It’s graduation season, and this year, I happen to have many graduates in my life. So, I thought I’d write an (unsolicited) advice blog for the class of 2021.
Normally, I don’t like to give advice because I don’t pretend to have anything figured out, but what the hell? Here goes…
My advice:
# 1. Always keep an Emergency Travel Fund.
You don’t ever want someone to say, “Hey, __(insert your name)__ do you want to go to __(insert cool place)__?”
Only, you have to respond with: “YES! But I can’t because I don’t have the money.” Trust me. This opportunity will present itself. So, be prepared.
*It’s also important to keep an emergency travel fund in case you need to get away for other reasons, such as to break up with someone: a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a boss, a terrible roommate, your parents.
**I have had an emergency travel fund since I was 18. It was initially funded by my insurance company after I totaled my car. Since then, every time I’ve depleted my emergency travel fund, I’ve built it right back up. I still have one even though I’m a flight attendant, which, by the way, is an ingenious way to travel on someone else’s dime. And get paid to do it!
(That’s not career advice. Become a pilot. That’s career advice.)
# 2. Don’t wait.
Don’t wait until you’re thinner. Don’t wait until you have more time. Don’t wait until you have someone special to go with. And especially, don’t wait until you have “enough” money. Just go. You don’t want to stay at one of those expensive chain hotels anyway. They all look the same. (familiar) If you’re okay with a bit of discomfort, your money will go so much further.
*In college, I stayed at some pretty awful places: shared bathrooms, prostitutes for neighbors, cockroaches falling into the bed all night, sheets that smelled like sex, no air conditioning in summer, and no heating in winter! But who cares? I was in Barcelona, Madrid, Portugal, Austria, France, Switzerland, Taiwan
**Suggestions for the budget-sensitive traveler: Camp. Stay in a hostel. Stay with friends. Make new friends. Become a pilot.
This brings me to my final and most important piece of advice:
# 3. Be open.
Travel is about experiencing something different and learning something new. It’s about the unexpected and the unimagined. So, say “yes,” talk to strangers, eat street food. Just be sure to Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone -because that’s when you’ll grow.
(But of course, use your head and trust your instincts. Never silence your inner voice! The gut knows.)
# 4. Some advice I’ve taken from people wiser than me:
Kathie Lee Gifford: “Always bring something to the party.”
Charles Barkley: “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
Dolly Parton: “You’ll never do a whole lot unless you’re brave enough to try.”
(# 4 may seem like a joke, but it’s not. These quotes mean a lot to me.)
Congratulations, graduates! Wander, wonder, get “lost,” and set aside some of that cash stuffed in those graduation cards. I think around $1200 should be good.