The following resources will provide you with some additional information about drying fruit, vegetables, and even meat.

• Backwoods Home Magazine - Food Drying
• Virginia Cooperative Extension - Drying Fruits and Vegetables
• Farm Gal - How to Dry Fruits and Vegetables
• Food Reference Website - Dried Fruit

*Most resources claim that you need high temperatures of 95 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit for solar drying to be effective. However, I dry fruit every week in temperatures that never make it over 80 Fahrenheit, so it is my opinion that these figures are a little high.

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So, you’ve just gotten back from a 2 year budget travel escapade around the world. It was the most memorable experience of your life, but now it’s over and time for the difficult transition back into “real life”. You find yourself with a million things to do. You have to find somewhere to live, buy a car, and most importantly GET A JOB!

In my experience, most employers look favorably on an applicant who has taken time out of their life to travel the world, learn new languages, and adapt to new cultures. However, not all employers are as progressive and worldly as the ones I have had experience with, and regardless of their outlook on world budget travel, you WILL have to explain and even defend what you have been up to for the past 2 years. Most long term travelers learn more in their years of travel than they do in any job or in any school, but you need to prove this to prospective employers so that they don’t think you’ve simply been partying for the last 2 years of your life (even if you have)!

Your resume will be a prospective employer’s first glance into your work and life history. The point of a resume is to make you stand out enough to get to the interview stage. A period of long-term travel should make you stand out in one way or another, so you just need to assure that your travel experience makes you stand out in a positive way.

In general employers are looking for tangible experience that you have had in the past, that would make you well suited for a position in their organization. Therefore you must look at your travel experience, and write about it as if it were a job. What specific things did you do that made you a successful traveler? Like any other past work experience, your description of travel section should not take up more than 4-5 lines, and should highlight points relative to the job you are applying for.

Below I have compiled a list of good, action verb descriptions that can be used to describe most long-term traveling ventures, and highlight commonly valued skills such as leadership, teamwork, dependability, creativity, and adaptability.

20 Blurbs to Describe Travel on your Resume:

These blurbs are meant to inspire thought on the many different aspects of travel you can highlight on your resume. They should NOT be simply copied and pasted into your resume, but rather combined with specific and honest travel experiences to emphasize all that you learned and accomplished.

1. Adapted to foreign cultures and ways of life
2. Mastered local languages
3. Recognized key resources to aid in my travel goals
4. Collaborated with local institutions to investigate travel options
5. Incorporated local customs into my daily routine
6. Encouraged open communication between foreigners and locals
7. Budgeted ____ months of world travel on just $____
8. Promoted intercultural exchange
9. Forged lasting friendships and relationships with people of all backgrounds
10. Inspired impoverished communities to take control of their lives
11. Overcame societal differences to promote cultural understanding
12. Motivated fellow travelers to share in local ways of life
13. Equipped impoverished locals with western methodologies to achieve their goals
14. Developed creative solutions to maximize travel experience on a limited budget
15. Led fellow travelers through unknown regions of the world
16. Modified my way of life to maximize exposure and opportunities for learning among foreign cultures
17. Developed a deeper understanding for what is really important in life
18. Organized fellow travelers to pursue travel goals that were of interest all involved
19. Meticulously observed everything around me to ensure safe travel at all times
20. Overcame ethnocentric tendencies to better understand foreign cultures within their own unique contexts

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It’s a common response, after traveling the world, many travelers want to give something back to the communities that so graciously hosted them throughout their journey. This often comes in the form of a monetary donation, but it is important to realize that all donations are NOT equal. Some donations go to wonderful, need-fulfilling, sustainable projects, while others go to unplanned, poorly managed projects, that will likely fail within the next 5 years. Sound like an exaggeration? Well it’s really not. A big problem facing the international development community is not just lack of funding, but mismanagement of the funds that they do have. Just look at this article by World Changing regarding a recent donation by Bicycling Magazine and Kona Bicycles to Botswana, Africa. The donation, in large part was a failure, and a waste of money that could have gone to other programs that really do help poor communities in Botswana. The main problem was simply that Bicycling Magazine and Kona Bicycles did not do any of the necessary research before implementing their project, and committed the cardinal sin in international development, introduced a project that did not have strong local support.

What is a donation?

