Our August BUNAC trips will give you a chance to not only be a culture vulture diving into a different mores but also enables you to hop, skip and jump across to Europe for your quick-trip-fix before soldiering on into the next phase of your travel plans.

Paris
How would you like to go to France, dip into another culture and spend the weekend in one of Europe’s great cities? You can try their famous cuisine, drink their coffee and just feel the ambience of Frenchness. Take a cruise on the river Seine, see the Eiffel Tower, walk along the Champs Elysées, see the Arc de Triomphe, visit Montmartre and Sacre Coeur, take a photo of the Moulin Rouge see the Cathedral of Notre Dame and explore the Louvre Museum! We have a weekend trip planned and your friends and family members are welcome to join you and other BUNAC members on a 3 day weekend trip, from Friday 7th August – Sunday 9th August. Cost: £179 which includes transport, hotel accommodation, breakfast and more. Book now! BUNAC: (020) 7251 3472.

Amsterdam
The bank holiday weekend in August, Saturday 29th August – Monday 30th August is taken up with our trip to the vibrant and bustling city of Amsterdam! We’ll be hopping over the border to France and spending 2 nights in Amsterdam. We’ll of course go to an obligatory clog and cheese factory and take a trip to a pretty town just outside of Amsterdam. On the way home we’ll stop off in the picturesque city of Bruges. The trip costs £189 and includes all coach and ferry transport, two nights’ hostel accommodation with breakfast, city sightseeing tour and plenty of other time to do your own thing! There are other trip opportunities whilst we’re there which you will have to pay extra for.

For those of you that haven’t already joined us on Facebook, this is just a reminder that BUNAC has an official Work in Britain group.

If you are a CURRENT participant and would like to receive invitations to all of our social trips, stay up-to-date with our social calendar and meet & keep in touch with other BUNAC participants around Britain, just login to your personal facebook account and simply search Work In Britain – request to join our group and let the fun begin!

Follow us
Tweet up-to-date with BUNAC's Twitter posts. To become a follower, login to your account and go to: www.twitter.com/BUNACWorkInBrit and select Follow... simple.

Read on for events that wrap up the summer months.

Notting Hill Carnival
Sunday 30th August – Monday 31st August

Held each August Bank Holiday since 1966, the Notting Hill Carnival is the largest festival celebration of its kind in Europe. Every year the streets of West London come alive, with the sounds and smells of Europe’s biggest street festival.

For two days what is usually the site for Portobello Road market, is transformed in to a colourful, music thumping carnival attracting hoards of people and the best thing about it is that’s its free! The carnival starts on the Sunday but this is more family orientated so the main carnival day is Monday, it starts around noon and will be quietening down at about 7pm.

Other upcoming events around London include;

Thursday 8th – Tuesday 13th October – London Restaurant Festival, a citywide celebration of eating out. Pop-up restaurants all over town where chefs take their skills out of their comfort zone, rumoured venues include the London Eye, open-top buses and more random locations around the city - www.visitlondon.com/londonrestaurantfestival/.

Saturday 16th – Sunday 26th August – Shoreditch Festival, sports and arts focus with workshops and performers - www.shoreditchfestival.org.uk.

Saturday 19th- Sunday 20th September – Open House. This is your chance to take a peek into some of London’s architectural gems. For one weekend every year the doors are opened to various buildings around the capital and the creative teams behind the designs are on hand to share their ideas and expertise. Keep www.openhouse.org.uk in your favourites as more details will be posted on here nearer the time.

Edinburgh Festival
August is festival month in Edinburgh and there is LOTS going on! Whether you like comedy, dance, jazz, books, or bizarre street theatre there is something for everyone. On Sunday 9th August the Edinburgh Festivals Cavalcades make their way through town with 3000 performers on floats and in bands.

Also don’t miss Fringe Sunday (16th August) not only is it a great day out but also your chance to sample some of the bizarreness of the Fringe and see some of the some acts and shows performing in the festival. Many companies perform all or part of their show for free on The Meadows, so it is a great way to preview shows before buying a ticket!

For more information on what’s going on at each festival check out the website’s below:

On any day during the festival the pedestrianised area of the High Street around St. Giles Cathedral and the Fringe Office becomes the focal point for theatre companies to hand out flyers, perform scenes from their shows, and attempt to sell tickets. Many performances have 2 for 1 ticket offers in the first week of the Fringe.

Money, money money.....
No we’re not going to write a review on Mamma Mia (although it is brilliant!) We thought we would share some of the ways that the Bunac staff save money!

