There’s no better time than summer break to venture into unknown parts of the world. The savory three-month season was created for no other purpose than satisfying college wanderlust. Explore the distilled debauchery privy to Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Trek across the Australian wilderness or down the cobblestone sidewalks of tucked-away Montmartre. For the adventurous, chase the bulls in Spain or stage a coup against the Queen Mother’s palace guards. Whatever the destination, The Daily Orange has compiled the following travel checklist to ensure a safe, unforgettable summer. So go ahead and cash in on your 20-something flexibility. You’ve got nothing to lose.

Find the Best Ticket

So you’ve thrown a dart at the atlas, and now it’s time to buy a plane ticket. Keep in mind that summer is peak season for traveling abroad, so it’s important to do your homework. Purchasing a guidebook, planning an itinerary and browsing through housing options online may prevent logistical nightmares later on. Before settling on a final route, check out travel.state.gov for a complete listing of countries marked with travel warnings by the State Department. It is also worthwhile to purchase a $20 International Student Identification Card (ISIC), which often pays for itself in student discounts. Web sites like Student Universe and Orbitz cater to student’s plebian budgets; roundtrip packages are usually less expensive than separate one-way flights.

When Laura Lefkowitz, a junior advertising major, studied abroad in London last fall, she used ryanair.com and easyjet.com to find cheap airline tickets.

‘Ryan Air actually ran a promotion where they gave away over a million free tickets,’ Lefkowitz said. ‘So we flew to a few places for $20 or something like that.’

Empty Your Suitcase, Not Your Wallet

There are several ways students can limit their expenditures while immersing themselves in the sights and sounds of foreign locale. One step students should remember is opening their bank accounts for withdrawals abroad. Lefkowitz made this discovery after receiving a friendly phone call from her credit card company. Another financial obstacle is high currency exchange rates in affluent areas. Western Europe is generally more expensive than Eastern Europe, said Mickey Tsapis, a travel agent for Apple Vacations in Ithaca.

Students should weigh everyday costs in a country with the overall cost of a plane ticket, said Nick Jordan, a senior finance and entrepreneurship major. After spending a semester abroad in London, he found a one-month stay in Australia to equal half the cost of his entire England trip. At the same time, Jordan took advantage of hostels inexpensive, dorm-style housing arrangement convenient for college students. To limit restaurant costs, Jordan purchased a large container of peanut butter and jelly on sightseeing days. Lefkowitz said she tried not to let expenses overshadow her overall experience abroad.

‘In the beginning I was kind of stingy, but I quickly realized this is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,’ she said. ‘I can always go and make more money … I can’t always go back and relive this experience and these opportunities.’

Use Street Smarts

When it comes to globetrotting, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Tsapis witnessed this hard-learned lesson after her daughter returned penniless from a spring break in Mexico. The student made a judgment error in leaving her money accessible to a hotel room intruder.

‘Anywhere you go, you have to take precaution. There’s no place you can travel with carefree abandon,’ Tsapis said.

Syracuse University’s Division for International Programs Abroad recommends students make photocopies of their passport. They also advise carrying money in a belt or neck pouch because pickpockets tend to mingle in tourist crowds. Students should travel in groups and avoid isolated areas at night, according to the DIPA travel handbook. Jordan devised his own safeguard by keeping two wallets, one with 10 euros and another with his passport and debit card. If a stranger demanded him to forfeit his wallet, he planned to hand over the ‘dummy.’

Mind Your Manners

Like feigning your best behavior at grandma’s house, travelers should be in tune with the courtesies of a foreign culture. This includes anticipating law and language barriers before finding yourself in a jail cell far from home. Some courtesies – such as not tipping bartenders in certain countries – are simply learned by immersion. One common misconception students have is that the U.S. Embassy will bail them out of jail or other forms of trouble, said Daisy Fried, associate director for the Summer Study Abroad Program at DIPA. Many young Americans also don’t realize that binge drinking is usually frowned upon abroad, she said. Language is another arena of confusion. Fried advises studying a good phrasebook (at least), since many travelers come in contact with citizens not trained to communicate with tourists.

‘It’s very American to go places and expect people to speak your language in their own country,’ she said.

Exhaust Living and Travel Options

Hostels or hotels? While hostels are still the most popular form of housing among college crowds, students sometimes bemoan the lack of hotel perks.

‘People who come back as sophomores and juniors often say, ‘No more hostels for me,” Tsapis said. ‘The hostels have a lot of restrictions and curfews … students are just too sophisticated for that.’

Pete Sestina, a senior television, radio and film major, traveled with Jordan in Barcelona and described hostel living as part of the traveling experience. Hostels provided prime opportunities for meeting other freewheeling students in exodus, he said. Yet one night Sestina and Jordan considered sleeping next to an ATM machine rather than abandon the nightlife for hostel curfew. Jordan recommends using hostelworld.com to find hostels that are smaller, well-equipped and sanitary. In addition to cheaper flights between European cities, students can also purchase rail passes (Eurailpass, Selectpass, Flexipass) at a discount price. Since these passes run from about $360 to $1,600, a student might opt for point-to-point tickets if their stay is short-term. Jordan and Sestina purchased individual tickets in Spain, since they chose their destinations spontaneously.

‘You don’t always have to plan ahead. It’s up to the person,’ Jordan said. ‘If you plan ahead, you stay in nicer places and spend less money, but you run the risk of spending too much time in a place that is not very exciting.’

Published on April 30, 2006 at 12:00 pm