The final Travel Myth Buster Series excuse I would like to address for not incorporating international travel into one’s life is:

Every other excuse that I have addressed in the Travel Myth Buster Series, I have believed whole-heartedly to be a bad reason for not traveling. This final excuse, however, is a little more difficult. Traveling solo as a female can be a very nerve-racking experience. Unfortunately, a solo traveling female is often seen as a target. And even if you do everything right, you can never guarantee an incident-free experience.

I have decided that I will not write on this topic personally, as I am a 25 year old male who has never and will never experience solo female travel. Instead I’d like to write about the thousands of women around the world who have already begun what is turning into a small movement of solo female travelers. I think the best thing a prospective solo female traveler can do, is to listen to what the experienced female travelers have to say, their stories, tips, and advice, then make a personal decision as to whether or not solo travel is right for them.

86% of women have already traveled alone or said they would be “up for it” in the future:

A recent AirMiles survey (found via Gapyear.com) showed that 21% of their female customers have already traveled alone. 51% said they’d be “up for it” in the future, and another 14% said that they would be “up for it” if travel was in a developed western country. This leaves only 14% that would NOT consider the idea.

Obviously, if you are a female considering solo travel, you are not alone. There are literally thousands of women out there that have already gotten on-board, and many more that will in the future. So, how can you find out more?

Ask the experts!

If you are interested in solo female travel, my recommendation is to learn as much as you can from those who have already experienced it. By listening to their stories you can better determine if solo travel is something you are interested in, or something you’re not comfortable with for the time being.

Writers and Bloggers: There are a number of writers and bloggers who have recently picked up the topic of solo female travel.

• Wanderlust and Lipstick: Beth Whitman has emerged as the un-spoken leader of the “female solo traveler’s movement”. Her recent book “Wanderlust and Lipstick: The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo” has received solid reviews from large publications such as USA Today, as well independent and trusted sites such as Brave New Traveler and Go Backpacking. Beth provides great insight, inspiration, and advice on the topic of female travel, and even runs her own blog devoted to the solo female traveler.
• Stay Safe But Don’t Stay Home: A must read by Zahara Heckscher. Does a fantastic job outlining the potential risks of solo female travel, as well as the an explanation of common local assumptions of western women.
• Journey Woman: Journey Woman is an online publication exclusively for female travelers. The design is a bit “1993”, but there is a lot of good content pertaining to safety as well many other topics of interest to female travelers.
• Travel Minx: The Travel Minx (aka Shona Riddell) is also a seasoned veteran when it comes to solo female travel. She writes on the topic occasionally with posts like Top Safety Tips for Women Travelers, and is always quick to respond to comments and questions.

Online Forums: Online travel forums are also a great way to get in touch with experienced female solo travelers. These forums are normally populated with a number of well-traveled and even expat females who can provide a wealth of knowledge regarding site-specific descriptions of local environments facing female travelers.

*A simple but effective question to ask is, “I’m considering solo travel in country ______ as a female. Can any fellow female travelers give me their recommendations or advice?”

• Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree
• BootsnAll Travel Forum
• Aardvark Travel Forum

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The next Travel Myth Buster Series excuse I would like to address for not incorporating international travel into one’s life is:

It is true that many countries around the world suffer from higher poverty rates than we are accustomed to at home, and with these higher poverty rates often comes an associated increase in crime. However, what many of us fail to remember is that life at home, is not always as safe as we would like either. There are a number of cities and communities in the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia, etc. that would rank right up there among the most dangerous countries in the world. However, do we let these dangerous domestic areas scare us into staying at home or limiting our mobility?

NO! We take stay informed, take the necessary precautions and continue on enjoying our lives!

In this sense, international travel is no different than domestic travel, and it makes the most sense to look at travel safety abroad just like you would domestic travel safety.

