I've wanted to travel my entire life and never got the chance. I'm seriously confused how you all do it.
Do you have jobs? How do you take so much time off? I'd really love to see some more of the world before I die, but I'm starting to feel like that will never happen.
Is there any countries I can live and work in without spending a year filling out paperwork and stuff like that.
The people on this board fascinate me.
>Do you have jobs?
Yes
>How do you take so much time off?
Had a lot of time stored up, but even if not, most European countries guarantee ~20 days paid leave. I took my leave during "off-easons" in mid-October, usually a lot of people can't be off at the same time, but I was alone in my office that wanted leave, so it was p. easy
>Is there any countries I can live and work in without spending a year filling out paperwork and stuff like that.
You mean ARE there. There might be some, but you wouldn't want to live & work in such a place. Not a proper, full time and legal job anyway. Plus language barriers. A lot of North America & Europe is English-speaking, but for employment you need a flawless second and third language.
>I've wanted to travel my entire life and never got the chance. I'm seriously confused how you all do it.
Even though I have zero proof to back this claim, I would hazard to guess that /trv/ has one of the highest average age of all the boards.
I see a lot of people around age 18-20 posting here about WANTING to travel far more than really any other age (Note that I said WANTING to travel). I think what needs to be understood by those wanting to travel is that you (generally) need a bit of a foundation at home. Unless you have rich parents, you're going to need a job and generally the best paying jobs are those where a college degree is necessary.
How old are you OP? Just curious, not going to make you the butt of a joke.
>Do you have jobs? How do you take so much time off? I'd really love to see some more of the world before I die, but I'm starting to feel like that will never happen.
Yes, I'm a primary teacher (Australia) so I have 2 weeks off between school terms, as well as about 1/2 of December and 3/4 of January, give or take a week or two.
Teachers, at the very least in Australia, are heavily unionised and are quite well paid (60k starter with 2k each year, going up the ladder to 100,000 isn't too difficult if you play your cards right and are a half-way decent teacher).
I won't disclose my salary but it allows me to save and take a holiday each year with the time I get off in December/January.
It can happen OP, get a job, save and then take a bit of time off; nothing wrong with that.
>Is there any countries I can live and work in without spending a year filling out paperwork and stuff like that.
No, countries usually aren't interested in letting those without a paper trail to freely wander and work in their nation (legally).
>How old are you OP?
I'm a 28 year old, untraveled depressed loser.
>>1057532
OP, there might be _some_ people who live in places with Manhattan prices but only average salaries, and actually struggle financially for their really high cost per living, and then there are people who live apart from family, and when they calculate their time to/from home on vacation days, plus airfares once or twice a year, their free time and spending money is tight.
But, for the rest of people who like to travel the do better with savings. They live below their means, with low rent, extra roommates, living at home with parents and no rent, or else two jobs, esp one with seemingly good income. People who backpack, they're an exception because that's really not condusive to careers, taking blocks of months off from work. Let's not talk about them, but to understand they live somewhere remote and for them the worst part of travel is the airfare to switch continents. For the rest, multiple trips and frequently are fine, because the airfare is now not much different than one night of hotel or so.
A lot of people squander their youth with no savings. Don't mistake that for people being better off than you. One thing is for sure, if you can finish a degree without massive loans, and get into the higher paid workforce, you'll be able to do more than your peers. If you are being depressed about why you can't pay yourself with earned travel, then earn it first.
And, yes, I do think this board is older and above average. It also has a lot of readers who post only what is relevant to their ability to input, vs alot of comments from everyone. Want to know the right thing to do when you get off the plane in say Keflavik, if you're patient, someone has personal experience, and no one else will reply until the answer is known. In other words, it's a real help forum, not as much a social hangout.
>>1057570
If you REALLY want to travel, you can maybe get a TEFL/Associate's degree or something, maybe get a job in a bit more of a lax county for ESL Teachers.
Do you have a university education?
Don't let this board full you into thinking spending months backpacking is the only way to travel. Even if you can only a week or two here and there, or even one week the entire year, it's still well worth it
>>1057576
Yes, I have a bachelor's.
>>1057581
This is some of the best advice I've ever read on 4chan.
>>1057586
Drop everything you're doing and go teach english in whatever country you want.
>>1057590
Ok..
Is there a process or something?
