The Lore of World Travel and How to Create it

One of the most common things I get told about world travel while I’m abroad long term is “oh i could never do what you’re doing,” or you’re so brave, isn’t that scary?“

The answer is yes. Yes it is.

Anything could go wrong. The list is so long it’s not even worth starting. The thing is, my fear of missing out severely outweighs my fear of what could go wrong. It’s about risk mitigation, not elimination. If you can shrink these fears down to a manageable level, there will be a point where you go, huh, okay, I can do this. And even if you feel like you can’t, you’ve booked the trip anyway. you’re smarter than you think.

So many people use the fears as an excuse to stay in the familiar, when all it takes is the first step. Growing up in your 20s can be terrifying. Trying to figure out where you’re going with your life, while getting used to making decisions for yourself and not others is tough.

In so many cases however, these fears holding people back aren’t even rational.

Oh, I don’t have the money. Save for a little bit. Travel can be cheap if you want it to be.
I don’t want to go to a bad place alone. Take a friend or family member, go to somewhere familiar. Start small. Grow your confidence.
Where would I even go? Think for 5 minutes. Where have you seen in movies? Where have people told you about?

A lot of people I’ve met, world travel hasn’t even been a consideration. Regional travel is the biggest they’ve dreamed. But why not? Instead of spending the $500 on a cross-country trip, why not find somewhere else? Bali? Greece? Vietnam? Dream bigger.

The Benefits

Travelling is so important to me. You learn SO much, just by being present! It’s the one thing with a participation award. No one minds if you’re nervous, point is you just explored Paris, or sat on the edge of a waterfall, or swam with dolphins. And I’m not saying these things for you to go home and post on social media (that’s one heck of an expensive photo). I’m saying that you learn an amazing amount about yourself. For example:

What drives you?
How do you deal with stress? Adrenaline?
How do you think critically and deal with problems as they arise? (and how do you battle the ghost ones that may never happen to you?)
What do you enjoy most?

Ultimately, the biggest thing that helps me say yes is: Think of the Mum lore. Or aunty lore if kids scare you a little too much.

Everything else will fade, but stories and photos will survive! Move over folklore – Mum lore is here.

Who’s to say you can’t learn these things on the other side of the world? There’s been so many unique situations that have come up where I’ve had the opportunity to observe how I reacted and unpack that later on. Reality is, for the amount of stressing I do, most problems can be solved on the day and need no future focussed thinking.

“Future me isn’t as dumb as I think she is.”
Emma, 2024

Fear Mitigation: Not Elimination

Fears are good. They keep you on your toes, and prevent you from making really dumb decisions. A healthy amount of fear is also know as common sense. The rest? Character development. The biggest thing is not to be held down by them. Step back from them, look at the situation and assess the risks.

The first step to world travel can be really hard. And that’s simply from getting it from an idea into a solidified plan. Sometimes all it takes is booking the flight, or accommodation or anything. Give yourself a set date, and a set obligation to meet. Change your mindset from ‘should I go?’ to ‘well, I’m going, how am I going to get there and what am I going to do?’.’ You’ll be surprised what you can pull out of nothing if your brain is focussed on making it happen.

Break it into small, manageable steps.

#1 Travel Close to Home

Destinations that you can reach within an hour or two of travel are the best place to start. Is there a hike close that you’ve been wanting to do? Perhaps a beachside town that has a beach chair with your name on it. Travel doesn’t have to start out with you disappearing into the Himalayas. Here, everything will still be familiar, you’ll still be speaking the same language and the cultural norms will all be the same (unless you’ve been living under a rock).

Once you’ve gained confidence, try a short flight somewhere in your home country. Then, the world is your oyster.

Rainbow Falls – 10 minutes from my house in NZ

#2 Travel Short

Day trips, overnighters and weekend trips are your best friend. Build your confidence by going for short amounts of time to begin with, so as not to overwhelm yourself. Practice planning little excursions, perhaps a half-day wine tour, or a two hour kiteboarding lesson. These trips are also perfect for drip-feeding the travel bug while saving for a bigger holiday.

#3 Travel to & With Friends or Family

World travel is a heck of a lot less stressful knowing there’s someone waiting for you at the airport. Message that person you haven’t talked to in a decade. They might have a couch for you to crash on. Turns out their not home? Their friend of a friend does.

This is hands down the best way to explore a new place. The perfect blend of a familiar face with a new destination will help you quickly get over your sense of unbelonging. Especially if there’s a cultural and language barrier involved. They’ll most likely know what’s worth seeing, what isn’t, where the tourists are and they can also help any translation issues. Not to mention use of a car.

Of course, though they can be few and far between, finding a friend you already know with the travel bug is an awesome way to start travelling. You can share the planning burdens, conquer problems together and enjoy the adrenaline rushes as a group. Not to mention a free photography buddy.

#4 Socialise, ya hermit

If you don’t know someone overseas, why not stay in a hostel next time? You may meet someone travelling home, which happens to not be your home country. Or, maybe you’ll stumble across someone from your country that’s going somewhere you want to and bam. You’re not alone.

A lot of the friends I’m meeting in Europe were either people I met at the hostel I worked at in Queenstown, NZ – Black Sheep Backpackers, or are friends that I met in high school on a student exchange when I signed up to be a kiwi buddy and help show them around.

Perhaps there’s a local salsa dancing class in town, or a Japanese class. Go along, you never know what new skills you’ll pick up or who you’ll meet.

I met Lisa at Black Sheep Backpackers and was able to travel a lot of New Zealand with her. I was able to show her my home, and later this year I’m flying to Munich to explore Oktoberfest and her home city with her!

