How to convince boyfriend he CAN afford to travel! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**NitemareHippieGirl** · 05-14-2007, 08:19 AM

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**maracle** · 05-14-2007, 10:02 AM

Maybe a study abroad semester/year would be a good first start? Sounds like he could handle living in Germany pretty easily.

**ajb3000** · 05-14-2007, 10:30 AM

I'm in a similar position and make some fairly big sacrifices to go travelling, which I consider absolutely worth it as travelling really is my passion.

For starters, I didn't take my car to Uni which saves a huge amount of money on things like road tax, insurance, petrol, parking fees etc.

Then I'm really careful about what I spend during term time, only going out once a week or less and always eating home cooked food, plus cycling around town instead of catching the bus.

Thirdly I have a holiday job at which I work as many shifts as humanly possible whenever I'm home (usually a few weeks over xmas and easter and maybe some in the summer as well, after I get back from my travels).

Then if that still doesn't cover it, students in the UK get an interest free overdraft which I use as a backup and pay off when I get back.

Also, make sure you tell him that travelling (to certain places) isn't as expensive as people think. Flights espiecally these days are far cheaper than they ever used to be with budget airlines, and long haul budget airlines are starting to appear now as well, I recently bought a one-way ticket from Hong Kong to London for £75 (US$150)!

**indierock05** · 05-14-2007, 11:36 AM

Unfortunately, some people are just stubborn and dont actually want to travel. Personally, I think there is something wrong with them but hey, who am I to say...

As for your bf, being a poor student myself, I balanced three-four jobs and school this past year to be able to afford my next journey. It's just a matter of wanting it bad enough and if he is too lazy to even get a passport, I'd say not to push because it will be a long hard fight.

Good luck

**c0urt** · 05-14-2007, 12:30 PM

tell him to be a become a travel punk where he can read the great stories of other people travelling on the cheap. or maybe take the occasional short trip on the cheap so he can get used to it. i did a europe on 600 bucks and had a blast out of that 600 i bought my plan ticket back to the states

**simply_angelic** · 05-14-2007, 12:35 PM

why doesnt he try trvalling FOR school, like taking study abroad programs. That way he's still getting credits to graduate, can apply for grants/scholorships for the programs (the benefit of going through the school), and he wont be spending much more (if any) more than he would during the year for school...(this is supposing that his grades are good & he can get the grants, but from the way you speak it sounds like he can)

**freespiritz** · 05-14-2007, 12:51 PM

Study abroad is definitely a rockin' way to go. I made money off my last study abroad thanks to the wonderful allowance that they gave us, and used that to travel for another month after. Right now I'm in Jamaica on another study abroad, which I did have to pay for, but it's still a very worthwhile and cheap way to go. I've also done the grants thing from college for smaller trips.

Thing is, he really needs to WANT to do it, and if he does, he'll figure something out. Good luck!

**BelfastFlyer** · 05-14-2007, 02:26 PM

tell him sex is better in a foreign country

**omisan** · 05-14-2007, 04:16 PM

I didn't get to travel abroad during school - largely because of the budget thing, and also because I was awaiting US citizenship and didn't have a valid passport for the study abroad programs...

While I wouldn't advise putting any sort of travel off if it's at all feasible, it's also been just as rewarding and fun not starting my international travels until well after I was done with school.. Sure, there's more free time before you're thrust into the 9-5 world, but it's definitely not horrible, either

**NitemareHippieGirl** · 05-14-2007, 05:36 PM

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**micdans** · 05-14-2007, 06:44 PM

He sounds like he's in the same boat I'm in; and I went to Europe last summer. School is mostly covered by loans and scholarships, the rest out of my pocket. What I did was worked for the first 2.5 months of the summer and then took the last month off and used some of the money I made for the trip. It worked out pretty well financially, except for this spring I was really starting to run low on cash. But it worked out. Maybe he could try something like that.