Students here aren’t known for their planning or time management abilities. That’s why I’d like to inform you on what not to do as well how you can be a better traveler than the Spring 2022 CIMBA group. Don’t get me wrong, we know how to have a good time. It’s just getting to our destination in first place that is the problem.
During my travel week I went to London, Paris, and Barcelona. This was an expensive week of Airbnb’s, flights, taxis and so on. Many students booked all those things I just mentioned the week right before travel week. If you want to spend as much money as possible, I recommend this option. However, if you have a solid group people you like to travel with, then book everything in advance! Even two weeks in advance is better than what many students decide to do.
Vaccination cards, driver’s licenses, passports, credit cards and cellphones have been lost and stolen throughout our time here. It may seem like “too much” when someone tells you to have paper copies of your CDC card and ID’s. Trust me, it’s worth it. Personally, during my travel week and in a trip before as well I lost my CDC card and my driver’s license. It would have been very helpful to have a paper copy with me. You can have a scanned copy on your phone, but for ID’s people tend to not take scans as valid. With a CDC card a scanned copy is fine. Furthermore, have a credit card before you leave just in case you lose it and then can use your debit card.
Picture this – You finally made it to this amazing city on the top of your bucket list. You are taking pictures of everything and having a great time. Then your phone dies. Your hotel, hostel or Airbnb is 40 mins away. You cannot get a taxi, call a friend, use google maps, switch money into your bank account and so on. This sucks and happens all the time. The difference is between those who have a portable charger and those who don’t. A portable charger is essential and there will be busy times when you don’t charge your phone, then your phone ends up dying. This is one of my top recommendations.
Imagine being so excited to start off travel week and the first place you go to eat or buy something your card doesn’t work. Sorry you don’t get to eat today! Many students have had their bank freeze their card. This is one of my top frustrations because even though many students, myself included, made sure to tell their bank all the places they would be going to in Europe, the bank continues to freeze people’s accounts. I am honestly not sure how to completely avoid this. I think making sure to get a credit card before you go, having emergency cash, and double checking with your bank before big trips, like travel week, would be good precautionary measures to take.
This is your chance to be a better traveler than those who have completed CIMBA before you. Learn from our mistakes and happy travels!