I grew up in lower-middle class family. My single-parent mom did the best she could, getting by with a little help from my grandparents, and the random child-support payment from my also-struggling errant dad. Travel was a luxury reserved for our once-a-year road trips, our aging station wagon following my grandpa’s glinting silver Airstream trailer as we followed I-94 from Michigan to Florida or Tennessee for a week of not-exactly-roughing it. I never knew the costs of those trips, but when I entered a private high school and saw my affluent friends spend spring break in Cancun or Jamaica, I knew that if my mother – who worked 60-hour weeks as a nurse manager to support us – had to save all year for a budget road trip, travel on a grander scale was simply out of my reach. I continued under this assumption in college; I made a few hundred dollars a month at my part-time job so there was no way I could afford an international trip. Oh, if I only I’d known then what I know now. Now I know that international travel can be much cheaper than I ever expected, that the world is safe and welcoming and that international travel is one of the best and most rewarding experiences at any age. Perhaps if I’d [...]
In some countries, like the UK and Australia, a gap year is nearly required. After high school or college, students take a break from their studies and hit the road, backpacking and learning about the world first-hand. Even throughout the year, these students often find ways to step away from the classroom and travel the globe. Yet somehow, in the US, the importance of travel isn’t emphasized as much to students. While many flee the campus each spring for Spring Break destinations like Florida and Mexico, fewer students travel in a way that helps them gain a greater perspective of the world. If today’s students are anything like I was, their main reason for not traveling more is that they just don’t think it’s possible. While I had no problem road-tripping from Michigan from Florida over my spring break, the idea of exploring Europe, or Southeast Asia, or South America, or Africa was simply unfathomable. The cost was prohibitive, I thought, and even if I could afford it, none of my friends would go and going alone was a thought that never crossed my mind. But traveling as a student is not only possible, it’s also safe and more affordable than you may think. And you can even travel as a part of studies, with multiple options for study abroad [...]
I grew up in lower-middle class family. My single-parent mom did the best she could, getting by with a little help from my grandparents, and the random child-support payment from my also-struggling errant dad. Travel was a luxury reserved for our once-a-year road trips, our aging station wagon following my grandpa’s glinting silver Airstream trailer as we followed I-94 from Michigan to Florida or Tennessee for a week of not-exactly-roughing it. I never knew the costs of those trips, but when I entered a private high school and saw my affluent friends spend spring break in Cancun or Jamaica, I knew that if my mother – who worked 60-hour weeks as a nurse manager to support us – had to save all year for a budget road trip, travel on a grander scale was simply out of my reach. I continued under this assumption in college; I made a few hundred dollars a month at my part-time job so there was no way I could afford an international trip. Oh, if I only I’d known then what I know now. Now I know that international travel can be much cheaper than I ever expected, that the world is safe and welcoming and that international travel is one of the best and most rewarding experiences at any age. Perhaps if I’d [...] 
In some countries, like the UK and Australia, a gap year is nearly required. After high school or college, students take a break from their studies and hit the road, backpacking and learning about the world first-hand. Even throughout the year, these students often find ways to step away from the classroom and travel the globe. Yet somehow, in the US, the importance of travel isn’t emphasized as much to students. While many flee the campus each spring for Spring Break destinations like Florida and Mexico, fewer students travel in a way that helps them gain a greater perspective of the world. If today’s students are anything like I was, their main reason for not traveling more is that they just don’t think it’s possible. While I had no problem road-tripping from Michigan from Florida over my spring break, the idea of exploring Europe, or Southeast Asia, or South America, or Africa was simply unfathomable. The cost was prohibitive, I thought, and even if I could afford it, none of my friends would go and going alone was a thought that never crossed my mind. But traveling as a student is not only possible, it’s also safe and more affordable than you may think. And you can even travel as a part of studies, with multiple options for study abroad [...] 