>>1057590
And wouldn't I have to speak another language in order to be an English teacher?
I only speak English.
>>1057594
Most of the established schools actually prefer if you didn't know the native language.
Join the navy. Then you can be around the world, around the clock in defense of all we hold dear.
That's Allstate's stand.
>>1057569
Not travel related, but what grade do you teach? How difficult is it? Do you hate some kids or dislike them? I've always wanted to actually talk to a teacher.
>>1057532
>I've wanted to travel my entire life and never got the chance. I'm seriously confused how you all do it.
You ain't ded yet.
>Do you have jobs?
Yeah
>How do you take so much time off?
Vacations are a thing. Plus for me, my job involved a decent amount of travel.
>I'd really love to see some more of the world before I die, but I'm starting to feel like that will never happen.
It won;t if you don;t do it. The travel fairy is not going to dump travel dust in your lap -- save up some money and get out there/ (BTW, travel does not have to be flying across oceans to count as Real Travel -- within a day's drive f wherever you live now are things worth seeing, experiences worth having, and more wonders than are inside a cow's head.)
>Is there any countries I can live and work in without spending a year filling out paperwork and stuff like that.
You live in one now. How much of it have you seen?
>The people on this board fascinate me.
Yeah, we're amazing.
>Do you have jobs?
I work as au pair.
I'm younger than most people here I think, I'm 22.
>How do you take so much time off?
I just go on short trips on the weekends, abroad on holidays.
>Is there any countries I can live and work in without spending a year filling out paperwork and stuff like that.
Probably but they may not be the countries you wish to visit,
I did some research years ago and these are some options I found/considered:
Studying abroad - e.g. Erasmus
WWOOF
Workaway - I've heard of people who've tried it and they were happy, I'm yet to try it myself
Volunteering - usually costs money
EVS
Teaching a language - I'm not a native English speaker so it wouldn't be that easy for me
I've wanted to travel my entire life and never got the chance. I'm seriously confused how you all do it.
>Just do it. Are you comfortable in your own company, or do you feel the need for company to travel?
Do you have jobs? How do you take so much time off? I'd really love to see some more of the world before I die, but I'm starting to feel like that will never happen.
>I'm studying to become a flight technician, so I work at a major european airline. The job pays decent, and I get cheap plane tickets, so that gives me some opportunities. Besides I just got a MC, to take smaller trips in the spring and summer.
>>1057532
I think you'll find all kinds of people here.
I don't have a job, I'm a college student and my budget is made out of the bucks i've been able to save for the past 20 years of my life. This has some advantages, like being able to travel without worrying about getting fired, but on the other side I don't have a steady income so I always travel the cheap way (staying at acquaintances' places or small hotels, avoiding expensive restaurants/attractions, making my own food if i can, etc)
honestly i would say that it's all about priorities, if you really want to travel and end up enjoying it a lot, you should consider leaving or changing your job to one that will make traveling more accessible to you. A guy I know teaches english abroad for example (as a teacher assistant), so he gets to work and travel at the same time.
>>1057532
I'm in a similar situation. I'm 25 and a big reason I come to this board so often isn't because I'm a regular traveler but because I fantasize about traveling a lot. However, that said I've never been outside the US but I travel inside the US a fair bit.
Like this >>1057569 anon said I have my own theories about this board without any proof to back it up.
Although I'm skeptical that this board is actually older than the 4chan average there are a few people here who seem to have well established careers and who travel for work a fair bit.
I will say that I think this board has a higher average of Europeans than anywhere else on 4chan, because backpacking Europe is easier if you already live over there, and they have easier access to Asia as well.
In addition, Europeans get more vacation days than Americans, have easier work lives, and generally make more money than us here. So it's easy to get discouraged when a number of the posts on here are made by Europeans.
Also, although few would admit it, I'd be willing to bet that people on here who are regular travelers come from well off families, and/or are still in college. Colleges have lots of opportunities for travel if you have a bit of money. I see study abroad stuff mentioned all the time.
However, that said I don't think most of the posters here are traveling full time or most of the year. I think the majority of the people on here are traveling for just 1 or 2 weeks a year and talk about the amalgamation of their experiences over time.
What's your current situation like OP? I don't have much time for long trips but I still go road tripping with my friends whenever I can.
Assuming you're in the US, it's a great country to travel in. I love driving, I love the open road spirit and if I could I would just wander around the country on a motorcycle exploring.
