This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge.
Travelling is a great thing to do, and I encourage everybody young-and-old, rich-and-poor, to travel as much as they can.
Luckily, travel is one of those things that you can do in many different ways.
- You can hike or cycle your way across continents, wild camping or staying in cheap B&Bs.
- You can buy or rent a caravan and do long road-trips for the cost of your camp site.
- You can choose to avoid tourist traps and instead seek out local treasures.
- You can go on cruises, stopping in at various places for a quick experience of a new culture.
- You can volunteer for organisations such as Raleigh International.
- You can find a job in another country (camp sites, nanny positions and bar work are often all good for temporary visas)
- You can become a caretaker for houses when the owners are away on holiday.
- You can become a digital nomad.
- You can practise travel hacking to get cheap flights.
- You can go on organised tours and safaris.
- You can rent an apartment or villa in another country.
- You can stay in a luxury hotel.
If I’m going far away, staying for a long time is the easiest way to make up for the cost of the plane ticket. When in University I took advantage of our student exchange program to spend six months in Ohio – one of the best experiences of my life.
Once you have a job (with limited holiday time) travel becomes a huge luxury. Seeking out jobs that give sabbaticals is good (my current one gives a sabbatical every five years) or you can ask for unpaid leave. Sadly, many people are not in a position to do this. It irritates me that, whilst on the one hand we have two and a half million unemployed people, on the other hand we have people working incredibly long hours with very few breaks. It seems obvious to me that a solution is to provide more flexible/shorter working hours… and hire more people!
Oh well.
How do you manage to travel — even with other commitments? And what are the best places you’ve visited?
My travelling plans
Towards the end of 2013 I’ll be starting the process of emigrating to the United States (my partner is a US Citizen).
Before then I am hoping to visit Holland for one final european trip.
Once firmly established in the states I’ll be visiting lots of different people (I hope!) and also taking some time to explore Canada. My grandparents lived in Canada for about four years, and my Uncle was born there so I have a (slightly tenuous) connection with the country. We’ll also be spending some time in the Bahamas as my partner’s parents have a time-share that we are allowed to use occasionally. That should probably keep my happy for 2014 at least
I have held a long burning ambition to visit Japan since I was around 15 years old. I even started learning Japanese at one point, and had about a dozen Japanese pen-friends. This is one of my ‘bucket-list’ goals, but when I do go… I want to go properly. Spend a good month there at least, and visit many places.