“It’s easy to get addicted to familiarity, just don’t forget to spend some time wandering in the unknown”.
Lately, people have been asking me for advice on traveling, so I decided to write this blog post to help answer the most common questions I get about traveling!
Whether you want to travel for leisure, volunteer work, study abroad, or just to get away from the normal everyday, there is something to be taken from this post:
10) Where should I travel?
-That answer is something I cannot give you. Only you know where your heart wants to travel. Have you dreamt of laying on the beaches of Thailand? Or hiking the Inca Bridge in Peru? Do you yearn for the experience of sipping wine underneath the Eiffel Tower? Or salsa dancing in Barcelona? Perhaps you’re more into the idea of shopping in downtown London? Or maybe you’ve always wanted to see the Northern Lights in Iceland? Either way, the first question to ask YOURSELF is “Where do I want to go?” From there, you can begin planning. Maybe cost, or language, or time is a factor; but the first step is picking a place to travel to.
9) What if I don’t speak the language?
-That should NEVER hold you back. Part of traveling is experiencing a new culture, language included. However, I know that some people do not always enjoy a language barrier when they travel. If you are one of those people, you are in luck, as English is a language heavily spoken around the world. The farther you wander from touristy locations though, the less English speakers you may find. On the other hand, if you are looking to improve on a language, immersion through traveling is one of the best possible ways to learn that language. The longer you stay in a country, the better assimilated you will become to their language and culture!
8) Where do you find the time to travel?
-I won’t lie, it is a little easier for me to travel as I am a teacher. I get Thanksgiving, winter, and spring breaks. I also get a couple weeks in the summer to myself (despite popular belief, I do NOT get a “summer vacation”, but that is for another blog post, on another day). However, for those who aren’t fortunate enough to receive sporadic breaks through out the year, I can recommend a few options:
#1 Save up those vacation/sick days! Instead of laying in bed, debating whether or not you should call out of work because you don’t feel like getting up, consider it a day lost you could’ve spent traveling. If that doesn’t get your butt to work, I don’t know what will.
#2 If you have a job in the medical field, or teaching, nannying, or building, there are tons of work abroad options that would allow you to travel AND work.
#3 Step away, and take time off from your job/school. The formidable “gap year” if you will. This is a significant amount of time that you have in between jobs, school, or what have you. You can backpack through South America, couch surf through Europe, or work your way through Asia. A few friends of mine that have taken this route, and have enjoyed their time immensely. Some of them have adjusted well returning back home, while others have had trouble getting back into the swing of day to day schedules such as school, while some only lasted a few months home, before leaving their jobs, and returning back to their travels. It all depends on what your future goals are, and the kind of person you are.
7) How much money should I bring with me on my travels?
-This will depend on where you travel. You would want to bring more money to Europe, than you would to South America. You also need to check currency exchange rates before traveling. Wherever you travel, there is always a risk of pick-pocketing, and you should keep money close, safe, and use only trusted ATM’s if you plan to withdrawl money from your account while abroad. I also HIGHLY reccomend alerting your bank anytime you plan to leave the country. This will clear up any confusion when your bank suddenly sees that your card is being used in a country that you don’t live in. While I was in Peru, a friend of mine got her card blocked while she was traveling, and it took 3 days, and a lot of phone calls to clean up that mess. However, depending how much you want to do, and where you go, will determine how much you should bring. If you’re a shopper, plan accordingly! If you like to dine out, check prices of local restaurants! If you want to do excursions, make sure you budget appropriately!
6) Is there WiFi abroad?
-This may seem like a silly question, but when you are traveling abroad, your phone is your main source of contact to reach home, and your loved ones. I personally feel happier when I know that I have way to contact my mom and boyfriend when I am traveling. Again, there are options for communication:
#1 International plan: A more expensive, but reliable option to having WiFi, and data when traveling abroad.
