"Dear Casey: How do you travel?" Part 1

I often get questions from friends back in the States along the lines of

• "How do you pay for your travels?"
• "How do you stop being a tourist and actually move there for good?"
• "Wasn't it hard to leave the States and everything you know, to move to Germany all by yourself?

I can write on and on about each question, so I'm going to break my answers up into a few parts. This is actually kind of fun.   I feel like Dear Abby! I should start a Reader Mailbag or something. Anyhoo, a friend wrote:

"Your blog is thoroughly engrossing. I love reading your descriptions of places and people. Your experiences inspire and excite! Thank you for sharing your life and experiences with me. You've been to places most people have only dreamt about. One burning question I've been meaning to ask... And feel free to choose not to answer. So much travel and relocation had to be expensive. Did your work pay relocation expenses or did you just have the funds to go? I tend to get so freaked out that I won't be able to afford to travel due to the cost and just wondering how you've done it."

First -- thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so happy that you like to read about my adventures, which in turn pushes me to experience more so that I can write more... And also, I'm happy that my writing is not total crap and you actually like to read it!

Second -- the money. Yessss indeed, the financial aspect of traveling is probably one of the biggest roadblocks.  Even with all the new ways to cut corners and save money (Airbnb, Couchsurfer, etc -- I will talk about these later) let's face it -- traveling can be freaking expensive.

When we are students, we are rich in time but lack the money needed to do any serious traveling. And once we become professionals, we STILL don't have the money because we are paying for our college years for the next 200 years (or, at least I am...that diploma is the most expensive piece of paper I've bought in my life) and doing responsible things like buying houses and paying bills and all that crap that goes along with being an adult.  And some of you crazy people are actually doing things like getting married and having babies, which adds on a whole different level of "financial not-have." But I'm assuming that if you are having babies, you are not interested in traveling around the world, so this post is not for you.  But thanks for reading anyway.

SO.. back on topic. How did I personally enable myself to travel? To be honest, a lot of my really awesome trips (Vegas in Jan 2011, Cancun, Phuket) were funded by the company I worked for.  Normally I would never be able to afford helicopter rides in the Grand Canyon, catered beach parties with Mexican fire dancers, or private boat tours of tropical Pacific islands.  Just to make everyone jealous, here are some pictures.

Crew of Helicopter #5 literally in the middle of the desert at a random helicopter refueling station

FIRE!! and a Brazilian drum line on the beach of Cancun

part of the fleet of ships that the company rode around on during the day

So, awesome company trips aside...The other trips I financed on my own left me with amazing memories as well, and were just as fun.

Anyone can travel, really. You just have to open your eyes to reality, and to other possibilities.  Think outside the box, and don't be content with just doing the normal tourist thing.

1. Decide where you want to go. This kind of goes hand in hand with #2. You shouldn't limit yourself, but be realistic too.  If you are earning minimum wage you probably shouldn't be planning a 5-star trip to Dubai....but you also shouldn't limit yourself to a weekend in Myrtle Beach if you live in Florence (just 1 hr by car, for those of you not familiar with South Carolina geography). I think a good rule of thumb is one major trip per year, where major means you have to fly there. Exceptions are road trips that take more than 2 days.
2. Decide how much you can spend on your trip. I like to have this one second, because you can visit some amazing places and still do it cheaply.  Have a dream for your destination first, then work to make it happen.
   Financial 101: How much money do you make? How much goes to essentials (rent/mortgage, car, insurance, food, etc)? How much is left over?  And how much of that leftover are you willing to save?  I lived on a very tight budget for the first few months I was in San Francisco until I had achieved certain financial goals I set for myself. After that, I finally allowed myself some "play money." At the end of the month, whatever was leftover from the Play Money went into a savings account. It was tough to save so much when really all I wanted to do was go crazy spending the salary I was earning (my first real salary after college), but seeing the savings account grow each month and keeping my ultimate goal in mind was great motivation.
3. Plan out the logistics. Based on your budget, this is usually the hardest part. Travel to/from the destinations will probably be the most expensive part if you're going to be city-hopping. Lodging will be the second, and activities will be the third. Food is fourth. You can always just eat bread or something if you need to. Not recommended, since food is one of my favorite parts of a vacation..but it's an option.  

So, with this in mind..My brief story of how I got to live in Berlin. I had intended on moving in with my boyfriend in France and getting a student visa, then eventually translating that into an internship and long-term job.  However, that didn't work out so well -- we broke up just before I returned to the US to get my visa. I was planning on finding a job near Charlotte, NC, when I decided to take one last trip in the EU. I still had some savings, so I used that to fund the trip.

I kind of, sort of, maybe just a little bit... cheated. I planned my destinations so that I could stay with friends and save hella money on hotel rooms.  It was kind of like Couchsurfing, except with people you already know.  I am so lucky to have friends scattered all around Europe in awesome cities like Munich, Hamburg, Paris, Rennes, Prague, Amsterdam....etc etc etc.  But I was prepared to spend EVERYTHING I had, down to the last cent, to have a really great time. I didn't want to worry about money.  I wanted to be able to say YES to everything.

And I did, and it was amazing.  And you can too.  Or don't, and have your budget and have a lot of fun and not spend your last cent.  Remember Step #2?

Next post is about how to do it financially, and also maybe mentally. Because a lot of people have also written that they are afraid of jumping on a plane and just going.

The rewards of saying "Yes" and making it happen..Totally worth it