Cambridge's location in Europe might be the reason that you decided to participate in CME, or it
might have nothing to do with it. Either way, a year in England will put students who are eager
to travel in great proximity to the countless different cities, sights, and attractions that Europe has
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to offer. To decide which places, if any, to visit and what sights to see, you have quite the task
on your hands.

• National Union of Students (NUS) Card -
  Your college might encourage you to apply for an NUS card, which requires only a recent photo
  and some basic data (otherwise it's free). This card makes you a member of the Union which
  entitles you to discounts all over the UK (like 10% off, in Topshop, a fashion clothing store,
  which is quite expensive anyway). The card is not very useful if you plan to stay in Cambridge
  since you get the equivalent discounts using your University ID card.
• International Student ID Card (ISIC) -
  For about £7 and a passport-sized photo, you can get an international student ID card from STA
  travel. This card is what proves you are a student at any museum, hostel, or other place you
  might travel to in Europe. They often may not accept your MIT ID, or even your Cambridge ID,
  as valid student ID's - thus denying you your discount. (This will be the case at about a third to
  half the places you'll go.) Getting this card will guarantee you student discounts (which you
  should definitely ask for everywhere you go!) This card also enables you access to some cheaper
  airfares from sites such as http://www.studentflights.co.uk/ .
• Tours & Package Deals -
  If you are planning on taking a short trip to one or two cities, you might be on your own to plan
  the trip. But if you are looking to travel for an extended period of time and visit many places,
  you might want to consider an organized tour or package deal. One good source for these tours
  or package deals is STA Travel, "the world's largest student travel organization." There is a
  STA Travel branch in Cambridge, located on Sidney Street, next to Sainsbury's, or you can visit
  their website at http://www.statravel.com/.
  One example of a semi-organized cross-Europe tour is Busabout. This company has buses that
  travel between major cities throughout Europe on a regular schedule. You can purchase a pass
  for a given amount of time or for a given amount of rides, and though the bus schedule is set, you
  are free to take whichever bus you want. Learn more at http://www.busabout.com/.
• Budget Airlines -
  There are many ways to get around Europe, but the chances are that a journey will have to start
  with a flight from the UK to the continent. To this end, you might want to consider budget
  airlines, which can seem like a dream come true to college students and other travelers on a tight
  budget. The two most popular budget airlines are Ryanair (http://ryanair.com/) and EasyJet
  (http://easyjet.com/). While their standard fares are comparable, Ryanair is known for having
  relatively frequent sales where they give away very cheap or even free tickets (though you still
  have to pay taxes and fees). BMI is another airline that can be relatively cheap, and you can use
  any of the innumerable search engines (including Opodo, Expedia, Hotwire, Openjet, and
  Travelocity) to find good deals. One great source for finding cheap flights is the budget-airline
  search engine SkyScanner, which you can visit at http://www.skyscanner.net/.
  There is one important thing to realize about budget airlines (particularly Ryanair). One way that
  they keep their prices low is by not flying into major airports. This means that when a budget
  airline offers a flight to a major city, they might very well be flying to an airport that is well
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  outside of that city. For example, Ryanair's flights to Paris go to Beauvais airport, which is
  approximately 3 hours by bus outside of Paris. So though you might get a dirt-cheap plane
  ticket, you may end up having to shell out a hefty wad of cash to actually get to the city like you
  wanted.
• Trains -
  The rail network in Europe is good enough that you can get anywhere you want, so you may opt
  to take the train instead of flying. In fact, you can jump on the Eurostar in London and travel
  under the English Channel to the continent (for more, visit http://eurostar.com/dctm/jsp/index.jsp). Prices and quality of the trains changes from country to
  country throughout Europe. If you are going to be doing a lot of traveling by train, you might
  consider purchasing a rail pass. The one of the largest providers of rail passes is RailEurope and
  they offer a Eurail pass, Europass, and all sorts of passes for different country combinations and
  of various durations. If you are considering getting a pass from RailEurope, you should
  investigate before leaving the US or at least well before your trip, because people have had
  difficulty getting Eurail passes in the UK in the past. For train information, useful websites are: http://www.raileurope.com/us/index.htm http://www.eurorailways.com/ http://www.europe-train-ticket.com/
  Another option is the InterRail pass. The Eurail pass is meant for mostly for Americans and
  other non-Europeans, while the InterRail passes can only be purchased by European citizens or
  people who have lived in Europe for at least 6 months, which includes you (after March).
  InterRail passes are typically cheaper (as much as 50% cheaper) than Eurail passes, so if you
  want to go by train, they're probably worth investigating. For more, visit http://www.interrail.net/.
• Hostels -
  Hostels are generally the cheapest accommodation option for students. However, if you are
  traveling with a group, it may be more comfortable and just as cheap for you to crowd into your
  own hotel room. Don't expect a hostel to provide anything more than a bed and bathroom,
  where the bed is one of many bunk beds in a large room and the bathroom is shared by everyone
  else in that room. Though in some of the especially touristy cities, there may appear to be hostels
  all over the place, it is still generally a wise idea to book a bed ahead of time, particularly in the
  popular traveling seasons (i.e. later spring and summer) because hostels will fill up. There are
  several websites where you can find hostels and reserve beds. These include (among others):
  HostelWold.com (http://www.hostelworld.com/) - a popular one
  Hostels.com (http://www.hostels.com/)
  HostelsEurope.com (http://www.hostelseurope.com/)
  Reserving online ahead of time is a particularly good idea when you do not speak the language
  of the country you're visiting.