Before you can make a responsible donation, you have to understand what a donation is. A donation is a purchase, like any other. The only difference is that, with a donation, you are not purchasing a good or service for yourself, but rather for someone else. In most cases this involves donating money to a development organization with the assumption that they will put your money to the most possible good. The problem here is that most people assume that all development organizations are extremely competent, experienced, and make informed decisions. However, the reality is that development organizations are run by the same type service workers that run law offices, banks, or even your local barbershop. Some of them are outstanding, dedicated, and experienced workers who are extremely good at what they do. But the majority are simply average workers living from paycheck to paycheck. Therefore, your goal as a responsible donator is the same as any other responsible consumer, do your homework and ensure that you make a donation to one of the really outstanding organizations that will give you the most bang for your buck.

How to find an Exceptional Project to Donate to:

• Learn: The very first step is to learn as much as possible about the community you are interested in helping. Talk to locals as well as outsiders that have been living and working in those communities for years, and try to get a feel for the real problems facing the community. What are their strengths, weaknesses, what social, or political obstacles need to be overcome, what has worked in the past, and more importantly what has failed in the past?
• Research the product: Research the work that is currently being done in these communities to determine what your different options are as a donator. Most donators simply unload their money on the first organization they find without first researching what all the other options are. Don’t make this mistake, approach this purchase like you would any other, and research the market as opposed to making an impulse buy.
• Assess Need: Is the work being done actually necessary, or does it just sound nice? Building playground equipment sounds like a nice idea, but when people are chronically malnourished and dieing of AIDS, it may not be the best use of your money.
• Assess Competence: Development work is NOT easy. If it were, we would have solved problems like poverty, overpopulation, and environmental degradation a long time a go. The reality is that these are extremely complicated problems, that require complex, and creative solutions from very dedicated and experienced workers in the field. As a responsible donator, you MUST research these organizations. You need to determine who has been around for a while, who is actually in touch with the community, who is realistic, and who has been successful in the past. You will likely find that the number of organizations that meet these 4 requirements compose a very short list, so don’t make the mistake of donating to someone who does not.
• Consider Sustainability: If you can narrow your choice down to one good development organization, you will probably find that they are very concerned with the sustainability of their work. If the modern international development field has taught us one thing, it is that one time aid donations DO NOT work. With any development project a long term plan must be calculated to ensure that systems are set in place and that people are trained in a sustainable way, so that the entire project (and all funding involved) does not fall apart 5-10 years down the road.

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I’m back! I apologize for the 10 day hiatus from posting, but unfortunately had some urgent business to take care regarding my work here in Ecuador.

In the past I have written a number of articles outlining all the possibilities available to the budget traveler. How to see the world, and spend just pennies along the way! To be honest, I actually get some kind of strange masochistic satisfaction from a true $5 dollar/day budget travel escapade. For the past two and a half years, I have lived on just $300/month, and at times as little as $150/month, traveling and working in the Andes Region of South America.

I consistently recommend this kind of frugality and fiscal creativity to any prospective travelers who are concerned about the financial side of travel. It is quite possible to travel much of the world on as little as $10/day. However, I do understand that extreme budget travel is not for everyone, and that we need to be realistic when talking about it as an option.

Therefore, what does extreme budget travel actually mean? What is actually possible at the bottom end of the travel budget spectrum? What will you have to live without?

What you can afford:

• Dorm Rooms:You will have to forget about private rooms and private baths. The goal should be accommodation for around $5/night. In most regions of the world, this will mean shared dormitory style rooms in quaint hostels. Don’t forget your earplugs and a couple sleeping pills (on occasion) as someone in your room is guaranteed to snore or talk in their sleep!
• BASIC Meals: Forget about your favorite foods back home. Unless they are rice, bananas, or potatoes, they are likely too expensive to eat during your extreme budget travels. You can still eat balanced meals, but the majority of your calories will likely come from cheap local foods rich in carbohydrates. The meals will be repetitive, but they’ll fill you up without emptying your wallet.
• Cultural Integration: While living on a budget, you will find yourself living in the same style as local populations. Your interactions with them are free but rewarding. Well worth taking advantage of.
• Nature: In the “developed” world, it is often hard to find true nature without renting a private vehicle and paying high entrance fees. However, in the rest of the world, nature is still free, and can be found right outside your hostel door. Hiking, trekking, and camping are great ways to see the world, almost for free!

