Accepted to med school. Everyone says I should travel this summer. Where and how?

[GomerPyle]

Hi everybody.

I got accepted a few weeks ago, and I've been told to travel and have fun until medical school starts! I'm down for that!

Where do you guys suggest I travel to? I have very little traveling experience, and I am not super rich, so it has to be something affordable. How did you guys afford it? Where should I go for cheap? Preferably out of country.

Please give a travel newbie some good pointers!! Thank you.

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[fancymylotus]

Seychelles!




Oh, you said for cheap. Nvm

 

[Brain Bucket]

a valid message.

 

[madchemist89]

It looks like you are from out west. Do you like outdoor activities, such as hiking? You could explore the nearby national parks. That's what I would do.

 

[lovemango]

I had money saved up from my job. Before med school started, I road tripped with my boyfriend to Washington DC and stayed for a week (we crashed at a friend's apartment, which saved us a lot of money in terms of lodging). I also went to South Korea for two weeks - stayed in hostels, got a train pass that allowed unlimited travel for 1 week, and planned everything out carefully so I went to Busan and Gyeongju the first week and then Seoul for the last week. I also kept checking airfare on Tripadvisor and Kayak and pounced on the cheapest airfare I saw about 2 months before the trip (tickets are usually the cheapest on Tuesday/Wednesday and costs are lower if you leave/return during the week instead of Friday/Saturday).

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

wwoof.org

Have fun.

 

[Southplains]

I suggest a road trip that hits as many national parks as possible in the US. This shouldn't be too hard and you'll see a lot of interesting and great places/towns.

 

[Perrotfish]

Hi everybody.

I got accepted a few weeks ago, and I've been told to travel and have fun until medical school starts! I'm down for that!

Where do you guys suggest I travel to? I have very little traveling experience, and I am not super rich, so it has to be something affordable. How did you guys afford it? Where should I go for cheap? Preferably out of country.

Please give a travel newbie some good pointers!! Thank you.

I always recommend learning Spanish abroad with these guys: www.ecela.com. I had a great experience with them and I use the Spanish a lot

 

[loltopsy]

Said it before, and I'll say it again:

 

[mulberry]

Barcelona, Greece, Amsterdam, Rome, etc. All the big cities in Europe with lots of history and entertainment. Might not be cheap but if you pick one city and plan accordingly you can do it under a reasonable budget. You won't regret it.

 

[Dumpstarrian]

-

 

[Brain Bucket]

a valid message.

 

[Dumpstarrian]

-

 

[Smurfette]

PreMed vacation thread belongs in Premed forum. Moving to PreAllo.

 

[Brain Bucket]

a valid message.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

I see.

To be fair to dumpster, I didn't know why I needed to travel until I was forced to travel.

However, a Palestinian put it best, "to get your American head out of your ass".

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

Hi everybody.

I got accepted a few weeks ago, and I've been told to travel and have fun until medical school starts! I'm down for that!

Where do you guys suggest I travel to? I have very little traveling experience, and I am not super rich, so it has to be something affordable. How did you guys afford it? Where should I go for cheap? Preferably out of country.

Please give a travel newbie some good pointers!! Thank you.

If you get yourself some decent gear and learn to love eating pretzels and protein bars that you brought with you (my personal nourishment of choice for this), you can backpack Scotland/Ireland/England pretty cheap. Esp. Scotland and Ireland which will let you hike and camp just about anywhere that's not in view of the land owners home and you close the gate behind you. Hitchhiking is a perfectly reasonable and safe way to get around. It's a very cheap way to see some great stuff. More than likely, you'll run into other backpackers and pool resources, this is usually how it goes for budget travelers.

 

[KinesiologyNerd]

I have one summer left and I'm road tripping around the western US. It's going to be wild.

 

[JuanPabloCastel]

couchsurfing is a must. i've met some of the most genuine, fun, and intelligent people while doing it. plus, you wont have to spend a cent on accomodation

 

[mrh125]

hawaii, get a nice tan and some sexy hawaiian ladies. i was just in hawaii for the mcat (taking it there was the best idea ever), and I did not want to leave.

 

[mehc012]

I always recommend learning Spanish abroad with these guys: www.ecela.com. I had a great experience with them and I use the Spanish a lot

Thanks for the info! I've been looking for something like this (I have always planned to travel and beef up my spanish during my final summer before med school!) Even my cruddy spanish has been insanely useful to me while scribing and volunteering in the hospital...and the docs who speak spanish are waaaaayyy better off, especially here in Cali.

 

[Pacna]

Everyone told me to travel before M1 as well.

Travelling sucks, I stayed at home and played video games. It was more fun than busting my butt to see sights I didn't care about on far away continents I didn't care to travel to.

I think people are just telling you to do something you enjoy over the next few months, which you should!

I'm with this guy. I feel 0 urge to travel. Sounds like a waste of $ to me.

 

[mehc012]

I'm with this guy. I feel 0 urge to travel. Sounds like a waste of $ to me.