I want to do more but I don't think I'll be able to do any international traveling until I've got money and am established.
>>1057686
Completely agree with your analysis
>>1057581
It's the best bang for your precious buck though. Besides, when you're young there is literally nothing holding you back: mortgage, debt, job, relationship, marriage etc.
See as much of the world as quick as you can, then settle down and do the usual 2 weeks vacation per year routine the rest of planet earth you're advocating.
I thought I'd reply with my situation.
I'm in my early thirties and just lost my job. American, by the way.
It's made me very depressed, but I'm considering taking a big fat trip now, since I have the time. Then, job hunt a ton when I get back.
I have 21K saved up in the bank, but I have to pay a shitload in student loan payments every month, and of course there's rent and all that.
So, I'm at a crossroads. Part of me wishes I could just go to some Latin American country and spend the rest of my days teaching English.
I'm also thinking the relatively cliche SEA experience. I've never been to Asia, and I would love to check out Thailand, Cambodia, etc.
I guess my point is, there's any number of reasons why and how people get to take these trips.
I have money saved up. I'm 27 years old ,still live with parents, and not able to find any job other than a shitty min wage one. I'm at the point in my life where I've hit total rock bottom that I'm thinking of just taking all my money and go backpack as much of the world as I can. After that I don't really care what happens, I can die but atleast I've traveled and saw this world before going, and a lot of people can't say that.
>>1057853
>27
>contemplating death
that's really sad, anon
I'm 24 and I'm about to make a ~6 month long trip through Japan, SEA, and parts of Europe. Maybe stopping in New Zealand or Australia to try to make a little money back between Japan and SEA. The big thing for me is that I have no real obligations. I paid off all my student loans, I have no car or car insurance to pay for, my medical insurance is still covered by my father's family plan until I turn 26, I can rent out my room in the apartment to someone else for 6 months time, I quit my job because I hated it and I wanted to be with my girlfriend, and my girlfriend ended up leaving me.
So basically I have a fair bit of money and airline miles saved up from when I was working (and a retirement fund that I won't be touching) and nothing I'm responsible for except for rent and food. Rent to be covered by whoever moves into my room.
The way I see it is, this is probably the only time I'll really be able to do something like this. The next career type job I get will probably have me locked down for a while.
While I was working though about once a year I'd manage to take vacation to other countries for 1-2 weeks at a time. I went to the Bahamas and Italy with my ex like that.
>>1057853
you cant travel without getting out of your bed anon. go out and travel but be brave and expect none.
I'm 22, I have been working while in high school and uni. Managed to save up quite a bit working a minimum wage job. I have been able to travel to a lot of places on that money. I normally make use of bargain flights where I can. The other day I flew to Mexico with 6 hours notice due to a cheap flight.
>>1057575
Manhattan native here... Idk, ive travelled a fair bit and the only stuff that's expensive here is rent and maybe the subway ticket (relatively speaking)
Basic living necessities are fairly priced.
To be fair, midtown, lower manhattan, upper east side and nbhds in between seem to be on a different level when it comes to prices.
>>1057532
I get away with it thanks to a bunch of generous uni scholarships. All up i get about 46,000pa and being a uni student i have at least the months of the year off.
I guess it'll get harder once I'm working but the career in going into is pretty flexible so I'm planning to do a lot of high salary short term contracts in rural areas then I'll be able to take a LOT of time off between them
>>1058033
You clearly haven't ever been to r9k ... that place is depressing
>>1057617
I've taught Year 2 and been in Kindergarten classes as an observer.
Teaching as a job is full of variables and uncertainties so one day can be extremely difficult, the other goes by like a dream; I would say there are certainly more "good' days than "bad".
Teaching is what you make of it. Do you want amazing lessons each and every day with a ton of activities for kids at various levels, learning experiences that leave your students in awe and wonder? It's possible but extremely time and financially consuming (Materials for lessons usually come out of your own pocket, move further rural/remote and pretty much all lessons with outside materials come out of pocket).
I might make every one of my university professors cringe with this but sometimes worksheets/boring lessons are a necessary evil (See where kids are/Do grading whilst students work quietly/Plan future learning if desired/Get over that hangover from the pub or club).
