Traveling with Maryland-in-Barcelona

As I’m sure everyone expects, the greatest perk of studying abroad in Europe is the quick access to traveling every weekend. In my short 3 months here, I have already visited Copenhagen, Nice, Monaco, Seville, Valencia, Paris, Rome, Florence, Amsterdam, Porto and Dublin. With cheap flights and a little bit of planning, I had the ability to see some of the most amazing cities with minimal effort. Nearly every Friday morning, study abroad students call a taxi to the Barcelona airport and go experience a new culture for a couple of days. For this blog post, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the tips I’ve picked up on this semester about the most efficient ways to travel. For starters, book your flights and hotels as soon as you know where and when you want to travel! My friends and I saved a lot of money by booking early and using google flights to find the best deals. Most of the airlines you’ll fly are budget airlines so be careful to check the baggage restrictions and make sure to print boarding passes when needed. Another difference from the United States is that airport security/customs & immigrations is much less intense and takes less time! When flying between cities in the EU, you will not be required to go through customs & immigration (sadly, your passport will hardly get stamped). Airport security will normally take under 15 minutes but still give yourself enough time because occasionally, it has taken up to 30 minutes if it is a busy Friday morning. Another seemingly obvious suggestion is to ask friends about cities that they are studying in or have already visited! Having advice about where to stay, places to eat, attractions to see, student discounts and more will make your short weekend getaways more worthwhile if you can benefit from people who have already been in your shoes. Also, always keep euros on you when traveling!! Not every city is as lenient about accepting debit/credit cards the way Barcelona is. Lastly, remember to save some money and stay in Barcelona some weekends – it is arguably the most amazing European city so don’t forget to spend time seeing all that is has to offer!