nvl325

Hello Fodorites-
My daughter is spending spring semester abroad, in Amsterdam, finishing up in early June. We are going to make her travel reservations now, so she needs to guess how long after she will want to stay to travel a bit, and what city to fly out of.

One issue will be what she will do with her luggage- she obviously won't want to take her large duffel with her while traveling around. Can you leave a bag in a locker these days, such as at a rail station or airport?

In that case, she would need to return to Amsterdam instead of flying out of some other city. We were going to pick, sort of randomly (depending on where she could get a good flight from) somewhere like Paris, Munich, Frankfurt- sort of a centrally-located place, since she has no idea at this point where she'll be going.

Any thoughts on where to fly out of, and what to do with luggage, would be appreciated!

nytraveler

If she's going to be therre for a whole semster - including both winter and summer seasons she'll need some reasonable quantity of clothes and some personal belongings.

I would suggest that at the end of the semester she pack up all her winter clothes and any extra belongings - and ship them home. She can then travel with just a minimal summer wardrobe - and have no need to return to Amsterdam.

AnselmAdorne

nvl325, our daughter did something similar last year. She studied for one semester in Denmark and then traveled around Europe before heading home.

One thing she found that complicated things that the Danes would only issue a visa to cover the official dates of her semester. That was completely understandable, but it meant that her return flight had to be on (or before) the last day of validity of her visa. As things turned out, her exams finished four weeks before the end of term, so she left her luggage with a friend in Arhus and wandered all over Europe. Her last stop (actually, I should say her last party) was in Berlin; she hopped a flight back to Arhus, picked up her luggage, and flew home from Copenhagen the next day.

I would think the advice of nytraveler would work equally well.

Anselm

DalaiLlama

I suggest you make the flight into and out of Amsterdam. Quite likely during her semester your daughter will befriend someone or otherwise find a place where she can stash her things - if not, she can always ship them.

As to travel after the term ends - to get back to Amsterdam should not be difficult, she'll structure her trip so that a cheap flight or a long-distance coach or a train will get her back.

And who knows, she might befriend people of like mind and pool for a car rental or otherwise travel with somebody who has wheels.

And she may even get to know someone who will let her stay overnight in Amsterdam before her final flight out - Amsterdam will be her homebase by then, she'll make friends and become resourceful with local knowledge, making things easier than they look right now from this end.

Just make sure that her visa allows for the timeframe you have in mind. A tourist visa (which is automatically granted on arrival, no need to apply) into the Schengen area is valid for 90 days, followed by 90 days of enforced absence before another 90 days of presence are possible. But your daughter should not go on a tourist visa, she should apply for a proper student visa and see what dates she can obtain. Do that in good time, these things can take a while.

If it turns out that she has to leave the Schengen area before she wants to fly back home, that could mean that she has to do her travelling in countries that are not signatories to the Schengen agreement, and catch her flight home from one of those countries. I think that is not likely, but it would not be the end of the world.

So do the visa first, then you'll know what ticket you can book to and from where.

Have her check out the following for cheap travel options (even though it's a long way out - at least she'll get an idea of what's possible)

www.skyscanner.net
www.whichbudget.com
http://plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/quer...n?L=profi&
www.eurolines.com
www.busabout.com

suze

I would ship her belongings home from Amsterdam, keeping only a normal amount of stuff for the summer trip (a single suitcase or backpack).

Any chance she could decide now a few places of interest before you buy the plane ticket? Short of that, I'd pick Paris.

KTtravel

Sorry to hijack this thread somewhat but I'm curious, AnselmAdorne, how your daughter liked studying in Denmark. Copenhagen is on my daughter's short list for places to study abroad.

PeaceOut

When my daughter studied in Italy, we had the same question regarding her return flight.

So, we purchased her airfare from STATravel.com. They have offices in most college towns, and they are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Best of all, they had a very reasonable change fee for the return flight. We were positive we'd be changing it, and we did. It only cost $75 to completely change it: date, departure city, arrival city.

Where will your daughter live during her semester? Maybe she could store her stuff there while she travels? My daughter stayed with an Italian family, and they kept her stuff while she and I traveled for two weeks.

AnselmAdorne

KTtravel, overall, she found it a very good experience. There were certainly pros and cons, though. I'll call her today and ask for details, then post a synopsis.

AA

nvl325

thanks, everyone. Amsterdam it is- she thinks that will work out fine to travel and then stop back there before flying home. And as some of you suggested, she'll probably find a place to leave her stuff during her time there.

If she does ship her things home, what service do you all use? Would love some ideas for that.

She'll have a student visa that the program is arranging, so I guess that shouldn't be an issue.

And yes, she did look at STA travel, but we wanted her to use miles, so that's why we didn't go with that-

AnselmAdorne

KTtravel, I spoke to Ms Adorne ...

