today feels a lot like yesterday

hello!! sure, where should i start!

MINI CHEAP TRAVEL GUIDE:

1)What’s the plan?(type of trip)Firstly, figure out where you want to go! Think of a few aspects that you are looking for in your trip, for example mountains, beaches, architecture, a certain culture…? Maybe you want to visit a few countries that are near each other? Find out as much as you can about your destination to make sure you will be happy with what you chose.

2)Finding the cheapest option to go toSo to travel cheap is to think about where it would be cheapest to live, get best flights etc. For example you can spend the same amount for a week in europe and a month in asia. So first thing is look at flights, and decide how long you want to go somewhere. My recommendation for a cheap, safe and amazing trip is a place like Thailand, there’s nature, you can find super cheap accommodation, food and transportation and get a full backpacking experience while riding night trains and eating tropical fruit.

3)Research on your destinationTransport, places you want to visit, their prices, get a notebook and write everything down, if you want to travel cheap, check everything out beforehand, plan out your money, because it’s really easy to spend it on a trip without noticing. When going on a budget trip I always try to find the price of every train ride I’m planning to take, calculating an average daily food budget, cab prices, hostels, any extra stuff, and even if you want a chill trip with not planning on what you are going to do, still write down prices of everything so while on your trip, you won’t have to spend time on your computer researching and then you can easily figure it out just by opening your notes (and personally I think it’s really fun looking for all of this, it gets you excited for what’s coming). So if you want to travel cheap, find out stuff beforehand instead of having surprises.

4) ManifestingSo important !!!!!!!!!!! Believe in the fact that it will all work out. Before my first trip that I went to with my own money, I had no money :D But from the second I decided that I’ll go I didn’t lose hope, even though it seemed IMPOSSIBLE. Seriously earning money in the country I lived in, especially as a teenager-young adult, is very hard. And once I let go my doubts, job opportunities came! And you can believe this or not, but this is key. Believe in what you are reaching for. Manifest everyday, when going to bed, take a few minutes of just imagining your trip and how it will go. IT WORKS

5) Putting in physical effortOf course just thinking about it won’t make it all happen, but the next thing is working for it! Try to find a job, and if you have a job, but find it hard to save money… The way is not eating-out and not buying clothes :D This is where most money goes, and seriously when you have a goal in mind it’s not that bad. Now I’m actually used to it, and I’d change a trip for new clothes anytime. You will be surprised how much you can save. Just put it all in a mason jar and don’t let yourself open it;) And of course it takes time, especially if you want to travel for a longer time for ex. a month). It may take half a year to one and a half year depending on your situation, and that time can get hard sometimes! but alwayssssss worth it. always.

6)Still not enough money?So you got no money? There are still options! One option you can try is WWOOFing (you can google it for more information) and basically you find an organic farm in any country you like, and you help out on it, like picking fruits and veggies etc, and you get a free stay and money, so basically all the money you need is a flight or any other way you’d get there, and it’s a fun experience if you want to change life up a bit! 

7)Booking the cheapest flightsThe trick to finding the best flights is not trying to look for a date that fits for you but fit to a date that is cheapest. Of course if it’s possible for you, but look for last minutes, or just keep on tracking flights, and i found that the cheapest place is orbitz.com but there are more, just i saw that the same tickets cost cheaper here. 

8)Cheapest accommodationHostels are best, it’s just a lot of beds in one room and you get to meet other travelers, so if traveling solo you can make cool friends or just have some very interesting conversations. People are awesome and you can find some super interesting people in a hostel who has been living with just a backpack for a few months;) I like to look for hostels in booking.com or something similair to that. If you want to live for free try couchsurfing.com and stay at people’s houses, it’s fun because you get to see the place from a different perspective when you live with a local, and they show you around the truly important places of the regions, and that’s not only the famous places that all people go, it might be a secret spot on the beach, or a place where locals only hang out and spent there childhood in, and then truly get to know the place that you visited.

9)FoodRely mostly on supermarket food and try to make as much food by yourself! It’s so much cheaper than buying every meal from a restaurant or something. Or in some places street food is also a good option.

