If there’s one thing Cambridge students love more than traveling, it’s talking about it.Emily Lawson Todd, Varsity
Summer is upon us, and for Cambridge students, that can only mean one thing: over the next few months, our Instagram feeds will be flooded with the exotic trips and adventures of our friends who seem way cooler than our own. After months of university residency requirements, it’s like a competition to see how much distance you can put between you and Great St Mary’s. There are few things Cambridge students love more than travelling.
So it’s a bit surprising that the Cambridge Travel Society, described on its website as “a new society for Cambridge students interested in travel”, was only founded in 2022. Despite still being young, the society has impressive social media pages packed with videos of members tumbling down sand dunes and admiring waterfalls, and a snazzy website promising social events for travel-loving students, exclusive discounts through partnerships with travel companies, and small-group trips to interesting places.
Now, if there’s one thing Cambridge students love more than traveling, it’s talking about traveling. Perhaps that’s why I have no trouble finding committee members willing to sit down with me and discuss the Society and its direction.
“It often starts with looking at Skyscanner to find cheap flights.”
When I meet the society’s new president, Lawrence Davis, I get the impression that he’s clearly a busy man. He’s arrived having just helped organise the Cat’s May Ball, and immediately begins talking about a planned summer trip to Turkmenistan. As the Foreign Office travel advice says, Turkmenistan is not for the faint of heart, so I’m relieved when he tells me that this is just him and a few friends, not an official society trip. But it already points to the adventurous spirit that is characteristic of some of the members.
So far, the association’s main activity has been organising trips abroad for around 20-30 people. The list of destinations doesn’t include Turkmenistan, but it’s still impressive: Krakow, Lisbon, Bratislava, Brno and Marrakech. How are the locations chosen? “It usually starts with finding cheap flights on Skyscanner,” Davis replies nonchalantly, adding that ideally one of the people organising the trip has been to the destination before.
For some, the visit to Morocco may have been their first visit to a non-Western, low-income country.With permission from the Cambridge Travel Society, Varsity
The travel association plans the entire trip, including transportation and accommodation; participants only have to pay a fee. The association also plans the itinerary, but participants don’t have to follow it. “We’re not a school trip,” says Davis.
Not if former tourism officer Dhruv Sharma is to be believed. How many school trips visit the Sahara Desert and overnight in a Berber campsite, as in Morocco, or include booze-filled boat trips, as in Syracuse? “These are not frugal trips,” Sharma boasts.
“The association is making a huge effort to make it affordable for as many people as possible.”
One thing I would love to know is whether it’s affordable. When I told a friend that I was writing about the travel association, he said, “Isn’t it just a bunch of rich people flying around Europe?” But this seems far from the truth, at least from what I’ve heard. Sushant Patil, a spokesman for the association last year, emphasized that the association makes great efforts to make it affordable for as many people as possible. First, because the group size is relatively large, the association has a lot of negotiating power and can buy in bulk when it comes to arrangements like meals and entrance fees, which helps bring down prices. Also, unlike other companies that arrange trips, the association is not for profit and offers trips at cost price.
I had a look at their Instagram to see how reasonable these prices are. On the one hand, a trip to China this summer will set you back a staggering £750-850, not including international flights or daily meals. On the other hand, a trip to Morocco was just £199 for a member. Even taking into account the fact that this price doesn’t include airfare, it’s still not more expensive than a ticket to Maybole, and is probably a lot better value.
Davis also told me that the organization is looking to secure corporate sponsorships for next year, which could provide scholarships for students who wouldn’t be able to attend otherwise. They’re also looking into domestic travel and non-flying trips, which he said might be cheaper. But Davis acknowledged that there may be limits to what the organization can do: “Travel just can’t be that affordable.”
Sharma speaks passionately about the importance of travel to personal and social development: “Travel makes people more open, more accepting,” he says, noting that the visit to Morocco, for example, may have been some people’s first visit to a non-Western, low-income country. Each member of the association has to decide what they want to get out of traveling, but as far as the association itself is concerned, “we believe that travel is inherently good.”
I’m intrigued to hear him say it. “I want to travel more” has become something of a cliché by now: we’ve heard it in thousands of icebreakers and seen it on thousands of dating app profiles. But travel has become increasingly controversial, and concerns about the environmental impact and the risks of overtourism are making many people of delicate consciences think twice before hitting “book now” on Ryanair’s website. In this climate, it may not be a bad thing to have a group of travel advocates in Cambridge who are willing to stand up for themselves.