Our daughter took the last term of her undergrad degree in Arhus, Denmark, from September '07 to the end of January '08. She found the school atmosphere quite different from her university in Canada; classes were smaller, there was more group discussion, and the tone more informal. "A good warm-up for grad school", was her summary.

On the other hand, she found that there was less workload per course. (Oddly, I don't remember her mentioning that while she was there. I gather, though, that she had no trouble filling in all that free time.)

Her advice: clarify the prof's expectations early on in the course. She found that what they mark and how they mark quite different. She must have adapted, though, as she got good marks.

She liked Denmark. She bought a bike, zoomed around all over Arhus, and made frequent train trips to Copenhagen. She made a lot of friends, primarily among the other exchange students. (There was a bonus to that; when she toured Europe after her last exam, she travelled with a classmate from Australia and was able to stay with new friends who were back at their own homes in France, Spain, and Hungary.)

Despite being a Halifax girl, she was quite affected by the short winter days and lack of sunlight. Makes sense; they're further north than we are, although we also have a lot of grey days through the winter.

Hope this helps.

AA

DalaiLlama

Poster sez "She'll have a student visa that the program is arranging, so I guess that shouldn't be an issue."

Don't guess, verify - the visa will cover the dates of the study course, that can be "guessed". But will it cover the additional travel time? VERIFY!

nvl325

DalaiLlama,
good suggestion to verify, and she will do that. But I'm confused- we were in Europe last summer; my other daughter traveled to many countries, and none of us needed a visa for anywhere we went. So I wondered why you say a visa is needed for the additional travel time?

Christina

I'm not an expert on long stays, but I suspect the visa issue is because she will have been in Europe so long. You aren't allowed to be in Europe for a long time without a visa. I don't think just because you have a student visa which ends that you are then treated the same as someone who just arrived in Europe that day. You have still been there a long time. That's one of the problems a lot of countries have -- illegal immigrants who arrive with a student visa and never leave.

kybourbon

You can only stay 90 days without a visa. If you are staying longer than 90 days, you must have a visa (except the UK where it's 180 days). Since you don't understand about visas, I'm wondering if you understand the communication from the school about them. Going through the school might let her use the consulate in the school's district instead of her home address consulate. I live in KY and the Spanish consulate for my area is in Chicago. My daughter would have been required to go there to apply for the visa (must appear in person - couldn't be done by mail). She was able to go to the consulate in Boston since her school was there. She still had to make her own appointment and appear in person with all the proper documents. It took a month to get an appointment and another month (including return trip to the consulate) to get the visa.

KTtravel

Thank you AnselmAdorn for checking with her daughter and relaying her impressions. This is a big decision and I can't help but worry a bit.

Interesting information about student visa's on this thread. Definitely something to pay attention to.

nvl325, I hope your daughter has a wonderful experience!

nytraveler

To be there for a whole semester she will require a student visa. A tourist visa isn;t long enough - and the school she is attending will want her to have (and should help her arrange) a student visa. While she is there she is free to travel to other cities/countries for weekends on the student visa - but when it ends it's over - so she needs to be sure to get a visa that lasts as long as she plans on staying.

AnselmAdorne

nvl325, I don't know how the Dutch will handle it but this is how the visa worked for my daughter. She was accepted by the university in Denmark. They sent her a letter confirming her acceptance and giving her the dates of the semester, which happened to be September 1 to January 31. She took the letter and her passport to the Danish embassy in Ottawa (where she was studying) and was giving a student visa valid for exactly that period. She asked whether they would extend it to February 1, which would have been better for flights home. No, they would only cover the period of the semester, not a moment longer.

As I said above, I can completely understand that, so we booked her home on January 31.

I am not an expert on the Schengen agreement, but we assumed that the expiry date would be applicable in all of the Schengen countries. In other words, if she had to be out of Denmark on January 31st, she had to be out of all of then by that time.

KTtravel, I understand the anxiety ... is it the right choice and will she be ok? I would say it helped our daughter gain self-confidence (although she had already been living away from home for four years and had already been to Europe several times), and she had no trouble sailing into grad school.

Hope it all works out for you and nvl325.

AA

DalaiLlama

OP asks "why a visa" when they didn't need one in the past?

In the past you travelled as a tourist, you made entry into the European country as tourists and you were tourists while there (no more than 90 days) and you left as tourists.

Your daughter goes as a student, not as a tourist. Different status, different laws. The fact that she wants to play tourist after the student status has run out (classes are over) requires that she be able to change her status, meaning travel legally without getting into hassles. Hence - verify.

To accept paying students, most institutions in most countries need government approval, that comes with visa requirements etc. So your daughter is not going as a tourist but as a student. See the difference?