Bitten by the travel bug
April 27, 2011 8:45 AM Subscribe
Is traveling before starting grad school a feasible idea?
Hi y'all,
I'm leaving my job and city for grad school at the end of June and I'm super psyched. I'm even more psyched that I'm going to a program with my tuition and some other expenses covered by a fellowship, so no debt.
I'm now trying to figure out the logistics of the summer - I was bitten by the travel bug a long time ago and would love to go on some kind of real vacation if I can. I never spent summers abroad in college because I was working, and while working at my job these past few summers, I tried to scrimp and save while thinking how great it would be to finally see Paris while I'm still young and mortgage-less. Or Rome. You get the picture.
Unfortunately, though, time and money are against me. I really really need to be saving more, not spending, and I fully recognize that blowing heaps of money on an extravagant vacation is not a good idea right before I start grad school. Futhermore, my summer is really starting to fill up. Besides the actual move, I have family visits, weddings, and other obligations that take precedence. Finally, my dear SO and I have been discussing taking a trip together for a while now, but it's looking like the time that would work most for me would not work for him. At this point, it might be hurtful for me to jet off and leave him behind after we've been talking about doing something together for so long.
So hive mind, is there any way for me to feed my travel bug before I descend into grad school? I am really really starting to *feel* the fact that there are so many great cities that I have never seen, and even if I have to put the idea aside this summer, it will be with a sadface.
Or maybe I should just spend my time sleeping and reading the pleasure books that I'll never get to read again? (haha ... No but seriously.)
Hi y'all,
I'm leaving my job and city for grad school at the end of June and I'm super psyched. I'm even more psyched that I'm going to a program with my tuition and some other expenses covered by a fellowship, so no debt.
I'm now trying to figure out the logistics of the summer - I was bitten by the travel bug a long time ago and would love to go on some kind of real vacation if I can. I never spent summers abroad in college because I was working, and while working at my job these past few summers, I tried to scrimp and save while thinking how great it would be to finally see Paris while I'm still young and mortgage-less. Or Rome. You get the picture.
Unfortunately, though, time and money are against me. I really really need to be saving more, not spending, and I fully recognize that blowing heaps of money on an extravagant vacation is not a good idea right before I start grad school. Futhermore, my summer is really starting to fill up. Besides the actual move, I have family visits, weddings, and other obligations that take precedence. Finally, my dear SO and I have been discussing taking a trip together for a while now, but it's looking like the time that would work most for me would not work for him. At this point, it might be hurtful for me to jet off and leave him behind after we've been talking about doing something together for so long.
So hive mind, is there any way for me to feed my travel bug before I descend into grad school? I am really really starting to *feel* the fact that there are so many great cities that I have never seen, and even if I have to put the idea aside this summer, it will be with a sadface.
Or maybe I should just spend my time sleeping and reading the pleasure books that I'll never get to read again? (haha ... No but seriously.)
You do a bit of answering your own question here--at least to my eye, the reasons against traveling right now outweigh the reason to do it. Not only are there financial disincentives, but personal ones too.
Why not really max out the advantages of the academic lifestyle and apply to some European conferences happening next summer? If the conference and/or your school is nice, you'll get some travel funding, and nobody will care if you're out there for two months instead of two days.
posted by Beardman at 9:16 AM on April 27, 2011
Why not really max out the advantages of the academic lifestyle and apply to some European conferences happening next summer? If the conference and/or your school is nice, you'll get some travel funding, and nobody will care if you're out there for two months instead of two days.
posted by Beardman at 9:16 AM on April 27, 2011
What if you planned to go next summer? I really needed some time off my first summer after grad school, and that would give you and your SO some time to plan.
posted by craichead at 9:16 AM on April 27, 2011
posted by craichead at 9:16 AM on April 27, 2011
As a counterpoint to halogen, I don't find traveling by myself to be depressing - I highly prefer it to traveling with others. But it's a personal thing, and people are different.
Any chance you could channel your disappointment over not getting to travel this year into really making it happen next year? Using it to motivate you to scrimp and save and block it out on your calendar (and your SO's calendar) early? Planning and anticipating is half the fun of travel, IMO. And the world will be here next summer (well, most of it, anyway).
posted by mskyle at 10:28 AM on April 27, 2011
Any chance you could channel your disappointment over not getting to travel this year into really making it happen next year? Using it to motivate you to scrimp and save and block it out on your calendar (and your SO's calendar) early? Planning and anticipating is half the fun of travel, IMO. And the world will be here next summer (well, most of it, anyway).
posted by mskyle at 10:28 AM on April 27, 2011
I don't know what your question is.
