How To Organise Life and Work If You Love to Travel Frequently
The joys of traveling are endless: from the exhilarating experience of exploring unfamiliar places to spending some alone time to rejuvenate yourself.
If you are a travel enthusiast, you are probably trying your hardest to travel as much as you can. But work and day-to-day obligations can demand quite a bit of your time, resources, and energy. By the time vacation season comes around, the prospect of traveling may seem exhausting. The restrictions of working a 9 to 5 job may not allow you to fully explore your passion for traveling. And then there are the logistics of traveling that you need to take care of beforehand.
With so many hindrances, it might be hard to make traveling as much a priority as work and life in general. Of course, with experience, you’ll get better at balancing the two, but there are many things you can do to make traveling an easier experience. If you are passionate about traveling, then here are some tips you must follow to organise your life and work to allow for frequent traveling.
Plan your Trips in Advance
The best way to ensure that you spend each second of your time off traveling is by planning well ahead of time. Navigating around Queensland the QLD Islands can be very time consuming and there is a lot to take into consideration. Planning includes checking your yearly calendar for holidays, long weekends, and vacations as well as for deciding when you’ll visit which place. Make a list of all the holidays you have, be it national holidays, or any type of holiday in general. This way, you can prepare your vacation itinerary based on the amount of time you have. If it’s as long as a week or two off, you can plan for a destination get-away. But if it’s merely an extended weekend, you can travel somewhere nearby.
When everything is already decided, you won’t be fumbling at the last moment and wasting your days off preparing for a trip. Even trips that are taken spontaneously require some degree of planning. And with work to handle, spontaneous trips may not always come together the way you would have expected them.
A few days to travel to and from your destination and another day to just ease back into normalcy; all these extra days add up and before you know it a 10-day vacation reduces to 5 days. Proper planning, no matter how far in advance, will increase the likelihood of your trip going smoothly. Another advantage of pre-planning is that you won’t end up taking fake sick leaves and whatnot just so you can do something you’re passionate about.
Use Any Time you Get to Travel
A full-time employee’s best friends are paid holidays. If you work a traditional 9-to-5 job, then you probably don’t get many paid leaves. But whenever you do, you must take complete advantage of them. Never waste the time you get; you’re literally being paid while on vacation! This is where pre-planning comes into play. With the right amount of preparation, the moment you get some time for yourself, you’ll at once be able to sail the seas or hit the road, whichever your heart desires.
The work culture in today’s day and age demands employees’ complete dedication at all times, even if it’s at the expense of their well-being. Don’t feel pressured into being available for work even during your vacations. This is your hard-earned time and you get to choose how to spend it. You may also want to exclusively use your paid holidays for traveling. Save every hour of vacation time you have to pursue the adventures that await you.
Use Your Weekends to Travel
You don’t always need to travel to far-off destinations to immerse yourself in the joys of traveling. Weekends are great for taking small trips to nearby locations. Even 2 days of traveling can rejuvenate you. Again, with proper planning, you can make the best use of the time you have. Wandering the streets of a new city, sightseeing, backpacking or any of the things you’d normally do on long vacations can be done during the weekends. If your paid leaves aren’t sufficient for you to take a full-fledged trip, then using weekends to travel as much as possible is your best alternative. If time is your biggest constraint, then asking to take off an extra day or two so as to extend your weekend may be easier than asking for longer periods of time off.
Some workplaces compensate employees who voluntarily work during festive holidays by rewarding them with extended holiday time. If this is an option available to you, then consider taking it. It might not seem appealing initially, but if you prefer traveling for many days over a one-day trip, then this will work for you. For people who work on random days, such as those in the service industry, try clustering your workdays and travel when you don’t have work.
Be Open to any Change in Plans
While making plans is necessary, being prepared for unexpected situations to change them is also critical. Sometimes issues with work or personal problems might get in the way of your plans, but don’t let that dishearten you. Make do with whatever time you have left. If not a cross-country trip, take a long road trip to a nearby city. Be open to visiting all sorts of locations and making changes to your original plans. After all, it’s the sheer fun of traveling and exploring places that matters the most, not how much time you spend there.
Similarly, you never know when a good travel deal, a sudden holiday, or other such opportunities will present themselves. In such situations, you need to think quickly and take advantage of the opportunity. Be spontaneous and adaptable enough to take a last moment trip. This allows for more flexibility when it comes to how you’ll spend your time. If you have the time to travel right now, then book a cheap flight or the next train to wherever it takes you. If you wait around, work, and other obligations might become a hindrance, and just like that, the perfect chance to travel disappears into thin air.
