The Wanderlust Workbook: Planning, Plotting and Financing

http://www.yesandyes.org/2010/07/wanderlust-workbook-planning-plotting.html

"Long-term travel and moving abroad is a pretty common dream, but gosh it's overwhelming! Where to even begin? There are so many logistical (and psychological!) hurdles! Let's get over them.

The Wanderlust Workbooks are a four part ebook series in which we'll talk about the nitty gritty of traveling for months at a time, quitting your job to move to a foreign country and making your travel dreams happen. In book numero uno, we'll tackle:

* Where you should go
* What you should do when you get there
* How to get a leave of absence from your job
* Failing that, how to increase the possibility of getting a job when you return
* How to save money for your trip
* What to do with all your stuff
* How to deal with nervous parents or negative nay-sayers
* How to deal with financial issues while you're traveling
* How to deal with medical issues while you're traveling
* Getting visas
* How travel through non-English speaking countries
* Having an awesome time while you're traveling
* Dealing with 'real life' once you get back

And you guys! There are heaps of charts and tables that you can fill in that will help you get organized and make concrete steps towards you travel goals! And a one year time line of what you need to be doing to get prepared!

For eleven dollars you get:
* 12,000+ words on planning your big trip or international relocation
* a one hour podcast
* a password to a one time, two-hour online chat with heaps other travelers where we can trade tips"

This looks to be very useful.

Two Useful Websites

Wanderfly: "helps you discover new experiences based on your interests and budget." I think the website is really cute, but I have yet to discover whether it would be really helpful or not. I think it's probably better to long your travel experiences there long-term so it learns what you like than to just use it for a one-off search for travel tips.

Atlast Obscura: "A compendium of the world's wonders, curiosities, and esoterica." This is fun to just read through, so I can only imagine it would be even more fun to use as a travel guide. It includes most major and semi-major cities, and features places to visit that are weird, interesting, and off the beaten path.

11 Tricks to Cutting Travel Costs in 2011 (NY Times)

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/travel/09pracsave.html

8 Exotic Destinations You Can Afford

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/11/04/exotic-destination-bargains/

How to Buy a Round the World Plane Ticket

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/10/08/round-the-world-plane-ticket/

Sharing Travel Experiences

http://www.sharingtravelexperiences.com/

"We're your online travel lifestyle magazine and your trusted source inspirational stories and travel resources to help make your travel more enjoyable. "

http://www.spottedbylocals.com/

http://www.spottedbylocals.com/

2 sites

http://www.rentalocalfriend.com - hooks you up with an unofficial tour guide in an unfamiliar city

http://www.tripbod.com/ - hooks you up with a local friend to create an itinerary for you

Joobili.com

http://joobili.com/

"The site is a pimped-upwhatsonwhen, offering information on events in Europe. You can search by date or drill down by destination or interest using the simple navigation panel on the right. The information is thorough and there are links to the event website, but the content is quite as extensive as its afore-mentioned rival." - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article6804027.ece?token=null&offset=12&page=2

Useful Website

http://www.toptipsforgirls.com/browse/21/travel/ - Random travel tips. Some are just plain paranoid, but some might come in handy.

Flickr Travel Guide

http://www.flickr.com/groups/world/ - The concept here is to base your travels on pictures from other travelers. I don't know if that's such a good idea, but the pics are gorgeous and I'm sure you can pick up a few tips for places to go.

One Website

http://www.world66.com/ - Has pretty detailed travel guides for lots of cities, along with some other, more unique, features.

Last Minute Travel Deals (taken from a CG! spring break article)

On a budget? Hire a travel agent. They can customize a trip based on your budget. They can do a better job meeting your specific needs than any website., and they usually have a few tricks up their sleeves. Suggestions for student travelers:
Student Travel Services: 800-648-4849
StudentCity.com: 888-777-4642
StudentUniverse: 800-272-9676
STA Travel: 800-781-4040

Procrastinator? Go online for last-minute deals and steals. When companies that offer packaged trips have vacancies, they often use consolidator sites to sell leftover spots for cheap. 2-3 weeks before you plan to go away, start looking at sites like 11thhourvacations.com, lastminutetravel.com, and bestfares.com. for good package deals. Don't wait too long to confirm, though, because things can disapear quickly.

Up for anything? If you're willing to go anywhere, try an auction site. They are simillar to last-minute sites, but they have the added fun of bidding. First, scan through sites like priceline.com or hotwire.com to see what's being offered, and decide what kind of trip you're looking for. Then research the going rate for the same kind of trip on a regular, nonauction travel site, like orbitz.com. This will give you an idea of how much to bid. Go back to the auction site and place a bid that is 20%-40% less than the regular price. Be aware: You won't be able to see some details, like what airline you're flying on, until after you've won.

A Last-Minute Idea: A roadtrip is always fun. Just pick a direction and drive. Find ideas on roadtripusa.com and roadtripamerica.com

Volunteer Vacations: For ideas, check out crossculturalsolutions.com, globeaware.org, globalvolunteers.org, and unitedplanet.org.

P.S. Wherever you end up, check out the visitors bureau for discount coupons for local attractions.

One Website

http://nymag.com/travel/index.html - About travel in the NY area, and also has suggestions for international getaways

One New Website

http://www.bust.com/letsgo/index.html - Search where you want to go and get a travel guide

2 websites

• http://www.flare.com/travel/index.jsp - Gives tips on lots of Canadian destinations and some international ones.

• http://travel.discovery.com/ - Destination guides, reviews, etc. Has the potential to be very useful.

2 Websites

• http://www.globetrekkertv.com/ - The website for the tv show Globe Trekker. Has travel and cultural guides

• http://www.wwoof.org/ - A listing of organic farms where you can volunteer in exchange for food and lodging.

A Bunch of Websites

• http://www.globalfreeloaders.com/ - People around the world let you stay with them for free. Same idea as hospitality club, except that the guest is also required to host.

• http://www.hiayh.org/ - International hostel listing

• http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/index.shtml - Tips on budget travel, cultural travel, and more.

• http://budgettravel.about.com/ - Apparently a budget travel search engine

• http://www.contrariantraveler.com/resources.html - Travel resource site...may prove to be useful

• http://www.virtualtourist.com/ - Covers all aspects of different world cities and regions. May not show the cheapest things, but it has reviews and ideas.

• ****http://www.travel-library.com/rtw/html/faq.html - Supposedly an amazing collection of travel tips.

• ****http://www.worldscheapestdestinations.com/id10.html - Tons of useful travel links. I started to list them, but there were too many.

• http://www.findagap.com/ - Will help me find something to do on a gap year, if I decide to take one

Today's Findings - 2 Websites

• http://www.hospitalityclub.org/ – People all over the world host you or give you tours or whatever for free

• http://www.jewishservice.org/ – Travel volunteer programs for Jews