According to The New York Times travel section, Spring Break is not just for college students anymore. Student travel agencies, such as STA Travel, StudentUniverse and StudentCity, may not openly target older travelers, but they do not discriminate when it comes to age. This has been a long-kept secret for years, but now certain agencies, such as STA Travel, have started actively promoting their “flights for everyone” campaign, featuring round-trip flights from New York to Sydney for as low as $798. In addition to low airfare, some of the best deals can be found in the form of package or group tours.

This is something only the budget traveler should keep in mind, as booking a package trip might place you right in the heart of the college Spring Break action. For cheaper airfare, however, it might be worth checking out.

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

If you’ve been reading my blog over the last few months, you are aware that my younger daughter, Jenny, has been traveling in Europe the last three weeks with a group of fellow nursing students. They have now settled in the picturesque town of Guildford in Surrey, England, to begin their one-month study of community health issues and some practicum experience. Jenny really enjoyed her whirlwind tour of several cities on the Continent but now seems equally pleased to be somewhat settled for a while in one place with a room to herself. I thought I’d just share a few of her impressions of the places she visited along the way and a few lessons she and her friends learned on this, their first big travel adventure on their own.

It doesn’t take much snow to foul up transportation in London. One inch brought havoc to the rail lines, closed the runways at Gatwick for several hours and caused them to rebook on a later flight to Madrid. The girls from Chicago just couldn’t see what all the fuss was about.

Loved Madrid, the Prado Museum, Plaza del Sol and . . . sangria! Also fell in love with Barcelona (I have yet to talk to anyone who’s gone there and doesn’t) and wants to return. After cold and snowy England, the girls loved the sun in Spain.

Jenny celebrated her 22nd birthday in Paris, preferred the Musee d’Orsay over the Louvre and learned a valuable lesson: Check to be sure the site you want to visit is open before you take the time and expense to go there. The group trekked out to Versailles on a Monday only to learn the palace is closed on Mondays (and the grounds, in January, are rather subdued).

Roman men can be charming at any age. On their first evening in the Eternal City, the ladies enjoyed the chivalrous attentions of their “older” waiter (For all I know, he was only 35. Ah, perspective!), and the bartender bought each one a rose from a roving vendor. St. Peter’s was impressive; but Jenny found the colors in the Sistine Chapel to be much brighter than she expected, and the Creation of Adam to be smaller than she thought it would be (again, perspective!).

Squeezing too many cities into too few days along with certain train schedules can lead to frustration. Upon arriving in Florence, the group found that there were no remaining seats available on the train they planned to take from their next stop, Venice, to Munich. Instead, they would have to take an overnight train north, leaving them less than 10 hours in Venice. They never even took a vaporetto to see St. Mark’s Square — sacrilege!!

Food and transportation expenses gobble up the euros; so do entrance fees (and drinks at the hostel bar??).

The Wombat’s hostels in Munich and Berlin offered great, free (except for the tip for the guide), half-day walking tours of those cities, full of great information. Dachau touched Jenny deeply: “I don’t think it is possible to explain how I felt when we were standing in the gas chamber. The evil that existed is unbelievably horrific.”

Be sure you get on the right train. The trek from Munich to Berlin took all day and five trains to accomplish; it should have been one train and a few hours. At least the snowy countryside was pretty!

Based on all the other things Jen has said or written to us thus far, I would venture to say that her greatest lesson is how much there is yet for her to see and learn, and what a great teacher travel can be.

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

My younger daughter, Jenny, is just finishing her first week in Europe. While her primary purpose while there is to complete her community health nursing clinical in England, that program doesn’t actually begin for another two weeks. She and several of her classmates are currently traveling about the Continent, and her brief phone calls and Facebook postings indicate they are having a wonderful time. I think it would be difficult for anyone with such an experience before them to not enjoy it thoroughly, but Jenny and her friends did a lot to ensure their good time through solid groundwork in planning and organizing their modest version of the Grand Tour.

It’s possible that just getting 10 individuals to agree on their two-and-a-half-week itinerary consumed the majority of their planning sessions, but I know that all of them also spent plenty of Internet time researching where they were going and how (most economically) to get there. Most of the girls had friends or family members who had traveled abroad (and some, like Jenny, had already been overseas, but none on their own), and all of us were dishing out advice, as well. (I was able to pull out articles from the past few years of Global Traveler on every city on their itinerary, plus others covering everything from health insurance to travel safety.) Going forth with maps and directions steering them from every airport or train terminal to their hostels in each city boosted their confidence that they could navigate their way just about anywhere. With Madrid and Barcelona under their belts already and only a snow-cancelled flight from London to delay the start of their adventure, this merry band seems to be off to a great start.

