8 Ways to Make Sure Your Time Abroad Is AWESOME

Hello Friends and First Time Readers!

Let me start out my saying I wouldn't call myself an "expert traveller." I am however an experienced backpacker who has gleaned knowledge off of heaps of expert travellers and backpackers. And I want to make sure YOU have a great time when you decide to travel. Here are what I feel are some of the most important things to keep in mind:

1. Set a Goal

Seems silly right? To set out a goal. But if you think about it, setting a goal will drastically change the planning of your trip. You can do ANYTHING, but deciding before you leave is important If you want to travel, you need to decide what you want to get out of your trip. Do you want to meet locals? Understand new cultures? See ancient buildings? See every tourist site? Do extreme sports? Fine dine in world class restaurants? Learn new languages from scratch? Live off the sea in Malaysia? Go for a walk about in Australia? See every Lord of the Rings site in New Zealand? 

My main goal for my trip is simple: By the time I leave any country, I want to understand the culture completely of that place- specifically how it is different than that in the southern United States.

You can do whatever you want, but setting out a goal before you leave will make your trip planning much easier. You can always change it by country, city, or even by day. But having a goal will give you a place to start in your research!

2. Do Your Research

Ask anybody who knows me well. I started planning my trip way in advance. The idea had been in my head ever since I got accepted into the University of Alabama. The ideas kept growing and growing until I really started planning two years before I left. I knew I wanted to spend approximately two years abroad and go to 23 different countries, and my research started quick. I can tell you the entry requirements for any of those countries as an American, my easiest visa options, and my pack up plan should any of those countries not give me a visa.

What you need to know:

Where do you want to go?
What are the entry requirements for that country? Click To See
How long do you want to stay there (or in each of those places)?
What do you HAVE to see while there?

3. Pick the Right Gear

This kind of falls under research but is so important I felt like separating it. The right gear is crazy important. I am an extremely impulsive person... and I took a month and a half to pick my boots because of the advice I received from well travelled people. It is not crazy at all to be able to tell people how much EVERY item in my pack weighs, it's almost required.

What you need to know:

How much hiking do you want to do?
How much camping do you want to do?
How much weight can you comfortably hike with over long distances? (Some people say go with 1/6 your body weight, some say 1/4... go with whatever is right for you- Trial and error here)

As far as where to order your travel gear from, I would always suggest Rei.com I have been a member for a bit now and exclusively order my gear from there. Top quality, great value for the quality that you get also. I cannot brag enough about REI. Become a member today, it's worth it, I promise. Through the advice I got from people there I was able to plan so much better. The customer service is GREAT and I cant imagine my trip without them!!

4. Have an idea of where you're going to sleep

Seems simple I know, but this has a lot to do with your overall trip. Are you going to "go local" and stay with locals by living on their farms, or do you want to hang out in all the fancy hostels. There are many different options that each have their own merits. My two favourite options are:

• Couchsurfing.org - A way to stay with locals who live all over the globe for free. It's safe, free, and incredibly rewarding
• Helpx.net - A way to connect with places (farms, orchards, bars, resorts...)  that need temporary (usually a week or more) help in exchange for a place to stay and food.

However, there are countless other resources to choose from you just need to get out there and look for them. So the answer to "where are you going to stay?" is completely a personal choice (that is often influenced by money). My 3 months in New Zealand, thanks to these two websites and a whole lot of luck, I only spent money for 4 or 5 nights of accommodation. However I was also no stranger to pitching my tent off the road or sleeping in a bus stop.

Are you okay with sleeping on the streets?
Do you want money to decide where you will be staying?
How long can you go without a shower?
How much of a trusting person are you?

Where ever you end up staying: Look After Your Host/s Thank you cards, make them a meal, buy them a bottle of decent wine, anything at all. Let them know you appreciate them. Usually I make my host meal, and if I have the time I try to fry them southern fried chicken. Cooking your host a dish from your local area is always a nice touch.

5. Get your money sorted

Completely personal choice. I will never forget the woman I met about 3 months ago. I met her at a couchsurfing meeting in Brisbane. Somewhere in her mid-to-late 30's. I asked her, how long she had been travelling. She said since 1991! 22 YEARS. I said "!WOW!" bought her a drink and we talked about travelling all for a couple of hours straight. I wanted to mainly know how the heck she was affording it. She told me she hadn't had a sizeable amount of money since 1994. I coughed and laughed at the same time.

Her Method for getting by:

1. Go to Country X or City X.
2. Find a place she likes
3. Find a job, any job
4. Save money
5. Stay until she wants to leave or has enough money to leave
6. Back to step 1

So, if you never want to work abroad and want to stay in hostels all the time, you have some saving to do. If you are willing to work and live a little rough, you could probably hit the road as soon as you grab all your gear.