#5 See Every Opportunity as a Chance to Grow

You missed that flight? You’ll know for next time to get there earlier, and hey, you might get to try that streetside hot dog you’d been planning on trying before you left but didn’t get around to.

Having a positive mindset is essential. Or at least an open one. Don’t let yourself close off off something goes wrong, because most likely you’ll just be wasting time and effort on focussing on the wrong thing. I can guarantee with almost everything that comes along, there will be some sort of benefit to what’s happened, even if it feels insignificant.

Booked white water rafting and turned up to the wrong base two and a half hours away? (yes, that happened). Guess who got to spend four hours in a western shop buying boots and now will never turn up to anything without checking the location on the bottom of the email. Win.

#6 Plan Accordingly

Plans don’t happen themselves, and this is where most people give up. Going overseas takes a lot of effort. There’s usually a few ways you can go about planning for a trip.

Book flights in and out. Arrive and book activities and accommodation as you go.
Book flights in and out. Devise a day by day itinerary and book accommodation and activities in advance.
Book with a travel agent, they’ll do it all for you.
Book flights in and out, book activities with a tour group and possibly accommodation too.

In the past, I’ve been a stickler for booking everything in advance. Only one way to shove as much into a small time frame. However, for my upcoming three month Europe trip, I’m starting to have a differing opinion.

Which is Better?

Plans are great, however if you have no idea what you’re getting yourself into and you have monetary and time flexibility, why not try it once you’re there? Locals’ opinions are incredible pieces of information, and a lot of the advice on the internet is written by tourists who may not know these secret spots. They may even invite you out to homes of their own, or out onto one of their yachts. Flexibility is key for getting to know people.

Travel agents for wider world travel are good, however you usually have less autonomy on where to go and what to do, and often they will drive the price up a little in order to make money.

Tours are also awesome if you only have a small amount of time in a place, or don’t have a car. However, similar to travel agencies, you don’t have a lot of control on where you go or what to do. You’re also generally sucked up in the peak of the touristy areas, so be prepared to be another brick in the wall.

My family did a few tours in Vietnam which took us all over the city, down the Mekong Delta and along to activities such as carriage tours, long boat rides, tunnel tours and restaurants. For all of the planning it takes, it can be worth booking one. I only have four days (carless) in Reykjavik in September, so I’m looking at booking a tour to explore the waterfalls and ice caves for a day.

Unfortunately, which is better is the type of thing you have to figure out as you go.

#6.5 Websites I Use to Book My Travel Plans

TIP: It is so totally worth looking at your ideas in Incognito Mode on your browser. I once was booking flights with a friend who was on a separate device. We both got to the checkout when her browser kicked her out, made her redo all her information, and by the time she was done they’d raised the price $30.

Google Sheets

I use Google Sheets as it talks directly to my Google account. Here I plan all of my trips by opening a new sheet each time. It’s a great way to see everything in one place, as well as have the totals for budgeting.

You an calculate sums of columns by entering =SUM( and then dragging across the cells you’d like to calculate the totals of.

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor is great for finding activities, accommodation and restaurants all in one place with honest reviews. You can save each thing you want to do in designated places, and also link them to your plans on Google Sheets.

HostelWorld

I used Hostelworl d when I worked at the hostel in Queenstown. This tool is so great for travellers, they have options to make your profile viewable to people staying at the same time as you, as well as turn on a button that says you’re looking to connect with others.

Their prices are cheap and you can usually find all the reputable hostels of the area on here.

Skyscanner & Google Flights

Skyscanner and Google Flights I use simultaneously to track and monitor flight prices. Google has a tracking option, where you can get email notifications when the prices of a flight changes, which is super handy. Make sure that if you are travelling with bags to specify, as this can change the prices of the flights drastically.

Homestay.com

Homestay.com is a great alternative to Airbnb and Hostelworld. It’s a lot more integrated locally, and is a good website to use if you’d rather stay away from tourists and are open to meeting new people. I’ve use Homestay.com before, and it saved me over $700 compared to the Airbnb and hostel options in town.

Who needs excuses to make more Pinterest boards? I don’t. Pinterest is an awesome way to combine ideas, and see where other people have gone before. What to see and what not to see. A little bit of a dip-your-toes-in before travelling yourself.

#7 Budget Well

Budgeting is key for being able to do everything you want to. There’s less pressure when doing a trip locally, but it is still important. If you choose the more flexibility option, budgeting can go either way for you. On one hand, you may spend less money on activities, but you may end up spending more on last minute accommodation and activity prices.

Even if you have everything booked in advance, I would recommend budgeting for at least 20% more than what you plan to spend, in case any problems arise, you need an extra bag on the way home or you find a vintage Austrian vase that you know your nana will love.

TIP: When I worked at Black Sheep Backpackers, we would often drop the prices of available beds around 7PM on the day of the booking. If you’re not stressed about walking around with bags for the day and want to save some money, keeping an eye out for deals like this can be great.

Use Programs to Work Abroad

Another alternative for long term travel is to work overseas. I’ve done a working holiday in the USA for a year, and can definitely say it is the best way to see a country. And, if the dollar is stronger in the new country, it’s a great way to save too. My USA visa even came with 60 days tourist travel time on top of the year I was allowed to work.

You can join programs such as International Working Holidays, who I travelled to the USA with to get you into a spot. This takes away all the stress of paperwork, job hunting and visa appointments, and in some cases the language barrier.

Programs like this operate on a flat fee, in which they will take care of everything for you, besides flights. You just need to provide the information. There’s often other young people travelling too, and they’ll help connect you with travel buddies.

All in all, travel is scary, but it can also be eye-opening, exciting, adrenaline-inducing and immersive. Give it a go, you never know what you’ll do or who you’ll meet.

Happy travels,

Emma xx

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