"Wait, I have a coupon for that!"
Big Brand savings include; Tesco, M&S, Curry’s, New Look, Pizza Express, Dell, La Redoutte, GBK, All-Bar-One and loads more discounts. Save on CDs, DVDs, Books & Games, Clothing & Accessories, Electronics, Entertainment, Food & Drink, Gifts & Gadgets, Health & Beauty, High Street, Home & Garden, Phone & Internet, Restaurants & Takeaways, Travel, Utilities. Download printable vouchers from www.vouchercodes.co.uk.

SKYPE with WebCams!
The London office now has Skype with webcams! We have the Skype programme on our computers which enables BUNAC participants to speak to friends and family back home for FREE! Yes, that’s right, it won’t cost you a penny! You just need to grab a headset from us with a deposit of £5, plug yourself in, and get dialling, show off your new hair cut or that tan from your recent European summer holiday!

Last Minute
Are you: a) Spontaneous? b) A bargain hunter? c) Disorganised? D) All of the above… Then you must check out www.lastminute.com great last minute (and even last second) deals on offer for going away and going out - Flights, Holidays, Hotels, Spas, Events, Experiences, Restaurants, Theatres, and many more! You can even book cinema tickets for £6.49 at Vue cinemas!

2 for 1 cinema tickets
Do you have an Orange mobile? Every Wednesday you can buy two cinema tickets for the price of one by texting FILM to 241 from your mobile. You’ll receive a text ticket back, show it at the ticket booth at the cinema and you’re good to go! For more information go to web.orange.co.uk/p/film/orange_wednesdays.

Second hand books/clothes
Find that you’re spending an arm and a leg on books? Get yourself along to charity shops and you can pick up books for as little as 50 pence! Every city/town will have at least a few charity shops, they're good for books and also general household items that you might need to set up home! If you’re in London, markets are a good place to head too, Camden has a few second hand bookshops where you can buy and sell. There is also a book stall underneath Waterloo Bridge outside the National Theatre that have a variety of books at good prices.

Clothes and general funky outfits can be found at various vintage stores around the country, charity shops also sell clothes and every now and again you come across an absolute bargain! Rokit, www.rokit.co.uk are based in Covent Garden and Camden and they sell vintage clothes at reasonable prices. If you’re not into the vintage style then they’re good places to head for fancy dress ideas!

Haircuts
Desperate for a chop but reluctant to spend the cash? Well, instead of getting one of your friends to attack your hair with a pair of garden shears then why not take advantage of the salon training schools such as Toni & Guy - www.toniandguy.com or Vidal Sassoon www.sassoon.com. It might sound equally scary as your friend cutting your hair but all trainee stylists are supervised and you can get yourself a super cool and retro haircut for a bargain price!

Student Standby tickets
If you want to experience the culture and atmosphere of the opera, ballet or the theatre but at half the price of a normal ticket then read on!

The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden do a £10 student standby deal where unsold tickets are made available over the internet with a 24 hour minimum notice period! You need to register online at www.travelex.royaloperahouse.org/StudentIntro and you will receive email notifications when these discounts are available.

The Open Air Theatre also have tickets available on the actual night of performances so if you haven’t managed to get a ticket for a particular performance, don’t despair, still go along and sometimes they have good seats at good prices! Log on to www.openairtheatre.org to see what performances they’ve got coming up. Remember to take your student ID (your ISIC card is acceptable).

Remember that as a BUNAC member you are entitled to exclusive BUNAC discounts with various different tour companies, as listed below. The discounts are only for BUNAC participants and you will be required to show BUNAC ID.

Contiki – 15% discount on all trips of 1 week or longer. To get the discount you must book directly through Contiki and not through an agent. www.contiki.com

Radical Travel – 15% discount on all trips including Haggis Scotland, Haggis Britain and Shamrocker tours. Trips must be booked directly with Radical Travel to get the discount. www.radicaltravel.com

BUSABOUT – 10% discount on European bus passes with BUSABOUT, please contact BUNAC for a flyer available soon! Some restrictions apply. www.busabout.com

International Friends - £10 off all day and weekend trips. www.internationalfriends.co.uk

National Insurance Numbers
This is just a reminder that the number to call for booking National Insurance numbers is 0845 6000 643, for the whole of the UK. Make sure you have your full address including your postcode when you make the call, as they will use this information to work out which office you need to go to for your appointment.

Returning home?
Many BUNAC participants return home at the end of the summer, so if you are going home soon we hope you have enjoyed your time here in the UK. Below are a few things you should take care of before you leave the UK:

3rd Report Cards - Please send BUNAC your 3rd report card to let us know you have finished on the programme. This can be filled out online www.bunac.org/incoming.

Bank Accounts - If you are leaving the UK permanently you should close your bank account before you go home if possible. You should allow at least 4 working days to take care of this. Ask BUNAC for an information sheet about closing your bank account if you need more details.

Mail - Once you have returned home any mail that you receive at BUNAC will be returned to sender. Unfortunately we cannot forward mail overseas.