You're a teacher and you usually have a stranglehold imposed on you but administration/government/syllabus & curriculum so boring/standard lessons will crop up in every classroom from time to time.
Sorry, got a little off topic there
>Do you hate some kids or dislike them
Kind of, kind of not.
Sure I have favourites but I'm struggling to think of any students that I actively dislike. We shit talk most kids in the staffroom and sure there are students you pull your hair out about but they're just kids. Kids just want to be accepted, be cool in front of their friends, impress girls etc you just need to accept that and not take their misbehaviour personally.
I guarantee that most "teacher favourites" aren't those teacher pets or brainiac kids. Look at the kids that teachers spend 90% of their time around, it's usually the kids failing or doing poorly at school. Those are teacher favourites usually because it's like meth when they move from "below grade average" to "at grade average" at the end of the year.
>>1057853
Holy shit are you me?
>>1058249
Want to travel together bro
>>1057853
go for it!
>>1057640
>Yeah, we're amazing.
That one made me laugh.
OP the way I do it is work until I get bored, then I quit and just go for weeks/months. Depending on the destination and my savings of course.
![bridge%20of%20Stril%20Luna%20PSV%2016x9[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/NnFtSAB.jpg "bridge%20of%20Stril%20Luna%20PSV%2016x9[1].jpg")
I work in the commercial maritime industry.
I sail big ships, basically.
I work rotations, usually 1:1 or close to it.
So for example, i'm at sea for a month, and then off for a month or maybe 3 weeks, typically.
What rotations i work depend on what type of ship i'm on, what company operates it, and what job it's doing.
If i need more time off, i just terminate my contract, and get another job when i need the money, which is never difficult.
The works usually monotonous, with terrible hours, and no days off whilst at sea, but the pay is decent and it suits me.
>>1058641
Very interested in this.
How did you get into this line of work? Any studies at all?
Basically I've really isolated myself and I figure now is the best time to work in that field, also interested in working on a rig. I just want something I can sort of scrape through and then get the time to travel.
>>1058641
How did you get into the industry? did you grow up around it? I want to become a deck hand on a container ship, but Im finding it difficult to find useful information, not impossible, but most of what I can find online does not seem to be aimed at people with no sea experience. Im from us btw.
>>1057532
I'm a PhD student with a supervisor and a relationship of mutual respect. He knows that I'll work for several months, 7 days a week, reply to mails on a Sunday, to make things happen. On the other hand, he's sending me to conferences and meetings all over the world, and then I usually take a big-arse vacation since the flight is already paid.
And even before my PhD time, I travelled a bit, since I just wanted to. It's really not THAT expensive of a hobby to have, unless of course you are from a poor place or have very limited income.
A stable job with some disposable income is a must, I guess.
I was good at saving and used my life savings to go travel at 23yo. I had £6000 saved up and I quit my job. It wasn't a good job so I was happy to get another when I returned.
>>1058688
>It's really not THAT expensive of a hobby to have
Also this, especially for Europeans. We can travel all over Europe for quite cheap while it costs a lot for you guys just to exit America.
..also many people seem to spend all their spare money on stupid stuff and expensive clothes they don't need.
>>1057686
I started here on /trv/ for similar reasons. When I was in college I developed a love for travel but I graduated at the worst possible time when the economy tanked. Couldn't find a job for over a year, spiraling crippling depression, didn't want to do anything except travel but had no money to do so and was borderline suicidal. Eventually I found a good job, I've taken a month off every year for the past 4 to travel. Next year I hope to take around 5 off. I work contracts so I'm able to take time off without the need to look for work after I'm done traveling.
So I guess if I can be inspiring in any way, don't feel bad about being in the dreamer stage. I was there too. Do everything you can to make money, any money, and when you eventually can, travel as much as you're able to.
>>1057532
Be Army strong
>>1058657
>>1058658
I can't speak for other countries but here in the UK it's called the Merchant Navy. You apply to shipping companies, and they employ you as a cadet, and send you for 3 years of training at a nautical college, after which you will be a fully qualified third officer, either a deck officer (navigation, watches, general running of the ship) or an engineering officer.
The companies get tax breaks in return for training cadets.
I believe there is something similar in the US, Merchant Marines.
Deckhands on container ships are almost exclusively from third world countries, mostly the Philippines.
Not sure why you would want to do that, unless you want a third world salary.
