Hi everyone – my name is Ram and I’m an MA Directing Film and Television student. Today I am going to write a little about the places that can be visited while at Bournemouth University- both in the UK and also in and around Europe.

Throughout my stay in Bournemouth, I made it a point to travel both domestically and internationally whenever there was an extended break available. With proper planning, these trips can be very affordable.

City of York, UK

Travelling in the UK and Europe is relatively easy from Bournemouth, mainly because it is not too far from London. If you buy tickets early enough, you can get a train to London in under two hours and connect to many other destinations from there. Alternatively, there are always regular buses for the route.

Within the UK, there are many places to visit that are near Bournemouth, such as Bath and Brighton. Once you get to London, you can get cheap train fares to take a trip up to the north of the UK, to places such as Liverpool, Manchester, York, or even parts of Scotland!

Trains can take you pretty much anywhere you need to go within the UK: it is simply a matter of planning your journey early and buying advance tickets which are available at low prices.

Bournemouth has an airport of its own which has seasonal flights to some European destinations. Additionally, Southampton, which is only around an hour away, also has a small airport with flights to European destinations such as Amsterdam. These are great alternatives if you want to avoid going up to London to take a flight.

Budapest, Hungary

Even then, the London Gatwick and Heathrow airports are just over two hours away, and from there you can get plenty of cheap flights to almost all of the key destinations in Europe. Travelling within Europe from one point to another is very easy- you can get cheap buses between neighbouring countries and you can always buy a return ticket from a different country to the one you arrived in. For ease of travel, just make sure the European countries and cities you are travelling to are within the EU/Schengen zone.

If you are up for adventure and socialising, you can use platforms such as Couchsurfing to further minimise the cost of travel, which at the same time enables you to meet new people from around the world. This saves me a lot of money in terms of accommodation and I come back feeling much richer from the sheer diversity of people I mingle with and get to know. You will find plenty of generous Couchsurfing hosts in both Europe and the UK. Otherwise, there are always cheap hostels which could make you trip very affordable, even with a student budget.

Take advantage of Bournemouth’s location and go traveling while you are here.