Student Travel Aware Hub
Ready for your next trip overseas? The Travel Aware campaign helps you stay safe and understand risks abroad.
🤝 Stick With Your Mates: Look out for each other, share locations, set meeting points, keep your accommodation address on you, and make sure everyone gets back safely.
🌍 A–Z Travel Advice: Check the FCDO’s travel advice on gov.uk for safety, entry requirements, and travel warnings. It’s free, objective, and you can sign up for alerts for your destination.
🛡️ Get Travel Insurance: Ensure it covers your planned activities, trip length, and any personal medical conditions.
Methanol Poisoning
Often used in counterfeit or cheap drinks, methanol is highly toxic and can cause vision loss, nervous system damage, or death. If you notice symptoms, seek medical help immediately. Find out more here.
- Get help ASAP if you feel unusually drunk for the amount you've had
- Early signs: confusion, dizziness, extreme tiredness, being sick
- Serious symptons (after 12-48 hours): headaches, nausea, seizures, slipping into a coma
- Vision problems (after 12–48 hours): blurred vision, sensitive to bright lights, blindness, “snowfield” (static) or tunnel vision.
Prevention: Stick to reputable bars, hotels, and licensed shops. Avoid homemade alcohol, check bottle seals and labels, choose sealed or bottled drinks over pre-mixed cocktails or tourist “buckets,” and report incidents.
No such thing as a free holiday
Be vigilant of scams, particularly offering free holidays to Thailand. Often these then involve carrying a bag for someone and most likely it will contain illegal drugs.
While cannabis may be legal in small quantities in some countries, drugs in transit (i.e. travelling with them) has stricter legislation and you can face charges for even having a trace of it on you or within your system.
Be aware of this particularly travelling in and out of Thailand, where neighbouring countries and common stop-off locations are extremely vigilant on this.
Getting away this winter?
Whether you’re planning a ski trip, festive market, or getting a long-haul adventure booked, keep your trip memorable for the right reasons this season.
- Get the right travel insurance for your medical conditions, duration of stay and any activities you’re planning on doing
- Stick with your mates if you’re going as a group, or if solo, make sure you’re letting others know your plans
- Travelling to parts of Europe using a UK or non-EU passport? There’s changes being phased in from October 2025 to register biometric details, such as fingerprints and a photo, when you arrive. It’s free and you don’t have to do anything before you travel and details are kept for three years. Find out more about the Entry Exit Scheme here.
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon Monoxide poisoning can happen anywhere. Its important you are vigilant on the symptoms and particularly if you’re travelling and staying in hostels and a mix of locations, you consider taking a carbon monoxide alarm with you.
The six main symptoms to look out for are headaches, dizziness, nausea, breathlessness, collapse and/or loss of consciousness.
If you or anyone you’re with shows signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, or if you’re detector alarm sounds – think GAS. G – go outside into the fresh air right away, A – ask for medical support and S – service appliances or raise with where you’re staying.
Further Advice and Resources
Click the logos below to find more information on travel as a student or young person.
