Traveling in Grad School: It IS Possible!

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You probably already know this, but grad school is like….a lot of effort.

While there are arguably more pressing hindrances concerning graduate school, yanno like how to get in, how pay for it, how to GRADUATE…I’m not gonna help you with any of that today.

Instead, I’m going to focus on an issue on the back of every prospective candidate’s mind: Can you travel in grad school?

Personally, I have never enrolled in a graduate program, so I called in the big guns. The experts. The masters.

I brought in some grad students.

They know the ins and outs of how to squeeze the most miles out of their degrees, and they’ve been doing it for a while. Coursework? Mentors? Lab rotations? Teaching? Researching?

AND TRAVEL?!?!?

It sounds too crazy to be possible. But hey, grad school is all about perseverance, right? Let’s jump into these tips!

Meet the Panel!

Sojouner, Masters in Social Work

Sojouner double majored in Psychology and Spanish in undergrad, and minored in Women’s and Gender Studies. Now, as a 1st year in her program, her concentration is International Social and Economic Development with a specialization in Social Entrepreneurship. She has also been a pescatarian for 9 years.

Yvonne, PhD in Toxicology

Originally from San Francisco, she spent her undergraduate years at the University of California, Davis  and earned a B.S. in Cell Biology with a toxicology minor. Yvonne is currently a 4th year PhD candidate in Toxicology. She hates the rain, misses good Mexican food and dim sum, and desperately needs a tan.

Stephanie, Masters in Psychology

As an undergrad, Steph double majored of religion and psychology. Now, she is almost finished with all of her graduate coursework (yay!) and about to move onto the practicum component of her degree, where she actually gets to work with real, live clients in therapy. She plans to specialize in bereavement (a topic very close to her heart), as well as counseling for the general demographic of expats. She’s also really into animal-assisted therapy, which makes sense because she’s probably the most dog-obsessed person you’ve ever met (so send her ALL the dog memes and cute pics of your pups).

Clare, Masters in Music

Clare is now pursuing a MM (Masters in Music) is in Piano Performance.

1. What made you pursue grad school, and what are you studying? 

Stephanie: I’d pretty much always (well, in my adult life) wanted to be a therapist or psychologist. After undergrad, I couldn’t afford grad school right after college so I wrote it off as not ever happening. I took jobs in marketing and medical tourism, things that did actually use psychology but not in a direst way and not quite in the way I’d dreamed of. As a “real adult” nearing my 30s, my husband and I finally had savings and I was financially able to return back to school.

Sojouner: I’m a nerd who loves school and learning, so by sophomore year of undergrad I knew I wanted to go to grad school for something! I just didn’t know what quite yet. After studying abroad junior year, teaching with the Fulbright Program in Spain post-graduation, and serving with AmeriCorps the year after that, I realized I wanted a career with that mixed international work with community work.

Clare: I decided to apply to grad school in 2016. I applied to grad school because I there was a specific professor and pianist that I wanted to study with. So I applied, auditioned, and got into his studio! So it was off to grad school for me!

Yvonne: I had to make money moves. It seems really hard now to make enough shmoney to buy a house in the San Francisco Bay Area with a B.S. in a biological science, so I figured the PhD track into becoming a Sr Scientist or Toxicologist in industry would help me with my homeowner aspirations. My scientific passion was toxicology, and I didn’t feel prepared to make that my career with my tox background only being undergrad research and a minor, so I thought a graduate education would help me identify my niche within the tox world to really contribute something meaningful.

2. In general, what is the biggest obstacle that grad students face when they want to travel? 

Stephanie: I’d guess money and time. I have to admit, though, that I’m probably not a traditional grad student. I didn’t go into grad school directly from college (I took about 6 years off), and my program is mostly distance (with an in-person practicum component), so I have much more location-flexibility. Also, I almost exclusively travel to places that are less expensive than my home location. Well, now I live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, which is still relatively inexpensive, compared to the US, for example. Plus, I and am REALLY good at travel budgeting.

Sojourner: Oh gosh there’s so many. We have a lot on our plates all the time and money is always an issue. In general, I would say our mindset. It’s not that we don’t want to travel. Believe me, we daydream about escaping for a few days. It’s just that our minds are preoccupied with school, work, rent, food, lack of sleep, etc, that we can’t even think about it. We don’t have time to do so and with everything we have going on, it’s even harder to focus on travel. There are so many immediate needs that planning a trip during a break seems more tedious than relaxing. We’re worn out and too tired already.

