Probably one of the best accommodation offers is through fellow travelers. Whether it is friends, friends of friends, or the cousin of an ex-boyfriend from two years ago, it is so important to keep those random contacts because you never know when you might need a place to stay in Prague.

            For those who don’t want to contact old neighbors or random family friends, there is a network of people who would love to offer up a spot on their couch free of charge. Counsurfing is a network of people, mostly travelers, from around the world who understand the pains of paying for accommodation. By creating a profile on the website and joining the network, you have the access to hundreds of couches and people willing to show you around their hometown. For free.

As a side not for women traveling alone…surf wisely. There are so security measures in couchsurfing, only your gut instincts.

http://www.couchsurfing.com

            The same mentality goes for hostels vs. hotels vs. camping as it does for airlines. Hostels are usually the preferred accommodation method for students, and travelers on a budget the world over. Paying by night, just for a bed seems pretty basic, but hostels anymore do not constrain themselves to a cot and communal bathroom. It is possible in many hostels to have a hotel like experience, or better, for a fraction of what hotels cost. Traveling by yourself especially, hostels are a great way to meet people, find information about the area you are visiting, and have options to do in your downtime at the hostel itself. There are a few circumstances however that might make you consider other options to hostels.

            One common scenario is if you are traveling with a group, like four people, and are able to find hotel rooms or bed and breakfasts that have two double beds. At a good price, this way of sharing sleeping arrangements is often very affordable. Additionally, you have the comfort of having your own private room and bathroom.

            For the very money strapped traveler, there are several other ways to cut corners. Camping is definaitelty a viable option in more remote areas. Often, in national parks or near beaches, it is an excellent way to take advantage of the location, and really get the most for your money out of the trip.

            Issues that may arise with the various options:

            Hostels: When staying with 10 other people for example in a room (or 20 as the case was for me one night) the issue of security arises. Mixed dorm rooms are generally a fine option, but I have, as well as talked to several other girls, who have had issues with over zealous male bunkmates.

            Camping: The security issue again, however as it pertains to your stuff. Should have spent the extra 15 euros on a hostel when your backpack gets stolen from the campsite huh?

Some of the best hostel booking websites:

            www.hostelworld.com

            www.bugeurope.com

for hotel reservations, look at www.lastminutetravel.com

for finding camping options in the country you are staying in, look into the country’s website, which should have links to camping resources.

            By now, most people know and are well aware of the perks of such airlines as WIZZ, jetblue, easyjet, and my personal favorite RyanAir. Uber-cheap flights to most countries in Europe, easy check-in, easy online booking, almost too easy if you ask me. Which is why there is a bit of a glitch in some of these, namely that they are not usually in whatever city you are trying to go to.

            Booking a flight to Paris from Edinburgh was frighteningly cheap. 20 pounds with return from Glasgow Prestwick to Paris Beauvis. Never having flown out of either before, I left myself plenty of time in traveling to Glasgow from the Edinburgh city center, then on to the airport from there. Same thing in terms of researching how to get to the Paris city center from Beauvis. First, a must do when traveling to and from airports where you are unfamiliar, look and see exactly how to get to where you need to go upon arrival, especially if you don’t speak the language of wherever it is you are trying to go.

            Upon researching and looking into the bus prices of how to get to where I needed to go, I added up the estimated transportation costs. 5 pounds to get to Glasgow. Another 5 to take the public bus out to the Glasgow Prestwick airport. 13 euros each way to get from Beauvis to the city center once I was in France. And a total of 15 pounds to take the late night bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh. Costing double what the flight did, and taking up hours of travel time.

            Moral of the story…look before you fly.

            While the flight from more centrally located airports may seem more expensive initially, it may be worth while to book it as to avoid extra transportation costs and time constraints in the end, especially if it is for quick weekend holidays.

            One way budget airlines do cut costs on traveling is short flights within countries, an option commonly overlooked in favor of buses or trains, but one that can often cut back on time and money. Booking in advance, a flight from Barcelona to Madrid on a budget airline can be a mere 5 euros including taxes on RyanAir. The same deals apply to traveling within the UK, or Italian cities.

            For a breakdown of budget airlines and where they go, visit the following websites…

http://www.easyjet.com

http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

A good search one to use for comparisons is http://www.cheapflights.com, though generally you are better off going to the actual airline as opposed to what they claim give you the deals

Over our Easter Holiday break at Napier, my travel buddy and I decided to go to Spain…sunny, relaxing, sangria-sipping…everything we were expecting out of two weeks touring from Barcelona, down the coast, through Andalucia, and up through Madrid.

We were frightfully misled…

New Plan for University Journalism School 

Napier University students discuss the announcement at Merchiston Campus early last week.

-Switch from journalism to business-based curriculum for Napier University

- “It’s really all about sales and the bottom line.” Head of School says

- Students caught off guard by the announcement 

A major Scottish university announced a new plan effectively calling for an end of their traditional journalism program and a move to a marketing and business-driven curriculum.  

Under the new plan, all journalism courses at Napier University’s School of Creative Industries will be transferred into the Business faculty. Students will no longer learn traditional writing and reporting skills, but focus on marketing new products.  

The school hopes that this change will entice prospective students, better equip graduates for the workplace and meet government numbers for enrolment.  

Acting Head of School Robin MacPherson said: “We have been aware of criticism of media studies courses in general as being not fit for purpose in training people for work in the modern media. The days of Jon Pilger and Kate Adie are over; nobody cares about poor people in the third world anymore. It’s really all about sales and the bottom line. We have to train our students to be aware of what is happening in the culture all around them and how to sell it as news.” 

Students seem to have different opinions. 

 “I didn’t come to Napier to study business,” third-year student Anthony Rivera said. “I came here because it is supposed to be the best journalism school in Scotland. And now they are cancelling the program.” 

The exact timetable for the change is yet to be defined. However, one definite change will be the addition of a course called Celebrity, Gossip and Independent photo-sales, in hopes to train students for quick work-place placement.  

 “I’m curious to see how the changes will play out,” first-year Katherine Miller said.

One of the classes I am taking at University is about online journalism and how it has developed and created a new media in which people access information.

For this blog, I will be writing about conscious living practices, trends, and products that enhance people’s lives without adding additional stress to the environment. I will be updating this blog with new thoughts and trends surrounding more eco-conscious lifestyle choices, hopefully helping others learn, as well as myself.

I am just starting on exchange at  Napier University.