If you ask someone why they haven’t tried exploring the world yet, one answer will usually prevail more than all others: “it’s too expensive”. And while that may be true if you want to take advantage of the full range of luxuries you can get for your travel and accommodation, it’s definitely far from the general case. In fact, it’s easier than ever to explore the world on a budget as long as you’re aware of the options that are available to you, and know how to use them to your full potential.
The Internet Has Changed Everything
The average person today has a lot more freedom to just pack up their things and start exploring the world compared to anyone in history. And much of that is owed to the internet and its tight integration into our lives. It’s easy to find good deals for pretty much any destination around the world. Companies like Porter Airlines cover a large number of places across the USA and Canada. From flights to Toronto, New York, and many other major destinations (and some not so major ones), you can get a pretty good deal without having to spend a lot of money. Porter Airlines in particular is a favorite among experienced travellers, as they tend to offer some great seasonal promotions.
The same applies to things like accommodation, eating out, and many other aspects of your trip. You no longer have to limit yourself to what your travel agent recommends, or risk falling into common tourist traps by exploring on your own. With a smartphone in your pocket, you have all the information about your local area that you may ever need right at your fingertips.
People Are More Open Than Ever
There’s also something to be said about the openness of people as a whole. You’ll find a very welcoming attitude from the locals in many parts of the world, even some that are not traditionally associated with major tourist destinations. It’s hard to say where exactly this is coming from. Perhaps it’s another consequence of the way the internet has brought everyone together, or perhaps people have always been that prone to goodness towards each other, and we’re just seeing that more clearly in recent years.
But in any case, you have lots of options that can help you bridge any gaps in your finances with the help of others. From couch surfing, to ride sharing and more, you can enjoy a lot of services that have been made possible through the pooling of communal resources. And even if you don’t have anything to contribute right now, don’t worry. That’s not the point.
Getting the Most Out of Each Place You Visit
Exploring the world isn’t just about checking locations off a list and moving on to the next one. You should try to maximise what you get out of each place you visit, as that’s the true point of going around the planet in the first place. To this end, you can get a lot out of your travels even if you’re on a smaller budget, as long as you make it a point to actually dig into each place you go through, and learn something new about it.
In fact, it might be beneficial to have limited funds when you’re starting out in your travels, because this can force you to take a more careful look around the places that you’re exploring, and to ensure that you’re truly getting everything that they have to offer.
Supplementing Your Income on a Longer Trip
Another great thing about travelling around the world today, compared to a couple of decades or so ago, is that you are no longer so heavily bound to your place of residence in terms of income. You live in the age of the digital nomad, and you should take full advantage of that. If you have any skills that can be sold online, you can turn this into a freelancing gig without too much effort. And with just a small laptop in your backpack, you can keep working on the go wherever you are, and supplement your trips with a nice stream of extra income.
In fact, some people have taken the aforementioned concept of the “digital nomad” to some extreme levels, operating entirely on the move, and never settling down. It might sound stressful to you, but some consider it a very liberating feeling to know that they can just pack up and move to a completely different location at any time, and their income situation won’t be affected in the slightest.
It’s a Skill Like any Other
Don’t feel down if your trips don’t turn out completely flawless the first few times. Travelling – especially on a global scale – is a skill, and you’ll need to take some time to polish it if you want to see good results consistently. Make sure that you learn something from each trip, even if it goes through smoothly. There is always something that you could have done better, and paying attention to those factors will make it a lot easier to organise even more complex trips for the future.
It Will Only Get Better
And the more you do this, the easier it will become. Not just because you’ll gain experience as we described above, but also because the world is constantly changing and moving even further in a direction of improvement. As we said earlier, it’s easier than ever to travel around the world on a more restricted budget and still get a lot out of the experience. And if you think that’s true now, just wait and see how things will evolve in the next decade. There are many reasons to believe that travelling is going to be one of the most heavily impacted sectors in the near future, and we’re already seeing the first signs of that progress on the horizon through the rise of services like Airbnb and Uber.
Always Have a List – But Keep It Flexible
Choosing where to go next can be part of the fun, but it can also be a daunting experience if you don’t approach it in an organised manner. Keep a list of places that you want to visit, and do your best to tick them off, but make sure that the list is as flexible as possible as well. Sometimes your plans aren’t going to come together exactly as you were hoping, and you may not be able to make your next target destination. Having alternatives is a good way to keep things fresh without breaking the bank in those cases.
The sooner you get started with this, the better. There is so much to gain from exploring the world, and we don’t mean pictures for Instagram either. The kinds of experiences you’ll have once you make this a regular part of your life will be truly eye-opening, and it doesn’t have to cost you a lot of money to get them either. All you need is a planned, organised approach, and the patience to scout out the best deals on a regular basis. The rest comes down to gathering enough experience about the way the process works and putting it to good use.
