Travelling abroad - student discount?

jewels123

Hello everyone,

I am a student and am planning a holiday in the summer with my family to Torronto and then New York.

From Toronto, we would like to get a train to New York.

Can anyone suggest any discounts available out there? A cheaper train deal, for example?

Any help appreciated.

Thank you.

Nealmason1986

I was supposed to travel to america with my flat mate and we went to STA travel. They are a student travel company however you dont have to be a student to book with them but you dont get as much discount.

They are miles cheaper then otehr travel agents and the women in first choice laughed when i asked her there best price. She said there is no way we will ever be able to beat STA. she then said she books with them and it works out cheaper then her staff discount at first choice.

They will find you the cheapest flights and if you want they can book you a hostle and they are cheap as well. They also have train deals so you can travel on trains which take you from state to state and they are a good price.

We got a price of about 700 pound for a flight to miami, a weeks accomodation and then a flight to Vegas, 3 nights stay and then a train to LA and another 4 night stay and then a flight back. So not bad at all. I think it was £16 a night in a hostal so was cheap.

Look on STA travel online but its probably best to go into the shop

Perversia

The only international student discounts I know of are through an ISIC card. It's really cheap to get and there seems to be discounts for trains in North America. Check out the website http://www.isic.org/sisp/index.htm and search the discounts for the countries you are going to.

jewels123

Thanx a lot Nealmason1986 and Perversia. Your advice is taken and very helpful indeed. Thanx again.

tumbleweed261

If you're travelling with ViaRail (Canadian train network) you should be able to get a student discount - I think I got 40% off last time I used them on the Toronto-Montreal route, a good bet is a Travelbag store in Toronto - they're the Canadian equivalent of Sta Travel but as has been said you'll probably need an ISIC card. Have fun!

ihatechoosingnames

the UK version of an ISIC card is NUS extra isn't it? It includes ISIC within it.

jewels123

tumbleweed261 wrote: »

If you're travelling with ViaRail (Canadian train network) you should be able to get a student discount - I think I got 40% off last time I used them on the Toronto-Montreal route, a good bet is a Travelbag store in Toronto - they're the Canadian equivalent of Sta Travel but as has been said you'll probably need an ISIC card. Have fun!

Great thanx. 40% is awesome. Do u know if Amtrak offer anything? They do a train from Toronto - New York so was looking around that.

jewels123

ihatechoosingnames wrote: »

the UK version of an ISIC card is NUS extra isn't it? It includes ISIC within it.

Yeah that was another concern of mine. The ISIC card website mentioned above gives a different type of card but NUS is also an ISIC. Will they both work in the same way?

Perversia

jewels123 wrote: »

Yeah that was another concern of mine. The ISIC card website mentioned above gives a different type of card but NUS is also an ISIC. Will they both work in the same way?

NUS Extra has an ISIC built in and it works the same as ISIC on its own, just with extra UK discounts (from NUS). If you don't have an NUS Extra card and don't need one, just get an ISIC on it's own. This will give you all the ISIC discounts.

tumbleweed261

jewels123 wrote: »

Great thanx. 40% is awesome. Do u know if Amtrak offer anything? They do a train from Toronto - New York so was looking around that.

It's definitely worth keeping an eye on westjet.ca - I got a $1 CDN fare in their seat sale from Toronto to New York (La Guardia, but it's only $4 to get from LGA to anywhere in Manhattan on the bus and the subway - M60 bus to 125th St [$2], then a 1, 2 or 3 train [$2] downtown will take you to wherever you need to go, you can change at 60th-ish (Columbus Circle?) or 42nd St/Times Square) so make sure you check the train is cheapest. Buses are quite cheap in Canada too, so if you do your homework a bargain is definitely possible, especially with the lovely exchange rate we have at the moment!