1. Get informed:

The first step is to be informed as to where you are going. Would you want to travel to New York immediately after the September 11th terrorist attacks (2001), or to Los Angeles during the Rodney King Riot (1992)? No, of course not, just as you would probably not want to travel to Iraq right now (July, 2007). Simply by staying informed on global situations, we can better determine whether or not a country is safe for travel. Research your potential travel destinations for political unrest, civil unrest, tourist targeted crime, etc. Know and understand what is going on there, so that you can make an informed decision as to whether that is an area you think you will feel comfortable in or not.

The following websites maintain up-to-date records and travel advisories for every country around the world:

• US State Department - Consular Information Sheets: The US State Department maintains a database of travel advisories, notices, and general information for every country in the world.
• All Safe Travels: Extensive database that collects news, notices, and advisories from a number of different sources and display them from one central source. Information on every country around the world.

2. Take the necessary, standard precautions:

Once you have determined that a country or destination IS safe enough for travel, it’s just a matter of taking the necessary precautions. Cities like New York, London, and Paris, are amazing places to visit, however, there are certainly a number of safety concerns associated with each. Do these concerns stop people from visiting? No! Despite safety issues these three cities consistently rank among the most popular tourist destinations in the entire world. Travelers simply take the necessary precautions and enjoy their time there. The same philosophy should be used with international travel. Countries like Brazil, Russia, and Mexico are known internationally for their high levels of crime. However, by practicing caution and staying mindful of safety, the vast majority of travelers feel as safe as they would in their own hometowns and never encounter any problems.

For tips and advice on how to stay safe on the road, check out these articles

• Safety Tips for Backpackers: Good list of tips for staying safe while backpacking
• 33 Travel Safety Tips: Travel safety tips for travelers. Some are a bit excessive, and others are not appropriate for the budget traveling/backpacking crowd. However, the suggested mindset is relevant and correct.

3. Enjoy your travels:

If you do the research, and take the necessary precautions while on the road, there is no reason to fear travel. Go out, explore the world, and enjoy!

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The next Travel Myth Buster Series excuse I would like to address for not incorporating international travel into one’s life is:

To this excuse I have two responses:

1. You absolutely CAN travel alone.
Solo travel can be an amazing experience, allowing you to easily meet new people, travel with unlimited flexibility, assimilate into new cultures, and go pretty much anywhere! Traveling alone is a wonderful learning experience, teaching us who we are, and what we’re capable of! Obviously, there are also some downsides to traveling on your own also, however on the whole I highly recommend everyone try solo travel at least once!

I suggest Ubertramp’s article on The Pros and Cons of Solo Travel for more information on the good and bad points of traveling alone.

2. Finding a travel partner is not difficult.
There is an entire community of very open and interesting travelers out there that are always looking for a new adventure. Even if you can’t find any friends from home to travel with, don’t be discouraged, as you can quite easily meet fellow travelers before or during your trip, with whom you can share your travel experience.

Check out my guide on How to find a Travel Partner for more information.

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The next Travel Myth Buster Series excuse I would like to address for not incorporating international travel into one’s life is:

Another common excuse based on misconceptions. While much of the world DOES speak languages other than English, this should NOT make you anxious about traveling abroad.

1. English has developed as the global language of travel: As the world continues to globalize, English has been adopted as the international language of travel. Now I’m certainly not saying that everyone in the world now speaks English, as this is definitely NOT the case, but in most places you travel to, especially cities and other locations popular with tourists, you will find at least a few people that speak English. They may not speak perfect English, but you can usually find someone with at least basic knowledge of the language, and with simple phrases and a lot of hand movements you can normally get your point across fine. Stay in the nicer hotels, or in the touristy sections of town and you will likely find a number of people who speak very good English.

