Tips to Travelling Cheaply as a Nigerian Student

 “You don’t have to be rich to travel well.” – Eugene Fodor

Yay!!! We’re in our twenties, we feel responsible for ourselves, we are independent from our parents (to a degree, after all, we’re still students), and ready to discover what the world has to offer. There’s no better time to travel and quench our thirst for adventure than now! And why shouldn’t we? I mean, student life can be pretty difficult and really demanding. From the struggle to attend classes, tests, projects, assignments and others, we all need an escape once a while from the stress of it all. Now traveling can be very expensive and most students think they can’t afford to travel, well think again? As I would be revealing tips on how you can travel cheaply as a Nigerian Student.

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Planning
The most important step to travelling cheaply lies in your planning. Proper planning should be done on where to go when to go, where to stay and what to eat. You should also make sure to plan how to save up money for your visit, personally I set aside some money every month for sightseeing.

Look for Budget Friendly Destinations
I know it may seem so tempting to want to go to Paris for a vacation, but let’s cut our coats according to our sizes. As students you can start your adventure from exploring your own country, Nigeria has some amazing budget friendly places you can visit, you should consider a vacation to Benue state or Calabar. Make sure to do your research on this places, be aware of climate changes and the weather conditions so you can pack correctly.

Group Travel
The best way to travel cheaply as a Nigerian Student is through group travel. You can organize tours or field trips with your coursemates in school. Not only is this less expensive but it is much more fun. This way you get to share the cost for accomodation, rides and all. As a student, travelling with the Skyunit Tour group is recommended.

When To Travel
This is very important, travelling during off seasons is recommended because it’s relatively cheaper. Study your destination and know when to travel. Things are usually expensive during a festive period like charismas, summer etc.

Live like a Local
Learn to live like a local while on vacation, ditch the fancy hotels and research on other accomodation options. If you travel in groups, getting an apartment on short term lease is less expensive than hotels. If you can’t get apartments like that, then split the accomodation bills and share a room in an hotel. If you are going solo, try connecting with people living in the cities you intend to visit, who knows you might find someone you know that lives in the city and get free accommodation. Some locals also offer a spare room in their houses at a reduced cost for a time, this could cut down your living expenses in half and if you’re lucky you may have found a personal tour guide as they could give you pointers on the best places to visit for cheap, ways to get souvenirs at a reduced price, spots to get food at low costs if you’re interested but remember Safety First.

Pro Tip; Learning about the habits of the people in places you intend to visit helps you cut down on your expenses because most street sellers and vendors tend to hike their prices for ‘perceived strangers and tourists’, an added advantage can be speaking same dialect.

Eat like a local
As a student who wants to travel cheap, there are some things that are not necessary like eating in an expensive hotel or restaurant. When I travel, I eat local foods. It’s all a part of the experience.

Visit free attractions.
Don’t bother spending a huge amount of money on sightseeing. When planning research on places you can visit for free or for a very low cost. Arinta Waterfall in Ekiti for example does not charge an entrance fee, admission is free. There are some places that will ask you to pay any amount you have.

Volunteer
This is one of my favorite ways of travelling cheaply. Give a portion of your time to a cause in another city and use the opportunity to also check the city out. There are a lot of volunteering opportunities that gives you a cheap way to visit various countries (yes you heard me right, countries!) in exchange for some sort of voluntary work. Find out what suits you and you are well on your way to visiting a lot of amazing destinations without having to spend money.

I hope this helps to shed light on why your time as a student is the best time for you to travel and how you can cut down cost as a student when travelling. As students let’s Live, Travel, Experience and Explore. Do you have another tip, let’s hear from you in the comment section below.

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