10)Helpful tips-Get a notebook beforehand! Write all the adresses that you think you may need (in both English and the local language); write all basic words and phrases in the local language; some train or bus schedules that you think you may need; phone numbers of your families or friends form back home just in case; names of places you may want to visit and etc. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. It can help you a lot, so it’s better to not get lazy on this part you will be thankful later on.-Use the time of your layovers! I’ve seen so many extra places that I didn’t plan to, for example I had a 11 hour layover in Amsterdam and I went to the city, and even though I was alone and didn’t spend money, just walking around wherever I could, without knowing where to go, was a completely different experience, and definitely worth it. Just blindly exploring. Or I had a layover in Abu Dhabi for 16 hours and apparently it was easy to get an on-arrival visa, so I just went out, got into a bus that I spent a dollar on, and just walked around and explored, sooo worth it! An extra trip in your trip haha. There will be enough time to rest around when you get home:)-It’s okay to be nervous when traveling alone! If traveling alone there’s always a little bit of nervousness about if you will get and find everything on time and if everything will go on well, and it’s okay, embrace it! It’s a completely different experience that’s quite life-changing. -It’s okay to be lazy! There always seems to be a must-visit list of places with every destination, and while on a trip you can feel like you have to do or see certain stuff and do something every day, but it’s okay to be lazy and maybe just chill for the whole day doing nothing! Sleeping till noon, lazily reading a book on the beach until the evening then eat and just sleep, this is also a relax time, and I feel like often people feel like it’s just wasting time. And same with the “must-see’’ places. Even though it’s really cool, if you don’t feel like it, it won’t mean that you didn’t visit the country if you don’t see certain stuff.

So this is a little summary! :D I hope this helps. And if you need any detail in any bit of this you can message me, I’d love to help. :)

About the photo below: even though it’s quite a funny photo, I thought I’d put it in for extra motivation. The first photo is before my first big trip, at that point I really didn’t have any money at all, and here I was working in a bar that I used to clean after a night, scrubbing vomit and stickiness from drinks on the floor, but still believing in my heart that I will do this. I didn’t tell anyone except my closest family because people would’ve just laughed that I want to go to Thailand for a month at the current situation that I was in at that time in life.But I didn’t give up, and with the image of blue seas and white sand, I didn’t give up and it turned out to be the trip of my life! And the photo on the right was about 7 months after the one on the left. Good luck! Reach for your dreams!

‘’if people aren’t laughing from your dreams they’re not big enough”

One of my biggest tips is don’t stay in expensive cities for long (hint hint: go almost anywhere, but western Europe). Places like Paris will suck your money in an instant. Luckily, I was working as a nanny, while I was there, so money was never an issue since the family provided me with accommodations and a healthy stipend :)

While on the road, save money by making your own food (shopping at grocery stores) and by traveling cheaply (buses, car shares, and cheap airlines). If English is your native language, you can pick up a lot of tutoring jobs (under-the-table-pay) or you can also work/volunteer in hostels or anywhere. There are a lot of places who participate in work exchanges. OR depending where you are in life, you can apply to the myriad of scholarships and programs abroad that will give you a stipend in exchange for studying or working as a teaching assistant.

This is from an older ask, but I’ll repost:

Check out these sites for seasonal jobs and work/travel opportunities. Sometimes you need to have enough for a ticket to these places, but once you’re there you won’t be spending a ton of moolah.

Backdoorjobs- They have a lot of adventure, seasonal, and camp jobs. 

AnyworkAnywhere- Once you get past the comic sans, this website has a great catalog of all types of jobs in all parts of the world. It lists vacancies and job descriptions and almost any other information on working abroad (visa, insurance, tax info, etc…)

WWOOF- Stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, so in exchange for work, hosts set you up with food and accommodation. It costs a tiny fee, like $10 (I have friends who just split one account), but totally worth it.

Cool Works- More listings of seasonal work and adventure jobs, but only in the U.S. 

ESL Cafe - Has a list of teaching opportunities all over the globe. Most jobs require a TEFL/TESOL certificate, but some don’t. 

WorkAway.Info- It costs about 23 euros to join, but it gives you access to available volunteer/exchange work from farming to hospitality stuff. I like it because it also allows people to leave reviews of their experiences.

HelpX- database full of work/volunteer exchanges on farms, hostels, whatever in all parts of the world

Sometimes I simply google search what I want to do and sift through the pages until I find something

Scholarship Opportunities for Studying a Language

Critical Language Scholarship (CLS)- If you are interested in studying a critical language over the summer in between your studies, this grant is worth your while. They pay and organize everything. EVERYTHING.

Fulbright- Super competitive program to work as an English teaching assistant in a country of your choice. Warning: the application and wait is gruesome.