#2 Pre-paid phone or SIM card: If you have an unlocked phone, you can buy a SIM card from whatever the country you’re visiting uses as a phone provider. You stick the SIM card into your phone, and BOOM! You can also purchase a pre-paid phone when you arrive in another country as well, and use that while you are traveling.
#3 Basic WiFi: You can just hook your phone up to WiFi whenever you can find it. Most hotels, hostels, restaurants etc will have Wifi. You are sort of a prisoner to using WiFi whenever if it available, but then again, you don’t want to have your nose burried in your phone during your entire trip anyway.
5) How can I volunteer abroad?
-This is probably one of my favorite questions to be asked! First off, you won’t regret spending your time traveling by volunteering. It is incredibly gratifying, and a great way to become emmersed into a new culture. My best recommendations to avoid that plaguing “voluntourism” are simple:
#1 Fundraise: I recommend A LOT of pre-traveling fundraising. Even if you can’t stay for long, your funds will go a long way in helping the people that you are volunteering with. I was only able to volunteer in Peru for a week on a Holiday Project with the orphanage down there, but I also fundraised about $1,000 before I left. My money played a huge role in supplying medications to the orphans who were in dire need of it.
#2 Work hard: I’ve met some of the hardest working volunteers on my various volunteer trips, and I’ve also met some of the laziest people. Make sure that if you volunteer, you are in it for the right reasons. In Honduras, I worked for hours in 90 degree weather, mixing cement, and plastering walls. I heard ZERO complaints. In Peru, I was indoors for a couple hours painting walls in a room, and I heard a volunteer say, “Wow, I’m exhausted”. My thoughts “Are you really?” Is this really such hard work that you’re exhausted? Any and all work that you do for others should be valued, taken seriously, and done to your best ability. Compaints are unwelcome, and come off as annoying. If you don’t enjoy volunteering, than travel for leisure. Because for the most part, people that volunteer when they travel, WANT to volunteer, and want to be around others that share their sentiments.
#3 Care about the people: I was lucky enough to be working with an incredibly caring group of volunteers on my trip to Peru. But I also heard some uncomfortable stories about volunteers the week before I arrived that cared more about taking “selfies” while sprawled acrosse the Christmas presents for the orphans, than actually handing out the presents to the children. The children are not there for your photo ops, and neither are their living conditions. Some children LOVE having their pictures taken, and that’s OKAY! They will give you a big smile, probably hug you, and then want to scroll through your phone. But if you find yourself chasing the kids around for a picture, chance are, they don’t want to be in your picture. Leave them alone.
I HIGHLY recommend volunteering through my personal favorite volunteer organization: IVHQ (They are located in Australia, but will hook you up with whatever partner organization they have in the country you want to travel to)!
For South/Central America: Maximo Nivel
Honduras: Students Helping Honduras
4) How do you book all your excursions?
-This will again, depend on where you are traveling. You can book any and all excursions before you travel to another country; or to save money, you can book once you arrive in country. I like to book ahead for peace of mind, mostly because I don’t know what to expect in countries I haven’t visited. If you go with a volunteer organization, or a travel group, sometimes excursions will be included, or there will be partner organizations that can help you get set up with some adventures abroad! Students Helping Honduras takes all their volunteers to a club and the beach at the end of the volunteer week! IVHQ offers tons of partnerships, and one of them will be very helpful in helping you find and book excursions. Other travel groups like EF College Break has built in excursions, and offers others for an additional fee! No matter where you go, you can find affordable excursions!
3) Should I travel alone? With friends?
-Either way works! I have traveled alone, and I have traveled with friends. Each one has its own benefit. I have traveled alot over the past couple of years, and I STILL get super nervous about making friends when I travel.
#1 Alone: Traveling alone offers you more time to yourself to do the things that you want to do. I traveled a lone to Honduras and Peru, and I never once felt tied down to do something I wasn’t interested in doing. In Peru, I made good friends on the first day, and when I wanted to spend time with the group, I could, and when I wanted to go do my own thing, I could do that too. I had a great roommate, the BEST housemates, and my volunteer group was wonderful! I really got the chance to meet a lot of very cool people.
