One of the best parts about studying abroad is all the day and weekend trips that you can take! I love Scotland, as I’m sure you can probably tell, but I also love getting to see other parts of Europe. Airline companies like Ryanair, Jet2, and easyJet, all have inexpensive flights around Europe. In addition, you can use sites like google, momondo, and go euro to see which kind of transportation (ie planes, trains, or buses) is the cheapest between your destinations. Although planning your first trip is a little intimidating, you will have it down in no time.
The first trip I planned was to Copenhagen with some friends from class. The two biggest things I learned from this trip were, one, Copenhagen is very expensive and two, it is much cheaper to book plane tickets in advance. After Denmark, I traveled to London to visit high school friends. Flying between Edinburgh and London is a breeze and usually very inexpensive. These two trips were only over a weekend. Fortunately, I didn’t usually have class on Fridays, so as long as I was diligent during the week with work, I could use the long weekend to travel.
Next came our spring break. I started the week in Portugal visiting Lisbon and Porto with 8 other girls. I think Portugal has been my favorite place so far. On top of the weather being beautiful, the food was great, the people were friendly, and the scenery was spectacular. Following Portugal, we visited Barcelona. My favorite part was visiting La Sagrada Familia. It’s this beautiful church designed to look like a rain forest. It’s unbelievable. Unfortunately having taken 6 flights in 9 days, I came down with the flu on our last day. Needless to say, I was happy to be back in Edinburgh.
The last weekend trip I did was to Amsterdam. The tulips had just begun to bloom which was incredible to see, and my friends and I stayed on a houseboat. It was definitely an iconic trip to Amsterdam.
I’m currently doing a road trip around Scotland. During the spring semester, the students get around 2 weeks off for Easter. It’s been really exciting to explore the rest of Scotland. I’m hoping to do even more traveling after finals over!
