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SPRING !

© Diane Goldberg under the original topic name

During spring the rest of you start thinking about the topic that obsesses inveterate travelers year round . . . going somewhere --- anywhere. But, daffodils and early iris are a signal to sub-species of budget traveler the Europe-bound backpacking student. This particular type of traveler can be spotted on college and university campuses across the USA carting a Thomas Cook's train schedule on top of a physics text, scrawling complex configurations of money, time, and mileage on tiny scraps of paper and in general behaving in a fashion best described as anticipatory weirdness.

Not all students travel. Not all travelers are students.

And, not all students are exactly what one would call young. Ms Budget Travel her self while certainly energetic and occasionally drop-dead gorgeous hasn't qualified as young for an undisclosed number of years. But, she has, in the not terribly distant past, been a student. Which entitled her legitimately to an International Student Identity Card.

Age isn't an issue.

If you are enrolled in a legitimate program leading to a degree or diploma you qualify for an ISIC. Recognized in around 90 countries including the USA it offers savings for the even students who stay close to home. Worldwide hotel reductions, chunks of change off admissions to museums and amusement parks, reduced airfare and insurance are all on offer once you get the card. http://www.istc.org/index.htm will send you to the International Student Travel confederation where the search engine will show you specific discounts available to card holders. $2 off a ten-dollar purchase at Planet Hollywood in Atlanta along with free admission to the Jimmy Carter Museum, in expensive San Francisco you can get a hotel room for under forty-five dollars a night. Istanbul, Turkey lists five or six restaurants offering a twenty percent discount, numerous Swiss hotels have student discounts. Throughout the UK use the card for a discount on various walking tours and museum admissions.

http://www.counciltravel.com/idcards/def... Council travel can provide all the information you need about how and where to get a card. They also organize tours for people aged 18-36, offer airfare reductions, and sell travel gear.

You can also get a Hostelling International membership through Council Travel. But, before you do - come back here next week and have a look at what Ms Budget Travel has to say about hostels, then start figuring out those odd formulas on the back of envelopes.

The copyright of the article SPRING ! in Traveling on a Budget is owned by Diane Goldberg under the original topic name. Permission to republish SPRING ! in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.