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How do you travel the world? Monster
I love this channel.. I read all the post about all the places people have been..I know a lot of these places are just across borders from where they currently live..but also it seems a lot of airplane miles and etc are involved...how do you folks travel? I mean is it a once in a lifetime trip you took? did you save for years? are you just that rich? I drive a truck here in Nowhere USA and I've seen a lot of awesome stateside places..I also hate what my Country has become...and I dream of faraway travels...how do you get to where you are going?
>> Anonymous
>>73960
I know a lot of people who travel because they have relatives living in other countries. That's the reason I went to Korea and Japan.

If you have relatives living in other countries, board is generally free, and so is food. If you happen to have very nice relatives, they'll show you around and be very happy that you're coming to visit.

I've been to a few places with no relatives and I spent (and this does not count the ticket or the hotel) about two grand in a week.

A lot of people get work on Cruise ships because you're able to travel all over the place, but many people say it's not worth it because you're basically a traveling slave. It's really really grueling work.

Another way is to joined the armed forces, but that's another risk you take.

You can also study abroad, if you're going to college. And you can get work abroad, if you're skilled in some particular field or work at some company that has an international market.

so your choices include:
a) family
b) Spend your own money on a real vacation (you can spend a little or spend a lot depending on how you live)
c) work on a cruise ship (or be a flight attendant/pilot/air marshall)
d) study abroad
e) work abroad

As always, i'm probably missing something, so don't take this list to be your only options. Try to travel as much as you can! It's worth every penny : )
>> Anonymous
people forget that europe is pretty comperable to the US in size. So its pretty uncommon for a european to NOT have been to a number of countries on the continent. Im sure you have seen a great number of the US states, and thats kinda similar. although europe probably has more variation.
>> Anonymous
>>73965
I've seen both, and I can personally attest that the US is fucking bland compared to traveling Europe.

I mean we have natural history and all that which is entertaining for a little while, but there's not that huge amount of diversity among people.

In Europe, it's like...every country has a different language, different architecture, different music, food, etc.

You have like a few 'sectors' in America, and most people speak English. There's like the pacific southwest, the northwest, the bible belt, northeast, midwest, and ...chicago? And even those are all pretty much the same.

If I had to compare the two, America would be like a TV dinner (and not the good kind, I mean the generic super salty kind) and Europe would be like a Korean BBQ dinner (lots of side dishes!)

That's not to say some parts of America aren't diverse. There's lots of 'ethnic towns' in big cities, but it's kind of pathetic considering how big the US is.

: (
>> Anonymous
>I love this channel
Me too ;)
>how do you folks travel?
I do a lot of research on nationality laws, residency requirements, tax obligations, cost of living, and other information about countries i'm interested in. Then, i figure out how i'm going to get there. I have a list of places that i want to go and some of them conveniently border each other, like Central America and South America.
>I mean is it a once in a lifetime trip you took?
Some of them have been so far. I would like to go back to some of those places one day.
>did you save for years?
When i left the US, i worked for maybe six months or so, but i work with computers, so it was quick and easy.
>are you just that rich?
Nope.
>I also hate what my Country has become
Same reason i left.
>how do you get to where you are going?
Plane, train, bus, etc.
>> Anonymous
Seeing as I live in NZ, going anywhere interesting is a pretty hefty plane flight. I don't mind paying a ton for one though, because you can't really put a price on the experiences you get. I like to go somewhere every 2-3 years or so. I'm just starting to get into places a little different from where most people go, which are also often really cheap once you get there. It's not too hard to afford trips away. I'm a student and just save what I can until I've got a few grand saved up then it's bye bye for a month.
>> Anonymous
I don't. I'm a travel voyeur. Other than that I travelled to a neighbouring country for a job once. It was shit.
>> Anonymous
>>73968
that's kind of the idea of America. everyone congregating under a similar ideology. things are going to be the same all over.. but it hasn't been around even a comparable amount to anywhere in Europe. apples and oranges if you're making a comparison based on cultures.
>> Anonymous
Not OP, but has anybody actually tried the whole working-on-a-ship method of travel?
>> Anonymous
>>74024
Not me. There's supposedly some /trv/lrs who have. It's very high on my list. I'm staking out yacht clubs here to help me get my necessary certs to do it.
>> Anonymous
>>74024
>>74030
yes it is an awesome way to travel. I used websites like crewfinder,crewseeker etc to find to gigs on a sailing vessel. My first one was a food preparer/deckhand on a yacht that sailed in the Caribbean that people could rent for x amount of days or weeks. I had a blast even with all the bitch work. The second stint as a crew person was after I went through UMASS's engineering school and I was the assistant to the main engineer on a Holland Superyacht ( I'd rather crew a re purposed schooner). The second one I think I got really lucky As it sailed out of Auckland over to Australia and we did a bunch of trips out to the Great barrier reef and up the coast to port Moresby. I highly suggest you check out crewing around, its once in a lifetime and I am lucky enough to have done it twice. Also sailing/ safety classes at yacht clubs and sponsored by the coast guard are really a plus for people who higher through online sites.
However, if you want to make a career out of sailing I would suggest you look into Maritime academies ( the One here in Massachusetts is particularly good) A family friend of mine use to be a harbor pilot over in Los Angeles and then in Hong Kong until he retired seven years ago. If you specialize in the martime trade it can be very Lurcative.
Finally one last suggestion if you hate sappy cruises and don't necessarily want to work your way around on a boat there is a middle ground. Many tankers and cargo ships have open guestrooms that you can stay in as they make there rounds (from just crossing the Atlantic to making stops around the world)
http://www.freighter-cruises.com/07/05/-news.html
is one site I suggest you google "freighter travel" for quite a few different options
>> Anonymous
>>74032
also one last thing you can arrange to stop off at a port as the ship continues on and arrange for another ship to pick you up later.
>> Anonymous
>>74032
You are a glorious hero for posting those links. Can you describe the process of getting hired? What qualifications do you need to have? Is it very competitive?
>> Anonymous
>>73960
Where is this
>> Anonymous
>>74038

it really depends on who is looking for the help. Sometimes they are owners who want to relocate the boat so they hire a commercial skipper who is decked out with coastgaurd certificates In turn this is the guy you will probably be dealing with he may only want to see that you have done sailing through a yacht club/taken a safety course with a yacht club. Some of the commercial enterprises such as small boat/luxery yacht outfits may want you to have taken a slew of safety and navigation courses which you can do with Boat U.S ( again google it. ) My personnal experience the first time around as a deckhand I really only needed to prove myself capable of tying off lines and showing common sense when it comes to the maintenance and operation of the boat. I would highly suggest you take the courses with Boat U.S because they are not only useful, but with a stroke of luck make you much more of an attractive option for harder to get gigs on research vessels and the billionaire yacht scene.

The super yachts are pretty fun mostly because the owners may only be on the boat two-four weeks out of the year, the rest of the time that you are working on the boat is probably keeping it ready and spotless or shuttling it off to another port.

I highly suggest boating courses wether through boat us or a yacht club, through the yacht club I bum around I know the costs are about 55 dollars for basic boating to 80-100 dollars for GPS, radar NAV, and night time coastal navigation classes.
>> Anonymous
>>74041
Somewhere in the Alps, I'd guess.
>> Anonymous
>>74041
the covered roadway thing reminds me of the roads in the alps where they try to protect drivers from avalanches.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>74045
>>74046
as close as hivemind gets on /trv/
>> Anonymous
>>74032
>>74044
Great! Saved your posts -- I will certainly look into this in future!