Clare: I think the biggest struggle students face when they want to travel is budgeting and time. I have a day job outside of school and blogging that helps me stay afloat financially, but by no means do I have any extra means to afford lavish things. Travel to me is important so I often save by sacrificing on buying material items, my cup of coffee, or eating out. Which is quite difficult when you’re in school, because so much of your social life revolves around food, coffee and drinks!

Yvonne: Time, and timing. For me, taking time off hasn’t been difficult, since my advisor has been pretty lenient on work hours/days, provided that all deadlines are met. The biggest challenges have been finding perfect pockets of time that fit between my own projects, followed by balancing fun travel time vs visiting home travel time. I also never have time to research itineraries for trips, so most of mine are chill and open. However, I’m trying to get past this barrier by researching itineraries from travel bloggers!  

3. Does your program have vacation days or time off as a grad student?

Stephanie: No, but because it’s online, there’s more flexibility. You don’t have to be in class, so you can decide when you want to do your assignments and when you’ll be signing up to have your tests proctored.

Sojouner: Yes! The breaks are the biggest perk and I appreciate them even more after being out in the “real world” with no breaks. We have about 4 days for fall break, almost a month for winter break, a week for spring break, and then a summer break from the middle of May to the end of August. Some grad students do work during the breaks and others don’t. I just got back from a week in Mexico during my winter break! I’m thankful and it was much needed.

Clare: My programme doesn’t have any days off besides your usual winter break, spring break, and public holidays. But one big perk about being a grad student is that you don’t have to take as many credits or units as you did for your undergrad. So I go into class anywhere from 3-5 times a week (5 only for one semester). I’ve also always planned my schedule around leaving either Mondays and Tuesdays off or Thursdays or Fridays, this way I can have a way longer weekend!

Yvonne: I believe it’s 2 weeks in general, for our graduate students. However, this varies lab to lab, and whether or not its formally tracked also varies lab to lab. In my program, first-year graduate students are typically required to complete 3 laboratory rotations, where they can check out what labs are like before deciding to stay in one for their dissertation research.

We ALWAYS encourage rotating graduate students to take FULL advantage of their winter and spring breaks, maybe even squeeze in a post-spring finals early summer trip, since they are not yet committed to a lab full time.

4. How do you budget for grad travel as a student?

Sojourner: Budgeting is easier said than done, and requires a lot of planning in my daily life. I live in a city with a low cost of living for rent and food, which is helpful on a grad school budget. I also use public transportation since I don’t own a car. That limits any car expenses, though I pay in time waiting for bus or train lol. I believe in finding some sort of social life, however I do limit how much I spend when I go out with friends. I attend primarily free events (Eventbrite and Facebook events help with this) and limit how much I go out to eat so I save money and cook at home.

As far as income, I learned from one of my AmeriCorps advisors to always have multiple forms of income. To fund everything, I work a few jobs (a mix of remote and in-person work). I also saved up a bit during my AmeriCorps year since I lived at home, during which time I budgeted for my winter break trip to Mexico. I knew myself and knew I would need a trip after first semester! And I was right hahaha.

Yvonne: I mostly budget after-the-fact, like recovery savings, to pay off the credit card bills. Tbh, my mom’s the bomb and she still sends me money occasionally. <3 My program also has most students on Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAs, as opposed to GTAs where you have to TA on top of research) and we conduct research full time in exchange for free tuition and a monthly stipend (holla). It’s ain’t much, but it’s honest work.

Clare: I used to shop a lot, so I had to cut back on that. Buying a t-shirt here and a pair of shoes there really adds up! The plus side was that even before Marie Kondo’s show came out on Netflix, I had read her books and decided to get rid of the majority of my belongings (that no longer sparked joy of course). Before I donated them, I tried selling them first. Facebook Marketplace and Poshmark were great help for this! One thing I parted ways with was my record collection. I made a lot of money from selling all of that but it was definitely something I had to think about for a long time.

I also work as a nanny and a piano teacher! And every now and then, I would perform for shows, work as an accompanist, and make extra money that way (the holidays are a great time to make extra cash)!

Stephanie: Until the last few months, I’d also been working full-time. At one point I was working as the copyeditor for an online travel publication. Now I work for myself, consulting on expat and travel-related projects and doing some content creation work. I’m also married and my husband works full-time in a “normal” job and is not going back ti school, so we also have his income.

5. When do you find the time to travel during school?

Yvonne: This depends year to year. My first 2 years were much easier to travel during, as I didn’t have such strict research/writing deadlines and as many ongoing projects. I had classes though, so I mostly only traveled on holidays.

