07 Oct Be Prepared To Explore The World
Going on an extended trip is a rewarding experience. Sure, vacations are fun, but visiting a place for two weeks or less doesn’t always give you the opportunity to fully immerse yourself in the culture of a particular destination – you always find yourself wanting more. How many times have you come home from an exciting trip and desperately wanted to head back out into the world to explore more of it? Yeah? We hear you. Exploring the world is definitely a worthwhile venture, but it’s one that takes real preparation.
The following pieces of advice should help you to ensure that you’re prepared to explore the world, whether you plan on going for three months, one year, or like us, close on five years.
BE PREPARED TO EXPLORE THE WORLD
Figure Out Your Financial Situation
You need to start by figuring out your financial situation. Going on a big trip to explore the world requires a substantial investment. You should start saving up your money – like today, even. Being frugal and self-disciplined will help you to ensure that you have enough cash saved up for your travels. You can do more than simply setting aside a portion of your paycheck, of course. You could sell some of your old belongings at a yard sale (true story – this worked wonders for us), and if you’re planning to be on the move for a long time, then you could even sell assets such as your vehicle (like we did), and maybe even sell your house, if you own one? The goal is to save up enough to cover the big costs. You don’t want to be caught out because you have insufficient funding to cover everything that you want to see and do on your travels.
Of course, the initial costs you’ll have won’t be the only costs you’ll face when you head out to explore the world. It’s important to save up enough money for flights, accommodation, food, and all forms of transport throughout your journey. Remember that not every expenditure is predictable as well, so you’ll want to keep an extra 10-15% buffer on top of your expected costs. You might end up exploring the world more extensively than you originally planned to as well – when we left we thought we’d only be on the road for a year, and here we are, nearly five years on – so think long term.
Your savings might not stretch as far as you think they will, so it’s important to think of other ways to make money too. Perhaps you’re not going to sell your house or flat back home, and instead decide to rent it out – either on an ad hoc basis through Airbnb or similar, or find a full-time tenant for the duration of your trip. This would bring in a steady income that could help to fund your travels even further. You could also get part-time work whilst you’re on the move. Obviously, that depends on how much time you plan on spending in each place, and what sort of work you’d be interested in, but like us, you may want to consider doing freelance work. That way, you could have a career which allows you to work remotely, and would give you the option to travel indefinitely (if that’s what you wanted to do).
Make Sure You Can Communicate With Friends And Family
Communication with your loved ones is so important, even if you’re trying to take a break from home life to go on an adventure. You might be quite an independent person who can be away from home and still feel content, but keeping your friends and family informed as to your activities and whereabouts will give them peace of mind, and it will keep that feeling of loneliness and homesickness at bay, because believe us, it comes, no matter how independent you may be. Additionally, it’ll keep you safe. If you explore somewhere without notifying anyone as to what you’re doing or where you’re going, then it’ll be hard for them to contact and reach you. If you have any problems during your trip, you’ll want to know that your family and friends know where you are. It’ll keep them happy, and it’ll keep you happy.
You might want to look at some SIM only contracts for your phone, so you can pay as you go, and stay connected no matter where you travel. If you’re only going to use your mobile sparingly, then it makes sense to have a phone plan which only charges you as and when you use your device. You might communicate with your loved ones frequently, but you probably won’t want to use your phone for much else. When you’re on the move, you’ll be distracted by all of the wonderful things that you can see and do. Staying in touch with friends and family will still be important, but it’s not something that you’ll want to do throughout the day. You’ll want to enjoy the moment, so keep that in mind too.
Plan Ahead
This has already been implied by the first two points, but planning ahead is essential to the success of your trip…and we’re not just talking about your initial plan. Of course you’ll want to be a little bit spontaneous, and unexpected things can happen, so you can’t plan for everything. You just have to make sure that you look ahead. If you decide to visit a destination that you didn’t originally plan to see, for instance, then you should think about how that changes the schedule for your entire trip. Where will you go next? Are you going to skip another destination that you had originally planned to visit? Or are you going to simply extend your overall trip? What about if your flights get cancelled, or the weather gets the better of your trip – will you want to come back, or stay longer?
Planning ahead shouldn’t come at the expense of your enjoyment in the present day, but you should always have a future plan of action so that you don’t get stressed out when it’s time to move on. Spontaneity is fun, but a loose plan can help you to keep a level head, and ensure that you enjoy your travels as thoroughly as possible. You should always know what you’re doing the following month. That’s a good way to ensure that your world trip feels structured yet exciting.
Be Minimalistic
Becoming a minimalist now can be the best preparation you can do for your long adventure. You can’t bring your entire wardrobe with you, or your fancy kitchen appliances, so see this as a growth experience. It’ll give you the opportunity to see that life can be enjoyed without excessive material possessions – and trust us, it most certainly can. Something you can do right now, is give up on fast fashion. You can’t keep filling up your suitcase with more and more clothes. Plus, you’ll have a limited budget, so you shouldn’t waste it on unnecessary things. Instead, it’s worth investing in some high-quality attire that will last on a long-term basis. That way, you won’t need to replace your clothes. It’ll help you to save money and pack light, so it’s a real win-win.
We really hope that this post has informed and inspired you enough to make the first move to your round-the-world adventure. If you’d like some more tips on how we did the whole pack-up-our-lives-into-four-bags-and-jet-off-with-a-one-way-ticket thing, then you can read our eBook or join our online course.
Feel free to pop any additional pointers in the comments too.
Happy travels!
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