Thinking of going abroad but worried about how much money to save? I'm here to tell you travel can be as cheap or expensive as you want. It's up to you to decide how to spend your money and on what level.

I went abroad with the intention of traveling each weekend and not restricting myself to things that were out of my budget. I was only there for four months, so I wanted to make the most of every trip.

I highly recommend setting standards before you leave for what you're willing to spend on. For example, I knew that if I were faced with the choice of a 15-hour flight for $55 or a 3-hour flight for $100, I'd choose the faster route. I only had two to three nights in these new places, so I wanted my time spent exploring, not on the floor of an airport.

Now, let me get into what actually helped me budget my money and find cheap options.

One app that saved me so much stress (and money) while abroad was Omio. It's a one-stop search platform that lets you compare trains, buses, flights, and ferries all in one place. Instead of having fifteen tabs open trying to figure out the cheapest way to get somewhere, you just type in where you're going and it lays out your options side by side. Is it always the absolute cheapest option? Not necessarily. But when you're a student trying to squeeze ten countries into one semester, the convenience of comparing everything in one place is worth it.
If you're trying to travel between cities on a real budget, FlixBus will become your best friend. It's a bus company that runs routes all over Europe, and the tickets are insanely cheap. I took FlixBus from Florence to Nice in September and paid 53.50 euros round trip. For the price of a dinner out, I was sitting on a beach in the south of France. The trade-off is time. Buses are slower than flying, and sometimes there's a transfer along the way. But I honestly didn't mind it. I'd listen to music, watch the countryside roll by, and arrive feeling like I'd actually experienced the distance between two places instead of just teleporting there.
Before I even think about booking a flight, I'm on Google Flights. Every single time. It's completely free and shows you every available flight on a given route in one place. What makes it so nice for budget travelers is the price calendar feature. Instead of searching one specific date, you can look at an entire month and see which days are cheapest to fly. I also loved the "Explore" feature where you type in your departure city without picking a destination and it shows you a map of everywhere you can fly with prices attached. That's how a lot of my spontaneous trips happened. I'd open it up on a random Tuesday night, see that flights somewhere were only 30 euros, and suddenly I had weekend plans.

Now that you've heard about the apps that helped me travel, let me break down how I actually tracked my spending. Nothing fancy, just a Google Sheet with columns for accommodation, travel, public transport, food, and miscellaneous expenses.

A budget chart for my trip to Nice and Monaco

Every time I spent money I logged it, and I could see exactly where my euros were going. It kept me honest and helped me figure out where I could cut back. Something basic with your categories and daily totals will completely change how you manage your money abroad.

So if you've made it this far, I hope the main message is this: you do not need to be rich to study abroad and have the time of your life.

Some of my favorite memories from Italy cost me little to nothing. A sunset over the Arno. A FlixBus ride along the coast with my headphones in and nowhere to be.

The expensive, Instagram-perfect version of travel is not the only version, and honestly it's not even the best one.

With a little planning, the right apps, and a willingness to be flexible, you can see so much more of the world than you think your bank account will allow.

Abroad & Thriving…On a Budget

Omio

FlixBus

Google Flights

A Semester Somewhere