Book a ticket and just leave: The cheap girl's guide to seeing the world

Traveling and exploring are things that I am passionate about. I love seeing new places, meeting new people, trying new things, having the time of my life at times and having the worst time of my life at times but knowing it's going to be a hilarious story later. Travel is also one of the best ways to challenge yourself to do something a little scary. I've spoken to people in second and third languages, I've been the only "gringa" for miles around, I've been homeless for a night and slept in an airport, I've been on ziplines and white water rafts, and I've climbed through ancient castles and ruins.

Because of that, I wanted to share some of my tips on how you can become a well-versed traveler as well. Step outside of what is familiar to you. Book a ticket and go.  Even if it's only to a new street sign or only one county over. So here it is:

The cheap girl's guide to seeing the world
1. Do your research first.
2. Browse until you are sick of the internet
3. Spend money where it matters
4. Save money where it counts
5. Use your feet
6. Be opened minded

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Do your research first:
Figure out where you want to go, when the best time to go there is, what you need to consider before hand, how much money do you need per diam and how are you going to make it happen?

Will a day trip to a nearby town satisfy you? Are there friends you've been meaning to visit in a town you've never gone to before? Do you have a long, holiday weekend in the near future that you can take advantage of the time off of work?


Browse until you are sick of the internet:
You think the airlines are going to post a ticket for $100 when someone will buy it for $200? nuh-uh. Think again my friend because finding deals is not going to come easy. You need to check those sites, and you need to check them daily.
-Airfair typically drops for the same ticket when you browse on a Wednesday.
-Flying on non-peak hours or non-peak days are going to cost less than morning/evenings during weekends.
-Look for all-inclusive packages
-Look for last minute deals on sites like travelzoo.com
-Look on specific airline/hotel/attractions websites, not the giant search engines. They tend to post discounts on the actual site.
-Look at sites like lonelyplanet.com to get ideas of where to go and what to do

Spend money where it matters:
If you want to spend $300 a night on a hotel room, that's your prerogative. But just know, that means you're also going to be having PB&J for dinner. In my opinion, hotels are not a good use of your travel budget since most likely you are going to want to spend as much time as possible OUTSIDE of the hotel.

Another area where you can save a lot of money is on tours. Tours are great at times and I do encourage them, but look for those really specialized ones. Ones that give you access to underground lairs, or photo specific based tours, or all inclusive packages. If you can read it in a guide book, and do the walking tour yourself, then do that! Get yourself lost for free! If you can only see the inside of room that contains mystical powers and the answers to all of life's questions after buying a ticket, then spend the money and do the tour.

Things to actually spend your money on:
-Go all out one night for dinner. Get app's and 'zerts. Get the most expensive thing on the menu. But don't do it every night :)
-Treat yourself to a huge, ooey-gooey, calorie-ridden, caramel/chocolately thing from a bakery that you'll never have the change to go to again
-See that thing that you REALLY, REALLY, always wanted to see
-Do that thing that you always really, really, wanted to do and cross it off of your bucket list

For everything else, go to attractions with free admission or go on the one day a week that they offer free admission.

Also: use a rewards credit card for those purchases. If you have to spend the money anyway, you might as well get points for it! I have a travel specific rewards card that allows me to use those points for plane tickets. Do you see what I did there? I traveled, and then I got MORE money to travel!!

Save money where it counts:
Before your trip
If you want to book an extended trip, then you're going to need to budget and save. Plain and simple. There is no other way around it. How do you do that?:
-Put aside money from each of your paychecks.
-Don't go out to dinner or happy hour during the week.
-Reduce your grocery bill by only buying the essentials.
-Re-wear the same wardrobe from last spring even though you hate everything in your closet.
-Be content with your purse from Target. Not Coach.

While on your trip
-Eat at least one meal (if not two) from your backpack. This means that often times you can skimp on going to a restaurant for both breakfast and lunch, and have a light snack or granola bar instead. Sure, it's not as glamorous as going out to eat each meal, but not only can you save money, but you can save time too. You can spend time exploring instead of watching out the restaurant window. This also helps if you are tight on vacation days and need to jam pack as much as possible into the few days that you do have.
-Resist the urge to buy everyone you know a momento. They probably won't appreciate it that much anyway. If you really want to buy something: get them a post card or some chocolate.
-Don't have any vacation days? Can you take a long weekend and work remotely some of those days? Sure, you might have to work during the day, but you can explore a lot of attractions at night, or vice versa.

Don't want to do those things to save money? Well then, I guess you don't want to travel as much as you thought you did.

Use your feet:
This means get a map, get a transit system guide, and get yourself moving. So many locations can be explored best on foot. If you can read a map, you can navigate a city and find all of the points of interests yourself instead of relying on other people or their transportation
-Look for mass transit from airports/bus stations to your hotel
-Use taxis only when you're lugging around a lot of baggage
-Look for bus routes or metros that can take you to places a little off of the beaten path
-Look for bike shares! What a fun and affordable way to explore even larger reaches of a location

Be opened minded:
If you're expecting everything to go exactly as planned on your trip, then plan again. Because some of the most fun you will have on a trip, are those times that things went completely AWOL.