  There are a few different hostel organizations, including Hosteling International (HI) (see http://www.hihostels.com/openHome.sma). Some hostels are labeled HI Hostels, which may
  mean nothing, or it may mean that only HI members can stay there, or it may mean that HI
  members get discounts. There are sort of subsets of HI known as Youth Hostel Associations
  (YHAs), which are country specific. (For more about the YHA of England and Wales, you can
  visit their website at http://www.yha.org.uk/Home/Home_Page/index.html). The Cambridge
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  hostel, located on Tenison Road, is a YHA hostel and you can become a member of HI by filling
  out an application there.
  Also, if you're feeling adventurous, check out The Hospitality Club, where you might be able to
  find a free floor to sleep on. CME students have had success with this in the past. Of course, if
  you do take this option, be sure to travel in groups (even better to be in a group that has a guy.)
  Check out http://www.hospitalityclub.org/ for more information.
• Country-specific Advice-
  Students from past years visited specific places, and are willing to answer questions on the
  following locations (good hostels or ones to avoid, restaurants, things to do, etc).
   Inter-railing and Eurailing: mariel@mit.edu
   Austria: jtwong@mit.edu
   Belgium: Brussels (eleanor@mit.edu, amywu@mit.edu), Antwerp (eleanor@mit.edu,
  amywu@mit.edu), Bruges (amywu@mit.edu, jessicae@mit.edu)
   Czech Republic: Prague baby - furness@mit.edu
   The Netherlands: Amsterdam (eleanor@mit.edu, amywu@mit.edu, jessicae@mit.edu)
   Egypt: jtwong@mit.edu
   France: Paris (jtwong@mit.edu, ica@mit.edu, jessicae@mit.edu, moirak@mit.edu),
  Marseilles (ica@mit.edu), Nice (jessicae@mit.edu)
   Germany: ica@mit.edu
   Greece: Athens and locale (ica@mit.edu), islands (ica@mit.edu)
   Hungary: Budapest (ica@mit.edu)
   Ireland: Dublin (ica@mit.edu, moirak@mit.edu)
   Italy: jtwong@mit.edu, Rome (ica@mit.edu, eleanor@mit.edu, moirak@mit.edu),
  Venice (ica@mit.edu, jessicae@mit.edu, moirak@mit.edu), Milan (jessicae@mit.edu),
  Florence (ica@mit.edu, moirak@mit.edu), Sienna (moirak@mit.edu), Amalfie
  (moirak@mit.edu), Naples (moirak@mit.edu)
   Morocco: Various cities and rural areas (ica@mit.edu)
   Scotland: Edinburgh (ica@mit.edu, jessicae@mit.edu)
   Spain: jtwong@mit.edu, Madrid (jennak@mit.edu, amywu@mit.edu), Barcelona
  (eleanor@mit.edu, amywu@mit.edu, jessicae@mit.edu, moirak@mit.edu)
   UK: Manchester, Oxford, Duxford, York, Dorset, Bath, Stonehenge, other small towns,
  (furness@mit.edu, amywu@mit.edu, ica@mit.edu, Jessicae@mit.edu, moirak@mit.edu)
• General Information -
  It is advisable to purchase a guidebook before going to an unfamiliar place. Some recommended
  guidebooks are "Lonely Planet" (good for traveling on a budget), "Rough Guide", "Let's Go"
  and "Eyewitness". People have found that Lonely Planet's "Europe on a Shoestring" has given
  good coverage of a variety of countries in sufficient detail for shorter stays (good for an extended
  weekend trip, but probably not enough detail if you're staying somewhere for more than a few
  days). These give information on transportation, include maps, accommodation, food, sights,
  cultural quirks, money, safety and key phrases in the language of the country.
  If and when you go outside of the UK, you're definitely going to have to confront the issue of a
  change in currency. Fortunately, if you're doing a lot of moving around, the Euro will make life
  much easier. There are a few different ways you can get your hands on foreign currency. One is
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  to get some (in the UK) before you leave to go traveling. You can often order foreign currency
  at banks and some stores (including Marks & Spencer, located on Market Square in Cambridge)
  will exchange currency for you without a commission. It is worth your while to shop around for
  the best exchange rates. Another option is to bring cash (say, British pounds) with you and
  exchange it at any currency exchange booth or store. This is always a sure-fire way to get your
  hands on cash, but it will typically give you the worst exchange rates and you'll have to pay a
  commission. A third option is to use your ATM card at a cash machine in the country you are
  visiting. This will often give you a good exchange rate and it has the convenience of preventing
  you from having to carry around huge wads of cash, but your bank will typically charge you a
  transaction fee (probably around $5) for using a foreign/international ATM. Try asking your
  bank in the US before you leave if they have arrangements with any foreign banks that you can
  use without a fee (at least Fleet had partner banks in a handful of countries that could be used
  without transaction fees). Possibly the best option is to use a credit card to make purchases in a
  foreign country. It will save you having to carry a bunch of cash around and your credit card
  company will charge no commission, in addition to giving you the best exchange rate of the day.
  It is important that you are always aware of your surroundings and be on the lookout for
  pickpockets and muggers in any big city. Tourists are often easy targets and they have a
  reputation for carrying around a lot of loose cash and valuables. Try not to take too many
  valuables on your person in big, crowded cities. You can also carry two wallets, making sure
  that neither has much in it.
  You may find as you try to plan a trip that you have general (or not-so-general) questions about
  traveling. There are several online sources designed to help out travelers, including those that
  you can reach through the following links: http://www.eurotrip.com/index.html - All about traveling Europe, with links to lots of other
  resources http://www.backpackers.com/ - Meant for backpackers and includes a discussion forum http://www.seat61.com/ - Run by gentleman from England, this site is focused on ground
  (trains) and water (ships) travel around Europe
  If you have specific questions, the best place to look for answers is probably other people who
  have traveled, maybe past CME students, other Cambridge students, or online discussion forums.