2. Developing a language base for travel can be quite painless: While it is true that you can get by in most places just using English, it’s still nice to have a little knowledge of the local language to aid you in your travels. This is where most people get discouraged. They think back to the mind-numbing hours they spent in high school Spanish or French class, and get completely turned off to the idea. What they fail to realize, is that you don’t need to spend hours on book study memorizing tenses or irregular verbs to develop a language base to travel on. All you really need is a few practical words and phrases to put in your travel arsenal. Throw in some listening comprehension from an interesting language learning podcast, and you will be well on your way to a developing a basic, travel-oriented knowledge of the necessary language. If you have more time to put into learning the language, by all means do, you WILL be rewarded. But if not, don’t be discouraged, a few hours in the weeks leading up to your trip will give you enough to get by.

Learn New Languages Online for Free:

A little language knowledge will enrich your experience, and the locals will undoubtedly appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to learn THEIR language.

To help you get started, I’ve put together a guide to The 6 Most Influential Languages in the World, and How to Learn them Online for Free.

Further Reading:

For tips on how to effectively learn a new language, check out Travel Minx’s 10 Tips from a Language Learner and Teacher

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The next Travel Myth Buster Series excuse I would like to address for not incorporating international travel into one’s life is:

To be honest, this doesn’t sound much like an excuse to me, but more like a great opportunity to add an incredibly fulfilling new component to your life. If you are anxious about traveling internationally because you never have before, I would say there is not time like the present to get started!

However, I do understand that taking that first step into international travel is a big one, so let me ease your anxiety a little…

There has never been a better time in history to travel: As the world grows “smaller” through technological advancements in transportation and communication, we have never been “closer” to our neighbors half way around the world. Despite new politics limiting immigration in a small minority of countries, on the global scale foreign countries and cultures are more accepting and open to outsiders than ever before. Global tourism is already an enormous industry, but still continues to grow offering us travelers an almost limitless array of travel options for all budgets, interests, and styles. There has never been a better time to get out and actually get to know that planet we are living on!

1. International airfares are dropping: New low-fare airlines are revolutionizing travel across Europe, Asia, and the United States. As demand increases by a new breed of global consumers in developing countries, these fares should drop even further.
2. The internet provides a bevy of resources for travelers: User run websites like Trip Advisor and Wiki Travel, are making site-specific travel information very easy to come by. Guidebooks such as Lonely Planet, Frommer’s, and Let’s Go, to name just a few, are more detailed than ever. You can even log onto online forums like Thorntree or BootsnAll and ask your travel questions to thousands of other travelers around the world. All this information is available at your fingertips, and can make the learning curve to international travel as steep or as gentle as you want to it.
3. It’s now much simpler to ease your way into travel: For better or worse, as the world becomes more globalized it also becomes more homogenized. This allows first-time travelers to ease their way into international travel. You certainly don’t have to begin your experience with a trek through rural Africa. Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and even developing nations such as China, India, Mexico, and Brazil offer the first time traveler amazing new culture and wonders to explore without giving up the lifestyle they have grown accustomed to back home. Even in poorer countries, if you stick to the larger cities, you can usually maintain the amenities and level of comfort you are used to, making the “culture shock” of new environment much easier to handle.

Instead of thinking of your lack of travel experience as an impediment, use it as motivation to get out and try something new! Start slow, do some research, and ease into the experience as I have recommended above, and you will likely begin to wonder how you ever lived without such an exciting and rewarding pursuit in your life!

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For the next installment of the Travel Myth Buster Series I will address another common excuse for not incorporating travel into one’s lifestyle:

If you want to travel and have kids, you basically have two options: 1. You can find someone reliable and trustworthy to leave them with when you travel, since you don’t necessarily need to travel for weeks on end to make it part of your life. 2. Or, take advantage of the more obvious and satisfying option, bring them with you!

There are hundreds of reasons why international travel is a fantastic thing to take part in with your kids, even with your young children. If they can walk and talk, they will love the experience!

Let me start by addressing 2 of the biggest concerns people have for NOT wanting to travel abroad with their children.