Currency is also something to keep an eye on. Now a days it's a lot easier than it used to be. Everywhere takes Visa/Mastercard and even awful airports have ATMs. Also be sure to tell your bank about where and when you are travelling so they can take off any safety features that might be a pain. You can pre-order currency if you'd like, but most places have currency exchange by/at the airports. Do NOT listen to ANYBODY saying "This is the only place you can exchange currency before you arrive at ______" Sounds simple but in the heat of the moment you might be temped to exchange with them.

Are you okay with not having any money? Cause that's gonna happen....
Are you a hard worker? The most important thing in my opinion....

6. Figure out your Transportation

Landing in a city in a new country is a great feeling. But how the heck are you going to get from there to anywhere else? I've been using CouchSurfing to help get my feet under me in new counties and it's worked very well. But then comes the question, how will you see the country you just landed in?

In just about every country you go to there will be a bus service to sign up with if you'd like to take the bus. There are always backpackers wanting to sell their cars or vans. Trains are always good. Heaps of places rent out vans to be used to drive around. And there's my personal favourite hitch-hiking. Each one has it's pros and cons, you just need to figure out what is right for you.

How do you see yourself when you picture yourself on the road? In a train? In a camper van with all your gear behind you? Hitch hiking? 

7. How to Handle Souvenirs 

Heads up. At some point in your planning or before you leave, you will be asked by friends or family to bring them back something from somewhere..... Be CAREFUL SAYING YES!! One or two people getting a few small things is cool. But, you don't want to have promised 20 people that you will bring them back something awesome.... something that turns out to be breakable and heavy... you don't want that. Getting people things is nice, but not when it costs you heaps of cash, time, and effort.

Also if you're on the streets, haggle. Haggle like it's your job. Something costs you 20 bucks? PSSSSHHHH right. That cost them maybe 4 bucks, maybe that much. If you don't knock a minimum 1/4th off the price you're not doing it right. 

If you must get something, you might as well try to get it cheap.

Do you have to get things from each place you go to?
Are pictures enough for you?
How much money will you spend on souvenirs?

8. HAVE FUN

Planning a trip and actually going on a trip can be stressful. It is very important to have fun. If you ever feel stressed about any aspect of your trip take a breath and realize what you're planning or realize where you are.

I remember my worst 48 hours in New Zealand. It was raining, I was hitch hiking in it, sleeping in bus stops and soaked to the bone with cold rain and wind. Then I realized.... Dude... I'M IN NEW ZEALAND!! AWESOME. You gotta roll with the punches, sometimes things won't go just how you planned them... sometimes you'll get in a bad situation. Stay as optimistic as you can. Nobody wants to hang with the crying foreigner.

Do you really want to stress on your trip?
Is it worth it?
Why not be optimistic? 

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I hope this has been helpful just a little bit!

If you have any other questions please email me. I've been having complete strangers email me with questions and I am MORE THAN happy to try and answer all of them. You can travel too, I promise. 

Family and friends I miss you so much! See you soon!!

Take Care,

Carpe Diem,

Steve

The Great Barrier Reef

Howdy!!

I've been out of the US for 9 months now... a freakishly long time... and in Australia for 6 months. As a way to celebrate being out of the US for 9 months I decided it was time knocked something big off of my bucket list: Dive The Great Barrier Reef!! 

Not having a car made this a little tricky, so I decided to go with my tried and true method of transportation: Hitchhiking. Once again I found myself dependent on the niceness of strangers, and once again, I wasn't disappointed. I decided my first destination would be Bundaberg [About 3 hours N of Brisbane driving and on the way to the Great Barrier Reef] Hitching I got there in just under 5 hours. My last lift took me to outskirts of Bundaberg where I was greeted at a truck stop by Trevor! 

Trevor (or as most people call him "reb") is an old friend of mine who I have been delaying seeing for a good long while because he lived so far north of me. I was ecstatic to finally hang out and catch up and reminisce about to good ole days. Trev let me stay at his place a couple of days until I got my dive booked! To burn some time off we ended up going to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery and having a good ole time of it. Great tour actually, I was surprised at the quality. 

Included in my dive trip was a bus trip from Bundaberg to The Township of 1770. A great thing because of how small 1770 is. 1770 is where my dive boat actually left from. I ended up choosing to go to Lady Musgrove Island; a coral island formed about 1.5 hours from the coast. The best part about the boat ride over.... was.... I was surrounded, yet again, my Asian tourists. Nothing against Asian tourists at all... except when they're on a boat.. and I'm surrounded by them... and A SOLID 90 PERCENT OF THEM GET SEA SICK..... so that was..... just... great. 

But on to the best part of the story!

