Travel these days can be a costly affair, especially when traveling through ultra expensive countries were the dollar is weaker. Even when using discounted travel agencies, the price tag for a two-week trip can quickly jump into the thousands of dollars.
Luckily for students, there are lots of ways to keep costs down without sacrificing the quality of a vacation.
Student travel has become big industry as of late and as a result, there is no shortage of travel agencies who are willing to offer discounted travel for students.
It seems that student travel agencies have found a niche that falls somewhere in between their best interest and those of their customers and the broader travel industry.
According to Anand Rajaratnam, Vice President of Marketing, Research and Business Development at Student Universe, the reason why they are able to offer discounted prices is because they supply their services strictly to students.
“Student Universe negotiates directly with the airlines to get special discounts just for students. Because we check to make sure every person that buys a ticket is a student the airlines are willing to offer us lower prices because they know that students won’t fly unless the price is right.”
These one-stop travel agencies cater directly to thousands of students, providing everything from airfare and accommodations to activities and transportation.
According to Rajaratnam, more than 200,000 students use the services they provide each year.
Like other agencies, the best savings are found when the vacation is bought in a packaged deal, but mixing and matching is always an option and will usually end up saving hundreds.
The flight is always a good item to purchase first and depending on the traveler’s level of patience, can sometimes be bought at a relatively low price. The price range for a flight into most cities in Europe can range from $600-$1,000 on StudentUniverse.com.
As a general rule of thumb, the more layovers in you flight plan, the cheaper the ticket.
For many though, the thought of taking several different flights only to arrive at their destination in double or triple the time it would normally take on a direct flight is enough to make them dish out the extra cash for a non-stop flight.