Travel Advice

If you are travelling abroad, make sure you have the essentials:

• Passport and visa. Check guidance on our Immigration and visa pages.
• Tickets – most airlines and trains/buses accept a digital copy, but you may want to print out your outgoing and return tickets as a back-up option
• Appropriate travel insurance
• Medication to last you your entire time abroad
• Your immunisations! Contact your GP, inform them where you are going and for how long, and they should give you any immunisations if necessary
• Details of where you will be staying during your time abroad. It might be worth downloading Google Maps in advance of travelling
• Check that your phone plan has no additional international fees; or purchase a sim card when you arrive
• Adaptor plugs
• Chargers for any electronic devices
• Inform your bank that you are travelling abroad in order to avoid being blocked from accessing funds abroad

Journey Planning

Rome2Rio is a useful site to plan a journey from A to B. It gives you an array of options covering travel by plane, train, bus, ferry and car. This may be a good starting point to consider which modes of travel you can use before using comparison sites such as those listed below.

Flights

To find flights to your host country, we recommend using Skyscanner which compares costs from a large range of different airlines. In addition, Jack’s Flight Club offers two students a year who are studying abroad a £500 grant to cover travel expenses.

Coaches

Travelling by coach can be more affordable than flying and is more environmentally friendly. National Express and FlixBus both offer destinations throughout Europe. 

Trains

If you’re interested in travelling to your host country by train and don’t know where to start, National Rail has guidance on their website for travelling to Europe by train, as well as a list of train services for many countries around the world.

Carpooling

BlaBlaCar is a service which matches drivers with travellers wanting to carpool for a small fee. You will be provided with insurance as part of the journey. Make sure you look for drivers who have received positive reviews from users in the past.

Student Finance Travel Grant

Student Finance England offer grants to cover some of your travel expenses if you normally live in England, and you’re studying abroad as part of your course. For more information and to check if you’re eligible.

Sustainable travel

We want to encourage students to consider sustainable travel as part of the Go Abroad placement. Here are a few things to think about:

• Take sustainability into account when choosing your destination
• Instead of taking a plane why not consider travelling by bike, boat, coach or train
• If you have to fly, research lower carbon flights
• Consider your packing
• How will you live sustainable whilst abroad

Check out the guide from CIS Australia which has more tips on how to travel sustainably.