How To Travel Full Time for $17,000 a Year (Or Less)

This is a post from a well-known blog in the freelance travel journalism world called "The Professional Hobo: Adventures of a Girl with No Fixed Address". In this blog post she made for a different blog called wisebread.com she composed an article about "How To Travel Full Time for $17,000 a Year (Or Less)". If you are a student, out of university or before university travelling of a year or more having financial tips is a huge plus as it becomes extremely pricey without the right tips and tricks. Here is a copied and pasted version of the post but to get the full effect please check out this link, also there is follow-through links on some of the tricks below that are only available on the original version. All credit goes to Nora Dunn writing for www.wisebread.com ! 

How to Keep Your Travel Costs Low

Of course, I could travel for way more than $17,000/year. The sky is the limit for what you can spend on the road, from food and accommodation to flights, destinations, and tours. I could also travel for less than this, if I made different spending choices. 

Here are a few of my secrets.

Don't Pay for Accommodations

In the entire year of 2011, I paid $173 for accommodation. And that expenditure was a function of a discounted stay at the Hilton in Stockholm as a luxurious “splash out.” The rest of the time, I had free accommodation in various forms, including...

Work-Trade/Volunteer

There are lots of creative opportunities to work in trade for your accommodation (and sometimes food) and enjoy a more immersive travel experience. Many of the sites that introduce you to these opportunities involve a monthly or yearly subscription, but in my experience it's well worth it. Here are some resources:

• The Caretaker Gazette
• Help Exchange
• WWOOF
• Grow Food
• World Help Link
• PayAway 

Hospitality Exchange

Got a few nights to kill at a given destination? Try a hospitality exchange, where locals who would like to host a traveler can put you up in a spare room or even on their couch. Good manners predicate you move on after a few days, and although it's a free stay, expect to provide a gift for your host and help out wherever you can. But there's also no better way to see how the locals live than to actually live with a local.

• Couchsurfing
• Hospitality Club
• Global Freeloaders
• Servas
• Staydu

House/Pet-Sitting

After five years on the road, I've come to crave my personal space, as well as time to work on my location-independent career as a travel writer. So when other people hit the road to do some traveling of their own, I come into their homes and take care of the property, pets, gardens, and any other chores that require attention in their absence. I tend to the home fires for periods of time ranging from weeks to months, and I'll soon be enjoying my second three-month stint of house-sitting and dog-minding on the Caribbean island of Grenada, where I have my own beautiful free beach-front villa and use of two cars. 

• House Carers
• The Caretaker Gazette (I've listed this twice because The Caretaker Gazette specializes in both volunteer and house-sitting opportunities).
• Trusted Housesitters
• Mind My House
• Housesit World
• Aussie House Sitters
• House Sitters America

Crew on Sailboats

My most recent foray into free accommodation has come in the form of volunteering on sailboats. Every boat is different in what it requires, from capable sailors or people with boat-specific technical skills to simply being an extra set of hands to share chores and provide good company. I started out with absolutely no sailing experience, and I have met all sorts of people in the cruising community and been aboard three boats in the last month alone. This is a whole lifestyle and way of travel unto itself.

• Find a Crew
• Latitude 38
• Desperate Sailors

Another way to get free accommodation includes home exchanges; check out more information on home exchange resources and etiquette.

Don't Pay for Flights

When I have to fly (which I try to do as rarely as possible), my long-haul flights are in business class, and cost less than the price of an economy ticket. I do this through the creative use of frequent flyer miles. I started out (years before I became a full-time traveler) simply as a passive collector with my credit card before delving into the world of creative frequent flyer mile accumulation through various promotions (here's the first big promotion I took advantage of in 2009).

Now I'm hooked, and always on the hunt for a frequent flyer deal, often accumulating thousands of miles each month without actually flying, which is easy thanks to my Travel Hacking Cartel membership.

Sometimes it actually works out better to pay cash for a flight, especially if it's a domestic flight. If this is the case, here are some resources and tips to ensure you get the lowest price, even after you pay for your ticket.

Travel Slowly

The slower you travel, the less money you'll spend on transportation, interim accommodation (for example, between when you land in a new place and begin a house-sitting or volunteer gig), and even set-up expenses like buying groceries/staples or wear-and-tear on personal effects like luggage.