Be creative! Travelers have to be innovative. They use the resources that are available to them to create the best experience possible.

You have to remember that traveling (real traveling, not the image that you see of celebrities traveling) is actually the opposite of glamorous. There are going to be times where you are schlepping a bag around, you're dirty, you're tired, you're hungry, you're annoyed at your travel companions, you're homesick, you're bored with looking at churches and museums, and all you want to do is eat a cheese pizza and watch tv. But isn't that the FUN of it all?!?

Those are the moments where you find out who you are and what makes you tick. You find out what is important to you. You step outside of your comfort zone and try things that maybe you'll never do again in your life, but you have the experience of it all! You expand your mind to all that the world has to offer.

You step. outside. of your bubble.

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In conclusion: Travel can be to anywhere and anyone can travel. Sometimes it takes longer to get there than other places, but even going one hour from your house can open your eyes to something brand new.

Of course, if you have the expendable income, by all means indulge yourself and upgrade anywhere you can. But if money is the reason why you're not traveling, I encourage you to re-evaluate.

You can always go somewhere. :)

Red eye flights = red eyes. They're right.

hmmm, so many topics to discuss!!! in referring to my entry with a list of things that have happened in the past few months (http://kshay-dailyfright.blogspot.com/2012/03/did-you-miss-me.html). So today I will talk about:

• Taking my first red-eye flight

This goes into the "not scary, but trying something different/new" category of this blog. I was coming home from San Diego a few weeks ago and ended up taking a flight home that left at 11pm and got into DC at 7am (or something like that). And if you're wondering how come I get to travel so frequently --> I will answer that in my next blog post. 

ANYWAY, I took this red eye partly out of curiosity since I've never taken one before, and partly because it was one of the cheapest options. 

I will say this, like anything, red eye flights have their pros and cons. When I'm sitting in an airport on a Friday night and I'm tired, anxious to get home, and much desiring of my own bed not just a reclined chair, I would say I would not advise taking a red eye. However, when I'm getting home from the west coast early in the morning and have a full day ahead of me to do whatever I want, including a nap, I would say that red eyes are pretty cool. 

Long story short, how can one ever make a decision on their preferences if they never try something new? When we try different things and test out new options, we can discover if there is something out there that we like even BETTER than our current tastes. It's not always the case, maybe you like what you like, but you'll never know unless you try. 

Now that I have this experience under my belt, I can weigh the pros and cons of a red-eye flight should I ever have the opportunity to take one again. 

New set of wheels

Going along with the previous cycling post (http://kshay-dailyfright.blogspot.com/2012/04/get-ahead-of-that-hill.html), I have been wanting to upgrade to a nicer, more competitive roadbike. So yesterday, not only did I:

• Get fitted for a new roadbike, but I also
• Bought a new roadbike

I've been debating whether or not to even get a new bike when I have a perfectly good hybrid that I've ridden for the past year. Although the bike I have is great for trail riding and for most novices, I am interested in getting into more long distance and competitive riding. Last year, I did a triathlon and excelled at the biking portion. Now I am interested in taking my skills to an even higher level during competition. In order to do that, I need a lighter, quicker bike.

The reason(s) why I have been unsure about getting a roadbike are as follows: they cost a lot, what if I don't get my money's worth, do I need two bikes, what if I move to another country and the bike sits in storage for a year, what if I take an awful tumble (more common on speed bikes), what if bike people judge my selection (I'm no longer just somebody riding a bike recreationally but I'm somebody riding a bike who cares about riding), how hard is it to gain skill on a bike I'm not used to and with drop down handle bars that I am not used to?

ANYHOO. I've been putting off getting fitted and putting off buying a bike for all of those reasons. But this past week I traveled to Portland and Seattle where the streets and bike racks are FILLED with hipsters and their bikes. I guess they inspired me to get over the bike riding hump.

So, as part of our tour of the city, my mom and I found a bike shop (easy to do in Portland) and with her encouragement (thanks, Mom!), I went and got fitted. And then I bought a bike.

In conclusion: I was reluctant to make such a big investment for one of my hobbies but I am now incredibly excited for my brand-spanking-new bike to arrive and to break it in during spring season. Lessons learned are: if something nags at you for a while and for whatever reason you still haven't done it - get over that hump because it's clearly something that is motivating you and that you probably want in life. And also, never doubt how effective and encouraging a little nudge or moral support from a loved one can be to help overcome those roadblocks.

and here it is:

Get ahead of that hill!

Two weeks ago I scared myself and:

• Went to a brand new spin class by myself

I've been to multiple spin classes before. I am also really good at spin classes. I'm fit, I like biking, and I pretend like I am in the Tour de France during class so my energy level stays pretty high throughout the whole class. However, I've never gone to a new spin class by myself and have always gone with a friend who knew what the deal was.

