Good morning all,
Over the last few weeks, some nice things have happened in my life, the most momentous of which includes accepting an IB offer. You all will probably hear more about this in my future posts, but it's a really nice feeling and has eased my anxiety about my career in a lot of ways.
But also, as some of you know, I'm no longer in school, so while the guys I start with next summer continue to slog through senior year, I am faced with the unique and almost certainly once-in-a-lifetime 9-month-long "vacation" during which I can literally do whatever I want.
Sounds neat? Well, not exactly all pink fuzzy bunnies and sunflowers.
What on earth is a guy supposed to do for 9 months?
No, but seriously, because this will probably never happen again (or if it does, it won't be for like 40 years), I need to make this time count. I'm pretty sure that if I sit around and watch sports, play video games, and eat all day for 9 months straight, not only will I lose my good looks, but I'll also be pretty disappointed when I look back at the very unique opportunity I had.
So, all that being said, I am looking for ideas on what I can do that will be both fun and a good experience going forward. I already have a lot of ideas in the pipeline, but would be interested in hearing what you all have to say.
Obviously, I'd like to do a lot of traveling, but having never done it before, I have no idea of how to travel "cheaply". What continent do you visit? Europe sounds expensive and routine, so that leaves the cheap parts of Asia, South America, and Africa.
South America (and LatAm) sounds awesome, beautiful, and conveniently proximate to the USA to maximize cost-effectiveness of those airplane tickets. I've been looking into Spanish-learning programs in LatAm, where you pay a fixed fee per week and get your room/board, food, and instructor fees covered (and the weekly fee is very low, $150 to $200). I also don't speak a lick of Spanish, so not only would this be a fun thing to do, if I stick around for two or three months, there's a good chance I'd pick up a lot of the language which can really come in handy later on.
But of course after I become a decent Spanish-speaker, I want to see the rest of South America...how on earth does one go about planning this type of trip? Do I just take a bus to Peru and find a hostel or hotel there? You can't really expect to Expedia every part of the trip, right? Do most people just "show up" and see what happens (with respect to accommodations, food, etc.)?
Well-traveled people out there, please share your advice on traveling cheaply (doesn't have to be South America). I'm new to this whole thing and want to make sure I'm able to take my $ as far as it can go. Also, would appreciate any ideas for good travel spots, or just fun things in general to do over such a long "extended vacation". It's funny, you'd think that you'd have a long list of things to jump to as soon as something like this happens, but when faced with almost a year of being able to essentially do whatever you want (within monetary reason), it's almost overwhelming.
Thanks all.
Maybe because I'm a little older, but when I first read the title, I thought you meant your girlfriend was pregnant...
I've been thinking to that too, as I'm going to be in a very similar situation soon. IMO, I (we) decided that I'd (we) keep my current job until around February to make some extra bucks, and then buy one of those Round-The-World ticket and travel from march to june. Check out oneworld.com (by miles) and staralliance (by segments). Eastern Europe, south Asia, Australia's golden coast and South America sound appealing to us, but that's only my opinion
Was going to recommend a round-the-world ticket but got beaten to the punch.
Travel down the east coast of Australia (though pretty expensive atm), South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. If you pass by Cape Town I can show you around and we can go shark cage diving. :)
My suggestion is always this: save Europe and all the tourist crap for when you're older and married. When young, go to exotic places and do a shitload of extreme activities, e.g. skydiving, bungee jumping, hang gliding, paragliding, blow up a cow with a bazooka (Thailand), Shark diving, horseback riding among crocodiles, abseiling, white water rafting etc.
Yes, I have done all of the above (not the cow thing). Nothing beats having these experiences, and do them while young and full of energy.
What is your budget? That might help narrow down the ideas.
There are a lot of cool travel bloggers out there that have great tips on how to travel cheaply. Google "vagabonding" - you might come across a guy named Rolf Potts who does these types of trips for most of his life. I think he's friends with Eddie too. go figure
ENJOY and congrats!
yeah congrats dv, I second what pat said about Rolf Potts. Another good travel site is http://chrisguillebeau.com/3x5/
Make sure to stop by Buenos Aires if you make it through SA
I've been meaning to get Rolf Potts' book. Have found his lectures interesting even though I disagree with some of his approach to travel. It is thought provoking though.
This is a good one.
If you want to learn a language and immerse yourself in a culture, I'd cut down on the number of places you travel to. Maybe spend most of your 3 months being based in one or two cities while taking short trips from there. This will allow you to develop actual relationships with people. Much more enjoyable than a dozen different 5 day tours of town across the continent.
Go check out the Panama Canal. Yours truly was just there. It truly is an engineering masterpiece. It is only about 4 and a half hour flight from Chicago and they are even in the same time zone.
I'm doing something similar right now. I've been traveling around Europe, mostly just visiting friends and hanging out at the beach. I would definitely recommend Florence. Also go to Mykonos (Greece) if you like to party. I'm currently in the Canary Islands, but it kind of sucks this time of year.