If you want to go somewhere and have the money, then of course you should go. Keep in mind, too, that there are a lot of places one can go that are far cheaper than Paris. Especially if you're willing to rough it a little. And in any case, everyone should always be "saving". It's silly not to have experiences now out of some sense of guilt that you ought to be doing X sensible thing instead.
If you want to travel but you don't have the time to do it then... don't?
I like the suggestion of deciding to make a trip happen next year if you can't go right now. I did this last fall - I decided my 30th birthday present to myself would be a trip to Rome to visit a friend of mine. It was much easier to plan that way than to just have some vague idea of The Travel Bug or whatever.
For what it's worth, I love traveling alone and find traveling with someone else to be incredibly difficult. I can't predict what you will or won't wish/regret/whatever, but I think it bears mentioning that not everyone feels the same as halogen about this sort of thing.
I certainly wouldn't stay home because you can't find a traveling companion. That's absolutely ridiculous - if you want to go somewhere, then go. If you "can't" because you can't find a friend who wants to take the exact same trip as you, then you don't really want to travel very much at all and should just save your money and stay home.
posted by Sara C. at 11:12 AM on April 27, 2011
If you want to go somewhere and have the money, then of course you should go. Keep in mind, too, that there are a lot of places one can go that are far cheaper than Paris. Especially if you're willing to rough it a little. And in any case, everyone should always be "saving". It's silly not to have experiences now out of some sense of guilt that you ought to be doing X sensible thing instead.
If you want to travel but you don't have the time to do it then... don't?
I like the suggestion of deciding to make a trip happen next year if you can't go right now. I did this last fall - I decided my 30th birthday present to myself would be a trip to Rome to visit a friend of mine. It was much easier to plan that way than to just have some vague idea of The Travel Bug or whatever.
For what it's worth, I love traveling alone and find traveling with someone else to be incredibly difficult. I can't predict what you will or won't wish/regret/whatever, but I think it bears mentioning that not everyone feels the same as halogen about this sort of thing.
I certainly wouldn't stay home because you can't find a traveling companion. That's absolutely ridiculous - if you want to go somewhere, then go. If you "can't" because you can't find a friend who wants to take the exact same trip as you, then you don't really want to travel very much at all and should just save your money and stay home.
posted by Sara C. at 11:12 AM on April 27, 2011
I traveled alone for a month before I started grad school, and I was immensely happy I did so. I think it's important to put yourself into a new frame of mind in preparation for grad school, and there's nothing as self-altering as travel. It doesn't have to be long, or costly (it could entail going to a new city for a week and just exploring) but it was good for me as a way to reframe myself, to transition from working to the process of breaking boundaries and entering new spaces though learning/further schooling.
posted by suedehead at 2:00 PM on April 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by suedehead at 2:00 PM on April 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Presumably you're pretty young and also eligible for student discounts. It's a long time since I was either, but those things make it possible to both travel cheaply and pretty easily meet up with like-minded folks on the road. (Assuming you're thinking backpacking rather than staying at the Sheraton.)
Whether the pluses of traveling outweigh the minuses of using up the cash and possibly irking your SO are not things that anyone else can judge for you.
I will say this though... life is short, and being young doesn't last forever.
posted by philipy at 3:02 PM on April 27, 2011
Whether the pluses of traveling outweigh the minuses of using up the cash and possibly irking your SO are not things that anyone else can judge for you.
I will say this though... life is short, and being young doesn't last forever.
posted by philipy at 3:02 PM on April 27, 2011
Many "youth hostels" no longer have age requirements. Also, aside from the amazing "why didn't I know about this five years ago" Australian Working Holiday, there are very few student/youth discounts to be had these days. I just got back from Europe, and while there were a few student discounts at museums and such, it was a couple Euro off. Not a big chunk of your travel budget.
Unless you want to spend six months or a year living in Australia, I would not let rumors of big discounts for young people inspire you to travel now rather than later.
(Though I still think you should travel now if you have the time and money.)
posted by Sara C. at 3:41 PM on April 27, 2011
Unless you want to spend six months or a year living in Australia, I would not let rumors of big discounts for young people inspire you to travel now rather than later.
(Though I still think you should travel now if you have the time and money.)
posted by Sara C. at 3:41 PM on April 27, 2011
One nice perk of grad school is conference travel. So long as you write good papers, you'll probably end up at at least one conference per year, probably with partial if not full funding from your department or school (at least in my discipline). Sure, it's a working trip, but still!
posted by Alterscape at 9:02 PM on April 27, 2011
posted by Alterscape at 9:02 PM on April 27, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Travelling by yourself is, in my opinion, incredibly depressing -- you'll just keep wishing there was someone with whom you could share the amazing sights and experiences, and all you'll want to do is come back with someone you care about (and I consider myself fairly independent and love spending time by myself).
posted by halogen at 9:09 AM on April 27, 2011 [1 favorite]