Now that I’m doing research full-time, I try to take full advantage of when I am travelling for work. Protip: piggyback your trips off of work travel! Last year, I had a conference in San Antonio, so I made the most of it and stayed the weekend wakeboarding and eating brisket =) During my first year, I was fortunate enough to attend a conference in New Orleans, which was an experience in itself, but I found cheap flights from NOLA to the Dominican Republic, which was way cheaper than flying directly from Portland, so I got to go there on the cheap cheap too.

Sojourner: I attend all my classes in person so I pretty much only travel on breaks and holidays. There are a few conferences I’m eyeing that aren’t during a break, but that’s probably the only exception. Since I moved for grad school, I’m in a new city! Exploring it on the weekends is my idea of travel too!

Stephanie: Before the last 6 months, I was traveling internationally about once a month. I would travel AND work AND go to school at the same time. But it wasn’t a good balance for me. I felt exhausted and was really missing close relationships (it’s hard to be friends with someone who is never there), and felt like I wasn’t really living up to my full potential in ANY area of my life. Now, I take shorter domestic and weekend trips. I live in Mexico so it’s still all pretty new for me, and there’s a lot left to see: I’ve only been in this country for 3 years, and focus more on exploring the area and state that I live in.

Clare: Finding the time to travel is also a big struggle. I try to travel around school holidays and breaks, however those are often when ticket prices skyrocket. My biggest tip is to not be picky with where you travel to! When it comes to budget travelling, you learn quickly that you need to be flexible with time and location. Unfortunately, as a student you can’t be flexible with time.

What I usually do is leave a couple days before spring break/winter break starts! I’ve also taken trips while school is in session. This is tricky because you need to either work your butt off before and after your travels, just to build your reputation of being an overachieving student. This will give your professor ease when you need to take a few days off to fulfill your travel dreams.

But always always always email your professors way ahead of time if you know you’re travelling! More often than not, they’ll be understanding. You don’t have to tell them why you’re travelling, but just give them a heads up!

6. Has traveling ever negatively impacted your school or work performance?

Stephanie: I’d say the other way around. I’d be so stressed about getting all of my school and work responsibilities done, I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on the enjoyment of travel as much as I should.

Personally, I know now that in order to enjoy travel, I need to plan on only working (on anything) for about an hour or two a day.

Yvonne: I hope not! TBH I don’t travel that much. I’ll have 3-6 trips a year, mostly short ones (3-5 days), and occasionally one longer one (10+ days). I think travel enhances your mental clarity and focus. When I’m back from a fun trip, I work happier. It feels like a trade with your boss, where you work intensively prior to a trip, and are rewarded with guilt-free travel time.  

Sojourner: Nope! I have been avoiding my emails during this trip to Mexico though…whoops.

Clare: Travelling has negatively affected my performance at school only because of the nature of my degree. I need to have access to a piano to practice on. However, it wasn’t a huge problem. I only take 2 weeks off at most. Then I would come home and buckle down, and get back into work mode. But in terms of papers, assignments, and coursework, I would do them all before my trip to get them out of the way!

7. What does your mentor or PI think of your traveling?

Yvonne: I think she’s fair, and understands that taking a few days off after a conference to have fun and recover are necessary to avoid burn-out. Graduate school is a marathon, and burnout happens when you don’t take any breaks. I don’t think travel affects my work environment/collaborative projects, because I always make sure to tie up loose ends and take care of things on my end before leaving.

Stephanie: I think my mentors are really confused about my lifestyle. Most of the other students live in California or other parts of the US. I don’t really think about whether they think negatively of me, though, because I *perhaps too honestly* don’t care. I plan on working with expats and immigrants, so being abroad and experiencing new cultures helps me be a better therapist.

Clare: I’m lucky my professor/mentor is very supportive of my goals and ambitions. He’s aware that I am pursuing a career in travel blogging outside of school (which I didn’t fully immerse myself into until the end of my 1st year of grad school). But my advisor and other professors would probably be annoyed! I do a good job of being in class and working hard, so my advisors don’t really care as long as I am keeping up my grades.

Sojourner: Thankfully everyone is really supportive of my travels. I work in global programs on-campus, so my boss told me to have fun and enjoy my trip before I left! No one really discourages me. They may question how I can afford it and ask for budget tips, but I don’t get any bad vibes. I think traveling on breaks when I’m off helps avoid any issues.

