Before you get too far into any of my blogs or itineraries, it’s important to understand my methodology around traveling.
I took my first trip internationally (outside of Canada and the USA), when I was 21. I was working my first job out of college, and frankly didn’t think travel was doable on my income. I grew up dreaming of traveling to Italy, and always viewed a trip to Italy as a bucket list item – something I’d do before I died and possibly the only major trip I ever would have the chance to take. I think part of the reason why I never dreamt of traveling was because I never thought it was something within my reach. I had grown up thinking travel was expensive, unattainable, and only for the privileged. I never knew that I could go wherever I wanted in the world as long as I approached traveling with a certain mindset and determination. My methodology around travel is that everyone can travel the world, as long as they are willing to be flexible and put in some work. No, I’m not about to try to sell you some sort of mastermind course, or try to get you to sign up for an MLM to achieve your wildest dreams. I simply want to explain why I think travel is attainable for anyone who wants it and is willing to put in some work. Here is an overview of how I view travel, and why I think anyone can do it too.
FLEXIBLITY
In order to travel on a budget, flexibility is key. If you have a specific location you’ve always dreamed of going to, you might need to be flexible when you will go. If you have a specific timeframe you are looking to travel in (such as two weeks in April), you might need to be flexible on where you want to go.
As long as you can do those things, you can travel! It’s that simple. I have always found somewhere to travel, whether it’s for a specific date range (such as our anniversary in December), or a location we’ve dreamed of going to.
BUDGETS
I have always set budgets for my vacations, and do my best to stay within those budgets when I travel. This helps me to have no travel regret, and to feel comfortable when I’m booking accommodations, experiences, and flights. I’m going to be as open and transparent with my budgets for each of my trips on the site, so hopefully you can see what my starting point was. Keep in mind that I feel the most comfortable when I know I’m getting a good deal, so I’m just never going to be the girl who opts to stay at the 5-star hotel. I never want to go into debt or stretch my finances by going on a trip.
I’ll go more into how I budget when booking flights and accommodations more in the budget section of the website.
KEEP AN OPEN MIND
I always keep an open mind when traveling. You never know what kind of experience you are going to have in a new place, so I always try to start a trip with an open mind and limited expectations for the trip. Be open to new locations you didn’t think you’d ever go to, or be open to a different kind of travel than you might have envisioned.
BE GREEDY
I know this sounds weird, but I’m a greedy traveler. What I mean by this is that I want to see everything and anything! I have a regular 9-5 job with limited vacation time just like anyone else, so I make sure I take advantage of a great travel deal whenever I can. I want to see the whole world, so I opt to take multiple one-week trips internationally in a year versus one very long trip once a year like many others do. I believe that you can still experience the culture and magic of a location without spending a week in a city. When you look through my itineraries, you might see evidence of some of my greediness coming through. I will bop from city to city, country to country on most of my trips because I want to see everything I can! My personal point of view, is I don’t know if I’ll ever have the chance to go back, so I’d rather see a bit of everything than a lot of a single thing. If I really love a location, I will simply plan to make it back again one day.