Lead a Minimalist Life
Living a minimalist lifestyle can be extremely helpful for those who love to travel frequently. There are many benefits to living a minimalist life, especially if you work remotely. If you’re always traveling as a remote employee, then there’s no point buying a flat or house in a place where you won’t stay too long. A house and work are anchors that hold you in one place, so no matter how much you travel, you’re bound to come back.
While the minimalist lifestyle has its own advantages for people who have in-office jobs, it can be useful in other ways for remote employees. When you have a job that allows you to work while traveling, you don’t need to worry about the logistics of balancing work and travel. For instance, a house or vehicle requires active maintenance, which often comes at a hefty cost. You could instead be using that money for traveling or investing. You can always lease a place to stay and use rental cars wherever you go, so it isn’t necessary for you to put your roots down in one place.
Following a minimalistic lifestyle also has its own benefits for those who have a job that requires them to go to their workplace every day. You can cut down on living expenses by staying in a small apartment. Instead of using your own car, try public transportation. Owning a car can be expensive, so instead of spending your money on that, you can redirect it to your traveling budget. You can use Self Storage facilities to store your belongings when you’re traveling so you can rent out your home in the meanwhile. You can also rent your car if you own one to make a bit of money on the side.
Living a minimalist life also means spending money only when needed, so try not to splurge on a new TV if you already have a functioning one. The amount of money you save by doing so can make an enormous difference to your traveling budget. If you’re extremely passionate about traveling, and if that’s a top priority for you, then compromising on the little things won’t be hard.
When you live in warm climates such as Queensland, you don’t need to own a lot of clothes and heavy jackets so it’s easy to with as little as possible. If you are in a caravan or staying in a QLD caravan park, you will understand that less weight is more!
Budgeting
Create a yearly budget for traveling. This way you’ll know how much is at your disposal and you can plan other expenses accordingly. Your budget should cover everything from tickets and living expenses to food and spontaneous purchases. Allocate monthly allowances, and if you don’t use what’s assigned, add it to the next month. If you travel often, then look out for cheap transport options and join travel programs that offer discounts. Similarly, you can look out for hotel reward programs that offer discounts and free bookings. Save wherever you can and use those extra resources for traveling.
Travel to Inexpensive Locations
Unless you have a lot of money on hand, taking luxury trips every now and then can be awfully expensive. Traveling to inexpensive locations is a great way to save money for future trips while also enjoying your current trip. There are many expensive locations one can travel to, and nowadays with the influence of social media, places that were previously unknown become popular overnight. For instance, over the years, Thailand has become a popular tourist attraction and due to this hike in demand, it has become an expensive destination. You could opt for cheaper places to go to that will still give you the same experiences. If you do choose to travel to an expensive place, it’s best to stay nearby the tourist attractions rather than seeking accommodation in the main cities. You can commute to and from the sightseeing spots while simultaneously saving some money on hotel and food expenses.
Travel Hacking and Collecting Travel Points
Travel hacking is a creative way to get free flights. It might sound complicated to beginners, but the advantages of trying this method are numerous. Traveling hacking involves building up miles or points on credit cards you use regularly. You can sign up for multiple credit cards and use them for your day-to-day expenditures and when you’ve accumulated enough points, you can redeem them in the form of a free flight. Many credit cards offer bonus points for signing up so this can help you get cheaper flights. Using this technique will help you save money for traveling more. In situations when there are work fluctuations and your travel budget is compromised, you can use the points you’ve collected to still make your dream vacation a reality.
Don’t Depend on Others to Travel
If you’re accustomed to traveling with friends and family, you might want to consider traveling alone at times. Your work schedule may not align with those of your friends and family. So, waiting around for the right opportunity to travel together is counterintuitive, when you could’ve spent traveling alone. Solo traveling can feel intimidating at first, but with a bit of experience, it can become a fun adventure. It also presents you with the opportunity to put yourself out there and bond with other travellers.
When you travel with someone you know, you might feel a sense of comfort but at the same time, you’ll never give yourself the chance to exit that comfort zone. With solo traveling, you can immerse yourself into the essence, the people, and the culture of the place you’re visiting. It also gives you the flexibility to do whatever you want during your trip; you don’t need to plan according to someone else’s desires. So, give solo traveling a try!
Traveling is one of those things that adds depth and texture to life, so you better make the best use of every opportunity you get to travel. At times, it may be hard to make traveling an equal priority as life and work, but with the right planning, you can learn how to balance them all. Implementing the tips we’ve shared with you will help you organise your personal and professional life to make some space for your passion for traveling.
