  {"id":1444,"date":"2010-05-04T16:59:37","date_gmt":"2010-05-04T16:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hub-dev.bates.edu\/offcampusstudy\/?page_id=1444"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:06:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:06:25","slug":"travelplans","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/pre-departure-planning\/travelplans\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Travel Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The<strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.letsgo.com\">Let&#8217;s Go Series<\/a><\/strong> is an excellent resource for all sorts of travel information.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.isic.org\/\">International Student Identity Card<\/a> <\/strong>is a great travel resource as it provides access to discount air and rail fares, proof of student status for lower admission fees, and emergency evacuation, travel and accident insurance. The card costs $22.00 and is available through the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ Bookstore or <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.isic.org\/get-your-card\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">online<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.studentuniverse.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Student Universe<\/a><\/strong> provides a wide array of student travel services, most notably discount airline tickets.<\/p>\n<p>Hostels are great for travelers on a budget; check <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hiusa.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hosteling International<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hostelworld.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hostel World<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hostelz.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hostelz.com.<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Country Information<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Study abroad students benefit from learning as much as possible about their destination prior to departure. \u00a0To find information about your study abroad destination:<\/p>\n<p>For official facts and information, consult<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the CIA\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cia.gov\/the-world-factbook\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Factbook<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li>the Library of Congress\u00a0<strong><a class=\"external external_icon\" href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/collections\/country-studies\/about-this-collection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Country Studies<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.infoplease.com\/countries.html\">InfoPlease\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>Country Information<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>To learn about current events in your destinations:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a class=\"external external_icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.world-newspapers.com\/index.html\">World Newspapers<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more in-depth information:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the\u00a0<strong><a class=\"external external_icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.lonelyplanet.com\/\">Lonely Planet<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.footprinttravelguides.com\/\"><strong><span class=\"external external_icon\">Footprint<\/span><\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<strong><a class=\"external external_icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.roughguides.com\/\">Rough Guide<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong><a class=\"external external_icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.letsgo.com\/\">Let\u2019s Go<\/a><\/strong> publications are useful<\/li>\n<li><strong><a class=\"external external_icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.planeta.com\/\">Planeta.com<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0provides good information on Latin America and eco-tourism<\/li>\n<li>The\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/study-uk.britishcouncil.org\/living?_ga=1.5978419.1295935650.1481052699\">British Council<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0provides advice for\u00a0US students planning to study in the UK.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Currency<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s advisable, prior to departure, to have a good sense of how the US dollar relates to the currency of the nation where you plan to study. Good currency sense will prevent rude financial awakenings later in the term. For a user-friendly way of determining exchange rates, refer to the\u00a0<strong><a class=\"external external_icon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.xe.com\/ucc\/\">currency converter<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Please connect with you bank to learn about their foreign transaction fee. They may offer a credit card with no foreign transaction fee. Credit and debit cards, used at ATMs, often provide the best exchange rate; try to get cards that do not charge a high transaction fee when you obtain cash. A debit card also allows your family to add to your account while you are away. Before you leave, connect with your bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Let&#8217;s Go Series is an excellent resource for all sorts of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"parent":8898,"menu_order":9,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"bates_author_byline_override":"","_hide_page_title":false,"_header_override":"","_template_width_override":"","_dimp_site_id":"","_dimp_override_contact":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"_sidebarChoice":"","footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"class_list":["post-1444","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1444"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1444\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12708,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1444\/revisions\/12708"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}