Firstly, what a weekend! Its been another eventful bank holiday to say the very least. Drinking with rock stars and meeting two girls adamant that I'd won Total Wipeout two immediate highlights. (For the record I've never been to Argentina).
However today's blog post is in response to a question I was asked today by a girl from the US (Georgia) via a mutual friend whom pointed her in my direction. She asks...
How do you finance your trips? and what do you aim to accomplish when you travel?
Two very feasible and sensible questions Liliana. Firstly you need to realise that financing a trip anywhere for a long period takes time, perhaps 3 months of hard work. It differs for us in England I'm sure because of pay rates etc, however I would say that if your prepared to graft you can achieve maximum saving with a little hard work and a life style change.
Now I like to drink and I like to party.The first thing you must do when you have paid for your flights is to change you life style. For cheap flights try Opodo.com, I paid £404 return to Singapore, that's about $700 dollars. I tend to go out once a week at the most and stick to bars that tend to offer you personal discounts or simply drink cheap crap before you go out.
Once you change your lifestyle you need to work hard! I worked at three bars in my home town to maximise income. Bar work in the UK is great, you get to drink, dance and eat for cheap! Working at more than one you get to change your scenery, meet more people and enjoy more discount. If you tell employers that you are planning to travel in a few months they tend to either reject you because they feel its a waste of time training you up, or, they love you because they know you want work loads of hours and will be motivated to work hard. Where ever you want to work bar or no bar, just suss out the management and give them your future plans in accordance, some times a white lie can get you that extra paid waitress job that can supply that much needed cash.
Once you secure work and your in saving mode you can settle down a bit and get into the swing of it. Working 6 days a week with the finish line of sun, sea, jungle, mountains, desert, what ever your destination holds, will spur you on. At this stage I would plan, plan, plan! I find that planning a trip is so much fun, doing it is up and down and then looking back is also a great part of travel. Having said that I wouldn't plan meticulously, leave some mystery and try to avoid reading Lonely Planet's cover to cover. If you are planning something crazy, perhaps biking the coast of Vietnam like I did last year then perhaps a little more background research would be necessary.
One reason I have been able to finance three big trips (all 3 - 4 months in length) as a student is thanks to my destinations. South East Asia is CHEAP! I budgeted £20 per day ($35) and I lived like a king each and every day.
Once your there you want to know what do I want to get out of my time traveling? This is an easy one. I travel like many because it allows you to broaden your understanding of the world around you. Culture is a word that becomes a reality, until you immerse yourself in a new one, it remains a word in your dialect. I like to travel because you get to meet people of the world. Some are nice, some are the best and some rob your passport when your asleep. People make the trip. I have traveled alone at times and you still even traveling solo find people along the way that shape your time away in ways that transform your preconceptions of a particular demographic and just enlighten your days
I travel because I like to become a viewer, a person with an eye for the strange and wonderful. When you travel you must keep your eyes open at all times and become a sponge to the smells, sights and sounds of the place your at. Not everywhere you go or everyone you meet will immediately amaze, but each encounter should be memorable in some way. I like to write a daily entry in a pad or book just to remind myself of the good and the bad days.
I think the number one thing I want to get from traveling is to have a good time. Being English we enjoy a hell of a lot of comforts on the the road. Most locals speak our language, the exchange rate is brilliant and we have an innate ability to make humour from most situations, so when it comes to going somewhere new and scary, we have a head start. My biggest tip is go with an open mind, try everything once and don't worry about taking you time, don't rush around like a headless chicken living 'life like its your last', just chill out and enjoy yourself.
Be a doer.
I hope this helps you out in your quest to create an internship program for financially challenged students.
Peace! x
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