Pretty much everyone dreams of travelling the world the thing that stops a lot of people, apart from money as it is SO hard to save (you can read in blog number on tips to save) is the fear of the… UNKNOWN, bet you didn’t see that one coming. The second you leave your comforted life in your home town of being able to know your way around everywhere, knowing what public transport goes where, knowing what supermarket sells the best food all of the little things you know and take for granted go out of the window. Because everything is new and different.

The first thing you will learn is that places do not stick to opening times many local restaurants and shops will open as to when they please. They will open depending on many circumstances such as the weather, how busy it is, whether they are tired etc.

You will also learn that other countries have weird ways of doing things (compared to us) such as buying bus tickets from tobacconists. Me and Joe had to walk further than the bus stop to a tobacconist in Italy to be able to buy our bus tickets but it is worth it as when buying the ticket on the bus it is more expensive.

One of the things I realised is that you do not need half of the stuff you think you would need I literally packed the most useless stuff with me such as a pair of shoes I have worn once (you do not need dressy shoes even though you think their may be one time you will not be able to wear trainers). In order to bring those dressy shoes I have now only one pair of trainers to wear and being in Budapest during winter I am wishing I reconsidered and bought my warm dr martens.

You will learn many different cultures and try many different types of food some which you will ABSOLUTELY LOVE I will never forget the taste of gelato in Italy (they also made the cone fresh so it was slightly warm when I ate it) mmmmmmmmmmmmm. I have forgotten what I was actually talking about. OH YES but there will always be some comfort food that you will miss from home but will be crazily expensive where you are, Joes was peanut butter. Can you believe that it was being sold for £5!!! This leads on to my next point.

When travelling, you will learn the most important skill of your whole trip. You will practise this when saving money, the temptation to spend is hard! However when you are in a country and you just see everything your like ooo I want that and that, let’s eat there the temptation is awful but you need to budget. I will organise a monthly, weekly and daily budget this has helped us out many times. What you will learn is that long term travelling is very different than a holiday, me and Joe have spent the same amount of money on a 5 day holiday in Amsterdam to a whole month in a European country. This shows how you cannot splash out every single day while travelling. When having a budget you can and will have lavish days and can do everything on your to do list in your visiting country.

I hope this blog has helped you and maybe made you laugh (a little) at some of our lessons. Remember you can’t learn until you make mistakes. HAPPYYYY TRAVELLING