 It comes out of the skull. It comes out of a little tiny hole called the vagal foramen off to the side of the major foramen magnum, the big hole at the bottom of your skull that your brain stem transitioning into the spinal cord drops through. Your posterior vertebral arteries go through that area. But the jugular vein has a hole off to the side by itself, as does the vagus nerve have a hole off to the side by itself. Yet it still travels along the throat.