Depending on your desired career path and professional goals for the future, student travel may be one of the best ways to achieve your aims. This can open up an entire world of opportunities in terms of engineering contacts and job openings, while it also broadens your cultural awareness and knowledge within a specific market.
While the benefits of student travel are well-versed, however, preparing for such a commitment requires forethought, planning and the considerable investment of time. Regardless of how you travel, you will need to have financial and logistic plans in place to ensure a smooth and comfortable passage.
3 Key Considerations for Student Travellers
With this in mind, let’s take a look at three of the key considerations for student travellers, regardless of their precise goals or circumstances: –
- Consider the value of a Student Placement
Of course, one of the most popular methods of student travel is to traverse the world during a gap year. While this affords your freedom and flexibility to see the world, however, it comes at a considerable cost and may be beyond the means of most, working-class students.
Instead, why not consider accepting a volunteer or student placement that is relevant to your degree course and eligible for funding? This will allow you to travel and see some parts of the world in a far more cost-effective manner, while also helping you to develop practical experience of a relevant market or industry.
You will also need to apply for such an opportunity, so consider crafting a CV for scholarship and liaising with your tutors to determine the additional steps required to become eligible. There are also external resources that can help with this, so do not be afraid to explore these at every opportunity.
- Develop the right mind-set for Student Travel
If you accept the financial and future benefits of travelling through a scholarship or volunteer program, you will also need to fine-tune your mind-set to get the most from this experience. After all, this type of travel is far remove from a gap year excursion, as there is a far greater emphasis on learning and building towards future qualifications and career goals.
You will therefore need to understand these potential restrictions and develop a mind-set that manages your expectations. This will ensure that you commit to a strong program of learning and development, while also optimising any opportunities that you get to explore your location and immerse yourself in local culture.
- Make Preparedness your Watchword for Travel
Above all else, preparedness is a key consideration for novice or student travellers who wish to make the most experience while remaining safe and in touch with their loved ones. Packing the right items is central to this, from the niche products and functional passports sets sold through resources such as the Flightstore to technological hardware and pocket gadgets.
Packing the right clothing is also crucial, particularly when you intend to visit locations that have extreme of variable climate conditions. The key is to make a packing list that is designed to cover a host of alternative travel scenarios, before prioritising these and only compromising when absolutely necessary.