8. Why is traveling beneficial to students, specifically grad students? 

Clare: Travelling is extremely beneficial because you never know what you’ll learn! When you go to school, especially grad school, you are so focused on your subject that it can get quite lonely. You can also suffer from tunnel vision, which might not be the best thing if you’re pursuing something in the arts.

Personally, traveling helped me figure out what I was truly passionate about. I have been playing the piano and studying it since I was 3 years old, so it was a huge part of my life. If I hadn’t traveled during my first year of grad school, I might not have realized that travel blogging was something I was also incredibly passionate about. I’ve traveled with my family when I was younger, and a lot for competitions and performances, but it wasn’t until I traveled for myself that I realized it was something that truly brought me joy.

But for those who absolutely love what they’re going to school for, traveling is incredible because you get to meet so many people from different walks of life. You’ll never know what fresh, new perspective you’ll have after returning from your trip!

Stephanie: I think it opens your mind to new cultures and experiences, and also different ways of doing things. For me, in the mental health field, seeing how other countries and cultures perceive mental health has been really interesting, and is applicable to my career!

Sojourner: Surprising to no one, grad school is high key stressful. It’s a relay race some days and a rollercoaster ride the next. I think traveling provides an escape for grad students because school occupies so much of our emotional and mental energy. Sometimes it’s really hard to disconnect and take a break at home, so a change of physical environment is necessary. Also, it’s gives us time to refresh before classes start again.

Yvonne: Mental health and sanity. A PhD can be soul-crushingly hard. We deal with tons of rejection from fellowships, internships, awards, professors, failed experiments etc. and are expected to come out of each failed attempt stronger, with new ideas on how to be better next time. College towns are often small, so travel is a nice reset. With the hustle and grind of grad school, vegging out at an all-inclusive resort with no planned itinerary is actually really nice. Even short, local, in-state travel does a lot for my mental health.

9. Have you ever traveled specifically for your core grad program?

Stephanie: I wish

Clare: I’ve travelled for competitions during the school year. I would think that this would be similar to someone travelling for a project in a different major. My school offers grants for projects too! Although I’ve never applied for one at my current school, I’ve applied for grants at my college during undergrad. It is actually a really great tool that students can use (if your school offers it) to fund your travels IF you’re travelling for research, or a project! Definitely utilize it but you need to have a fully fleshed out project in mind! This takes a lot of preparation and often includes a project proposal, breakdown of the budget for whatever grant you’re applying for, and a slideshow presentation.

Yvonne: Yes! I present my research at ~2 local/regional and 1 national conference per year. If you’re fortunate enough to do a research collab elsewhere, it can be a nice couple of weeks/months to learn a new area! I KNOW A GIRL THAT WAS SENT TO SWITZERLAND FOR A MONTH FOR CHEMISTRY RESEARCH.

Alas, I will be in North Carolina this summer, and maybe even D.C. (fingers crossed) so I really look forward to learning that area since I only really know NorCal and Oregon. And from there, weekend trips to D.C. or South Carolina are always an option! Maybe even a detour to NYC when I’m done.

Sojourner: I’m actually traveling this summer for a class and my second internship in Europe! I’ll be working with a non-profit/think-do tank that supports refugees and girl’s empowerment. It’s a long process that I started in September 2018 (yes, THAT early), and included asking for recommendations and completing a few short answers. My school offers funding through a fellowship, which is helps with some costs for the internship. I can also use part of my AmeriCorps award to pay for the extra class expenses since it’s charged through the university. As you can see, I believe in using any and all resources to attain an immersive, intercultural experience.

10. Do you ever travel for conferences?

Sojourner: I’ve only attended some in-city. I hope to leave for my first one this semester!

Stephanie: I haven’t yet! But I plan to travel for specialized training in the future (for example, Denver has some great Solution-Focused Therapy intensives, including one on animal-assisted therapy that I’m really interested in).

Yvonne: Yes ma’am, that is my bread and butter for free flights into new zip codes. When you travel to present your research as a graduate student, you can usually expect your advisor to pay for flight, registration, and housing. Definitely exhaust your options for travel awards, they look cute and make your advisor happy.

Unfortunately during conferences I’m pretty intense and don’t make much time to see the city. I do if I stay a few days after though! Through paid conference travel, I’ve gotten to go to Seattle, WA (2x), Baltimore, MD (2x), San Antonio, TX, Sacramento, CA, and New Orleans, LA. After these trips, I’ve been able hang out in those cities, or piggyback trips to San Francisco, CA, Dominican Republic, and Austin, TX. While other graduate students in my department have been able to travel internationally for conferences, that opportunity has not come up for me yet, so I’m out here getting to know the USA!

