4 Tips for a Stress-free Trip

By Bridget O'Toole

Studying abroad is an exciting experience, but it can also be stressful and scary—especially if it is your first time traveling alone to a place you may have never been before. Don’t let the unfamiliar freak you out. Instead, consider doing (and not doing) some of the following to eliminate some anxiety on your trip abroad.

1. DON’T feel like you have to have everything planned.

Some of the greatest memories you will make will be from the unexpected. You are probably going to have a must-see list, but any plans you make will be thrown out the window once you are abroad. When you arrive, you are thrust into this crazy new culture, and you are meeting all of these new people. Most of the time you will travel in a group, but not everyone wants to go to the same places. So, you shouldn’t plan. You should just be open to experiencing any new place you can. I had not planned on traveling to Austria, but Vienna ended up being my favorite city I visited.

2. DO what you want.

This means that when you arrive to a new city, you should go and do what you want. If you travel to Amsterdam, some people are going to want to go see the Anne Frank house or the Van Gogh Museum, while others are going to want to simply enjoy the fresh air. Don’t feel pressured to do what the majority of the group is doing. You will regret it if you don’t do what you want to do or see what you want to see.

3. DO have patience.

You will get lost, but don’t get mad or frustrated. Instead, have patience. When my travel group arrived in Brussels, Belgium, we could not find our hostel. Everyone was tired and scared because it was our first week traveling, and we let our annoyance get the best of us when we really should have been enjoying what was around us. You may even unintentionally book a hostel an hour away from your intended destination, which seems like a pain in the butt when you find out, but you may find a really cool brewery in that city. You never know what will happen when you're lost. 

4. DO use the bathrooms in your hostel or on the train.

Why? Because those bathrooms are free! Well, you are paying for the hostel room, so I guess the bathroom is not truly free, but you get what I mean. You’re going to have to get over your germ phobia because every other public restroom will cost you. Having to go to the bathroom but being unable to find a two cent euro at the bottom of your purse is not an ideal situation and is weirdly stressful. Even McDonald’s makes you buy something before you can get the code to the restroom. Always have your coins readily available because you never know when Mother Nature will strike.