Ok. I'm a senior in High School now and this whole college ordeal is driving me insane. I don't want to go...not yet. So what i want to know is how would I be able to travel the world cheaply? Where should I go? how much will it cost? In short, is it possible to be poor and travel for 6 months or so?
Poor is pretty relative.
Do you work right now? How much funds do you think you'll have? Where do you plan on travelling? Yes you can be poor(by North American standards) and travel for 6months cheaply through cheaper places like South East Asia. You can live for as cheap as 15-20 dollars(US) per day in some areas.
Not sure if you were secretly asking for insight on going to college or not. If not, then ignore the rest of my post =)
College is pretty important imo. If you are accepted will they still accept you the next semester/year? Will it jeopardize your entry into your desired college?
To put things in perspective, I have friends who have spent 6-7 years in college getting their degree. Really, whats an extra 6months - 1 year compared to the course of your lifetime? When looking a career, employers don't ask you how old were you when you graduated.
How do you know college is not for you? College can be a pretty fun time for some people. Dorm parties, living away from home, being free, meeting new people, experimenting, being able to choose your own educational path.
Alternatively, you could just go on a 3 month trip after you graduate highschool, go to college then take a nice long trip after you have obtained your degree.
ok. Let me put this in perspective. I'm a senior in high school and I don't know what I want to do yet. It seems too soon for college so I thought I would look into some travel. My hope was to walk the Mediterranean from Portugal to Sicily. At this point I'm just thinking about logistics...ie. Distance, money , safety ECT. I'm looking for good cheap places to stay and cool towns to see. As it stands, I speak ok French , passable Italian and no spanish/ portugese. Does my idea sound possible? Any comments ideas fears anyone can think of?[quote]
Hey Italy,
I wish someone had given me this advice when I was 17.
Forget college until you've taken a year or two to travel. Really, you dont know what you want to do at that age. So few people can know, if you think about it. At that age, none of us have had any real life experience. When you take off and travel for a while, you start to explore different sides of your personality, you learn how to deal and interact with all different sorts of people and you can only come back knowing yourself better. That has got to inform your choices about university better, and also I think you study better the older and more mature you are.
I went to uni at 17 and I was just too young to knuckle down and study. It was my first taste of freedom and, while I loved university and my eventual course of study ( I switched half way though one course, which further demonstrates my point ), I think it would have been infinitely preferable to travel, say, Europe or the US, to begin with just for a year or two, then come back and study, and then plan future travels from there if that's what I wanted.
I'm a big believer in "no regrets", but I would say to you if i could have done it differently I probably would have. So, I say go for it. You can certainly travel on a low budget, but it depends on the kind of person you are. If you are a big spender usually, it could be tough to suddenly have to survive of $15 a day or something. At the same, it;s no more of a challenge than going to university and struggling through study that you say you do not want to do just now.
ahhh a fellow american.
If you know what you want to go to college for, go first and get it out of the way. you'll have a degree and if you like it you can stay to were you travel.
or
go to college in another country and kill two birds with one stone
or do what I did
take a few years off, work in a warehouse...realize that a lifetime of that would bring on suicidal thoughts. then go to college. then travel with the money that you made with your degree.
I completely agree with samsara2.
In fact, I'm getting my degree this year, and I'm planning to do a RWT. But, from my point of view, I've been wasting my time, too many years studying and working at the same time.
If I could go back and change, I'll do it without regret.
But I think it's more personal than to think that when you're 17 you don't know what you want.
I'd take it like a goal you can make out of yourself. Travelling alone is something most of the people I know wouldn't (or couldn't) do it by themselves.
It's hard, but it's worth it because it'll make you better in all subjects you can think.
My advice is: do it, no matter what they say, but only if you are 150% sure.
As for the trip you're planning... it is not going to be cheap, but I think you can manage to save some bucks by living in hostels/campings/etc... Moreover, you can try to live at someone's place and work a little bit for them (but it'll make your trip longer, I guess...)
If you know french and italian, you're almost safe at any place.
Well, hope it helps!
Hey, your post caught my attention as just six or so months ago i was in the exact position. Just on another continent (i live in Australia).
After taking on board many different people's opinions i decided to go with my personal choice which i felt was right the whole way along.
That has led me to a mini RTW trip for 10 or so months.
I am still 17 yrs old and in 2 weeks i turn 18. 4 days after my birthday i am leaving for my trip
Some people still to this day disagree when i tell them but most are supportive and at the end of the day we all know how much more traveling will educate us in this year than any uni/collage course will. That's not to say i am against it i have been accepted into my university but instead i just choose to defer for a year. I don't know how it works in the states but if this is possible you really should look into it.
Money.... hmmmm similar position as well. All through my last year i worked and saved that's not to say i missed out on lots of social events etc. it just means i followed a budget and stuck to it.
I have saved quite a bit but i am also minimizing my spending on my trip. I'm doing this by volunteering in Thailand for a couple of months which is just a small small cost for food and accommodation only. Got a job in the Greek Islands which pays you with food and accommodation and staying in hostels etc. all through my trip.
I cannot describe how excited i am for my trip, and after watching many of my friends enter university straight out of school i am so so happy with my final decision to travel. If i did not choose this path for the year i really think i would have many regrets later on and that is not something i want to have so i believe you should just goes with what seems right to you... and from what i gather that is to TRAVEL. (money or no money we can all do it just go with a different route and budget i.e choose SEA instead of Europe)
Best of luck
Soph
woops just read the date sorry half asleep atm.
Hope you decided to travel.
it is good to travel anywhere but I think it is more good to study than travel... anyway, when you are done with your studies and if you already had a lot of money then you can travel the world as much as you want.
I know this is an old post, but for the people who will read it now and in the future, here's my go.
I took a year off to work and save moeny for college, then went to College for 2 years and finished... then 2 years to find out I didn't like what I was doing, quit, and took off travelling.
I was too young to decide what I wanted to do, and went with something I was good at, on advice from a teacher.
I don't regret going to school, I have my piece of paper as a back-up for the future, however, now that I am a bit older, I realise how important it is to be happy with your job and the work you do.
If you are uncertain don't rush into anything, and don't cave to pressure from other people to do something you are not sure you want to do!
On the other hand, now that I've been bitten by the bug, all I want to do is travel forever
Ive had younger friends who hit the road instead of go to school tell me how hard it was for them to switch back into school mode, but also some others who "found themselves," and gone to study what they are passionate about and succeeding amazingly!
So the choice is totally yours, and yours only. I would say go for it, but that's me, from my experience!
You have your whole life to figure out what you want to do, so dip into a few things before you make your decision, most importantly, have fun, and figure out what makes you happy!
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