Many students are sure that having student loans means that you are limited in every delight in your life. No parties, no leisure, no shopping, and no travel. The last seems to be the most devastating since student years are the best time for exploring the world. But the truth is that there is no need to get despair; it is possible to travel with a student loan. And here are some ways to implement your intentions eventually.
Order Your Budget
Traveling the world isn’t cheap, but it doesn’t mean you have to waste a fortune on your every other journey. If you organize everything correctly, you will be able to balance student loans and travel expenses with no hurdles. Check out the handy tips to help you manage everything properly:
- Refinance student loans – if you request refinancing your student loan, you will manage to decrease your monthly interest rates. This means you will have to pay less every month so that you can have more space for saving for traveling. Still, you have to review the benefits you will lose after refinancing, counting the chance for forgiveness and getting on an income-driven payment.
- Get on an income-driven payment – if you get after this option, you will reduce your monthly payments, but it means that interest rates will rise, and you will have to pay off the loans longer. But you will have more place for saving for traveling as well.
- Create a budget – the essential thing to do is to bring your budget to order. You have to calculate your monthly financial plan, track incomes and expenses, reduce unnecessary waste so that you can save extra money for the next journey. If you don’t have what to save from, you should get rid of some minor spendings. Drink coffee at home, don’t eat out, go partying, clubbing, shopping less, and you will be able to collect a reasonable sum eventually.
The key point of creating the working budget is to learn to prioritize. Skip another shopping session to pay for an essay at Pro-papers and have more time to do a part-time job and earn extra money for traveling. It may seem complicated, but if you arrange your financial issues correctly, you will have more opportunities to explore the world as a student.
Set on a Cheap Journey
Remember that you are traveling not for luxurious hotels and exquisite meals but to see the world and expand your life experience. So, aim for a cheap journey but rich outcomes. Look at some quick tips to travel on a budget:
- Book accommodation and travel tickets ahead;
- Travel in the off-season;
- Choose less popular destination;
- Travel in groups;
- Join travel programs;
- Stay in a youth hostel or go couch surfing;
- Eat street food;
- Concentrate on getting the most out of travel.
Explore more ideas and create your own strategy to make traveling possible and set on a budget journey even when you have to pay off the student loan.
Combine Work and Travel
The handiest option not to care about finances as a student on loan and traveler is to work while traveling. There multiple options to implement such an option depending on how much you want to work, what your skills are, and what you want to do. Commonly you can pick out of the following propositions:
- Work flexitime – flexible schedule will allow you to find time for studies and traveling with ease. You can be a writer, IT specialist, or sales representative. If you work online and don’t have set working hours, you will certainly benefit from it. Take a laptop on you and get ensured that you will have a steady Internet connection so that you can earn some cash on the way with no hurdles.
- Choose a travel job – another good option is to choose a job that involves traveling. It can be a photographer, drive-over person, cruise liner worker, flight attendant, and so many more. You will have to work hard and explore the world in your day-offs or after working time mostly. But you will reduce travel expenses and make money on the go.
- Join a program – there are also multiple programs for volunteers all around the world to travel, work, and experience life in different places around the planet. You can teach English, help nature, set on a religious mission. Maybe you won’t earn much, but at least you will have all your travel expenses covered by the program.
- Do a work visa – many students also open a work visa to do a season job in other countries. Here you are not limited to the job choice. You mostly work on your vacations or breaks, so it doesn’t impact your studies. You can make good money and stay a month more to explore the country you work in.
Going for work and travel simultaneously makes it sometimes challenging to have your travel time in full. But at least you will have a chance to cover your travel expenses and even earn some extra money for your student loan.
As a student on loan, you don’t need to limit yourself from doing great things such as traveling. On the contrary, your task is to build the way to implement your dreams and intentions in student years since this is the time full of possibilities and lifetime chances. Don’t miss them and travel even if you have loans to pay off.