Traveling has always been an interest to a lot of people and it most certainly is mine. A lot of people ask me how I am able to travel so much as a young adult and college student. Maybe you’re just like or maybe you’ve never really gone traveling and want to try it out but don’t know how. There are always doubts, especially college students who feel limited on their options. I know that feeling. I always looked at all these pictures with picturesque sceneries from Tumblr and Instagram and always wished that I could go there someday.
The desire started young for me and I’m telling you it is possible to go out there. It’s not about granting a wish on it, it’s about doing something about it and committing yourself to this. Take action. As my mother tells me, “If there’s a way, there’s a will.” Don’t let your financial situation hold you back because there are ways to make your dream trip more than a dream but reality.
Here are some important ways that will help you achieve going to that dream place of yours:
1. Make this place a long-term goal.
Just like any goal in life whether it’s trying to get into your dream school or getting a great job, you want to see traveling to a place as a goal too. You want to remind yourself to work hard towards it because the results? Going traveling to a place you always wanderlusted over. You want to make sure this is something you will fully invest in and you won’t have doubts about it. Make this dream destination as a wallpaper on your phone, hang a picture or poster of it on your wall, get inspired. Remind yourself this is like a dream you’re chasing next to the important goals in life.
2. And here’s why you need to make it long-term: You’re going to have to save.
It’s like buying anything you always wanted to get. You’re going to have to save. That means putting ‘x’ amount of money into your savings and living on a budget. Don’t impulsively spend a lot of your money when you plan to travel somewhere. You need to save for air flights and/or gas and toll fees, transportation within the destination, hotel or Airbnb rental rooms, food!!!, and for excursions. That’s a lot of things and it can add up, so be prepared to have saved enough money to use for traveling and to use for your own emergency funds and bills.
3. Find extra ways to make money.
This might mean getting a second job (see in your college if you can make one up), selling your used (but still in good condition) things online (I love using online marketplaces– I made a couple of hundreds from doing so!), and asking to help your parents or neighbors in exchange to getting paid.. there are so many things to do so! Just, of course, stay away from doing illegal things, please!
4. Go on a budget (it will help you do #2).
If this means getting clothes from clearance or from thrift stores only, then why not? Choose the most inexpensive brands for foods (branded items don’t always mean better quality: here’s a fun video of how dollar tree store foods can compare to branded foods.) Keep it to a limit from going out to eat. Discipline yourself to not buy things you don’t need (remember the difference from wants and needs).
5. When buying books for your classes, you can instead be saving for your vacation.
Don’t limit yourself to buying your college books from the bookstore or Barnes and Noble. Think about renting before you buy them… because really, when are you going to take this class again besides this one semester? I always resort to these three websites and do a price match and get the better value of rentals (sometimes there won’t be rentals but the option to just buy: still price match that): Chegg.com, Bookbyte.com, and Amazon.com. You can also always make a social media post advertising that you’re looking for a specific book or go around asking your friends or friends of friends for the book you need. I highly believe they will give you the best price or will let you borrow.
6. Thoroughly search for travel deals.
You can be looking for cheaper flights when you are looking at a certain time and when you are able to look at the latest deals from signing up on newsletters and getting notifications on places you really want to go to. (So turn the notifications up!) I would highly recommend comparing deals too. Some of the best sites to go looking for these affordable, kickass deals are Skyscanner, Scott’s Cheap Flights, Momondo, Google Flights, and The Flight Deal.
And there you go! There are definitely a lot more tips but those are the most important and helpful ones that helped me.
As a hard-working college student, you deserve to go and escape the books for a little bit!