#2 With A Friend: Traveling with a friend is a lot of fun! I traveled with a good friend when I went to Europe, and it was a great decision! I had a friend to hang out with for the long flights, and I felt more comfortable approaching people and talking to them, knowing that my friend was by my side. When traveling with a friend though, I urge you to think about the kind of friend you are traveling with. The friend I traveled with was an independent person, like myself, and while we roomed together, and did a lot of excursions together, we also branched out, made other friends, and didn’t feel the need to spend every second together on that trip. We learned that we traveled really well together, and I would ABSOLUTELY travel with this friend again in a heartbeat! I’ve seen people that travel with their significant others, and those are the people that tend to stay glued to each other.
These are all thigngs to take into consideration when traveling abroad. I can reccomend a travel group company that I traveled to Europe with:
EF College Break is set up like an itinerary. While that kind of structure appeals to some people, it doesn’t always appeal to everybody. The upside is, you don’t have to attend everything that is scheduled. You can pick and choose the excursions, tours, and outings you want to be a part of. You meet very cool people from all around, and I the tour guides on your trip become like your “big brothers” and “big sisters” abroad. I felt very safe, taken care of, and their helpful hints and tips for the countries you visit are invaluable. Everything is taken care of, and FLIGHTS ARE INCLUDED in your cost. I find EF College Break to be affordable AND fun! I am highly considering Costa Rica with EF College Break for my Spring Break next year!
2) Where should I stay?
-This again will depend on how you decide to travel. Volunteer trips will have you in local homestays, or volunteer housing, while travel groups like EF College Break will have all your hotels set up before you arrive. If you chose to do independent traveling, then I recommend you take advantageof the hostels! The hostels are REALLY fantastic, and you get to meet fellow travelers, and room with some new faces! The hostels will also have deals on travel adventures, and excursions that you can explore while you’re visiting. In Peru, the hostles were where everybody would go to party and socialize. In Europe, the hostel bar in Barcelona was where everybody would meet up to pre-game before going out to the clubs. It is just a really great atmosphere that sort of forces you past your comfort zone (in a good way)!
1) How do you save up money for all your traveling?
-This is one of the most common questions I get. Personally, I have a separate bank account for traveling, and I deposit a little bit of my paycheck into it each pay period. after a few months, I have a pretty sturdy spending limit. In addition, I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card. I use it to save up points that I can then use for traveling. It is one of the better credit cards recommended for travelers. (Please, hit me up if you want a referral).
If money is an issue for you, perhaps that 3 week luxury vacation to Europe isn’t in the cards for you right now. But that certainly doesn’t mean you CAN’T travel. There are tons of budget friendly countries where the American dollar can go a LONG way.
In Peru, I could easily get a meal for around under $8. The most expensive meal I had was a really nice meal at a fancy restaurant for aboutttt $25, and that was simply because I was treating myself for the week.
Countries that are cheap to travel to, and cheap to stay in:
Honduras
Peru
Thailand
Vietnam
Cambodia
Guatemala
El Salvador
Bulgaria/Romania
Iceland
Fiji
Bali
India
For more details check out: Budget Friendly Traveling
The list goes on and on…The shopping is cheaper, the excursions are cheaper, and you still get to explore these beautiful countries you never realized were so memserizing until you got there!
———————————-
In our 20’s, we have more freedom, and more of a desire to explore the world around us. I haven’t felt more curious about life and the world around me since I was a child. I didn’t have the money in high school, I didn’t have the time in college, and now that I am post-grad, I feel that there are no excuses holding me back. If you feel similarily, I urge you to consider traveling. Whether it’s volunteer, leisure, family filled, a couples vacation, or whatever, the time to travel is NOW!
B
20 something 