Don’t Die Abroad:

MIT Student Launches Online Travel School

Bailey Richert is not just your typical MIT grad student. Having already visited 23 countries by studying abroad in the United Kingdom, backpacking around Europe, and circumnavigating the world with University of Virginia’s Semester at Sea program, it’s safe to say that Bailey is a true adventurer and travel addict.

Bailey’s primary interest isn’t just constantly increasing her “hit count,” or number of countries visited. Bailey has a much greater vision than that: to educate and help train a new generation of international travelers to go abroad in a safe, savvy, and sustainable manner. That’s why she published her first book, Prepare, Travel, Return: A Beginner’s Guide to Globetrotting, in 2014, which she describes as a “comprehensive handbook for first-time international travelers.”

When reminiscing about her first journey overseas in 2007 as part of an undergraduate study abroad program to University College London, Bailey says,

“When I first went abroad, I was the only person I knew to ever leave the country, so it’s no surprise I was completely ill-prepared. The only thing I knew was that I needed a passport, and for the first few months, everything just went wrong.”

Bailey began mentoring fellow students, friends, and family about “how to travel,” as she puts it, so that others wouldn’t have the difficult time that she did while trying to enjoy an international adventure. However, it wasn’t long until it became obvious that a central resource (her book) was needed.

Since then, Bailey has seen a growing need to train people going abroad from the US every year and she has been seeking out new methods to convey her expertise. She realized that her book was only reaching an audience of people who loved to read or who often downloaded books. That’s why she has decided to expand into the realm of online learning with her new travel school, DontDieAbroad.com.

The online school is another tool to reach a larger audience that incorporates video, which has more appeal because it is easier to consume. Considering that Bailey’s primary audience includes sophomore and junior college students who are preparing for their study abroad semesters, this was a huge consideration. “It’s hard to want to read even more after you’ve just spent your entire day in class. The video courses will give students an opportunity to be exposed to the material in a more enjoyable fashion, and it allows me to showcase video and photography that just can’t be done in a book,” explains Bailey.

Launching April 1, 2015, DontDieAbroad.com will be an interactive online school featuring several courses in practical travel skills: everything someone needs to prepare for a trip abroad. Course topics include traveler health, finances and budgeting, itinerary planning, customs and immigration, handling emergencies overseas, cultural issues, and more.

The courses will each include many short videos, quizzes, and actionable to-do items to help students prepare for upcoming trips as well as the ability to discuss travel topics with Bailey and other students in the courses. All courses offered are self-paced, and students can enroll whenever they wish. Students can access the courses anywhere, at anytime, so long as they have access to Wi-Fi or a data connection but the students can also download materials to work offline.

In a quickly globalizing world filled with war and conflict, there is no greater mission than educating the youth to lead lives of tolerance and acceptance, and there is no better way to do this than by encouraging them to travel. Bailey has set out to ensure that these travel experiences promote global citizenship, rather than discourage it. By properly preparing the youth for their travels and making sure every one comes home with stories of a happy, healthy, and memorable time abroad, Bailey hopes to change the world one traveler at a time.