I think everyone should travel alone at least once, with as low a level of planning as they are able to let themselves do...not for the enjoyment of it, but because I honestly think you learn a lot by being completely independent in an alien environment. There will be hassles to overcome, there will be situations that you just didn't see coming, because you didn't picture, say, a city where people just could not tell you the name of any of the streets and the bus dropped you off in a kind of random place and the signs are all in a different language when they bother to exist, and so your careful pre-scouting of local hostels on Google Maps is suddenly effing useless to you because where the hell are you, anyway? What kind of city functions without anyone knowing where they are on the map?!? - or whatever analogous situation arises. Always super-fun-times-and-games? Nope. Educational? Definitely. Enjoyable? For me, once I figured out how to go with the flow and realized that yeah, I could definitely take care of myself. While I don't want to lose the safety net/ comfort zone I have built in the past 23 years, it's sometimes refreshing to strip it away and see that the things you take for granted are neither assured (a bit scary) nor necessary (empowering).

 

[Pacna]

I think everyone should travel alone at least once, with as low a level of planning as they are able to let themselves do...not for the enjoyment of it, but because I honestly think you learn a lot by being completely independent in an alien environment. There will be hassles to overcome, there will be situations that you just didn't see coming, because you didn't picture, say, a city where people just could not tell you the name of any of the streets and the bus dropped you off in a kind of random place and the signs are all in a different language when they bother to exist, and so your careful pre-scouting of local hostels on Google Maps is suddenly effing useless to you because where the hell are you, anyway? What kind of city functions without anyone knowing where they are on the map?!? - or whatever analogous situation arises. Always super-fun-times-and-games? Nope. Educational? Definitely. Enjoyable? For me, once I figured out how to go with the flow and realized that yeah, I could definitely take care of myself. While I don't want to lose the safety net/ comfort zone I have built in the past 23 years, it's sometimes refreshing to strip it away and see that the things you take for granted are neither assured (a bit scary) nor necessary (empowering).

Sounds like a completely avoidable pain in the ass.

 

[mehc012]

Sounds like a completely avoidable pain in the ass.

A lot of things are avoidable pain in the asses. Most of those things are educational.

Some education is more useful than others, of course, and some learning processes are more painful than fun. Travelling is, I think, a good balance of pain/fun and education/vacation.

 

[Pacna]

A lot of things are avoidable pain in the asses. Most of those things are educational.

Some education is more useful than others, of course, and some learning processes are more painful than fun. Travelling is, I think, a good balance of pain/fun and education/vacation.

If I wanted to spend my time before medical school going through an educational pain in the ass, I'd sign up for a course I was interested in so that I could learn something tangible and useful. I don't find what you describe a good bang for my buck/time/effort. You're free to disagree, of course.

 

[Jennyfishy]

I always recommend learning Spanish abroad with these guys: www.ecela.com. I had a great experience with them and I use the Spanish a lot

I also did ecela for a summer abroad after graduation. South america was the bessttt! If you want to learn spanish and aren't already proficient, I would not recommend Argentina though - their dialect and accent is like spanish on hard mode

Otherwise, great program for studying Spanish, giving you access to a lot of travel opportunities and meeting great people from around the world and US

 

[Stoptheclot]

There are ALWAYS interesting Groupon Getaways that are fairly cheap, some of the all-inclusive ones include airfare. TBH, never grew a pair big enough to try one myself though...

 

[Great White Buffalo]

I also did ecela for a summer abroad after graduation. South america was the bessttt! If you want to learn spanish and aren't already proficient, I would not recommend Argentina though - their dialect and accent is like spanish on hard mode

Otherwise, great program for studying Spanish, giving you access to a lot of travel opportunities and meeting great people from around the world and US

S. America is cheap, but watch which countries charge you an entrance fee of $160!! Backpacked in Patagonia, but first did Macchu Picchu (but would recommend skipping that, very touristy). Got a flight from Newark to Lima, Peru for less than $500 (get on those kayak/trip advisor update lists). Flights within S. America are also pretty cheap, but flight times are suggestions with the local carriers, so leave plenty of time.

 

[okokok]

www.couchsurfing.org is great. Free place to stay (kind of; you should probably take your host out to dinner or something), free guide to the city (if they have time), free local insight & recommendation.

You should start looking up flights and go wherever is cheapest.

 

[Jennyfishy]

S. America is cheap, but watch which countries charge you an entrance fee of $160!! Backpacked in Patagonia, but first did Macchu Picchu (but would recommend skipping that, very touristy). Got a flight from Newark to Lima, Peru for less than $500 (get on those kayak/trip advisor update lists). Flights within S. America are also pretty cheap, but flight times are suggestions with the local carriers, so leave plenty of time.

Oh yeah!

I think the current list of all the countries that require an approved visa (Some call it a "Reciprocity fee" since the US charges them a buttload too) prior to entrance into the country are Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile (charge upon arrival), and Paraguay. You should have no issue going anywhere else. I think Argentina's is the strictest, as we were required to have the visa approved before we arrived at the airport. Some of the other ones vary and I know a few people who paid when they arrived at the airport the day of. Each one will set you back about $100-$170 but are good for some period of time (Argentina's is 10 years lol)

Blame US international politics with these countries for making it expensive!