What to forget:

• Alcohol: This is a disappointing one for me… Unfortunately nightly binge drinking sessions can really burn a hole in your pocket. When traveling on an extreme budget, it is better to limit the purchase of alcohol to less frequent occasions.
• Comfortable Transportation: Travel in comfort? Haha, forget about it!? Travel in cramped quarters on rickety buses and trains, is more like it. I always get a chuckle from people’s complaints about flying “coach”. Try traveling 15 hours over African back-roads, in the back of a pickup truck with 20 other people and an assortment of chickens, pigs, and goats!
• Europe / North America: In most cases these areas are just too expensive for the extreme budget traveler. However, the options throughout Asia, Latin America, and even Africa are vast.

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Let’s face it, when traveling on a budget, it is key that you meet new people who can help you out. Whether their help be through site-specific tips, reduced rates, cultural insight, or simply companionship, you can’t do it all alone. I think most would agree that the majority of budget travelers are extremely friendly, sociable, and easy to get along with, which is great for getting to know new people. However, one advantage that I rarely see budget travelers take advantage of is:

Their Looks!

You know it back home, that exotic girl or guy from Brazil, Thailand, or the South Pacific. There’s just something about those striking features, mysterious eyes, and tanned skin that makes them extremely attractive.

Well, believe it or not, the same principal works reverse. When traveling through South Asia, Africa, or Latin America, our pale skin, rosy cheeks, and freckles are actually attractive! Crazy I know, but true!

This is something that I see many budget travelers have a hard time realizing. And usually once they realize it, they simply think of it as an annoyance. The hoots and hollers walking down the street, unwanted attention, etc… However, as the world’s super models, actors, and actresses can tell you, beauty can be an incredible asset, if you know how to use it.

The following are three tips to help you get what you want while on the road, by using your looks:

• Be confident: Even if you don’t think you are especially attractive, I guarantee the Argentine across the table does. Accept it, and use it to your advantage. Act like you are Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, and people will treat you that way.
• Use it: I usually just hear travelers complain about being perceived as attractive in foreign cultures. You can get frustrated about the extra attention, but you’ll never change an entire society on your own. Why not use it to your advantage? Ask people of the opposite sex to do things for you, and they will usually comply! Looking for a discount? Ask and you shall receive!
• Accept it: The last problem I see budget travelers have in using their looks to their advantage, is they often feel like they are taking advantage of others. I understand this sentiment, and sometimes feel this way myself, but like it or not, that’s simply how the world works. You might as well use it to your advantage when you can, or get started planning a revolution against attractive people…

Photo: www.scienceandsupermodels.com

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A lot of people are a little anxious about hitting the road on their own. Understandably, they are worried about safety, loneliness, extra costs, or would just like someone to share their traveling experience with. It isn’t always possible to travel with friends from home, as everyone has their own obligations, schedules, interests, and budgets. So, what can you do if you really want to travel, but don’t want to embark on the journey alone, and don’t have any friends to travel with?

Find a “travel buddy”! Luckily, the traveling community, in general, is an extremely open crowd, always looking to make new friends! You can very easily take advantage of this openness, to find new people with similar travel plans and interests to travel with. The following are the 3 best ways to find a travel buddy, once you’ve exhausted all of your options at home (friends, networking, etc.)

1. Find Someone Online: Like pretty much everything else these days, the internet holds solutions to this problem. They are in the form of online travel communities. There are a number of forums online where you can post and browse listings for travel partners, and it is relatively easy to find people interested in traveling to popular destinations like Europe, Japan, SE Asia, and the United States.

Pros:

• You can start your search from home, meaning you don’t waste travel time looking for a travel buddy.
• Usually have a high number of people to consider

Cons:

• Harder to actually get to know someone over the internet.
• Can be difficult finding responses for less mainstream travel destinations

Recommendations:

1. Post your own listings as opposed to only browsing listings made by others. Other users often open their travels up to anyone interested. With your own posting YOU can control exactly how many people you travel with, and who you travel with.
2. Give yourself plenty of time to find a travel partner online. Do NOT wait until the week before your trip to start looking. You do not want to be desperate, accepting any wacko that writes back as your new travel partner. It will take time to find someone who is a good fit.

