How to Travel Around the World for $418. “I have to tell you sir, this is easily the most ridiculous itinerary I’ve ever put together,” said the American Airlines operator the other night as I finalized plans for a worldwide adventure that would make Marco Polo blush. “Welp, that makes two of us!” I replied. And just like that, I had committed myself to almost nine months of international travel. Yes, that picture above is my actual itinerary. Beginning this January, I’ll start an epic journey that will take me across four continents, through at least nine countries, and into more than fifteen cities. Oh, and all of these flights are costing me a grand total of $418.36. Warning: I’m totally going to geek out on travel-hacking with this post, so if you have no interest in learning how to travel the world and visit awesome places for dirt cheap, check back in on Monday. This post is also quite lengthy at over 2500 words: grab some coffee, get comfortable, and let me show you how deep the rabbit hole of travel hacking goes. -Steve
Budgeting Probably the best time for traveling the world is when you’re young. You’ve got little to no real responsibilities and you’re still spontaneous enough to try almost anything. The down side? You’re probably pretty broke. Pricey plane tickets, disadvantaged exchange rates, and museum passes can add up to a lot of cash very quickly. But don’t fret. Transportation: Finding discount plane and train tickets isn’t as hard as you might think. Airwise.com: Check out this Web site to find pricing and booking information for flights, car rentals, and cruises anywhere in the world. Lodging: You’ve already accepted the fact that your traveling budget is tight, alas no Ritz hotel in Paris for you. Hostels.com: Book a hostel anywhere in the world. Food and Drink: Part of the joy of traveling the world is exposing yourself (and your palate) to new flavors and traditions in the local cuisine. The Trailside Cookbook: This site has tons of tasty recipes for backpackers on a budget.
Exotic Vacations, Cruises & Discount Tour Packages by Friendly Planet How to Travel Full-Time for $17,000 a Year (or Less!) Wise Bread Picks For the last five years, I've been traveling the world full-time, and for less money than I've ever spent (and I'd wager less money than most people would spend) to live in one place. My worldly possessions fit into one bag (just larger than carry-on size) and a backpack containing my laptop and computer gear. In 2011 alone, I traversed 13 countries and over 45,360 miles. What if I told you it wasn't? Believe it. How to Keep Your Travel Costs Low Of course, I could travel for way more than $17,000/year. Here are a few of my secrets. Don't Pay for Accommodations In the entire year of 2011, I paid $173 for accommodation. Work-Trade/Volunteer There are lots of creative opportunities to work in trade for your accommodation (and sometimes food) and enjoy a more immersive travel experience. Hospitality Exchange Got a few nights to kill at a given destination? House/Pet-Sitting Crew on Sailboats Don't Pay for Flights Travel Slowly Your Travel, Your Style
Cheap Alternatives to Cell Phones Abroad Don’t Take Your Regular Cell Phone Abroad Some Wise Alternatives to Handing Your Phone Company All Your Money By Tim Leffel When Eileen Kugler and her husband spent a month volunteering at a school in South Africa, they got a nasty surprise when returning home: a “staggering $440 bill” from AT&T Wireless. It doesn’t take much talking or data usage to run up a staggering bill, however. Many people return home from a one or two-week vacation to bills of hundreds or even thousands of dollars. It might sound very convenient to carry a smart phone around the world, but data charges can be even more costly than voice calls. Unless you have an unlocked quad-band phone that allows you to swap out SIM cards and buy pre-paid local minutes, you should not be using your home cell phone abroad. So how do you stay in touch? Skype and Phone Cards For those backpacking around the world, Skype is a beautiful thing. Cell Phone Purchase and SIM Card Swaps Phone and Blackberry Rentals WiFi Phones
Cardless Calling Card with Pinless Calling, Cheap calls over Internet from any home, office or mobile phone. No computer and no internet needed Living In Europe | #11-20 | ios | AppCrawlr: Search Engine for Apps Because you searched for iphone keeping me on track apps, ipad get fit apps, free get photos apps, android market keeping in touch apps, download listening to music apps, android market free apps for families, iphone games for travelers, iphone data roaming charges apps, radar forecast apps, local news games, iphone local weather apps, download android market offline maps apps, android weather app, paid wx app, reading news apps, android sharing photos apps, staying connected games, iphone staying up to date apps, paid tracking what you eat apps, ipad free waking up apps, download free watching tv apps, ipad free accurate weather apps, android market customer service apps, free detailed weather apps, ipad sat nav apps, download weather apps, weather program games, #11. DJ Lobo - ranked #6 for dj app, #7 for offline feature, #12. NAVIGON Europe - ranked #3 for voice guidance, #6 for navigation application, #11 for sat nav, #11 for gps software, #13. - "!!!
Moving to Spain Making the Move © Nikki Weinstein, from Living Abroad in Spain, 1st Edition. Used by permission of Avalon Travel Publishing. All rights reserved. So you’ve visited Spain and fallen head over heels for the place—now you’re ready to move over there and make it official. Visas and Immigration "A move to a new country will mean facing a lot of bureaucracy and Spain is no exception to that. Applying for your residency visa will likely be your biggest bureaucratic challenge, but most people have to bite the bullet and go through the necessary steps. So can you skip all that residency stuff and go right for the gold—citizenship? If paperwork gives you a headache and you decide to live in Spain for more than six months out of each year but you ignored the need for a visa, you run the risk of being fined about €300 ($375) and being barred entry to Spain for three years. Tourist Visas Tourists have it easy. However, there is one key thing to keep in mind. Student Visas Moving with Children
Comparing The United States to Spain. The GINI index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income. In Spain is 32.00 while in The United States it is 45.00. This index measures the degree of inequality in the distribution of family income in a country. The index is calculated from the Lorenz curve, in which cumulative family income is plotted against the number of families arranged from the poorest to the richest. The index is the ratio of (a) the area between a country's Lorenz curve and the 45 degree helping line to (b) the entire triangular area under the 45 degree line.
Work Abroad | Flashpacker HQ These resource pages are ongoing and come from many sources including online searches, word of mouth recommendations, books, pamphlets, brochures, and my own travel experiences. If you have anything to add, would like something removed, or something isn’t working correctly, please let me know. The flags below are meant to give you an idea of which nationalities the link is for or where the company is located. Common sense should tell you if you’re able to use a given link from another country.
Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year Ask anyone what they wish they could do more of, and the answer is literally always the same: “I wish I could travel more.” Yet when you remove all the excuses, few people actually do. I don’t have enough vacation days! It’s too expensive. My friends don’t want to go with me. I know I’ve been guilty of this. Today, I’ve asked Nora Dunn, a professional world traveler, to write up a detailed post with her tips on traveling affordably. Below, you’ll find a few sites you’ve heard of, some you haven’t…and the overall message: Once you remove the barrier of money, what’s your excuse? (Note: This is part of the new book, 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget.) Travel for a living on less than $14,000 per year I “retired” from the rat race at the tender age of 30 to embrace my life-long dream of traveling the world, before life had a chance to get in the way. I am not rich. Here are my secrets (click to jump to the 11 tips below or just keep scrolling): Tip #1 – Save 80% on Airfare Working Visas