My advice is to not have a plan and just go wherever you feel like when you feel like it. That's what I'm doing and I couldn't be happier.
Wine, women, and song. Authentic food. Bodies of water (whether it's sailboats on lakes or white water rafting on rivers or cruise ships through oceans). Big helpings of fresh windy air and sunlight. Maybe hike up some mountains. Maybe go on a safari. Oh also, watch every good film ever made.
You're welcome.
If i where you I would buy a motorbike and do a tour of south america...
get someone pregnant so by the time you start ur gig you will have a baby!
Making people LOL from beyond the grave haha
That swagon quote may be the single best thing I've seen on this site.
Trans-Siberian express from Moscow to Beijing.....add it to your list...
9 months? if you're a chick you should take this opportunity to have a baby while you're still fertile.
... if not then i agree with everyone else.
If it is cheap its not an opportunity worth going to right now. Do it later.
Pick one awesome place to travel too and do that. Recommendation: Cape Town, South Africa
Just my opinion
I was in this same exact situation last year After graduating in May I studied and took the gmat (Scored over 700) traveled all over, mostly asia, i hiked the great wall of china, lived in a very rural part of the philippines for 3 months with my then gf, visited Barcelona and other countries. Some of the best times of my life, though I'm sure better ones will come. Now I'm working as an analyst and even though i got 3 weeks of vaca this year i think i used maybe 1 day, and doubt I will be able to use andy of it before the year is over (though I'm trying to get a week if I'm lucky and go Thailand)
Buy a BMW 1200GSA and a Garmin 376c, and ride down the west coast of central and south america, down to tierra del fuego and ushuaia, then back up the east coast.
boats, planes, trains, and cars suck.. On a bike, you are in the culture, exposed to the smells and people..fully immersed. Typical "tourism" is SO BORING AND LAME.
A little sampling:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=823376
now get out there!
If you want to get the most out of your money, take a vacation to Switzerland...the exchange rates are amazing right now and your money will take you very far.
I would personally have said the contrary, your money won't take your far at all...
To answer the question: - I would recommend interrail but it looks like only European people can buy a ticket, maybe there's a way to bypass this rule so here's the link in case you're interested: http://www.interrailnet.com/interrail-passes/interrail-global-pass You'll be albe to visit 30 countries in Europe which is pretty awesome if you ask me. Loads of European do this and they just love it because you can go where you want when you want.
I'd try to go to either Rio or Sao Paulo during the festival in february, a Brazilian friend told me that I was absolutely awesome.
Visit Japan (Tokyo, Nikko, Ogasawara Islands, Mount Fuji, Hiroshima/Miyajima, Yakushima, etc.)
Go to Australia, party and visit
Safari in Africa
There's many more options but it depends on your budget, could you give us a hint? You can always find a way to have expensive vacations or less expensive vacations by couchsurfing & hitchhiking (which I'd recommend when you're young).
It really comes down to your priorities. Do you want to have fun? "Find yourself"? or just relax? Figure that out first. I would first visit several different countries and then try living in a different country for 6 months. You can't really experience another culture by being a tourist. If you stay in one place, you'll have more time getting to know the country, make new friends, and grow as a person.
How do you guys typically communicate when you visit other countries? Do you travel with a friend who knows the language? Learn the basics ? Or are English speaking people pretty common in these vacation spots?
Animal noises work best.
Everyone speaks English if you stick to the right areas.
How much cash flow do you have?
Shit, I would buy an around-the-world ticket for sure. I'm originally from Europe but I'm located at California at the moment, so I'm in the travel-around-mood as well right now. What makes me think about the around the world ticket? Here we go..
So here I was sitting at Panda Express in the San Diego Mall, getting some fast food to waste not that much time because I wanted to continue my trip to discover the city. However, on the table next to me was a black english dude with some crazy rasta styled hairs, who then told me that he was an ex-Credit Suisse banker from London. Don't ask me how or why, but we started a conversation somehow. This guy told me he quit after 4 years of banking to see the world. What that dude told me, was absolutely amazing and I'm pretty sure I got to do this as well.
He purchased an around-the-world ticket from Star Alliance some 6 or 7 months ago and since then was travelling the world. He told me about his time in Australia (yeah I know, western culture, but still damn nice stories), his experience on new New Zealand, surfing, skiing and discovering its beautiful nature and people, etc. About the time when he was flying throughout Asia, visiting Indonesia, Tokyo, Seoul, Thailand, Vietnam, Kambodsha, China, and others. His stories were just amazing. He was surfing, hanging around, partying, eating crazy stuff, wandering throughout the jungle, living on tropical islands eating coconuts and pineapples all day, eating dinner with natives, walking on volcanos, swimming with sharks, snorkeling through the most beautfiul coral reefs, wandering and living on the prime beaches around the world, experiencing a shit ton of different cultures, making friends all over the world, etc..
He showed me some of the pictures and believe me, this was just awesome. I need to do this sometimes, it was just insane. (shit, writing about that stuff makes me want to buy the ticket right know..)
