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It’s almost summer, and here at Syracuse University, we all know what that means: internship season. Almost everyone you know is posting about their awesome summer positions on LinkedIn and jetting off to New York City.

But, if you’re like I was last summer, your LinkedIn is disgustingly bare, and there are no job prospects in sight. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, embrace it.

After college graduation, there are no three-month summers. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a few weeks of paid time off. So, for the time being, take advantage of the time the internship gods have given you — I guarantee you won’t regret it.

The best way to use that time? Travel. You have three glorious months ahead — why not see everything you can?

But you say, “I’m a college student. I don’t even have a job. How can I afford that?”

Traveling on a budget is a lot easier than you think. Last summer, I visited seven European countries: Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and the Netherlands. In about six weeks, I spent roughly $2,500 — here’s how.

Book your flight early and shop around for tickets
Buy your tickets as early as possible — prices only climb as departure dates approach. This expense is unavoidable, but it’s also the most expensive part of the entire trip, so get it out of the way first. My trip was from May 9 to the middle of June, and I booked my tickets in April.

As a Delta loyalist, this part hurts, but you have to shop around when looking for tickets. From my experience, American Airlines tends to balance comfort and price reasonably well, but it’s really about whatever’s cheapest with the least amount of layovers.

Pack light
You need two things: a small carry-on-sized bag or suitcase for the bulk of your belongings and a day bag for your passport, cards, portable charger and anything you’ll need while exploring. I used my trusty cloth carry-on suitcase and a small shoulder bag. For any attempting this in the future, however, I recommend a large backpack instead of a suitcase. I will never forget having to drag my roller case uphill for 45 minutes to get to the train station in Luxembourg City. Never again.

For six weeks in central Europe, I packed light layers, a rain jacket, a couple of pairs of pants, long skirts, shorts and one going-out outfit. You will be walking nearly 20,000 to 30,000 steps a day, so make sure to invest in a good pair of shoes before you leave. Did my tennis shoes go with my mini skirt at the club in Berlin? No, but they were essential for literally everything else.

Stay in hostels
Private? No. Comfortable? Sometimes. Cheap? Always. Hostels are a broke college student’s saving grace in Europe. Book through Hostelworld — that’s what I did — everything is in English, and you can be confident it’s not a scam.

Most hostels offer either private rooms, single-sex rooms or large coed dormitory-style rooms. I’ve stayed in all of them. The private room is obviously the best experience, but if that’s not financially feasible, book a smaller four- to six-person room over a large dormitory. It gives you security for your belongings while keeping costs low and still delivering the social hostel experience.

Pay the extra $4 for a better room, folks. If you don’t, you will relive my worst hostel experience, where I stayed in a 24-person room in Brussels. I felt so unsafe that I slept with my purse under my pillow, and didn’t shower for two days because it was such a public bathroom.

Many hostels also offer free breakfast and organize social events, making them ideal for solo travelers looking to meet people. I was traveling alone, so I really valued this aspect. I was able to meet 10 people who were also visiting the city and hung out with them for two days afterwards.

Abigail Aggarwala | Digital Design Director

Take the train
Don’t fly around Europe. Trains are more comfortable, more flexible and normally bring you to the center of cities rather than 45 minutes outside them. They also give you time to rest between walking 30,000-plus steps a day, which trust me, is very valuable.

Book directly through national rail operator websites rather than third-party booking sites. I made the mistake of booking through a third-party site called Trip.com, which backfired intensely. The official apps send live notifications when platforms change or delays hit, which is critical as platform switches at the last minute are common in Europe, and those alerts are often only posted in the local language. Third-party sites don’t send those notifications, and I almost missed a few trains because of it. Booking directly is also usually cheaper and easier to do last-minute if your plans shift.

Eat smart
Food can quietly become one of the biggest expenses of a trip if you’re not paying attention. I’m a food person — I want to taste everything a place is known for — but you can do that without blowing your budget. My rule: one sit-down meal at a restaurant per day, usually dinner. I also tried to focus on eating foods that a particular country is known for — bratwurst for Germany, schnitzel for Austria, etc.

Though it’s not the case for all cities, some have drinks that are particularly famous as well. For example, Cologne is known for the beer Kölsch, so obviously I had to try it. If I’m being honest, it’s nothing crazy, but I’m still glad I had the experience.

For breakfast and lunch, grocery stores are your best friend. Most European cities have cheap self-serve salad bars, fresh pastries and granola bars that cost almost nothing. I usually had a pistachio croissant for breakfast and some fruit or a small salad for lunch.

Street markets are also excellent — and oftentimes the best food you’ll eat all trip. For example, in Berlin, Markthalle Neun hosts a weekly street food market with free entry where vendors sell everything from Thai food to local bratwurst. In Wroclaw, Poland, I had the best pierogi of my life from a street market.

If you follow this approach, budget roughly $500 for food over six weeks.

Activities: free is everywhere
Here is the best thing about traveling in Europe: an enormous amount of the most fun things to do are completely free.

Free walking tours operate in nearly every major European city. They’re tip-based — guides work for what you give them at the end, so the standard is around €5 to €10 per person — but the tours themselves cost nothing upfront. Take one on your first day in a new city. Beyond the history and sightseeing, a good guide will tell you where to actually eat, what to skip and which neighborhoods to explore on your own. In my experience, the local tips alone are worth every euro of the tip, and make your planning experience a lot simpler.

Student discounts are real and significant. Bring your university ID everywhere. I must have saved over $100 from student discounts. Across a full trip, those savings add up to a full night or two of accommodation.

Public space is free. Some of the most memorable things I did cost nothing at all: walking the Chemin de la Corniche in Luxembourg City, which Europeans call the “most beautiful balcony in Europe,” exploring the East Side Gallery in Berlin and wandering Prague’s Lennon Wall and the Vyšehrad castle. Build free exploration into every day, and save paid activities for the ones that are genuinely worth it, like Belgian Beer World in Brussels.

Before you leave: stay organized
A little prep work saves a lot of headaches on the road.

Phone and data plan — call your carrier before you go and clarify what international fees look like. Many United States plans either charge daily roaming fees or include some international data — know which you have before you land in a foreign country and start racking up charges. I use Verizon and switched to their international plan for my time abroad. Alternatively, apps like Airalo let you buy a local eSIM and connect to local networks without a physical SIM swap.

Notify your bank. Let your bank and credit card companies know you’ll be traveling internationally, or they may freeze your card for suspicious activity. Find out which cards charge foreign transaction fees and, if possible, use one that doesn’t. I used the Amazon Prime credit card to dodge that problem.

Download offline maps. Maps.me and Google Maps both allow you to download city maps for offline use. Cell service and Wi-Fi are not guaranteed, and getting lost in a city where you don’t speak the language without a working map is a special kind of stressful.

Make copies of your passport. Keep a digital copy in your email or cloud storage and a physical copy separate from your actual passport. Luckily, I didn’t experience this, but if your passport is lost or stolen abroad, having a copy makes the replacement process significantly faster at your nearest embassy.

Know a few words in the local language. You don’t need to be fluent, but “please,” “thank you,” “excuse me” and “do you speak English?” go a long way toward getting a warm reception. People appreciate the effort even when they’re perfectly capable of speaking English back to you.

The logistics will sort themselves out. Book the flight, create a Hostelworld account, download the Deutsche Bahn app and go. The only thing you’ll regret is not doing it.

Published on May 5, 2026 at 1:54 am
Contact Caroline: cberskin@syr.edu