11. What are your next steps after you graduate?

Sojourner: Travel will be incorporated into my work! I’m claiming it now hahaha. But seriously, I chose this degree to create a career-travel balance. Since I’m essentially studying to become an International Social Worker, the idea is that I’ll go abroad again and do meaningful work or stay in the U.S. and work with an organization that does work abroad and travel through them.

Either way, the goal is that my mobility will increase post-graduation as I’ll have the training, education, and experience to do social work on a global scale. I’m so excited to see what happens and where I’ll end up.

Yvonne: In STEM, its really common for people to take a post-doctoral position after graduating from a PhD. Depending on job prospects, I might do that! I’m currently interested in postdoctoral positions in industry (probably SF Bay Area, or Greater San Diego Area)

Stephanie: I already have a job lined up after my program finishes at an international school. What’s amazing about working in the international school system is the vacation time, which will mean lots of travel time for me!

Clare: After I graduate, I am fully immersing myself into my career as a travel blogger! I will still use my degree by teaching piano and picking up some performances on the side so I can afford to live and travel, but that’s my plan! I will definitely have a lot more flexibility to travel after school. But honestly, I’ve traveled the most during my first year at grad school than I have in any year before that! It’s definitely possible!

12. What are you top tips to making travel a reality while attending grad school full time?

Plan in advance.

Utilize breaks! Maybe not every one, because that would get exhausting, but at least the longer ones. Even it’s just a few days or a week. A little adventure is good to re-charge for the demands of grad school.

Get all of you assignments out of the way (or as much as possible) before traveling, so you can spend more time enjoying the place that you’re in and less time stressing about how much you have to do and being stuck at your laptop. If you don’t, you may as well have saved your money and stayed at home.

If you know of travel opportunities or funding that may be competitive, immediately put them in your calendar with due dates. Get your recommendations in advance so your mentors have time for A BOMB review. If your program can only afford to send one representative, make sure you have data to present. Being organized and on top of your game can help you score those coveted travel slots.

Figure out your finances.

Get acquainted with some simple travel hacks. For example, using airline credit cards to gain miles. But also other people work better on a cash system for budgeting. Find out what works best for you, and do it.

Know your destination budget. It can be easy to ignore money and pile it on credit cards (especially if you’re taking out tons of loans and planning on nailing a great job after graduation), but don’t use travel as an excuse for going further in debt. Don’t book an all-inclusive resort in the Maldives if your bank account is suggesting a hostel in Thailand.

Treat your travel expenses like a savings account and set money aside every month for you big trip. $20 a week adds up FAST.

And actually track your spending!! If you visually see how much you spend on dining out, iced lattes, or fast fashion trends, you’d be surprise at how much of your money is flying out of your wallet! Say you spend a $100 a month on dining out, which is already a conservative number for a lot of people. You can get one way tickets under that price! Save that for two months? That’s your roundtrip flight.

SAVE YOUR MONEY FAM!

Know your program.

If traveling is important to you, choose a program that aligns with that. Whether that means joining a distance-learning program, or one that breaks for the summer, you know best what’s going to make you happy.

Research if there are programs that have semesters in other countries, or opportunities to collaborate abroad. That can be the deciding factor between schools.

Make the most out of conference travel. Piggyback a trip before/after, and have the university’s travel agency book you a flight using your preferred airline to collect free miles.

Be open and honest with your advisor, as early as possible. Deliver your results ahead of deadline if you know you’re going to be out during a crunch period. Making this a pattern will reassure them that you won’t drop the ball on projects during future travel.

SO BASICALLY

Book your shit, or it’ll never happen. Side projects will always pop up. If you book ~3 months in advance, that gives you plenty of time to plan around it with other lab members.

Be prepared to work harder than ever before. Not only do you have to be on top of your coursework (so your professors will be more lenient on you if you need to take a day or two off), but you need to hustle for that extra cash!

So yes! Travel IS possible in grad school. And not only is it possible, it’s a necessary break! If you were previously putting off grad school because of the risk of missing out on travel, hopefully at least some of your worries are eased. It was certainly a concern for me, so maybe I will look into grad programs!

If you are currently asking the same question about undergrad, check out my post on how to jetset during your Bachelors degree.

If you are already in grad school, does your program allow you to travel? How do you make it work for you? And what are your tips for getting the most miles out of your degree?

For more travel tips, both Clare and Steph have travel blogs! Follow their adventures below!

Stephanie

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Sojourner

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Clare

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