Maybe you have dreams of visiting exotic foreign ports or something, but those days are gone. Even the largest container ships can be turned around in under 12 hours. Shore leave is a thing of the past.
>>1057686
I also agree with this. If you're European, it's no big deal to travel to another country. Germans can easily travel to France, Switzerland, Belgium, etc. Just get on a train and be there a few hours later for about a day's pay.
Are you American. Sorry loser, visiting Europe will cost at least 1,500 dollars for a round trip airfare. But there is a lot to see and do in America. It just pisses me off that Europeans claim Americans are uncultured because they never travel. How can we, it's prohibitively expensive.
>>1057569
>No, countries usually aren't interested in letting those without a paper trail to freely wander and work in their nation (legally).
Except for the US >.>
>>1057532
OP
I am 29 years old. I've been out of the country only once to Japan. I visited as part of a tour group that was fairly over priced now that I look back at it.
I plan on going back June/July and buy a bicycle while I'm there. I plan to take tons of photos and ride my bike all around the place with a planned route to stop at certain hotels/bead and breakfasts kind of places. I've thought about doing the English-teaching thing and felt it wasn't for me. I thought about doing the "pay to stay with strangers" or the "pay to work with strangers" thing and thought that was kind of ridiculous even though many people swear by it.
While I'm there, I plan on documenting the Japanese culture to the best of my abilities while still maintaining a bicycle schedule. I'd like to stop in several major cities for at least 2 full days so I can check out the culture.
Right now I am by myself and doubt any of my friends will join since I am the only one of my group who has graduated and not working/schooling still. My job allows me accumulated time off, which is pretty stupid but at least 2 weeks of my trip will be "paid" for. The rest will be out of pocket annnnnd I probably won't have a job coming back to the states since I will be leaving longer than policy allows. But it is the experience that matters and I am looking at getting out of my work anyway.
>>1058044
Holy shit, are you me? I'm 24, thinking about quitting my job, saving money currently so I can have a big chunk to travel for ~3 months, have no car insurance to pay for, medical insurance covered, already paid off student loans, I can also sublet my room, and debating quitting my job to chase my girlfriend back to her home country.
So while I haven't quit or been dumped yet, we have similar circumstances. Biggest worry I have is finding a job on my return and hopefully not hurt my career too much.
>>1057532
>Do you have jobs?
Yes
>How do you take so much time off?
I'm 32 and a social worker. I hold a master degree in social work, social pedagogy and psychology and 8 years of work experience where most others have just a bachelor. I'm male in a female dominated branch and get a pretty good payday.
I have anyway 13 weeks of payed vacations (school holidays), I just work about 20min extra per day to compensate for it like everyone in my branch. Also I can take every other year up to 3months+ of unpaid leave. If they piss me off I just quit. I get anyway every week calls from headhunters/other institutions all across europe inquiring if I would be up for a new challenge.
I use my days off to travel around europe and every longer holiday for a extended trip where ever I want.
I'm not the typical /trv/er hostel backpacker but oh well this board is just the best source to get unfiltered local informations and tips. I even meet some follow /trv/ers abroad for a beer and showed some visiting my city around.
If you want to travel you can do it on almost any budget. We had a guy here that biked from Ukraine(correct me if i'm wrong) all across europe down to spain and ended up in the UK for almost 5 months on what was like a 200€ budget.
>>1058910
Same worries here but it's not like the last "career" I had was relevant to my interests or really my college education for that matter. Frankly, I don't regret quitting (I might when I'm older, who knows) because I hated the job, and I knew if I stayed too long I would have probably been in it for life (good pay and benefits, stable government work, but no relevant experience in anything I'm actually interested in). So while I can't say this was necessarily the best decision, I can say with certainty that I would have regretted falling into a life of complacency at that office. I'm hoping if I work independently on personal projects I'm actually interested in, this won't necessarily be a big chunk of wasted time in the eyes of prospective employers.
As far as your girlfriend goes, one of my buddies told me something that really stuck with me when I was second guessing everything I was about to do. "Of all the reasons to make a stupid decision, like for power or for money, at least for love is the most noble." I turned up empty handed, but at least I tried and my heart was in the right place.
Granted, I have no idea what I'm talking about so take my thoughts and experiences with a grain of salt.
