I used to believe that travel was a luxury reserved strictly for wealthy families. It seemed unattainable to me as a young single mother and I often dreamed about taking my son on his first flight to somewhere fascinating. As I grew older I realized that I was wrong, anyone can travel with a little planning and creativity.
A vacation doesn’t have to be a getaway to an all-inclusive resort. Sometimes you need to find other ways to see the world. Students can travel by doing any of the following:
- Take part in an exchange program
- Teach English at a camp abroad
- Join clubs and teams that have a possibility of travel
- Enter essay contests that offer travel as a prize
- Apply for international student jobs
- Get deals when you book as a group through student travel companies
For those of us past the student years, we can still find inexpensive and creative ways to travel. Here are some ideas for adults to travel or save on vacations:
- Become an expert in your field of work or hobby and present at conferences around the world
- Do a home exchange with someone in another country
- Take part in a volunteer trip and fund raise local groups to cover the cost
- Join travel deal sites
- Follow facebook fan pages of airlines, resorts and attractions so you see their sales right away
- Subscribe to airline mailing lists and take advantage of seat sales
- Collect travel rewards such as Aeroplan points to put towards you travel costs
- If your airline is asking for volunteers to give up their seat on the airplane, volunteer! You will usually be offered a seat on a later flight and a free ticket for another trip, but negotiating is also a possibility
- Stay in hostels instead of hotels
- Look for colleges and universities that have dorm space available for travelers
- Create a travel savings account and commit to a deposit each week
- Purchase gift cards such as Disney cards, gas cards or debit cards that will be set aside specifically for travel
Do you have any tips? Share them in the comments.
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