Websites and Online Forums for finding a Travel Partner

• Thorntree - Travel Companions
• Gumtree - Travel Partners
• Rough Guides - Travel Partners
• BootsnAll - Travel Buddies
• Soul Escape
• Travel Chums

*The above links will take you to the actual “travel partner” forum in each online community. However, I would also advise posting your search in the appropriate destination(s) specific forum(s) as well.

2. Meet People on the Road: The next option is the old-fashioned method of just meeting people along the way. If you have the time, I would say this is the best way to find a travel buddy that you really enjoy being with. As far as finding someone, the idea is simple. Spend a lot of time where other travelers tend to hang out. This means backpacker hostels, internet cafes, British Pubs, traveler clubhouses, etc. Research ahead of time to find out if your travel destination has any kind of Travelers Club or Organization, as they usually post listings of fellow journey men and women looking for traveling partners.

Pros:

• Have the opportunity to get to know your potential travel buddies in person
• Forces you to meet new people, and be proactive about your search

Cons:

• Requires using your travel time to search for a travel buddy
• There’s no guarantee you will actually find someone to travel with

Recommendations

• Be flexible in your travel plans. Don’t try to make your new friends conform to one specific travel itinerary. If they already have a travel plan, go along with them (you can always split off at a later date), and if they don’t, work together to come up with something you are both interested in.

3. Couchsurf: The last option is a kind of mix between solo travel, and travel with a partner, and involves utilizing Hospitality Exchanges (click here if for more information about hospitality exchanges). By using hospitality exchanges, you can hop from place to place on your own, but will have a local buddy (and place to stay) in each new city/town you visit. This option is fundamentally different from the previous two, as it doesn’t involve one full-time travel partner, but rather a different partner in each new place that you visit.

Pros:

• Allows time for solo travel as well as travel with a partner
• Accommodation is provided by your buddy in each new town
• Meet lots of new people
• Usually your hospitality exchange is with a local, which means insider tips and advice
• Can be organized weeks or months before your visit

Cons:

• Don’t have one full time travel partner that you can really get to know, and share all aspects of your travel experience with
• Hospitality exchange partners don’t always have the time or interest to spend all day with travelers
• Locals aren’t always interested in doing the types of things first-timers are interested in.
• Still have to make it from A to B on your own

Recommendations:

• This option is best used by a traveler who enjoys and is comfortable with solo travel, but just wants the safety net of a friend in each new area that can provide advise, an insider’s look, and company on occasion (not to mention a free place to stay).

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Every one of us travels, at least some of the time. It could be a visit to a city park, to grandma’s house, or halfway around the world, doesn’t matter it’s still travel. Usually, here on Go Budget Travel I limit my posts to topics pertinent to the budget travel crowd, however, today I would like to provide some very simple, though often overlooked, tips on how all of us can “travel better” or “enjoy travel MORE”.

1. Move Slowly: Probably the most expensive, exhausting, and in my opinion WORST way to travel is by racing from site to site in an attempt to see it all. It’s much better to really enjoy and understand one site, than to “see” 10 of them just to cross them off your list.
2. Blend In: Don’t be “that guy” from out-of-town. Arguably the most interesting and enlightening aspect of travel is getting to know other cultures. However, it is very hard to get to know other cultures if nobody wants to talk to you because you’re the “idiot from Springfield”. Take a cue from the locals, and live as they do. If they are loud and brash, join right along, but if they are a little more reserved, tone it down some. Live like they do, eat like they do, move like they do, and you will start to understand a little more about who they are.
3. Talk to the locals: Locals hold the key to the city, the country, and the culture. Sure, you can see all the “tourist sites” without them, but if you want to find the best pizza in New York, the best Pub in London, experience authentic native culture in Africa, or hear insider thoughts on Islam in the Middle East, you really need to talk to the locals. They will make your experience so much more interesting and enjoyable.
4. Try New Things: Travel is an adventure. Get out and try new things! Eat local foods, try local drinks, get out of international hotels and stay in local bed-and-breakfasts or backpacker hostels, give it a shot! Some of your most memorable moments will be the unexpected adventures. Like taking shots of fermented snake juice with an wannabe cowboy named Sasha at a saloon in rural Ecuador (me last week).
5. Cut Loose: One of the greatest things about travel is that you’re not going to be there forever. You can make a complete fool of yourself, then just move on. So, enjoy yourself, don’t worry about how you look, and have fun!