 

[SN12357]

Many people are and will advocate traveling to far-off places. That's fine if that's their thing, fine if it's yours. It's not mine. I have exactly one reason to travel and one reason only: to see my friends and family.

So, I will be traveling extensively, but only domestically. I will spend time with my siblings, my elderly relatives, and friends from college I haven't seen for years. I'll spend time in every region of the country and several cities and states I've never been before. Not particularly exciting compared to backpacking in South America but it's exactly how I want to spend my time and I can't wait.

 

[mehc012]

Many people are and will advocate traveling to far-off places. That's fine if that's their thing, fine if it's yours. It's not mine. I have exactly one reason to travel and one reason only: to see my friends and family.

So, I will be traveling extensively, but only domestically. I will spend time with my siblings, my elderly relatives, and friends from college I haven't seen for years. I'll spend time in every region of the country and several cities and states I've never been before. Not particularly exciting compared to backpacking in South America but it's exactly how I want to spend my time and I can't wait.

I stumbled into medicine doing exactly that. I spent a month or so couchsurfing across the country, staying at the houses of people I knew from undergrad as sort of a farewell tour...and along the way saw some of them prepping for med school and got REALLY EXCITED about what they were looking forward to.

 

[martymd]

Has no one mentioned airbnb? You gotta check it out! airbnb.com

You can find super cheap (and expensive) places all over the world.

 

[mct2762]

I'm going to Puerto Rico before we start in July! Found airline tickets dirt cheap. Went last year and had a blast. Would recommend it!

 

[SCDP]

Vegas! Doesn't have to be just for gambling, but you could check out hoover damn, and maybe grand canyon too. Plus the shows in Vegas and just walking around and oh lawd the Vegas buffets are HEAVEN.

 

[mehc012]

Vegas! Doesn't have to be just for gambling, but you could check out hoover damn, and maybe grand canyon too. Plus the shows in Vegas and just walking around and oh lawd the Vegas buffets are HEAVEN.

Buffets always gross me out...I do have to make it to Vegas at some point, though. I moved to the west coast, so not going is just wrong.

 

[Gene Parmesan]

I'm doing a cross country road trip with a buddy this summer. We've both worked during our gap year so we have some money to spend. Between us we have friends/family in most major cities, and we plan on camping at all the places in between, like when we make the journey from Chicago to Vancouver. My friend who did it last year said it cost him just over $2000 (he did it with a group of 3). But we'll probably splurge more than they did, taking in baseball games and blowing some money in Vegas for a few nights. You'd have a lot of control over how far you want to go and how much you want to spend.

Think of it as a chance to visit friends/family that you most likely won't have time to visit during medical school and/or a chance to sample some cities for future residency destinations. I prefer this 6 week trip to, say, a week in Europe that costs a comparable amount. Planes are so darn expensive.

 

[nabilesmail]

I just bought a plane ticket to go to thailand and tokyo for 3 weeks with some friends this summer, cant wait!

 

[Lambda Phage]

Detroit

 

[RaidenXVC]

I've always wanted to go to Costa Rica, and Europe. I've been to Japan once and it was amazing.

 

[daemon14]

Southeast Asia! It's pretty cheap to be there, it's just that it'll be pretty hot in the summer. Plus it's pretty safe as long as you keep your wits about you.

I actually got accepted today and am writing up my notice to quit my job. Gonna travel as soon as I get the chance. If you're looking for cheap fares, check out theflightdeal.com - they publish good fare deals for certain city pairs. I've been to South America on a <$300 fare and to Europe on a <$400 fare, but you really have to act fast!

 

[mehc012]

Southeast Asia! It's pretty cheap to be there, it's just that it'll be pretty hot in the summer. Plus it's pretty safe as long as you keep your wits about you.

I actually got accepted today and am writing up my notice to quit my job. Gonna travel as soon as I get the chance. If you're looking for cheap fares, check out theflightdeal.com - they publish good fare deals for certain city pairs. I've been to South America on a <$300 fare and to Europe on a <$400 fare, but you really have to act fast!

That's where I ended up bouncing around! Spent a week in Malaysia doing all sorts of fun things, all for under $200. Getting there is pricey, though...

 

[GomerPyle]

I don't have much money right now and I want to travel. I am new to loans/credit cards, so I could use some advice. Would I need to take out a personal loan or should I apply for a credit card to pay for all of this? I am planning on spending $2000-3000 for several trips. I would love to go to Thailand and also Cancun.

 

[hybridpotato]

Shoot, you can travel while you're in med school too! Just went to vegas last weekend!

 

[chemhead123]

Couch surfing or wooffing would be my recommendation.

 

[JuanPabloCastel]

Couch surfing or wooffing would be my recommendation.

I second wwoofing, especially if you're more a natury person than a city person, but I know some friends that have found wwoofing sites in urbanish centers like detroit. (don't go to detroit)