krisabug27

My boyfriend and I (college students) will be traveling through France and Italy in May/June of this year, traveling by train & bus, staying in hostels, visiting a few of the major museums, going pretty cheap...

Does anyone have experience with the ISIC card? Was it actually worth the $22 or was it something that only helped you with things you never used and/or needed?

Thanks in advance!

CAPH52

krisabug, I'm glad you posted this question. I asked something similar on another post and didn't get a response. I'm wondering whether my kids wouldn't get just as many discounts on admissions, etc. with their own high school and college ID's as with one of the cards you have to pay for.

lincasanova

some places do want the ISIC card as verification of valid student i.d.

also, my son , when travelling to the USA, seems to get a flexible air ticket using isic student card rates.

there are student travel agencies worldwide that have (sometimes) beter fares if you are a student under 26.

depending on how many museums you hope to go to.. might not be worth it because that is your biggest savings when it exists, i think.
if the kids are not going into more than 4/5 on trip, i doubt it would help much, and as you say, in SOME cases, their own university student card might work.

that said, there MIGHT be other travel benefits(trains/bus) or things i am totally unaware of. i know in spain some movie theaters give discounts with valid student i.d's.

sure wish a student would chip in. maybe you should post this on a board that gets more students.. like...??? (suggestions??)

lincasanova

this website and their own surely can clear up your doubts.

http://www.istc.org/sisp/?fx=istc_info

CAPH52

Thanks, lincasanova. Looks like something our daughter might definitely want for her semester abroad next year. But I'm still wondering whether their school ID's might work as well for our 5 day stay in Ireland in March.

logos999

Get the ISIC. I have used it many many times all over western Europe, when I was a student. It is worth the money, shows clearly that you are a student, while with your high school/college ID, you'll never be sure it it's accepted.

Intrepid1

At a price of $22.00 it isn't much more than some CDs or DVDs cost these days.

lincasanova

CAPH52:

you could write a few museums and ask them in ireland just for the heck of it. shouldn't be difficult to find out what type of i.d. they will accept for students.

esm

I don't know if the card is useful for train/bus travel. My son got the ISIC card but did not use it at all. He spent a semester in Paris last spring and his school (Paris Telecom) issued an ID which he used.

hhildebrandt

Is there no advantage to be a student in the US of A after all?

No university facilities and commons, maybe even a hostel or cheap rooms available to students only? (The use European Youth hostels is limited for members of the Youth hostel association. To stay there is not significant cheaper then to stay at private owned facilities for backpackers).

University commons or cafeteria means in Europe, that there is an offer of some meals for about 3,00 EUR issued to students only. Other tourists will have to get their meals somewhere else for maybe 10,00 EUR.
http://www.crous-paris.fr/restaurati...2&sr1=2&sr2=15
or google for restaurant universitaire, as they are called in france.
And you have the chance to meet there young people in your age, being able to communicate in English and being proud of it. Or as I said several times here: These students know best, how to have maximum fun on a minimum of money.

No knockoff on public transportation - oh, I forgot, no public transport at US universities, students all live on campus. Well, not so in Europe, here students need to use public transport.

No knockoff for students for museums, concerts, operas, theatres? Oh, I see, US students just study and if they don´t they just get blind drunk or drugged. Dont´t flame me, I think so after having followed some threads on this forum, dealing about 17-year old students to be permitted to travel in Europe without their parents or not.

Seriously, there are even knockoffs for the movies (so they fill their houses on afternoon) or inns or discos limited to students only. There is even a barber´s shop in Leipzig, offering a haircut special for students only.

And, it might be of certain effect to produce an official looking document when dealing with officials.

Jayneann

My son got one when he studied abroad in Australia, and never used it! He said no one needed it there. I don't know about Europe.

logos999

>knockoffs for the movies
I tried this in the US years ago, not knowing how things work over there. I was showing my ISIC asking for a reduction.
The answer, looking rather puzzled: "for being a student????"

dutyfree

Both of my kids have used the card when doing their study abroad semesters in Europe. My son was in Torino one semester and then Prague and constantly used it for transportation,meals,airfare,museums,
etc.He said that there were quite a few places that would not honor "just an ID from an American college" for any type of discounts. My daughter is studying in Sicily right now and has already used her card. Her school over there had strongly suggested it prior to leaving.$22 seems very cheap to have a possibility of getting some types of discounts. Better to have it than wished that you did?

esm

hhilderbrandt, there are discounts available to students here in US. Several universities that I'm familiar with have free bus service (with student ID), well-equiped gyms and pools and other athletic facilities, meal service and so on for their students. Also, students get a discount for concerts, athletic events, movie tickets and much more.

CAPH52

logos999, our local multi-screen movie theater gives student discounts with a school ID. Which is one of the reasons I thought a current valid school ID might be sufficient. After all, it *is* proof that the person is currently enrolled in a school.

meadowbay

Since US museums rarely have deductions for older students, we found three years ago in Italy that they would not give a student discount to anyone providing North American ID. However, anyone with an ISIC card got the reduced rate, no matter their place of residence. Unless you're travelling with a pass, you can also get reductions on point-to-point railway and bus tickets. Both my teens have had them for the last three years, and they have paid for themselves quickly.

DejaVu

Back in my grad student days a decade ago, I had an ISIC card and used it all the time. I assume that all the museum discounts still exist. The benefit is that it's instantly recognizable by everybody there. Back then I booked my flights with Council Travel (which I think was folded into STA Travel) and an ISIC card was required to get the student fares, so there really was no question of not getting one.

Here's another tip for you: look for your flights on studentuniverse.com. As faculty, I still use that site when the fares/itineraries are good. ISIC card not required to get the fare; just an email address with an .edu suffix. I also had to fax them a copy of my faculty ID to complete the registration (in your case, student ID of course). It was worth the trouble.

hhildebrandt

Thank you, esm, for your information.
So,the benefits are quite the same as in USA.
When you are in Europe, you are better off to prove it with an ISIC instead with your original student´s ID.

For Paris: http://www.etudiantdeparis.fr/info/Accueil/00

457201

Don't buy the ISIC card, trust me, it did not give any of us the first discount and we went all through Europe over the summer. Not one discount!

janisj

Did you happen to notice the thread in nine years old?