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Regions like Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, offer an amazing opportunity to travel and see the world, at a fraction of what it costs to travel throughout Europe or North America. However, unlike Europe and North America where you can find volumes of money saving tips off the internet or from guidebooks, the developing world is a much less “charted” frontier. It takes a little bit of time to learn how to best make your way through these amazing lands without getting ripped-off, or paying for expensive services when the cheap ones will do just fine.

The following is a list of what I like to call the “5 fundamentals of Budget Travel in the Developing World”, and is meant to be an introduction to the ideas and mindset behind budget travel in regions like: Southeast Asia, Central Asia, China, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America, and South America. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and to add to the list below in the comments section.

1. Book with Local Companies: This one is huge. If I had a nickel for every traveler I’ve met in a developing country that paid an outrageous sum of money to some international operator to organize their trip, I would be able to afford an international operator. International operator that organize tour packages around the world serve a purpose (basically they organize everything so you don’t have to - and do so at a high fee), but if you are on a budget they ARE NOT the way to go. Instead support the local businesses and book your tour with local companies who could really use the money, and who will charge you half what a big international operator would. For example as ascent of the Cotopaxi Volcano in Ecuador with an international tour company like South American Experience will cost you around $310, while an equal ascent of the same volcano only costs around $198 with a highly reputable local company like Moggely Climbing.
2. Eat like a local: Forget about all your favorite foods and snacks back home, as they are probably imported and expensive where you are traveling. Instead eat in basic local restaurants, and learn to cook with locally produced ingredients. Ask the local women for advice.
3. Travel like a local: Avoid flying, taxis, and other relatively expensive forms of transportation whenever possible. Ask the locals the best and cheapest ways to get from point A to point B, and follow their advice. In most regions of the world this means taking buses, minibuses, or trains. It’s not always a glamorous way to travel, but is extremely economical when compared with other options such as flying.

   *With the recent emergence and price wars among low-fare carriers in Asia, it is now possible to find reasonable flights throughout much of Asia. Again, just do the research, ask the locals, and you should have no trouble finding the best fares.

4. Get travel tips from fellow travelers that have been there before: For site-specific travel tips, your best resources are your fellow travelers. People who have been there before can give you great advice on where to go, what to do, what to avoid, etc. Just ask fellow travelers you meet throughout your travels, in hostels, internet cafes, or get online and get advice from one of the many online travel forums such as: Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree Forum, Trip Advisor or the BootsnAll Forum. The online forums are great, just sign-up, post a question and you should have a couple of answers within 24 hours.
5. Get non-travel tips from the locals: For basic logistical matters, you have a whole country of experts to ask. Locals are usually more than willing to give advice on how to get around, what to beware of, what’s available, where to eat, etc. While information can be unreliable when you ask total strangers for advice, if you can make a couple of friends and direct your more important questions at people that are actually concerned with your well-being, hostel workers, you will likely find their advice and tips to be very valuable.

5 comments

When traveling on a budget, it is important to learn quickly how much things cost, and how to save money in whatever region of the world you’re currently in. In developed areas, such as Western Europe, the United States, or Canada, this is usually as simple as opening up a guidebook or logging onto the internet. However, in the developing world there’s a much steeper learning curve when it comes to budget travel.

In most developing regions of the world, guidebooks just barely skim the surface when it comes to pointing out the nicest budget hostels, or the best cheap eats. The reality is that businesses like hostels and small restaurants open and close every single day, making it next to impossible to put together detailed, budget travel information on such a location. Through trial and error alone, it can take weeks to figure out how much everything costs, and to develop money saving strategies. So, how can you expedite this process, and start spending your money more efficiently without weeks of wasting it simply because you didn’t know any better? The answer, ask the local women!

No matter where you are in the developing world, I guarantee the local women are the ones that really know how to manage the money. Their knowledge could literally fill 10 guidebooks with site-specific budget travel tips. They can tell you: where the good cheap restaurants are, where to find clean budget accommodations, the cheapest way to get from A to B, how much a taxi should cost, etc… Ask them what the inexpensive, locally produced, food products are, and they will not only name the food but give you 1001 different ways to prepare it.

The local women really do hold a treasure trove of information for the budget traveler. Luckily, all you need to do to unlock it, is to ask!

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