Anyhow life's been throwing a few curveballs my way recently so I'm just going to try to make the best of it. As far as money goes, I probably should have more saved up for a trip this long but I'm planning on doing work for food/accommodation stuff to really stretch my dollar. This might just be the costliest series of decisions I've ever made, but I'm hoping to grow as a person out of it.
If you're traveling anytime soon, we should catch each other on the other side.
>>1057532
>Do you have jobs?
Yes, literally. I have two jobs.
>I'm starting to feel like that will never happen.
That's because you are shit. I go to a new place every year, sometimes two. If what you're doing works you so hard that you can't take 2 out of 52 weeks year for yourself it isn't worth it. I'd have to make at least $200,000 before I'd ever consider being that busy.
It just takes discipline. If you find someplace you want to go, you start planning ahead and saving your money months or even years in advance.
You DO have to have a job that allows vacation time, obv. Doesn't suck if a significant portion of your income is expendable. You may need to make some lifestyle changes if travel is something you really want to do. I can usually put $700 or more from every check into my travel fund in the months before a trip. If this isn't possible for you, scale back the size/lengths of your trips at first.
Booking hotels/flights way ahead can save you a lot. Especially on shortish, round trip flights you can book a few months in advance and save $100's. I booked a quick 4-day round trip to Vegas for May '16 on JetBlue from SF a couple weeks ago for $102. Don't rely just on Orbitz or Priceline, check airline sites as well.
I'm 29 and was an engineer at one of the top tech companies making 200k/yr. I was tired of it, depressed with a shitty social life, and wanted to travel long-term, so I quit. I'm a few months into a 1-year RTW trip now and I'm very happy with the decision.
I know lots of other people in similarly high-demand jobs (mostly other software people) that were able to do the same thing without affecting their career too much long term.
I´m a 30yo industrial engineer, working in an airline (office job). The fact that i can get cheap tickets (for example, Santiago -where i live- to New York or Madrid costs around 100-200USD round trip) makes things a lot easier. The downside is that i only have 15 days per year. So i usually travel during 2 weeks and leave the other days to extend weekends and travel for just a couple of days.
It is fun, but i´d like to travel extensely some day, so i hope to find another way to make my living before i become too old or too stable to do that.
>>1057569
>Fellow teacher bro
My man!
And to answer your question OP, as a teacher Im blessed with roughly three months paid vacation every year so thats when I travel. My school is also stupid rich so I go to places like Italy, Spain and Costa Rica as part of class trips.
>>1057532
Look into international volunteering OP.
There are countless organizations and volunteer international camps usually last 2-4 weeks from April to October. You go there, work a bit(work is actually pretty easy and fun usually), meet a lot of amazing people, and get to know the country you go to truly. I always believed that you "feel" the country if you go to smaller communities , rather than sight-seeing the capital.
>>1059409
Forgot to add, a lot of volunteering organizations refund your travel expenses and participation in camps is very often free
>>1058914
biked Europe for 5 months... that's savage
>>1058321
How much have you saved up at least? I've gotten about 18k from my lifeless job.
>>1058880
I dont love the idea of getting paid garbage, but its not a total deal breaker. I want to get away from life for a while and clear my head with some hard work. I dont plan on doing it forever, and 3 years of school is absolutely out of the question. like I said, I really just want to get into the fresh air and work for a while, maybe a few months, maybe a few years, but not IN a few years.
>>1059650
about 13k
We can make a travel doc like Departures
Welll....
Yes I have a job. 28yo m austraian nurse. My university studies were federally subsidized as its a needed profession, I paid my fees as I went by working while studying so have never had a student debt. I dont waste my income on depreciating crap like clothes and apple products and I live in an area with a relatively low cost of living. Both my parents and last grandparent have died over the last 8 years so at times I have also had inheritence which is my slowly growing safety net. As a shift working nurse in aust we have the strongest union in the country and get 6 weeks leave/year. In the last 5 years ive spent 6 months in western europe, 3 weeks in png, 3 weeks in nepal, 2 weeks in hawaii, 7 weeks in canada.i also saved enough and used a bit of inheritance to buy/get a loan for a house. At the moment im planning to quit my job in march, rent my house, and go hiking for the summer in the us then europe in the fall.
But thats just me. I know other people I went to school with who just got working holiday visas and went to uk, shengen, and did sgort trips on days off. Or to cambodia, vietnam, japan, sicily... as has been said its often preferredif you only speak english because its immersion for the students.