1. Safety: An understandable concern for any caring mother and father. However, the unknown truth is that in general foreign countries, even developing countries are not any more dangerous than home. Sure, theft can be a problem, but in general, most countries around the world have lower violent crime rates than we do in the US or in the UK. As long as you take normal everyday precautions, and do some research on potential destinations, you shouldn’t be in harm’s way anymore than you would be crossing the street at home.
2. Missing School The other common and understandable concern is you children missing school. First of all, you can completely dodge this concern by scheduling trips during school vacations. However, if that isn’t possible you first need to decide how long you’ll be able to travel. As I have argued before, you can effectively travel for just 1 or 2 weeks a year, in which case most schools and teachers are usually quite supportive of the child missing a few days in order to go out and actually SEE the world that they are learning about in the classroom. So, what if you want to travel for months, or even a year or more? You still have a number of options, as this is not such an uncommon thing anymore. Homeschooling your children on the road, or even accredited online courses designed for traveling children are both possibilities. See how his family is traveling the world while educating 4 school-age children! Again, the experience and knowledge they gain from traveling the world, will far outweigh any time they miss in the classroom.

Now let’s go over all the possible good that can come from incorporating international travel into the time you spend with you children:

1. Bonding: Having had many a travel partner in my day, I can guarantee with 100% certainty that traveling with your children will be a bonding experience. Even if you rarely see eye to eye with your kids, there is something about being surrounding by a strange new culture and environment that brings people closer together.
2. Worldly knowledge and experience: Like it or not, we live in a global world. Local problems are global problems, and global problems are local. The experience and knowledge your child will get actually seeing other regions of the globe from a young age, will help them immensely in their growth as a world citizen.
3. Compassion and understanding: Going along with number two, the world we live in is far from perfect. However, growing up in the US or Western Europe it is easy to get sucked into the culture of materialism. It will be very valuable for your children to see the problems facing the majority of people on our globe, so that they grow up to be compassionate, understanding individuals.
4. Language learning: Ever wish you spoke a foreign language? Why not give your children that opportunity. Your young children will literally soak up new languages as their brains’ capacities for learning are at their peak at a young age.
5. Diversity: Imagine a childhood in which you have the opportunity to learn the philosophy of Buddhism, the morals of Christianity, and the sense of community behind Islam. Where you meet people and keep up with friends from China, India, Zambia, and Peru. Think of the diversity and multiplicity that would come from such an experience. This is the kind of experience you can give to your child through travel.

Want to hear more about families that have embarked down the great road of travel, TOGETHER?

• Six in the World
• The Carlson Family’s around the world adventure

Or check out these other family travel resources:

• Family Vacations and Travel Blog
• Travelogger.net
• Taking the Kids
• Fun and Educational Family Travel Tips

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With this post in the Travel Myth Buster Series I would like to move away from excuses about money, and into excuses about time. One VERY common excuse I hear people make regularly for not incorporating international travel into their lives is:

To this excuse my reply is usually a simple, “Yes, you do!” The problem with this excuse is that it’s based on some misconceived notion that “travel” is only defined as 6 month backpacking trips across Europe or 3 month treks through the Andes. However, that’s just not true!

In travel as in anything else we endeavor to include in our lives, we work with what we have. If all you can manage is one week a year to go travel, USE IT! Do that 5 years in a row and you you can experience more new cultures, amazing sites, and regions of the globe than most people do in their lifetime. It’s worth it!

As with any other aspect of your life, recognize what you are capable of and take advantage of it. Take one week off this year, and maybe next year you’ll realize you can actually free up two. Don’t stress about not having more time, just make a conscious decision to make the best of what you have. Do you have a little extra time after Christmas, are summer weeks a little slow, can you save up sick or personal days, figure out what you’re capable of and TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!

Make it happen
So, now you have a plan, one week, one new exotic location a year. Now all that’s left to do is to make it happen. Follow these 5 basic steps, and you will embark down a new road as an International Traveler!

1. Set a date: Absolute first step, talk to your boss, coworkers, clients, cat, whoever you work with, and coordinate one week sometime in the next 12 months where you can take off to go traveling. Set this date in stone and work towards it. If not, you will continuously procrastinate, and will never actually realize your dream.

