Practical stuff
Everything we use to plan, book, and survive a trip on a student budget. No affiliate fluff, just the tools that have actually saved us money.
The trick with cheap flights isn't which site you use, it's staying flexible on dates and knowing when to book.
Use the "whole month" or "cheapest month" view to find when prices drop. Best for flexible travelers who can shift by a day or two.
Better for tracking prices over time with alerts. The calendar view for seeing cheapest departure dates is genuinely useful.
We stay in hostels most of the time, dorms when we want to meet people, cheap privates when we need sleep. Here's how we find the good ones.
Our first stop for hostels. Filter by "social atmosphere" rating if you want to actually meet people. Always read reviews from the last 3 months, hostels change fast.
Better for cheap private rooms and guesthouses. Use the map view to avoid accidentally booking somewhere inconvenient. Free cancellation filters are your friend.
Trains and buses are underrated. Night trains especially, you save a night of accommodation and wake up somewhere new.
Covers most of Europe in one place. Good for multi-country routes. Booking early (6–8 weeks out) gets the cheapest fares.
Slower than trains but massively cheaper for some routes. We took a €7 bus from Vienna to Budapest. Not glamorous, but it worked.
When you don't know how to get somewhere and want to compare all options at once. Gives you flight, train, bus, and ferry options side by side.
We've both overpacked and underpacked. This is what we've settled on after enough trips to stop second-guessing it.
One rule: if your bag is heavy, something in it doesn't need to be there. You'll thank yourself on day 3 of walking cobblestones.
Getting hit with card fees abroad is an easy way to lose €30–50 on a trip. Avoid it.
Both give you interbank exchange rates with no markup. We use Revolut as a travel card, load it before a trip and spend in local currency without fees. Wise is better for sending money internationally.
Markets, street food, small cafés, tips, a lot of places in Eastern Europe are still cash-heavy. €50–80 in local currency at the start of each country covers most surprises.