More Teaching Assistant Jobs (I’ve heard mixed reviews about these programs, but worth it to get a visa and a job before making the jump)

Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF)

North American Language and Culture Assistants in Spain

Teach English in Korea (TaLK and EPIK programs)

Some people are able to hurl themselves blindly into the unknown. I am not one of them, so here are some websites I’ve found invaluable.

Discount airlines (Ryanair, Wizzair, Wow Air, Easyjet): most of them have flexible date options showing the cheapest days for flights. Wow Air can get you across the Atlantic (Boston-Rekjavik-Destination) for as low as $160, and the others have flights around Europe from about €15.

Skyscanner: the only flight search engine I know that includes discount flights. Also lets you scan an entire month for flight prices.

Student Universe: a flight search engine that finds student fares for flights. It doesn’t include discount flights, but it does have a useful date grid showing the cheapest dates for round trip or one-way flights within a week.

Eurail: the Eurail Pass site, with all the maps and pass types and rules.

Drungli: the flight search to use if you’re feeling spontaneous. You tell it when you’re going or where you’re going, but not both. It will find you the cheapest tickets for that destination or date. This is the ‘I guess I’m going to Estonia this Friday’ website.

Hostelbookers and Hostelworld: the best websites for finding and booking hostels. Both have extensive databases of hostels, a lot of useful filters, and good review systems. Hostelbookers, in my experience, finds better deals. Hostelworld is a bit easier to use.

Couchsurfing: The couchsurfing website. You don’t need a profile to browse people’s profiles and reviews, but you do need one to see the descriptions of their homes. Signing up is free. If you do make a profile, fill it out as thoroughly as you can.

AirBnB: You don’t need an account to browse, but I believe you need one to make a booking. Signing up is free. It has a really useful map with a price slider you can adjust; only rooms within your chosen price range are visible on the map of the city.

Rome 2 Rio: An amazing A to B website. When you plug in where you are and where you want to end up, it shows you all the possible ways to get from one to the other. In the sidebar it lists options using every available combination of train, plane, bus, taxi, and ferry, as well as estimated times, distances, and prices. Invaluable for planning a trip. Not a booking website, but it can help you get some idea of your options, and the time you should expect to spend traveling.

Wikitravel: the most comprehensive travel guide you’ll ever find. Although it can be dry, it has articles for pretty much anywhere you could hope to go. It has the usual travel guide items like descriptions of culturally significant attractions and dishes, but it also has everything else you’ll ever need. For each city, it will tell you how to get to and from the airport, how to use the public transportation system, what scams to look out for, what behaviors locals find rude, local attitudes towards LGBTQ people, activities and cultural events off the beaten path, advice for attending school or finding work, and a brief history of the city and its regions. It has everything.

Who To Tip: an index of when and how much tipping is expected, broken down by country. If, like me, you’re terrified of insulting your nice waiter by tipping them (or not tipping them), this is a good website to have before you eat out in any new country.

Google Translate: wherever you’re going, try to memorize hello, please, thank you, help, and excuse me in the local language. It will let you mumble through a shocking amount of crowds, admissions, and restaurants. In most countries, the locals will appreciate it.

Figure out where your end destination is.

Figure out what you’re hoping to gain from this.

Prepare for a lot of physical work and if you haven’t already, learn to let go of trying to control your situation.

Think about what you REALLY need to survive in life, and bring only that. (plus maybe some other stuff)

Figure out how you are traveling. I’m traveling by car, which can be stressful. It certainly doesn’t feel like full freedom, but it has its benefits. Backpacking is always an option, so is flying from location to location.

Sign up with WWOOF and find the kind of farm that you want to work on, in a location that you want to be in.

Contact the farm via E-mail or phone call. A phone call will be the fastest way to establish a connection, but for people like me who are a little phone shy; E-mailing is the way to go.

Always have clear communication with your host. Before heading there, make sure that you’ve established work hours and days off, as well as the kind of food they’ll have for you to eat. Most hosts ask for 4 - 5 hours a day, five days a week; and are very receptive to the kind of diet that you follow. Every host is different, though.

Get in your car, jump on the bus; catch a flight, or put on your hiking shoes and head out! This is where the fun begins, enjoy the new sights and people that will come in and out of your life. Prepare to have some crazy experiences and end up in some strange situations.

Bring a camera, or journal if you care to document your journey.

Come to terms with the fact that every WWOOF host is straight out of crazyville and then laugh about it.