Traveling as a young 20-something is so different than all of the other traveling I’ve done before. No chaperones, no parents reminding you to eat snacks and drink water, just you and your friends figuring it out. Trial and error is pretty key, and it’s a lot of ‘faking it until you make it’. Everyone has somewhat similar goals for traveling at this age: see as much as you can, for as little money as you can. It’s a funny game that you play, making compromises on what you will eat and where you will stay to save some money for your next adventure.
For our first weekend after classes started, my friends and I embarked on our first ‘somewhat adult’ trip. We called it London in 100. The goal was to spend only £100 on transportation, accommodation, and touristy attractions. Since everyone spent different amounts on food and souvenirs, that wasn’t included. It’s pretty funny to me that we did this, since this is something only 20-something college students would do--probably no one else. We definitely made it all work, and learned a lot along the way. Here’s what I learned from London in £100.
1. Eight hour red-eye buses to London may seem like a good idea--they are not
Time and comfort are definitely as valuable/more valuable than money sometimes! It can be very appealing to take that £30 round trip bus to London but you will most likely sacrifice some of your sanity to do so. If you take that bus anyways, give yourself a break the next day cause you will probably be exhausted. At the very least, get a few cups of coffee so you can get through the day!
2. Don’t try to do everything
Thankfully we decided to split London up into two days. By day two, we were pretty exhausted. Give yourself room to relax, it makes the biggest difference and you will be a lot more interested in what you are going to see if you aren’t extremely tired. You also can’t do everything, which is totally okay! Figure out what are your “I will be upset if I leave here and don’t do this” and make them a priority!
3. I am so grateful that I chose Glasgow to study abroad at for the semester
Don’t get me wrong, I love London. But, it is definitely a bit overwhelming especially if you haven’t been there before. While Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland, it is still smaller than London. Maybe I’m a little biased, but traveling somewhere else made me love Glasgow even more.
4. Getting to touristy places early in the morning is a good idea
My friends and I got off of our red-eye bus at 7 am, and sat in a cafe for a bit so we could drink coffee and wake up. Afterwards, we went to Birmingham Palace and we were some of the few people there! We got photos with no one else in them, and it was a lot less overwhelming! I honestly didn’t realize that I didn’t like crowds until this trip, and now I understand why my Mom likes to get to touristy places before they open.
5. Always have snacks with you
Being hangry (hungry + angry = hangry) is a real thing! It’s very easily preventable though, and even if you don’t feel super hungry it’s always a good idea to have a snack with you. Sometimes you can have so much adrenaline that you don’t realize that you are starving--a granola bar will do you some good.
6. Travel with as little as possible
One purse and a backpack is all you need for a weekend trip! That’s what my friends and I each brought, and it made it a lot easier to travel around everywhere. For
parts of each day we had to carry our stuff around with us the entire time, so we just didn’t bring more than we could carry.
7. Documenting the trip
For the London trip, I made my first ever video with clips from our whole trip! Check it out on the travel page of the blog!
Going to London made me even more excited to travel more! There are so many places I want to see, and so much more to learn. Traveling will definitely have its ups and downs, but I am grateful for all the opportunities to figure it out along the way!
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