And the slower you travel, the more immersive your experience will be, and the more likely you will be to develop relationships with locals (who may not want to invest the time and effort getting to know somebody who is simply passing through) who can in turn deepen your travel experience and help you learn what life is like around the world.

Again, All credit goes to Nora Dunn writing for www.wisebread.com ! 

Travelling Brazil:

"Belo país" a phrase to become familiar with when travelling to Brazil and it speaks volumes about the country reading "beautiful country". Brazilians take pride in the extrodinary beauty of their country, plastering this phrase in their native lanuage Porteguese all over the cities. Brazil covers half of South America, and has capitivated travellers for at least 500 years; attracting an annual 9 million tourists with numbers rising. Covering the coastline you see powedery white sand beachs, music-filled metropolies, colonioal towns and tropical islands. Inland you are are offered mesmerizing sights of different a flavour: crystal clear rivers, red-rock canyons, lush rainforest and beautiful waterfalls. Its larger and more famous attractions are the Amazon Rainforest and the Pantanal wetlands. With such diverse landscape it offers a plethora of possibilites; especially to young travelers.

Before any trip your most important and sometimes hardest task is to find an accommodation to your liking. In my previous post you can look at more abstract ways of accommodation whilst travelling that give you a more cultural experience and give you more leisurely money to spend (as you are saving!)  such as CouchSurfing and WWOOFing (to see the post click here) . However, for those looking for the more traditional accommodation it is easy to find hotels and motels located in your destination of choice. Brazil's high season is from December to March, this is when the country fills with foreign tourists and vacationing Brazilian families; so finding an accommodation on short notice will be very difficult (and the prices also rise during this time!). However, the weather in Brazil is pretty consistent so travelling during the low season May - September is ideal for backpackers and young travelers trying to avoid pesky foreign tourists and prices go down quite dramatically. Brazil has a wide selection of high end resorts (for the less adventurousness) and hotels and motels across the beaches, and of course in the big cities such as Rio De Janeiro. Booking a hotel/resort is very easy and can be mostly done over the internet or telephone. However, for those seeking hostels or smaller cheap motels you are more then likely expected to go to them while you are in the country. Hostels are very popular throughout Brazil and for a complete list of locations and names click here.

Once you have settled into the country, your adventure begins! Brazil has a plethora of diverse activities; for the food-loving, culture hungry, thrill seekers and nature lovers alike. The possibilities are pretty much endless when it comes to things to do as Brazil's landscape has something for everyone. For those interested in the natural aspect of Brazil you can become mesmerized by the Amazon rain forest that covers a major area of Brazil, one of the worlds most beautiful and largest waterfalls; Igauazu falls that borders between Brazil and Argentina and lastly the Panataal wetlands also offer a variety of activities and tours. In between these world-known natural beauties you are offered a variety of amazing landscapes full of different activities (and a lot are directed toward young, adventurous youth example: bungee jumping or para sailing!).

 For the food loving, you can visit the endless restaurants inside the cities and smaller towns. Brazilian cuisine is particularly distinct, much like its accompanying South American countries and it varies by region with different flavors and types of dishes. A lot of the food is influenced by the Portuguese heritage and the European immigrants that introduced dairy products, wheat based dishes, wine and leaf vegetables. Part of the beauty of travel is trying new things so going into a country with an open mind is part of the fun.For an incredibly well put together list of things to do in Brazil visit this lonleyplanet created list of the things to do, here you have thousands of diverse activities, restaurants, sights, entertainment, shopping, tours and hotels worth visiting that come with reviews from past travelers, a little blurb of what it is and a map of where it is. You can sit down with your travel companions and map out the different places you would like to see.

Brazil needs travel dedication and time to really soak up the atmosphere and culture. For those going for only a short time I recommend checking out the world famous city Rio De Janeiro (where the famous Christ Redeemer Statute stands) and with that go to Rio during the annual Carnival. Carnival is a great festival held 46 days before Easter. It is comparable to a six-day city wide party with parades, dancing, music and food where you experience Brazilian culture at its finest whilst meeting hundreds of new people. It is the perfect time for young people to come out and experience Brazil.

Brazil is known for its export of models, their passion futebol (soccer) and their year long golden tan, however, with exploration you can see how much more there is so much more to Brazil. Its culture radiates throughout the country's borders, it has extraordinary natural aspects, historically influenced cuisine and activities and accommodation directed towards young travelers (like you!). No journalist article, blog or magazine could really give you the actual picture of what Brazil is without you first experiencing it. And it is worth the absolutely worth it. Travel while you are young, travel while you are old but always travel. As St Augustine said "The world is a book and those who do not travel, read only one page." 

