Travel
International Airfare
International and intra-European travel will be the responsibility of individual students. Students must make their own transatlantic air travel arrangements. Airfares to Europe can vary greatly depending on several variables. Students are encouraged to make their plans early to take advantage of advance purchase options. During the winter there are often fare wars. Pay attention to ads placed in newspapers and on the net to take advantage of them. Participants should consult a good travel agent and/or the travel section of the Sunday editions of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other major newspapers for special airfares offered by wholesalers and consolidators. There are also reputable web sites that sell discounted airfares or auction airfares. Among them, you may wish to inquire at www.orbitz.com, statravel.com, cheaptickets.com, studentuniverse.com, travelbids.com, onsale.com, biddersedge.com, kayak.com, mobissimo.com, airfarewatchdog.com, metafares.com. Also, expedia.com, travelocity.com (Expedia and Travelocity produce the lowest flight itinerary on most major airlines - they are good sites for comparison shopping on advertised fares), cheapfares.com, www.tiss.com (these are consolidator sites, offering special, non-advertised fares), www.skyauction.com, priceline.com (these sites allow you to bid for plane tickets). Among others, STA Travel, which has offices at many universities, offers attractively discounted airfares to students. Inquire at www.statravel.com. Also for students: www.isecard.com.
Airport of arrival: London, United Kingdom
Airport of departure: Geneva, Switzerland
Since flights out of the Geneva airport can be somewhat limited, it is in your interest to reserve your return flight as soon as possible. Alternative airports are Zurich; Milan, Italy, and the CDG Paris airport that can be reached directly from Geneva by high speed train (TGV). From Geneva one can connect to returning flights departing from Frankfurt, Zurich, London, Paris and other cities. Easyjet, a discount airline, flies to and from Geneva to other major airports.
Train travel within Europe
Travel between London and Paris, day trip between Brussels and Paris, and Paris and Geneva will normally be by high speed train. The train between London and Paris is called Eurostar (www.eurostar.com); day trip between Brussels and Paris, Thalys (www.thalys.com), and between Paris and Geneva, TGV (www.tgv.com). All these trains require a seat reservation that can be made through the respective websites, a travel agent, or by going to a train station in London or Paris. At times tickets purchased through the website can be cheaper than going to a ticket counter. Please note that to qualify for website discounts, a European Union address is sometimes required. It is highly recommended that seat reservations be made as soon as possible.
Air travel within Europe
Some students prefer to travel between cities in Europe by taking advantage of the several deep discount airlines that fly between those cities (e.g. Easyjet, Ryanair). These airfares are at times much cheaper than the train ticket and seat reservation. Participants are free of course to travel by air between program cities if they prefer. However, several factors must be taken into account: time and cost of travel to and from airports and the central cities; need to arrive well in advance of flight departure; security concerns and invasive security checks; limits on luggage, etc.
Travel within cities
Travel within cities in Europe for the purposes of the program will be by public transportation. Students are advised to purchase discounted week long metro passes in London, Paris and Geneva. For both Paris and Geneva a passport size photograph is needed to purchase and legally use the pass. In Paris one can also purchase blocks of 10 metro tickets at a discount.