Until now....

Two weeks ago, I went to the gym after work and planned on doing my standard 30 minute bike workout, maybe some crunches and weights, and call it a day. It had been a long day at work, and as I walked out of the locker room I saw the spin room door was open, the lights were on, and there were open bikes.

hmmm.... maybe I should just go in? Looks like the next class starts in 3 minutes.... it would be a way better workout than what I had planned on doing.... What's stopping me!? There were a few weak excuses I came up with in my head, but really I had no good reason not to go in. It was the perfect scenario.

So I did go in. And I spun. I spun as fast as I could and got as sweaty as you could imagine. And it was awesome. And since then, I've gone back every week.

The reason why this fright is particularly significant is that it is something that has been nagging at me for months. I walk past that spin studio and those spin classes week after week and I want to go in. I also once had a talk with one of the instructors in the locker room who straight-out asked me what was stopping me from going in? I could only say it was because of fear. That was the only reason.

And now that I've gone once, the hardest part is over. I feel completely comfortable going into the class now and I am so glad that I finally get to participate in that hour of sweaty, sweaty, fun! :)

Did you miss me?

So I haven’t written in quite some time, but never fear, I have still been stepping outside of my comfort zone this whole time!

A few examples that I will expand upon further in the next few entries:

-I took classes to further my career

-I made more new friends

-I made an effort

-I decided to stop worrying and to just be happy

-I went to a spin class at a new gym by myself

-I took a red-eye flight for the first time ever

-I went to the doctor to discuss a nagging issue

These were some of the major things, but every day I have really been working on clearing the fear from my mind and living how I want to live. Now time for a little reflection: I think since starting this blog I have really reduced some of my paranoid fears and reduced my internal doubting chatter. I have been accomplishing more with my time and my life, and I have been trying things that I was once too scared to try. 

Have you? 

Up in the gym just working on my fitness

I've actually been doing this for a few weeks now, but I have started to:

• Go to a different gym location that is not "my" gym

I think it actually started around the same time as the pants incident http://kshay-dailyfright.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-pants-new-attitude.html (but not the same day, because that would just be too much to wear pants that I don't like AND go to a new gym). 

Anyway. I have a gym membership that I use regularly. This particular gym franchise allows me to use any of its 26 locations around the DC/Metro area. I have tried a few of them, but mainly stick to my "chosen" location. There is one location a little closer to my home and more in the city, but I don't particularly like the "feel" of it. 

Ready for my typical paranoia rant? I don't like the closer gym because: The people are all looking at me, I can't get as sweaty as I want because the people there look like fitness models, if I wear the same clothes they're all going to notice, how does the parking garage validation work, do I smile when I see a cute trainer or is that cliche???

So, in an effort to avoid those paranoid thoughts, I go to the gym a little further away that is a bit calmer, filled with a bit more normal looking people, and a bit less populated. However, my work has recently moved to a different building in the opposite direction of  "my gym", which means the gym closest to my house is indeed still closest to me. I can't really justify going super out of my way for a different gym just because I have issues. Plus, I just really don't have the time. Which leads me to the point of this entry. 

Life is busy and life is complicated. If something is keeping you from un-complicating it because it seems a little scary or you are intimated to do it, then try to work with yourself to get over those fears. Make yourself a little uncomfortable at first or at times if it means you will be happier in the long run. 

One technique that I used back when I lived aboard was to envision everyone turning when I walked in and greeting me with enthusiasm and energy. "Hi, Kate!" *wave*. "Oh hey, friend!" *smiling*. "Hello!! So good to see you!" *slap on the back*. Visualizing people excited to see you when you arrive someplace can help you to get out the door and go. 

Long story short, I started going to a few weekly classes at this closer gym and guess what? It all worked out ok. I have been going regularly to this closer location and don't bat an eye at it or have to psych myself up to go anymore. As a result, I have more time (less commute to the gym) and more in my gas tank (less trips to the pump) :-)

Degree + Experience = ???

Last night, I did something scary and: 

• Investigated a new career path

I have not delved into a new career path yet, but I started the ground work of looking into one viable route. This would be living and working abroad in another country. Although I am perfectly content with life and work right now, I know there are things in life that I want to accomplish, places I want to visit, and sites that I want to see. Because of this, staying where I am right now, may not allow me to do that. 

I know that I can accomplish and can do anything I want. I just can't do everything at the same time. Similarly, Thomas Edison says: "If we all did the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves." 

It is scary to think about uprooting or even changing careers. Whatever situation you have right now is comfortable and secure. Maybe you are not completely satisfied with it, but it is still what you know. Changing that situation, even if for the better, can be scary. Everything starts out brand new. Everything is different. And there is the possibility that everything is not as great as you had hoped it would be. 

It's scary to challenge the comfort. It's scary to give up something you know is good. But, I am challenging myself to look at life plans and careers that could be even better. 

More examples of this expansion to my comfort zone to come I'm sure :)