Young Travel in South America: Accommodation

Backpacking is a becoming a popular activity among North Americans and Europeans. Simply, packing up your bag with a one way plane ticket and some cash for trains seems to be the new adrenaline rush. This is most popularly seen throughout Europe and Southeast Asia however, South America accepts this type of tourism with open arms as it has become partners with programs such as CouchSurfing and WWOOF(World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). But is often over looked, here you can find alternative methods of travel that save you money and allow you to indulge fully into this new culture.                      
           CouchSurfing is becoming a huge role in young tourism redefining the means of travel. Established in 1999, you simply log onto the website (www.couchsurfing.org) as a surf or host. Surf being a person looking for accommodations, and host being the person willing to host the surf - simple right? The sign up and profile building may seem tedious but the rewards are worth it, you experience a country in a whole new way and ideally make friends across the globe. With that, you also save yourself the costly hotel/motel fee's and expensive resteraunt food prices that don't give you half the authenticity as a home cooked meal.  However, CouchSurfing is prepared for the apprehensive as well as it seems like a very risky way of travel; you are ideally having to trust someone in a foreign country with putting a roof over your head and food in your belly before even meeting with them in person. With that, they have a testimonials page dedicated to those who want to research how safe or how rewarding the experience was for people who have hosted and surfed (visit www.couchsurfing.org/testimonials.html). If you are still a little bit "iffy" you can simply googling "CouchSurfing experiences" and read the many blogs that talk about their person experience. All in all, CouchSurfing if given the chance is a much more rewarding expierence for those willing to take the small risks associated and welcome a country in with open arms and a open heart. 
            WWOOFing is more for the “giving-back” person looking for a really rewarding experience and more hard work per say. WWOOFSouthAmerica is a part of a world wide effort to promote the concept of organic farming, sustainable agriculture and responsible consumer habits. Member farms offer daily chores for a length of time to tourists (typically a week) where you part take in chores such as harvesting, preparing soil for planting, milking, maintaining, etc. Each farm has its own schedules and chores but you reap the rewards. You become more environmentally aware, help out the local community, and meet fellow travellers whilst having a place to stay, eat and obtain enough money to take a train to your next destination. WWOOF is an international affiliated association to get more information visit (www.wwoof.org).          
           Of course there is always the option of staying in hostels which are offered all over South America as it is the most popular option, or even cheap motels or hotels. Accommodation choice is all up to comfort level and how much you want to take from your travels.  With CouchSurfing and WWOOF you attain a more cultural experience with personal rewards. 

Introduction to Journalism Blogging:

For my culminating activity for Writers' Craft I have chosen to start a three part blog focusing on my passion; travel. It will be dedicated to students travelling beautiful South America. Each blog will focus on three different countries (from the northern tip to the southern); Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina. In each blog post I will introduce the readers to student based activities, cheap accommodations (hostels), and really interesting programs such as CouchSurfing and WHOOFING. As I have not (yet!) been to these countries, I will try and keep the writing as authentic as possible by doing  research and incorporating useful information that would be valuable for any young traveler to know!

Poems to Appreciate 3: Cupid in a War Zone

Cupid in a Warzone

(currently working on writing out the lyrics)

By Aysha (?)

This poem particually stuck out to me as it is so emotion filled and harbours so much powerful messages. Aysha speaks of the other side of the war in Iraq as an Iraqui woman, by just looking at the YouTube comments you can distinguish that there may be some bias but then agian every story is. Americans (and people in general) overlook what is on the other end of war, usually focusing on their soldiers lives and not those inhabitants of the country invaded. They have a  population as well and not all of them are fighting, so many innocent civilians are unintentionaly caught in war zones and their lives are taken with no remorse. As an anti-war advocate I really felt for this woman and whether or not they mean to, the military destroys lives, ruins famillies and ends bloodlines. There are many lines in this slam poem that really stick out and make a huge impact; for instance "Sexually trasmitted democracies", "poltical prostitution". This poem is a good way to educate those about what the other side has to endure, whether we are involved in that particual war/area or not as Canadians we should as empathetic human beings should be exposed to how other innocent human beings much like our selves have to go through. Imagining our Canadian land being invaded by a country for a natural resource and having war zones being in the middle of school grounds, cities; having the blood of our families splat across us and not having anyone else in the world realizing not just soldiers are dying but civilians are too, is terrifying and heartaching.