2. Work your ass off: Next step is to work your ass off getting everything in your life in order. You have a goal, you have a time frame, now it’s time to get it done, no excuses. Tie up all loose ends, and use your upcoming trip as motivation.

3. Go enjoy your international experience: Have a fantastic time.

4. Come back ready to work: Come back recharged and ready to work at 110%. Your employer, coworkers, and clients will see this, and it will instill confidence in them for the next time you travel.

5. Start planning for next year’s trip: This is your lifestyle now, get ready for the next amazing trip. African Safari, Trans Siberian Railroad, Fiji?

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Continuing with the Travel Myth Buster Series, and going along with the theme of “money issues” as in the two previous common excuses for not traveling: “I can’t afford to travel”“I have too many expenses, I can’t save money for travel”, is the excuse:

So, you’re in debt, meaning that you have credit cards, student loans, car loans, or some other expense to pay off. Well, your first priority should be coming up with a plan to eliminate debt, or at least getting it down to a manageable level (this all depends on the interest rates you pay and any other counteracting investments you may have). There are literally thousands of resources on the web giving advice and tips on how to get out of debt so I recommend looking over some of the following links to develop your “plan for eliminating debt”.

• 9 Ways to Pay off Debt
• How to Get Out of Debt
• What Debt to Pay off First
• Using 0% Balance Transfers to Pay Off Debt
• How Much Interest are you Paying

After you have a plan for eliminating debt, you can reevaluate your situation, and basically have two options for planning travel into your life.

Pay off all debt, then start saving for travel
If your debt is not too high (under $10,000), and/or you have a lot of high interest rate debt (credit cards) this is probably the best option. Live frugally, make sacrifices, and get your debt back down to a manageable level, or eliminate it entirely. If you cut unnecessary expenses out of your life as I outlined in the previous installment ”I can’t save money for travel”, it shouldn’t take too long to take control of your debt. Once you are debt free you will feel a huge burden lifted from your shoulders, will already have developed some great experience in cutting unnecessary expenses from your life, and will be in the perfect position to start saving for travel. As I have said before, if you truly value travel as an end, you will find that the sacrifices you make in saving will be paid back 100 times by the experience you will get standing in front of the pyramids in Egypt or snorkeling with sea lions on the Galapagos Islands!

Stick to your plan, and save for travel on the side
So what if you owe a lot more? What if you owe $50,000 or $100,000 in student loans? This is a common problem among my generation, as college and especially graduate school have become so outrageously expensive. It seems that half of my friends are now locked in 30 year loan repayment plans to pay off law or medical school. However, due to the nature of these loans, my friends can still afford to travel relatively easily.

The most important thing about paying off a high, low-interest loan, is to have a plan and to stick to it. Because interest rates are low, and the payment schedule spaced out over 15-30 years, it is not necessary to pump every penny you make back into the repayment of these loans. In other words, make your payments, and keep yourself sane! It is not wise, nor responsible to live an extravagant lifestyle while tens of thousands of dollars in debt, but as I have outlined before you can definitely afford to add budget travel into your lifestyle on occasion. Just save a little money on the side by living frugally, and after a few months of saving you will be able to afford that big trip!

*Again, it’s all about recognizing travel as something you want in your life, and making simple, conscious decisions to incorporate it into your routine.

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In the previous installment of this week’s Travel Myth Buster Series I argued the common excuse of “I Can’t Afford to Travel” and showed that you can easily organize an exciting international trip for $500-$600, or even less.

So, that leads us to the next for not traveling:

A lot of people claim that even when offered an amazing travel opportunity for a price as low as $500-$600, that they are still unable to save that amount for travel.

Well, my response to this is Do you really want to travel? Because if you really value travel as an end, if you really want to explore the world, visit new cultures, and see global wonders, then with a few short-term lifestyle changes, saving $500-$600 for a life-changing travel experience should be a breeze!

