Guest Blogger - KC Owens

Hello Beautiful!

Today, I present you KC Owens - A College student who loves to travel the world. He will be featuring more on the site & telling us how to get the best out of travelling with limited resources. Let me know what you think. Lx

Traveling Does Not Have to be Expensive

Even though college is designed to allow people to gain a good education and eventually land a great job, it can cause a lot of stress for them along the way. Students are constantly worrying about their next big exam, and if they are not worrying about an exam, they are worrying about paying a bill that will be due at the end of the month. I often find myself in the same situation as other college students. I am constantly stressed about different issues that seem to occur daily. However, many college students do not practice the same stress relief tip that I do. In order for me to leave all of my worries behind, I take a trip to another country during each semester break that I have. Occasionally, people wonder how I can afford to do this with all of my other responsibilities, but I am quick to tell them that I have researched several tips that allow me to take a great vacation on a very low budget.

Financing a Trip

Finances play a huge part in determining if I will be able to take a trip each year. Luckily, I have found a way to ensure that I am afforded the opportunity to travel abroad. By working a part-time job throughout the school year, I am able to save most of the money that I need for my trip. Even though working and going to college can sometimes be difficult, it is a sacrifice that I had to make. With each paycheck that I received, I set aside half of it for my trip abroad. By the time my trip arrived, I most money that I needed.

For some college students, working while at school is not an option. Since I am usually not able to fund my entire trip by myself ahead of time, I’ve had to find other ways to pay for plane tickets. I researched different credit cards and according to Credit Card Insider, students can apply for travel cards that help with airline miles and other travel expenses. This has been a lifesaver for me. It’s been great because now I don’t have to work as much while at school and I don’t have to worry about converting much cash at each border that I cross; my card will automatically do that for me.

Working Abroad

Although my trips abroad are designed to allow me to relax and reduce some of my unwanted stress, I still find myself searching for a job while I’m there. For my last trip, I only had a small budget so I knew that working a little while I was visiting would helpful to increase my funds. My part-time job in college is bartending; therefore, I decided to look for a bartending job overseas as well. Luckily, it did not take me long to find one, and it paid a lot more than my job at home. I had to learn a few extra tricks for overseas mixing but things worked out great. Bartending did not allow me to make extra money from tips, but with the higher salary, it pretty much equaled my past salary. Additionally, by bartending in a club, I was able to eat at the club every night. Occasionally, I would not have to pay anything for my meals, and when I did have to pay, I only had to pay half price. By eating at work, I found myself with a lot of extra money that was originally intended to pay for my meals.

How You Should Pack

Many people would travel with entire luggage sets, and this meant that they were constantly carrying around four or five suitcases. As opposed to them, I decided to only travel with a backpack. There were three conveniences in using this backpack. First, unlike an expensive luggage set, I searched Amazon and found a durable, inexpensive pack. Second, I did not have to pay expensive fees at the airport for having too many bags or an extremely heavy bag. Third, I was able to comfortably walk around with this backpack throughout the duration of my trip. I could simply place it on my back and do all of the sightseeing or shopping that I desired to do without leaving anything back at the hostel.