Poems to Appreciate 2: Lost Count A Love Story

Lost Count: A Love Story

Will they ever call your death beautiful
Your life a sacrifice
Will the meeting of blood and bullet every be called romantic
A love story to be jealous of
Chris…
I remember you when Guatemalan green matching your flag on your Independence Day
Your hair was a black puff of curl and confidence
In homeroom you always had homies in the hallway waiting for you
We’re still waiting
I couldn’t sleep for a week
When you washed up water logged in the Calumet River
Puffed and purple like violets before bloom
Eddie, you were the first to say hi to me
First day of school when I stepped in with Bugle boy jeans and a high top fade and I saw YOU
Possibly, the coolest dude to ever grace elementary
September 22, 2006, 8th period
“We really need to hang out”
“Yeah, that’ll be cool”
“I’ll see you later, D”
September 22, 2006 8:30 PM maybe a little later than I thought when your path ended on Vincennes Road
Run down by bad luck…. and a police officer
Lives like these shouldn’t be shortened
Sentence fragments of a future
And in the 14 days it took us to write this
We’ve had to add more names to this list
Because in this city, before we blossom
We must weather storms unforecast because
Every intersection can become Virgina Tech
So excuse me if the news be mixed with my emotions
See being brown in Bigger Thomas’s town makes you endangered
And in the past TWO years I’ve seen over SIXTY Native Sons set…. in the graves
I guess… this is the part where, poets produce plans
And we don’t have any
In Chicago, anyone under age 20 is a target
And I don’t know how to do more than be afraid
That in age allowing me to be on this stage
Might have me murdered by Monday
I’m 18!
I play pick-up basketball games with ghosts!
Is there a reason, I’m making it out of a community that has martyred young men I might be mistaken for
I!
DON’T!
KNOW!
Will they ever call your death beautiful
Your life a sacrifice
A love story to be jealous of
How many deaths will it take
Before THIS is considered genocide

I found this slam poetry when I was browsing YouTube, though I can not relate to it I think it sends a powerful message and everyone should watch the link. The poem is about the unforseen killing of African-American teenagers in Chicago. The two boys in the video are only 18 and 17 and even fear their own death as one can read and hear. I didnt know about this epidemeic and how serious it actually is, so not only is this just a great poem its also a great way to spread the word for those blind to this, as I was. Though you can not read it in my post, there are also names, dates and places of where young people were killed being spoken behind the spoken words. A very effective way to add emotions to the poem and it really effects you. I found myself watching this quite a few times over to really soak in the words and understand them, I even found myself researching more about these killings and being really moved by how serious this issue is in Chicago to this day (as this video is from 2009). The line that hit me the most was "I play pick-up basketball games with ghosts". More people need to be aware of what is going on to the teenagers of Chicago, whether it is hate crime, kids killing kids or police brutality. It needs to be heard and this poem is a simple yet powerful way to get it heard and you feeling how the friends and famillies of the victims are feeling.

Poems to Appreciate: Travel

1. Travel

To travel in the world
Not only to see with your eyes
But's about opening your mind
Also your heart

So you can see will
And you can judge
You need much more than your eyes
To see everything

You'll find stories of every kind
You'll find emotions of every type
You'll see, you'll feel
You'll know secrets and mysteries

Some will make you happy
Some will make you sad
Places you wish you didn't go to
Places you want to get back

But the thing that you have to put always in your mind
You don't travel to change places
But my friend, you travel
So you can change ideas and see better
By Fadwa Daddou Gmiden via http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/travel-21/

I particularly found interest in this poem as it has to do with travelling, and more specifically travelling the world. This is something I aspire to do for the rest of my life or as a career as a travel journalist or for buisness endevenours. The poem talks about the different emotions and stories you'll expierence and feel. As apart of my aspiration to travel the world, I do not just hope to go from country to country just looking yet I hope to go from country to country feeling as well; soaking up the culture, language and the emotions each gives. To do so, you must open your mind and your heart just as the poem states in the first stanza. In just 5 simple stanzas this poem sums up what I hope do to fueling my inspiration and motivation.