“Taylor. Your grandmother and I are leaving for St. Martin sometime soon, okay?” “Taylor, we are considering going to Italy for my birthday in November.” “Oh, I’m going to New York for a long weekend.” “ We are going to Ohio for Labor day weekend.”
You would think that after being in the same household as my grandparents for 22 years, I would be used to them telling me about their travel plans frequently. However, I am always surprised. For those of you who are extremely confused at this point, I grew up in my grandparents household and they love to travel…. and I don’t mean simple let’s go away for the weekend. I mean, “let’s go to Thailand for two months to escape the winter months and leave our college granddaughter behind.”
My grandparents, Cecily and Tony, are retired and are absolutely living it up as much as possible. They travel all over the world, basically doing whatever they want, and leave me behind to finish college.
Since I come from a traveling family, it is only right that I follow in their footsteps. I studied abroad in England last semester, traveled to seven other countries, and did it within a lovely budget of $7,000 and my only regret is that I did not do it for a year. It was the most life changing, spiritual, soul searching, most amazing thing I could have ever done.
Before you envy me and wonder how I did it, let me give you a five very simple easy tips on how you can travel and not break your bank, pay for student loans, and still be the envy of your friend group on Facebook.
1. Before the actual money saving begins, figure out where you want to study abroad or even travel to after you’re done with school.
It is a lot of people’s dream to go to Europe and experience the culture, but there are tons of other countries with excellent schools and programs. Do you want to go north to Canada? How about exploring the ancient ruins of Peru? Whatever or wherever the place is, make a vision board of all the places you want to go to and hang it up. Everyday, you will see those dreams and feel more determined as opposed to keeping it in the back of your mind and wondering if you will be able to go. The next part of the first step is figuring out a time frame. Do not plan way too far ahead and not ever go. Sometimes you have to just leave and enjoy the moments. Do you want to go in a year-five? Whatever the time you believe will be best for you, make sure you write that down on your vision board.
2. Begin saving today… actually, right this minute!
If you are anything like me, saving can be hard, especially when you are not physically touching the money. Find a big empty jar, or even empty protein container to keep the money in. A trick that I picked up from a friend of mine that turned out to be incredibly helpful was saving every $5 bill you get. It adds up incredibly! When I was saving up for England, I saved up to $1500 in just $5 bills.
The next step would be doing a 52-53 week saving. The way this works is you save $1 the first week, $2 the next week, $3 the following week, and so on. It works best to have a calendar next to place you are keeping your money and write down the amount you are to be saving that week and the amounts after you place them in your saving jar. Even better, I started was saving $2 so it doubles. This will be incredibly beneficial. For those who work in the food industry and get money every night they work, save up to $10-$20 per shift. I know that seems like a lot even when you have other obligations. But it will become very helpful in the long run.
3. Bank of America’s Travel Rewards Credit Card
“CREDIT CARDS?!?! WHAT?? I’M NOT OLD ENOUGH FOR THAT!” Take a deep breath, collegiette, and put the phone down before you call your mom freaking out. You are! Now, do not go overboard with the credit card and spend everything under the sun on it because paying it back will be a pain in your rear and give you anxiety and headaches.
Be mindful of your spending, of course. Bank of America Travel Rewards Credit Card was the best thing I could have gotten while being abroad. For every $1 you spend, you gain 1.5 points. When you earn a good amount of points, the points can be redeemed for a travel credit. I paid for my flight to Munich, Germany, my hostel, and my bus to the airport and back, all with my points and it was a lifesaver!
4. Create a budget sheet. An actual real budget sheet
Budgeting is the bane of everyone’s existence. Budgeting is tough but it is so worth it in the end. Finding a budget sheet on the internet is pretty easy, but make sure you find one that fits all your obligations: rent, electric, water, heat, food, credit card, food, transportation, and the list goes on forever. Whatever you have left over for yourself at the end of being an adult and crying ever so lightly about everything you paid for, cut that in half. Put the half into your savings jar. That means you won’t be able to spend a lot on useless things like coffee, eating out, and drinking. You’ll be sad but drinking sangria in Spain sounds a lot better than another tequila sunrise at Papa D’s, doesn’t it?
5. Find small easy ways to earn more money
Start going through your closet and get rid of clothes and shoes and accessories you no longer need. PoshMark people! Start doing online surveys, renting out your extra room as an AirBnB, and there are endless possibilities, honestly. Look online or search on Pinterest. (Pinterest helps with everything)
Things will be tight but remember the end game! Look at that vision board every night and look at it intently. You will be eating gyros in Greece, gelato in Italy, having tea time in England, or wherever it is your heart wants to go. Just remember that everything you do will be for this. It will all be worth it!