Probably one of the questions I receive the most is how I’ve managed to travel the world while in vet school. I’ve mentioned some of this earlier in my first blog post but I will recap it and come with specific tips.
How did I get into traveling?
It all started in the first semester of vet school when I was energetic and adventurous, and nobody wanted to join me doing anything fun. I realized that if I’m going to wait for someone to do things with me, it will never happen. So I started doing things alone; I went for my first proper solo trip. It was a Thursday night before a long weekend, and I wanted to go somewhere. So I booked my cheap bus ticket to a nearby city for the following day; Krakow. I went alone and on the way there my only thoughts were “This was a really bad idea, everything looks closed. What if I don’t find a place to stay”. Of course this was not the case, and I found a hostel packed with cool people, and I had a great weekend and made so many friends. I had traveled a few times before (to Namibia and a few countries in Asia), but that was usually with a friend. I realized already on this trip - seeing how many friends I made at the volunteer projects and at hostels: That it wouldn’t be a problem traveling alone. When you travel with your family to hotels - you’re not there to make friends. But when you travel alone to other projects/hostels - you’ll meet other people who're also traveling alone, and are keen to make some new friends. What a great way to meet like-minded people from all over the world!
How to find the time to travel?
We do actually have a fair amount of free time throughout the years of vet school. We usually get 3 months(!) of summer vacation, sometimes 2 weeks of christmas and 2 weeks of semester break, plus long weekends. This is when the magic happens! Instead of going home every time, like everyone else, I’ve spent these holidays traveling. It’s all about priorities!
How to save money?
It should be mentioned that I am Norwegian, and that we get a decent scholarship/loan from the government to come here and study. But regardless of your story, there should be some ways you can work and save a bit to do some traveling as well. I’ve usually spent at least 2 of my summer months working to get some money, so I can travel during my other weeks off. Going to a country who pays better (like Norway/USA etc) makes a big difference too! When it comes to saving money on your everyday life, there’s a lot of things you can do to reduce your costs. Personally I prefer living cheap and rather travel a lot. Uni’s dormitories are usually pretty cheap, and survivable if you got some decent roomies. Maybe cooking more at home rather than eating out? Maybe you could reduce your transport fees, like buying a season card on public transport or biking/walking instead? Other things to reduce the unnecessary fees like buying tons of candy at expensive cinemas etc etc. Did you know you could also save a lot of money while traveling? There’s always cheaper options, although you may “Exchange comfort with experience”. More about this in the chapter below.
How to find cheap options?
You can easily find cheap options for traveling if you just do a little research. Maybe sometimes the prices even decide where you end up going? Buying tickets early in advance can usually decrease the price, as well as buying to/return tickets together. This is rarely an option for me and I have to find other solutions. Although sometimes buying a last minute ticket may be cheaper, too! E.g. traveling with hand luggage only tends to save you some money on luggage (at least for cheap flights within Europe). Eating before traveling and bringing some food and snacks with you saves you some money at the airport, not having to pay for their overpriced foods. Signing up for a flight club might be an idea if you travel a lot with the same company (collecting miles etc). When looking for travel options you should consider - do I have more money, or do I have more time? Sometimes taking a bus/train is cheaper, even though it takes more time and effort. When buying flight tickets remember to open your tab in incognito mode, to make sure they don’t save and track your searches - and will increase the ticket prices every time you search. I usually check lots of different websites, including one of my favorite apps (Skiplagged) to find the cheapest prices. Usually booking sites add additional fees, so if you find a flight company that goes all the way then rather go directly to their website and book through them - it’s usually cheaper. Sometimes it may even be cheaper to go to a neighboring city and take a flight from there. Or travel on a different day than planned. Remember that you can also find cheap car rides with pages like “blabla car” or “rideshares”.
In the case of food just try to look for the cheapest places - maybe even buy premade meals at grocery shops. Hostels usually have kitchens where you can heat/cook your own food and put stuff in the fridge/freezer. I must admit planning and buying your meals at grocery shops is usually a lot cheaper and healthier than buying everything on the go, even if it may take some space in your bag.
When it comes to a place to stay - usually hostels are the cheaper option. I usually check at hostelworld (an app). Remember to read the reviews as there are a lot of sketchy places out there! Traveling to places where you have friends might be an even better option - maybe they will host you on their couch? If you are even bolder maybe you will find someone random on “Couch surfing” or facebook pages like “Host a sister”? Sleeping on your transport might be another option for saving yourself a night’s worth of money.
How to get contacts?
People always wonder how I have friends and contacts everywhere, and you might have figured my reasons above. I travel! I meet like minded people all over the world. I love to travel and meet other people within the animal/veterinary industry. Some are met on random travels, some at veterinary conferences/events, some through online communities (social media), and some simply by googling and emailing people! So my tips to you is: Engage in the industry/what you are interested in. Go to conferences & seminars and make friends. Find interesting people on social media and reach out. Go volunteer/shadow different places. Take part, be active, and go chase that dream!!
! Additional tips remembered as I’m sitting at a hostel writing this, 30 Euros broker since I forgot some of my essential travel stuff. TOWEL! Some hostels make you pay for towels (if they even have them), a LOCK (to lock your stuff up - they usually cost about 8-10 euros on site), FLIP FLOPS (cuz nobody wants foot fungi ew), EARPLUGS, if you like to sleep at night. ADAPTER - can you charge your stuff where you’re going or are you going to have to buy a new adapter? Just a little hostel-life starter pack!
In this video I also talk about my travels, if you’d like to listen instead of reading! (The content is a bit different with more specifics of my past travels etc.)