow you to compare flight prices. These often give you the option to choose from budget airlines such as EasyJet and Ryanair .

Next, when it comes to accomodation, HostelWorld shows options of different hostels that are usually easily accessible. Also, Airbnb and Booking.com . It is always better to be in a good location, but this can be expensive. In this case, don’t worry too much, because in most cities it is really easy to use the metro or bus to get around.

Now that you considered all the options, ask your friends and the people you know if they want to join you and start seeing what to do during those days, which for me sums up to starting with a free walking tour. This is a chip option as to have a first-hand view from the city and get information of other activities available.

Apart from this, ISN (International Student Network) is an organization that coordinates events, parties and activities, and also organises trips. In my time here I joined the trip to Prague, Vienna and Budapest. There, not only you get to know the places, but you also meet new people and party quite a lot.

You may be asking yourselves, how do you find the time to travel when there´s school in between? Mark all the holidays in the calendar and take advantage of every free day you have. If I had to give you one advise, it would be to always be opened to new ideas, places and people.

At the end, you will find yourself in places you never thought you were gonna visit, with people you never thought you were gonna know. In my opinion, Berlin, Paris and Bruges are places you should not miss. So start thinking where you want to go!!