How it works:
Think about it, how much money you spend on “negligible” everyday expenses at home? And how far could that same “negligible” amount of money take you abroad. A $1.00 bottle of Coca Cola at home can buy you an entire meal abroad in South America, a $7.00 movie could be a night’s accommodation in India, a $70.00 night on the town could support you for a week in Southeast Asia!

Now most of us aren’t willing to just give up soda, movies, and nights out with friends, forever, but what if you just made a few changes for 2 months. What if you stopped buying soda, coffee from Starbucks, DVD’s, or fewer drinks at the bar, for 2 short months? Think about all the money you could save!

Just think of the rewards for 2 months of frugality, a trip to Egypt, Brazil, or Thailand! Is it worth it?

Change the way you view money:
If you are going to adopt foreign travel into your lifestyle, you have to first change the way you view money.

What’s $5 at home? The answer: NOT MUCH! Perhaps a combo meal at McDonald’s.

What’s $5 in Ecuador? The answer: The average Ecuadorian’s wage for an entire day of work. For $5 you can buy a meal, a taxi all the way across town, and a beer at your favorite bar or club!

You have to stop thinking about $5 as “negligible”, and start thinking about how much that meager sum can get you during your travels.

See the following list of examples of common expenses at home, and what you can buy with that same amount of money while traveling:

Conclusion:
Everyone is capable of saving money, it’s just a question of whether the result is worth the trouble. I wouldn’t recommend cutting movies or drinks out of 2 months of your life if the final result was just that you would have an extra $500 to blow on some other unnecessary expense. But if the result of your savings is a travel adventure abroad, I would absolutely recommend the small sacrifices associated with 2 months of frugality!

Further Reading:
I have just skimmed the surface here on the idea of saving money for travel, and am certainly not the first blogger to write on the subject. For more tips and advice on how to save money for travel, the following articles are fantastic resources that should leave you inspired and ready to begin saving for your next big trip!

• 5 Steps to Save Money Like Buddha
• 5 Techniques to Save Big Money
• 7 Small Ways to Start Increasing your Savings Today
• How the Lost Girls have saved and paid for a 2 year hiatus around the world
• 88 Tips to Save Money

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International travel is BY FAR one of the most enlightening, exciting, rewarding, memorable, and fun things a person can do. We all think about it… We dream about it… So, why the hell don’t we do it? Why can’t we turn our dreams into a reality? Why is it that international travel is so “untouchable” for most of us, or something that we only indulge in once every 5-10 years?

Well, the answers to those questions are plenty: “I can’t afford it”, “I don’t have time”, “I’ve never left the country”, “I don’t speak foreign languages”, “I have kids”, to name a few.

Okay, question answered. International travel can only become a reality for those with deep pockets, lots of spare time, and no kids… Right?

NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! There is so much false information floating around about international travel, that most of us have come to believe that it just isn’t an option. Well, that’s simply not true.

For the next 7 days I will be writing on 10 of the different excuses people give as to why they aren’t able to fulfill their international travel dreams, and explaining why those excuses are misinformed and/or invalid!

I will be addressing each of the following individually, and new links will be posted every day.

• I can’t afford to travel

• I have too many expenses, I can’t save money for travel
• I’m in debt, I can’t travel
• I don’t have time to travel
• I have kids, I can’t travel
• I don’t have any travel experience
• I don’t speak foreign languages, I can’t travel
• I don’t have anyone to travel with, I can’t travel alone
• Travel in foreign countries is too dangerous
• I’m a lone female, I can’t travel by myself

The goal of this series is to get all issues associated with the barriers to international travel on the table. So, please make as much use of the comments section as possible. Let me know about your individual situation, and why you haven’t been able to realize your international travel dreams, so that I can address each of these cases specifically. I invite you to challenge me, argue my conclusions, and really get a dialog going.

This series is meant to motivate and to inspire, so I implore all of my readers to get involved! Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Further Reading:

For further reading on common excuses people make for not traveling, check out Travel Minx’s Top 10 Excuses for Not Traveling