And btw, once you're in Asia (excluding Tokyo, Seoul, HK, Shanghai) you won't spend that much money. It's just ridiculously cheap over there.
How much $ are we talking about?
Ryan Air and go everywhere in Europe. Like $30 per flight no joke.
If you haven't traveled much before, 9 months could be a pretty long time to be on the road--especially if you don't know how you are going to like it. You can save a lot of money if you have a small tent and are willing to camp... also airbnb.com and, if you go to Europe, the EUrail pass is great (probably for a shorter trip).
If I were in your shoes I would network my way into doing an internship with some awesome nonprofit somewhere for a few months, and travel before or after. Something like this: http://www.oneacrefund.org/ Also, this is an awesome opportunity, but you can also take a break in your career for travel before, after, and during summers in business school in a few years if you decide to go.
Congrats and have fun!
Lucky guy... sounds like a fantastic opportunity. Would definitely think about getting involved with some sort of NGO or volunteer work for a few months (somewhere exotic), in addition to lots and lots of travel.
For clarification purposes...you are not currently in school right, so keeping up the GPA is a non-factor?
I would actually recommend working part time for some of it and getting GMAT out of the way. The cost of living in the city is going to be enormous, and that bonus won't kick in until after year 1, so save up money if you can. I'd spend the first 6 months living out at whatever college you went to, living cheap in a college town, hooking up with chicks, and having no worries. At the same time you are in said college town, there is still a "study" vibe about the place so you can bang out the GMAT. The last three months Id go balls out on the trips/fun stuff. Seriously, 90 days ago it was basically the 4th of July...do you really need to travel EVEN THAT long?
Doing volunteer work in a foreign place on their nickel would be great though. It also sets you up nicely for crucial stuff on your MBA...I know how that sounds but you always have to be keeping an eye on the future.
I am currently studying abroad in Geneva and would highly recommend visiting Switzerland (you can get a yearly train pass for around 300 CHF which includes free trains from 7pm-4am and half price all other times). I've visited so many beautiful places and hiked a ton. Geneva is expensive though, but living in France is always an option. Traveling once you're in Europe is cheap. I am spending my fall break in Spain and am couch surfing for part of it...will let you know how that goes.
For language I would say English can usually get you by. For me, I did not know any French before getting here and spanish was helpful...but you definitely pick up the language when you stay somewhere for an extended period of time. I've also met a local at University who wants to learn English, and we meet up every week to practice speaking in english/french.
I'm in a similar boat too except that I graduate in Dec. What have some of you done in a similar situation?
When people consider travel they always leave one country that they should look into, THE USA. I'm a big proponent on traveling the US. Only because you live in one area doesn't mean you know the entire country and you don't have to worry about the language barrier. Besides visiting the big cities I'd recommend do things such as deep sea in Georgia/ Florida, going to a college football game in the Midwest, deer hunting in Kentucky, hiking through some of the national parks, and going to events like Madri Gras and SXSW just to name a few ideas. And if you want to explore other cultures I'd recommend choosing 2 places with different cutlers and living there for 3 months. There's little point in living in Spain for 3 months and then going to Italy for another 3 if you want to get to know different cultures.
This is also a great plan. A good friend of mine bought a kick-ass Harley and did a tour of the USA (three months or so if I remember well) before starting a navy program as a nuclear engineer. His trip looked awesome. Get a tent and sleep at national parks. I think you can get a pass for the whole country for a whole year for less than a hundred bucks...
If I were in your shoes, I would spend 6 of the 9 months in Japan. There is no place out there that is more culturally isolated and at the same time has so much to offer than Japan.
go spend 6 months with the shaolin monks in china and then 3 months in copacabana studying BJJ, the language skills of chinese and portuguese will serve you well. you'll learn awesome martial arts and gt some spirituality while you train your mind and body... and you get to party in rio for three monts till you get to work
go spend 6 months with the shaolin monks in china and then 3 months in copacabana studying BJJ, the language skills of chinese and portuguese will serve you well. you'll learn awesome martial arts and gt some spirituality while you train your mind and body... and you get to party in rio for three monts till you get to work
congrats on landing that FT position. Your current position is exactly what I wish I'll have in a year when I graduate. To travel cheaply, you are already on the right track looking at Asia and south america. Africa might seem cheap but if you want to travel safely there (ie.with a guide and transportation), it's actually one of the most expansive place to visit. Consider backpacking across southeast asia and china. Thailand, malaysia, philipines and singapore are all amazing destinations that have well developed tourist infrastructures. you can find plenty of resources online for these destinations. China is definitely a good place to visit.The country is big and diverse in culture and landscape. If you stay away from blowing money clubbing and shopping in the major cities, it should still be very affordable.
Other than that, maybe load up your ipad with gmat study materials while traveling to keep you intellectually stimulated and prepared for the test if you are planning on taking that in the next year or two. Probably won't get much time to study on the job.
Best of luck!
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