Have you ever said to yourself, “I want to travel the world?” Most of us have. We all envision traveling as being a process that’s only for rich people. It’s not.
I recently received a question from a reader. Long-time Studenomics reader Wilhelm asked me for advice on how he should invest the $100 a month he saves.
I started looking over what I do with my money and my different investment vehicles. After a few minutes I realized that I didn’t want to put together an investment article where I pretend to be an expert about where to invest money. Instead I decided to think outside the box.
It’s been a really long time since I’ve posted an edition of outside the box thinking at Studenomics.
So here is my advice on what you can do with the money you save as a college student:
Use the $100 a month you save as a college student to travel some where you have always wanted to go in the world once you graduate.
This is the one time in your life where you can drop everything and go. Sure I could have written an article highly optimized for search engines about certain bank accounts or I could have written about the million investment options out there. Instead I wanted to tell you guys to think outside the box today and put aside a little bit of money each month to travel the world after your college graduation:
See the world by Couch Surfing
CouchSurfing is a social networking site that allows you to host travelers that you connect with online. Not only can you choose to host a traveler but you can also find someone to host you in countries all over the world.
CouchSurfing is perfect because your biggest expenses now becomes the flight and not the hotel accommodations. Sure you may be required to help out around the home you stay at or something along those lines. It is well worth the money you can save.
Afraid of going into a stranger’s home? CouchSurfing has references and hosts are registered with the company. Apparently it’s very safe and I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews from people that have tried it. My goal is to give this a try in a few years. What do you guys think about this option to see the world?
Travel to an all-inclusive resort
All of my trips except for one have consisted of staying at an all-inclusive resort. Even $20-50 a month after a years will be enough to send you on a nice all-inclusive vacation down south. Whether you want to enjoy the 7 mile white sand beach in Negril, go snorkeling in Cayo Coco, or have a few drinks in Punta Cana, there is a package that will meet your demands.
These types of trips are typically shorter due to the price. However, you can pack tons of fun and adventure into the short period of time you are there. You can drink your liver dry, you can travel around the area with the locals, you can go scuba diving, and anything else that you may want to try.
Back pack through Europe
A classic option for most college graduates is to go backpacking through Europe. From most stories I have heard the backpacker just books a flight to a random city in Europe and brings enough money to get around for a specific amount of time.
You don’t think you have enough money saved? No problem. You can always pick up odd jobs along the way. This can be the most spontaneous (perhaps outside the box?) thing that you ever do in your life. Once college is done you deserve to get away from the formal structure in life and let loose.
Just remember that when you come back from one of these trips after your college graduation that the job hunt begins. That’s why it’s important to have as much fun as possible after college because once you start your career it’s unlikely that you’ll have this much spare time again.
Are you ready to start travelling the world?
@Craig – a friend of mine is due to marry his fiancée in October, they met on Couchsurfing!
MD: this is great advice. a lot of people I’ve spoken to about travelling (whether before / during / after uni) discourage it, citing financial reasons mainly but also a surprisingly large range of arbitrary objections. I’m about to start my final year of uni and have travelled to Canada, Japan and two separate trips to Europe whilst at uni and they’ve been hugely formative and valuable experiences. Obviously my finances have suffered a bit, but the money would have probably been spent on some unnecessary piece of technology otherwise :p
Yea that’s for sure. Travel allows me to prioritize my spending. I find myself cutting back on certain expenses so that I have more more to spend on traveling to a new part of the world.
It’s especially beneficial if you can figure out how to travel on a budget. You mentioned Couchsurfing already which is already one of my favourite ways of travelling, but a friend told me about his travel plans for Asia, which included working for 3 weeks as an English teacher in Japan, then using the money he earned from this to travel in India. The discrepancy between living costs in Japan and India mean that his 3 weeks pay will stretch a LOT further over there.
Hey I read your article and remember well the confusion of getting out of college and what to do next (even though it was only 3 years ago!). I chose travelling and do not regret it at all, however I do regret leaving gaps in my resume which made the job search in these tough economic times really hard.
However, now I work for the volunteer travel company Humanitravels. We send people on volunteer trips to Peru and Guatemala. It’s a great way to enhance your resume while traveling abroad and it looks impressive to potential employers.
I highly suggest it because not only do you get a deeper cultural understanding but you have an unforgettable experience!