Theres two main steps op. Make a realistic plan with a date, and start doing what you can to save.
I'm 26, no major qualifications or rich parents. I've seen quiet a bit of Southeast Asia, Europe & Canada. I'm a home owner and go on holiday at least twice a year.
At the moment I'm planning my wedding in Thailand for dec 2017. We're going away for 8 weeks by using holiday from 2017 in December and 2018 in January.
If you really want to travel stop making excuses and just make it happen.
>>1057532
Get yourself a passport and challenge yourself to fill it with visas and stamps. Travelling the world is an amazing thing and you start to quickly realise we're all the same!
>>1057532
I get 17 days of PTO/year. 40 hours of which can be carried over. So if I'm not sick, or bank some time, I'll have a 4 business week period (21 days) of PTO I can use whenever I want.
As long as I tell my boss a few months ahead of time, I can go on vacation whenever I want.
Usually buy my plane tickets 6 months ahead of time, and go on a trip somewhere for 2 weeks.
Then, if I have some money left near the end of the year, I'll treat myself to some more travel -maybe a week.
PTO is awesome.
ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LISTEN UP!
How much money do you usually spend while abroad? Minus the useless shit you buy at a gift shop that you throw away couple years later.
I plan on a long-term trip. 2 weeks in each country to document them.
I need bare minimum. I have a year off and 13k $ in my bank account. I would like to see South Eastern Asia, Latin America and Amsterdam.
If I use hostels/couchsurfing and cup ramen/cheap shit to eat, how much money would I really need?
budget for it. plan for it. make it a priority. realize that it's not that crazy and just DO IT.
i started when i was 15. 34 now. been all over north america, europe and asia. usually a week or so focused on a single relatively small area, but sometimes longer covering more territory. not that hard to get 9 days off from work and save $1000-2000, if you pay attention. next year we're taking a family trip (including my 2 year old son) to japan. pic from the last big trip my wife and i took before he was born.
i'm always amazed when i talk to finacially stable 50+ year olds about how they "alway wished they'd made it to paris (or where ever)" and nothing's stopped them beyond their own elevation of the idea of travel to the point that it becomes unobtainable. people get this mental hangup and fail to realize just how small the world's become.
>>1057569
I'm 24. And was bleessed with a business I ran in college that gave me a shitton (almost one million ) airline miles to spend + flexibility
It was such a pain in the ass to find friends who would want to go places with me since they usually had jobs/school/etc which I get.
But even when I took my sister + some of her friends to a *free* eurotrip. Her friends managed to bitch about everything. We literally stayed in 5 star hotels and had a rental car to drive out to Wales where my sister lived.
So now I have my one travel buddy but for the most part I go alone. Most people think it's weird, but when I go to concerts and stuff it's easy to meet people
>>1057846
You should do it. Get rid of rent, though.... Sublet it or move out... But there's a fork in the road and you should take it because the worst case scenario is that it doesn't work out and you go back to your first world country (the US).
>>1058057
What site are you using? I didn't think last minute deals still existed
>>1058914
That sounds wicked. I'm really envious because I tried to take the same path and it didn't work out.
I did social work placements at good places was a psych major but ultimately got discouraged by the pay in Canada and the fact that it's all about psychiatry now
>>1062665
I'm a pretty strong proponent of the $50 a day budget. In the US/Canada I spend more, probably around $75 per day. So usually I travel for about a month which comes out to around $1500 + the plane tickets are usually around $600-1000. I might buy a few things to bring back for under $200 so all in all I spend under $3000 on my major trip each year.
I havent had any real vacation for 2+ years and I realized that I had 47 days of paid vacation that i can take
>>1063429
I have no idea how it is in Canada but at least in Europe you get a nice payday (7-12k for a bachelor position, 9-18k with a master...) and as we still have special ed boarding schools everywhere, as a male with a degree willing to work shift (11:30-21:00 or 11:30-22:00 sleep there once a week and probably do one nightshift a month)? Solid gold.
As long as you don't go to a school for applied science with their voodoo psychology shit it's more or less a management master with some psychology and how to handle people with special needs. Anything else is just your personality.
>>1064030
7-12k...per month with a bachelor's? That's fucking amazing. I have 1 year left and I'd finish the shit out of school to make that much
