The College Student Travel Bible

Sweet baby Jesus.

Traveling as a college student is not a fairy tale. Holy poop on a stick.

You know what? I love that we live in a society where everyone has hammered the idea into the brains of young adults that traveling is for the rich, the famous and the retired. BLARGH. I hate you all. Anyone that has ever said that.

I say it so many times in my blog, but yet I still get the question all the freakin’ time about how I afford to travel so much.

So let’s clarify:

Hello World, my name is Shalee Blackmer. I am not a trust-fund baby. I have not won the lottery. I am a typical broke-ass college student. 

So anyone who as ever told you traveling is for the rich can take their wrong opinions and shove it right back where it came from. Not sorry.

So I’m going to break it down as simple and blunt as possible to anyone who is young and wants too see the world.

Stop spending your money on shit.

Again, not sorry. Do you know how much Starbucks is? $5. Have I had Starbucks before? Of course. But just about the only time I drink it is when I’m traveling. Coffee is probably my biggest weakness, I drink it when I shouldn’t, but it’s only when I have a coupon. Also, why the hell do you feel the need to go to the mall and shop online at least once a month? Gag me. Have you ever heard of Goodwill? Hey guys, we live in a world where we need money to do just about anything. It’s about priorities, so YOU are the one that is holding yourself back from seeing everything you ever wanted when you buy a $300 handbag that will be sitting in your closet a year from now.

 

Get a job. 

For those of you who don’t know, I attend Michigan State University. It took me 2 weeks in a college with almost 50,000 students to find another person with a job. The worst thing you could possibly do is pay for travel out of your student loans. They are LOANS, that means you’re going to have to pay them back with a truckload of interest on top of it. You know that old saying; work-hard, play hard? Yeah it’s actually is kind of accurate. I work 30 hours a week while taking 15 credits at MSU and running a travel blog, which means I kind of have to still have time to travel. I feel so bad for all the college students who don’t work, live off loans and complain that they didn’t have time to study because they went to pint night on Tuesday, had an ice cream date Wednesday and on Thursday was just ‘too exhausted’ to study from the long week so they took a nap and watched an entire season of The Kardashians. Not.

Stop relying on everyone else.

Planning travel is extremely time-consuming and stressful in all honesty. But it’s in an exciting way. If you want to go somewhere don’t expect someone just to come up to you hand you a brochure and say “this is your perfect vacation within your price range that you requested.” Like I said this isn’t a fairy tale. If your going to travel as a college student, you are going to need to learn about research and how to find the best possible prices from the internet.

 

Learn to travel on a budget.

So many college students say they want a vacation in Tahiti and stay in one of those huts over the water. Sure that sounds really freaking cool, if you have $10,000 just hanging out in your bank account. COLLEGE TRAVELERS ARE NOT LUXURY TRAVELERS. It is important to stop expecting so much. You can find some AMAZING places to stay on a budget, but like I said it takes research, timing and flexibility. Just because I am a budget traveler doesn’t mean I’m going to just go stay at a Hostel in Detroit and hope I don’t get shot. I’ve stayed in an oceanfront house on the pacific, a two story apartment in New York City and an upscale condo on Miami’s South Beach.

Find places to explore domestically/locally.

If you’re like me, a college student in America, it is important to know that traveling doesn’t mean you have to go over to Europe in order for it to be “cool”. Located right here in the United States we have thousands of places that are so incredibly unique and beautiful it would be a shame if you voted against seeing it just because it wasn’t in some far away land. I love traveling, and I can say I love traveling even within my own state. Constantly I am exploring places right here in Michigan where people go “THAT EXISTS HERE?!”. Yes, yes it does. You just never thought anything cool could come from where you grew up, so why bother even looking? Every place in the world is really freaking awesome in it’s own way. Learn to explore in your own state/country.

My dream is to continue the travel trend of young adults seeing the world. We no longer have to live in the cycle of our parents and grandparents. We can choose to learn now and see now. We have the ability to see more than ever before with endless information thanks to the internet. Remember, you choose the life you live and it should be the life you want to live. Your family may not understand, but the traveling community does and we are here to support you in any decision you make. Find when your smile is the biggest and you’ve found your path.