Work sucks, your life feels like a merry-go-round and you see the same people every weekend. What to do? What to do? What to do?
TRAVEL OVERSEAS
It’s been niggling away in the back of your mind for a while now and you finally want to start your first ever Overseas Experience (OE) but don’t quite know where to start or how to go about it.
Hopefully we can help by breaking down your options:
- You can just sign out for a couple of months and head on a looooooong holiday.
- Or you could try and pack your life in to the biggest suitcase airlines will accept and move overseas on a Working Holiday.
We will try to cover the main positives and drawbacks of both options and also give a few tips. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way of doing it. It’s travel so you are going to have a blast whatever you decide.
A Good Old Fashioned Holiday
What’s not to love about a holiday? All play and no work. Being able to do whatever the hell you want (within the confines of the law of course) and having an awesome time. The flip side is the limitations of time and money.
Time
Having limited time means less flexibility in your travel plans. This OE option usually requires a pre-planned route which sucks if you decide that you love a place and want to stay because it means you will get less time elsewhere.
Limiting yourself with a set length of time means you have no time to be spontaneous! Unfortunately there is not really much you can do about this other than leave a few spare days in your itinerary for last minute adventures.
Budget
You will always be counting your pennies. Its truly depressing watching your bank account go down….and down…and down week after week with no income coming in. You want to make sure you have enough to ensure you can enjoy ALL your time away. The worst situation is missing out on places or activities due to a lack of funds.
The best thing to do is set a budget before you go and try your hardest to stick to it. You need a daily budget for each country as well. That way if you know you are away for six weeks you can easily calculate how much you need to sustain your travel needs for the period.
Word of warning, not everything is the same price in every place you visit. For example by spending $20 a day in Thailand you could live like a King (or Queen). Try that in London and you will barely make it from the airport to the city centre.
Pace Yourself
When you are on the move all the time you will get complacent about all the sights. Cities will merge into one and you will ask yourself “do we NEED to visit ANOTHER church?
You will be less excited about the prospect of a new destination that is similar to previous ones than you would be if it was the first time you had travelled in a while. The key is variety. When we spent 8 weeks driving around the USA we spent time in National Parks on our Mountain Bikes rather than just visiting cities.
After setting your budget and time frames you need figure out how to travel…
Solo vs. Group Travel
The great debate. Do it alone, take a loved one or join in on a wild bar-hopping tour around Europe?
Choose your travel buddies wisely because you will be inseparable (not in a loving way) at times regardless of your mood, space and energy. Its best to pick someone you know will give and take in regards to where you travel next or what activities to partake in. There is nothing worse than a person who can not compromise when you are travelling!
Most importantly you have to travel with someone you can be honest with and vice versa. If you are having a bad day its best to be able to tell them rather than bottling it up and taking it out on them when they forget to open the door for you. Travel will make or break a relationship!
It’s not all bad!
I may have successfully talked you out of this travel option so its time to talk you back in to it.
There is NOTHING better than walking out of the office at 5pm one day and smugly telling your workmates “adios” for a couple of months. It will keep you on a high for days.
Just one thing to remember. Travel is about having the time of YOUR life. Do it for yourself.
Lying on the beach thinking ‘I do not have to go to work for 2 months” is an incredible feeling. Being able to wake up when YOU want and party all night is a dream. Visiting the Wonders of World or experiencing a new culture will blow your mind. Best of all, you have NO COMMITMENTS.
And when your money runs out or your time is up then you can safely return home to that job with a spring in your step and a hug from your loved ones. No homesickness or job hunting in this travel option.
What are you waiting for? Book that flight and join us for a beer somewhere abroad. You know you want to!