Before you begin traveling you're going to need to have your own personal policy!
Over the course of the last 10 weeks I have made it sound difficult and impractical to travel, unless you're rich of course... It's actually a lot less expensive than people expect, as long as you're willing to enjoy traveling for purely the travel! If you desire the high-end resorts or cruise liners you're not necessarily desiring travel, rather you're looking to the luxurious get away where you don't have to worry about anything. There is a simpler way to travel in relative comfort and not have to be concerned about anything... Be flexible.
We all need a plan when we start traveling, that is a given, but you should also be ready to jump on opportunities when they show themselves! This is the base for a good personal travel policy.
There are plenty of ways to travel and have others take care of you so you don't need to pay for a hotel or hostel. CouchSurfing is one fairly popular idea. With four million surfers taking part in the couchsurfing experiene and 400,000 hosts all with profiles and ratings from other surfers, the process can be considered a safe and reliable one worldwide. Some times you will get a bad, sometime a couch, sometimes an air mattress, but nontheless it's a roof. You also might have to cook for yourself, but couchsurfing is free!
Another possibility if you are willing to get your hands a little dirty is through WWOOF, World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. It works a lot like couchsurfing, but in trade for a full days housing and food you exchange labor. Typically ranging from four to six hours, work can be on a farm, vineyard, garden, etc. Hosts must follow organic or sustainability principles, so just think, as you work for your meal and roof, you are also feeding people deliciously organic food grown at their local organic farm!
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| Courtesy of The New Yorker |
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| courtesy of WWOOF |
Money is important though, even if you don't plan on having to spend that much (thanks to my awesome recommendations!), because what happens when decide to take transportation somewhere far and you are out of money? Nothing happens because you're broke...
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| courtesy of JCI |
The ESL job is my personal favorite, but if you have other abilities it may score you a traveling job. Sailors can get on cruises, you can be a medium between banks, be a tour guide (if you know the place well enough), or you can always join the military. They might not always send you where you want to go, but you'll definitely travel!
Remember, your policy to travel comes first, because if you don't have one you'll get pushed around before you start and your adventure will never start!
As Kurt Vonnegut once wrote, "Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God!"
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| courtesy of HolyKaw |
Go get on the dance floor.
I never heard of couchsurfing, and although I would feel uncomfortable with this, it is certainly a way to travel and save money. People always tell me to travel while I'm still young, and this always seemed out of reach because of the cost. However, your suggestions are invaluable to the traveler on a budget.
ReplyDeleteI plan on doing a TON of traveling this summer, so this blog was very useful for me. I'm definitely interested in taking a lot of random day trips to cool places like cities or parks, but I'm also planning an extended backpacking trip to Utah with a friend of mine. These posts have all been pretty helpful for me, so thanks! And as for the comment you made about packing light...I completely agree! You will have to lower your typical standards, but it's essential.
ReplyDeleteThere are certainly a lot of different opportunities out there. I would never have considered using jobs as a means of travel, as they would tend to require a lot longer than a typical vacation abroad, but I suppose if you really want to be somewhere, you could get the best of both worlds. Have you considered or done any of these things? Also, nice quote; I could never get through Cat's Cradle.
ReplyDeleteThis blog has the most useful information I've read in a long time. All of these links make it very easy for me to find easy and cheap ways to travel and they are actually really fun options as well, such as WWOOF ( trading labor for food and shelter sounds fun an practical). It is definitely true that when people travel they expect luxury but in reality that takes away from the authentic experience in my opinion. Thank you for writing this post it was more than helpful and enjoyable to read.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of the couch surfing thing. I would probably question the safety in that. However not buying things seem like a good idea but would probably be very hard to do.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the various possibilities you laid out for how to travel on a budget. This could come in very effective for some travelers. Also, i enjoyed your take on whether or not to buy souvenirs. It seems that souvenirs have become an essential part of traveling. However, in reality the simply bear no importance in the overall view of things.
ReplyDeleteThere is something to be said about the experience of going to a new place and just sleeping on a local's couch. It has a free-spirited feel to it, which is a critical part of the flexibility you mentioned. I think this is the most important ground rule to establish when traveling because there is nothing more stressful than making an itinerary that accounts for every minute of the trip and not being able to stick to this plan. Being flexible allow you to experience traveling, and all the cool places, without this stress looming over you. These ideas are all so cool and make traveling seem like a feasible and necessary experience for people to gain a better sense of the world.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I like how you mentioned using ESL as a way of making money because a lot of times I've heard about using skills like carpentry or sailing that I probably will not possess anytime soon. I hope to spend some time travelling post-graduation and will definitely keep your tips in mind.
ReplyDeleteGreat ending with the Vonnegut quote. This post was very informative, and I appreciate the stance you took on travel. Too many people view "traveling" as going to a foreign country and doing the same thing they do here, like locking themselves in a resort or hotel and simple relaxing. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I think sleeping on the Romans' couches would be a great way to do that.
ReplyDeleteMoney often serves as a major limiter on what people can and can't do, so having resources like these to save money and still enjoy the traveling life are invaluable. Overall, this entire blog has been sweet, informative, and overall phenomenal. I hope that readers will think about this when they make plans for the summer.
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