Beginner Traveler

Looking back on my time in school I am overcome by a warm fuzzy feeling, travelling was and is such a huge part of my life and the BSN really encouraged that. I was so lucky to go on some incredible school trips to Luxembourg, Spain and even as far as Kenya to name just a few. As my friends and I got older, we began to plan our own adventures including festivals, girls’ trips and the notorious grad trip. I hope this article gives you insight into how much I enjoyed travelling whilst at school and provides you with some handy tips from someone who is hopefully relatable, as it wasn’t so long ago that I was beginning my own travel journey.

FCDO – Travel Aware Campaign

Although my travel experiences throughout school were incredible, the FCDO Travel Advice website could have made them even better! The Travel Aware campaign, run by the Foreign Commonwealth Office for Development aims to provide travellers with the necessary information before and during their travels. They make their Travel Advice website accessible by sorting the information to be country specific, for some topics such as festivals and insurance they have designated space for particular focus on that subject area. My job as a student brand ambassador is to communicate those tips in a way that is informative as well as fun, because that’s what travel is all about! I got th position through my university student mobility team who helped me on my biggest adventure yet, moving to Paris for my semester abroad in my 3rd year of university.

Preparation – the most important element

My travelling experience really began when I was much younger. In school I found that travelling was more than just the event itself, it was the planning, the excitement, the chat about who would sit next to each other on the bus and making sure we got to school ridiculously early just so we could sit at the back (I have no idea why!). In many ways bizarre traditions such as these laid the foundation for the element that is the most important now that I am travelling as an adult, preparation. Without preparation, it’s fairly unlikely that every part of travelling will go successfully. Through preparation you may learn things that you didn’t know before that could make all of the difference; for example, in Greece, where I went on my grad trip, you must carry a form of photographic ID on you at all times. It’s small details like these that can prevent unnecessary complications for you and your friends. Check the FCDO Travel Advice website for some more helpful tips like these.

Grad Trip – stay with your mates!

In our year at the BSN a fairly large group in the upper sixth decided to go to Malia, a proper party destination on the island of Crete in Greece. For a lot of my friends it was their first trip abroad without the comfort blanket of parents being there. This meant that it was particularly important that we kept together as a group, with no one wondering off on their own or people we didn’t know well. On trips like these, keeping together is key. If you’re out partying, it is always wise that someone has a bit of a lighter night (someone usually needs one!) as drinking alcohol can make you less in control and less aware of your environment. The FCDO’s ‘Stick with your Mates’ campaign and Travel Advice website gives loads of helpful tips on this specific topic.

Festivals – bring wipes

Another huge part of travelling when I was in school was going to festivals, Pukkle Pop in Kewit, Belgium, was the festival of choice at the time. On my website there is a dedicated article named ‘Boogie Wonderland’ that gives you all the tips and tricks you could need for preparing and dancing the night away at your chosen festival. My big three are:

1. Bring wipes, there is nothing more useful on a campsite and in the festival ground itself. Spillage? Wipe it up. Makeup? Wipe it off. No shower? Use a wipe! Try and make sure they’re biodegradable if you can!

2. Make sure you have travel insurance and a GHIC or in date EHIC card. If wipes can’t fix your problems, these forms of travel insurance potentially could! This advice doesn’t just apply to festivals, travel insurance is a must for every adventure you go on.

3. Plan for emergencies! As mentioned before, taking the time to properly prepare is one of the most important elements of travelling and could save you a lot of stress and aggravation in the long run, particularly at festivals. Be sure to have a lock for your tent if you are camping to keep your valuables safe or if you can’t lock them away, carry valuables in a zipped inside pocket. Should the worst happen and you do need to contact the authorities, make sure you know the number or have it written down as it can be different abroad.

Girls trips – a time to relax (sometimes!)

As my friends and I went into our last year of school, girls' trips were something that was particularly exciting. Sometimes there is nothing better than being in the heat with your pals, drinking a Lemonade, getting ready for a big night out. The girls trip that really comes to mind for me is when I went to Barcelona, Spain, with 4 of my gal pals. Again, the planning of this was part of the fun and the FCDO Travel Advice website would’ve been a great help! An unfortunate reality is that groups of girls are often seen as easy targets for thieves and personal attacks. Sticking together and keeping vigilant is such an important part of any travelling when with friends, but especially with girl friends. Make sure you keep an eye on your drinks at all times, and avoiding illegal drugs goes without saying. Whilst in Barcelona my friends and I spent quite a lot of time at the beach. In Spain there is a flag system on the beaches to indicate the safety of entering the water, if there is a red flag you should not enter the water at all! There are more helpful tips for Spain and all of the other 225 countries that you may want to visit for your girls trips!

Charity excursions – travelling for fantastic causes

My biggest adventure I went on in my school career was going to Kenya with a wonderful group of 26 students and some teachers to share their knowledge. The team and I were lucky enough to travel all the way to a tiny remote town called Njoro area in western Kenya called Nakuru, about 3 hours from Nairobi. Before setting off on our expedition we spent about a year fundraising and preparing, raising over €40,000 for the cause. Whilst there we spent 2 and a half weeks building classrooms from local materials, teaching the pupils and soaking up the culture that was so different from our own. The local laws and customs are mapped out in the Travel Advice website so have a look for some more info! One part that was particularly interesting to me was that plastic bags are banned due to their damaging effect to the environment; I noticed this when I was there as there as the bags we got when we went to the local market and supermarket were a cloth material, I was so interested in them I took some home to the Netherlands! As well as spending time in Njoro, the team and I also completed our Gold International Award trekking Mount Londiani, about an hour away. Spending four days and nights in the forest trekking a very long distance through streams and bamboo was an incredibly challenging experience (to say the least!) A significant part of our mission on the trek was to GPS track the poaching of sandalwood trees in the forest. Kenya is a signatory of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) (Travel Advice website) so this felt like a very worthy cause! After having an overnight stay in the country’s capital Nairobi, we travelled to Mombasa, a beautiful seaside area on the eastern coast of the country. This area is predominantly Muslim and so we ensured that although it was warm we were wearing appropriate dress to respect the local laws and customs.

Conclusion

So as you can probably tell, my early travelling experiences were varied and I was so incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to explore the world in the way I did. My surroundings certainly had a huge influence on that, and there’s very few better feelings than looking back on my school travelling experiences with a smile on my face. Through travelling you learn about yourself, how to prepare and most of all about different cultures. Moving forward with my travelling, I’ll utilise all of those things that I’ve learnt and combine it with the information on the FCDO’s Travel Advice website which will certainly improve my adventures even further!