The boat got there and we went onto a smaller boat and we did our dives. Straight away we say two humpback whales!! A mother leading her calf around. Off in the distance, they didn't want much to do with us. Throughout the rest of the dives we saw HEAPS of sea turtles, a shark, incredibly quick dolphin who were gone before we really realized what was going on. And more colorful fish and coral than I even knew were possible. Literally I did not know that some of the colors I saw even existed in nature. Crazy neons, electric blues, and yellows so in your face you almost needed sunglasses. I will remember that day for the rest of my life. I ended up getting 3 dives in and loving every second of it. 

While there in 1770 I ended up staying at a hostel called "The Cool Bananas." The Cool Bananas was a really unique hostel. It felt like a big living community. Every day people from the 4 local hostels in the area would go down to the beach and play beach volleyball together. I don't know exactly what it was about the Cool Banana but it was incredibly unique. If you every find yourself in 1770, go to The Cool Banana, you won't regret it. 

After my last night there I hitched back to Brisbane. A frustrating hitch because I kept getting dropped in bad spots, but it all worked out in the end. I am headed back to the states for Christmas in a mere 2 months. I have grown very attached to Australia and will be sad to leave. But there is much more of the world to see!

Until next time!

Steve

SMASH Camp!

Well guys, life is picking up big time!

Work picked up big time during the last couple of weeks. Between my two jobs I'm workin an average of 55 hours a week these days. But that's not the only thing that's awesome (yes I'm loving working crazy amounts, it's kinda fantastic). But it can't all be work! When I arrived in Brisbane one of my first goals was to get plugged into a Church.

[Heads up my non-Christian readers this ones a bit Jesus heavy]

Thanks to Emily Aitkin I ended up getting plugged into Keperra Baptists. Thanks to Keperra Baptists I ended up getting asked if I wanted to be a leader at a camp called SMASH Camp.  SMASH Camp is a camp where heaps of churches in the Brisbane area send their 8-12th grade kids for a week of learning, celebrating, and growing with Jesus. The week started out slightly oddly because I didn't know many people there, Keperra only sent 5 leaders to SMASH (including me) and there was somewhere around 50 of us leaders. Tack on the fact that I'm that random American who rocked up combined with the fact that we only did like 3 meetings before the actual camp..... and I felt like a bit of an outsider. Don't get me wrong the people were inviting as all get out and I ended up making friends with like almost every leader but I was worried at first.

I was co-leader of a small group of five grade 10 guys. My other co-leader was Daniel Kavanagh and he was a huge blessing in small group meetings. Me and him tag teamed it up well and ended up getting one recommitment to Christ in our small group- possibly a second in the future. I feel incredibly blessed to have been there for that. By the end of camp our small group was a well knit band of bros who would sit at meals together, share openly, and joke around pretty good.

That week was honestly one of the most fun and rewarding weeks of my life. I had done work with youth through the YMCA, Camp Wesley Pines, and other church stuff back home... so I thought I knew roughly what I was signing up for.... but I had no idea how amazing it was going to be, I'm still blown away by it.

SMASH Camp was off the wall fun 24/7. The leadership team jelled together incredibly quickly and it just WORKED. Everybody had their strengths that came it at just the right time. The funny people, positive people, patient people, less talkative people, wise people, everybody's strengths came out and it just worked so well. I'm so thankful that I was able to go on SMASH because I made some seriously amazing friends that I know I'll hang with the rest of my time in Brisbane.

SMASH Camp also had a huge impact on me. Couldn't smoke on camp, so I gave up and haven't smoked since then. Couldn't cuss on camp (we made the campers do pushups if they did), so I'm backing way down on that. Reading the Bible, praying, and worshiping daily was amazing. The average daily schedule was wake up, breakfast, quiet time, beach, morning tea, small groups, lunch, activity (anything from Cable skiing to lazer tag, campers got to choose), dinner, worship, night activity, supper, then bed. It was awesome. If I could I would love to do that camp for an entire summer like a Camp Wesley Pines. [Cultural Difference] The concept of a camp running all summer, rotating kids around on a weekly basis is very strange to Australians. When asked if I'd done youth work before I described CWP and people were in awe that camps ran for an entire summer.

SMASH Camp had some awesome activities and very fun memories. From going down a pretty good sized water slide, to cable skiing. Convincing kids at camp that my long lost brother was another leader and that I came to Australia to get to know him (another leader could easily have passed as my brother, red beard and everything). Teaching and Playing Ultimate Frisbee on outdoor sport day. Having seriously amazing talks with campers about Christianity and life. High fiving EVERYBODY because "purple" was not allowed (boys are blue, girls are red/pink; and thus cant mix to make purple). Hearing amazing testimonies. Lazer zone politics and alliances. Stacking cups, bowls, knives and such as high as you can so your table can go get food before other tables. Having kids open up to you and share their problems. It was so legit.

Well that was SMASH Camp! I'm in a Public Library right now and will soon get kicked off the computer. Tomorrow I'm going to Scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef- I'm sure I'll do a blogpost just for that.

You guys take care,
Sorry for being so slack!

Happy Trails,
Steve