WiseGuide 3: Money Saving Tips for Students (Part 2)

This week’s WiseGuide takes a look at everything related to travel and communications and everything you need to plan a relatively cheap and quick getaway. With a little bit of planning and some nifty use of new business models, you might get a surprisingly good deal.

1. Young Persons Railcard:

This is a little gem, it is! The card entitles you to a straight up 30% discount or more. Getting a young person’s railcard is the smartest thing to do as you are quite likely to break even (on the cost of the railcard) on the first journey itself.

Airfares might appear to be cheaper, but once you consider the fact that most of the domestic European flights go to airports that are outside the city limits (whereas train stations are typically in the centre of the city), do consider how much money you might end up spending on traveling from the airport to the city.

2. Stay with the Locals:

There are a number of people around the world who are playing hosts for a small fee, relative to the amount of money you would have to dish out for staying in a hotel. These little gems often have hosts who have a good understanding of the locality and provide great company as ambassadors of their cities. You can read more about the evolution of the bed and breakfast in our WiseGuide 2. Avoid paying extra on exchange rates through Wise

3. Last minute planning and calling your loved ones, for free!:

Europe is increasingly putting the infrastructure for easy WiFi access. If your trip involves some last minute, on-vacation planning, make a list of the hotspots in the city where you can use your smartphones and laptops on a WiFi network. The City of London and The Cloud, for example, provides 15 mins of free Wi Fi access per day within the square mile of London. Use Wi Fi and new calling technologies like Skype and Rebtel (can switch dynamically between WiFi and 3G) to make your calls back home at cheap rates.

4. City events and free fun: With the emergence of the social web, hyper local listing services have become a rage. It is also much easier today to find out about all the local events in the city which are free. Entertainment venues and music bands are often on platforms like eventbrite and meetup promoting free events around the city. Definitely worth a look before you go for any of the paid gigs.

The Wise team hopes that you use some of these nifty tips for you next trip with your friends from university. And remember, we offer the best exchange rates if you are transferring monies between accounts –so save a little bit more for spoiling yourself on your trip.

Photo credits: foreignstudents.com