Here are a few things we are glad are a part of this trip, and which we would recommend to any traveling student:

– An international cell phone: Jenny was able to rent one for an extremely reasonable fee and calling rates. At least two other girls in the group have one as well, so if the entire party splits up, they can maintain contact. Although the plan is to keep in touch with friends and family back home primarily through the Internet, we’ve already found cause to be thankful for the immediacy and ease of having phone contact available. Which leads me to essential item number two:

 – Automobile Association of America’s VISA Debit card: We hit upon this item several years ago when Jenny’s big sister, Sarah, studied abroad, and I used one myself last spring while cruising the Mediterranean. It allows one to withdraw funds in the local currency from any ATM, and although there is a small transaction fee, the convenience and other benefits the card offers are worth it. Because I also have access to the account with my own card, I can load additional funds if needed, and there is an emergency contact number in virtually every country in case of loss or theft of the card (which Sarah had cause to use). When Jenny accidently punched in the wrong PIN number in Barcelona (jet lag and sleep deprivation), she used that cell phone to call me to confirm the right code and unfreeze the card (a nice safety feature). But for those once-in-a-lifetime, special purchases or truly emergency situations, Jenny also has

– A credit card which doesn’t charge for non-U.S. currency transactions. We REALLY stressed the unique and/or emergency aspects of the use of the card (and the fact that those are HER purchases), but we wouldn’t have sent her off without one.

 – A student discount card. Jenny and her friends used the Student Travel Agency to book their hostel stays and a few flights and get their rail passes. They found this simplified paying for those items, although the fares weren’t always the cheapest to be found. They expect to make great use of the STA’s discount card, which will provide them free or reduced entrance to an enormous number of museums and attractions all over Europe, in addition to all kinds of percent-off deals at a wide range of businesses in the cities they’ll be visiting. A side note: so far they’ve been very happy with the locations and cleanliness of the hostels they booked through STA, and all have had WiFi access.

We’re thrilled that Jenny’s trip is off to such a good start, but as any experienced traveler knows, all that preparation and the recommendations of those who’ve been there before certainly had a lot to do with it. Happy travels, ladies!

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

My younger daughter, Jenny, heads off for two-and-a-half months in Europe in January, and she has had no problem coming up with a lengthy wish list of items for Christmas and her January birthday. While she has let it be known that cash would be most welcome, she’d also be happy with a whole slew of seeming necessities for the journey: a new piece of luggage or two, a video camera, iPhone . . . you get the picture: some big-ticket items.

Since she reads this blog, I won’t reveal what has been crossed off her list, but let’s just say that I’m hoping to find some items for her that will prove to be extremely useful on her journey and a lot more friendly to my budget. While I’ve done some traveling, I haven’t had to live abroad for an extended period with only a couple of suitcases to hold what I’d need for that time. And I certainly wouldn’t claim to be aware of all the handy and ingenious gadgets out there that make travel in a foreign country easier or more enjoyable. In addition, I’m pretty sure that what I might consider essential would not necessarily match what Jen feels she couldn’t do without.

I always look forward to Alexandra Kirkman’s Tech Toys column in each issue of Global Traveler. She presents an amazing array of items which seem to answer a plethora of busy travelers’ needs. I’m not particularly technically proficient but can clearly ascertain the value of the most advanced of products she finds. And not all are of the high-tech variety, either, but each provides a solution for situations many travelers face. I’ve been skimming through past issues to consult the column and believe I’ve found a few surprises Jenny may be glad to have along with her.

Nevertheless, I’d welcome hearing from those of you out there who travel often and have suggestions for those don’t-leave-home-without-it items. Whether it be the right kind of shoe for navigating cobblestoned streets, a readable travel guide — or even what NOT to take — I’d appreciate the input. Actually, any sort of travel tips aimed at a young woman traveling in Europe and staying in hostels with friends would be great. Fellow GT blogger and staffer Kim Krol has already graciously and generously offered Jenny some great comments and observations from her own study and travel abroad experiences. I think that’s one of the most admirable characteristics that I find the majority of global travelers possess: an eagerness to share with and assist fellow wanderers in their explorations of the world.

– Patty Vanikiotis, proofreader

Ryanair recently announced it is working with Boeing to configure aircraft to carry standing-room-only passengers. Imagine standing throughout an entire flight!  This comes just a few months after Ryanair’s CEO, Michael O’Leary, announced the airline is  considering pay toilets on board.  O’Leary also announced that Ryanair has carried two times more passengers than British Airways during the month of June (5.8 million passengers). Of course, these passengers fly mostly short segments of about an hour versus British Airways’ long-haul services.

Well, there are probably more cockroaches in New York than people, but that does not mean I want to spend my life living in the sewer!  I am sure O’Leary and his band of discount executives are laughing all the way to the bank while loyal passengers contemplate standing (literally) cross-legged waiting to use his pay toilet.

Get with it passengers — putting up with this type of service begets more of this type of service!

–Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

Global Traveler has joined the world of social marketing. For breaking news, special offers and much more, fan us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @Gtmag!