1. Home Page
2. Special Deals
3. London Hostels
4. Prague Hostels
5. Edinburgh Hostels
6. Amsterdam Hostels
7. Berlin Hostels
8. Bruges Hostels
9. Brighton Hostels
10. BathHostel
11. Newquay Hostels
12. Paris Hostels
13. Group Bookings
14. Budget Hotels & Apartments

You are here: Backpacker Resources > Travel Books > Travel eBook for June 2010

Travel eBook for June 2010

Nomadic Matt’s Secrets to Successful World Travel

Chapter One ‐ Pre Trip Planning

You have decided to take a trip around the world, and now begins the planning stage of your journey. Where should you begin? What should you do? What will you do with all of your things? Your apartment? What about your bills? Your car? How will you handle your money? The questions are endless, and many travelers can be overwhelmed by planning their trip and don’t know where to start. Do not fret ‐ planning a trip around the world is not as difficult as you might think. This section of the book will walk you through the planning stages of planning a trip around the world and you can see how simple and straightforward the process can be.

Motivating Yourself for Your Trip

The most difficult part about traveling the world isn’t necessarily the logistics of the trip ‐ it’s finding the motivation to take the trip in the first place. Making the decision to go is the hardest part. It takes a lot of courage, and it’s the step that most people never get past. For me, all it took was a trip to Thailand and jealousy before I decided to quit my job and travel full time. For others, it’s a lot more difficult. Instead of the nudge that I required, some people require a full on push. I said this book wouldn’t be a motivational tool but before we begin with practical tips, I want to alleviate some fears. Even after I made the decision to travel, I was still worried that I might be making the wrong decision. I didn’t and neither did you.

You are probably worried that:

“I have too many responsibilities.” This is the most common excuse that people use. But when you leave to go travel, you have no responsibilities. Your bills disappear, your car payments go away, and the errands have to do become non-existent. It has been said that the more stuff you own, the more your stuff owns you. Today’s world creates a lot of responsibility and baggage that ties us down to the socially accepted path we are expected to live on. Once you make the decision to travel, those social responsibilities will disappear. The only responsibilities I have are the ones that I create for myself. The only bills I have are those of my everyday needs.

“I don’t have the money.” Most people believe that travel must be expensive. It doesn’t have to be. There are many ways that you can travel for cheap. I have traveled the world for about $50 US per day, and you can backpack through Asia and Central America for about $25 US per day. Europe can be expensive, but if you Couchsurf and limit how frequently you eat at restaurants, you can live on $55 US per day, or possibly less. Travel is not expensive if you make it a financial priority. People regret the things they didn’t do. If you want to travel, use that money now because you won’t be able to take if with you when you die.

“I won’t gain any skills.” Many people think of travel as a luxurious holiday that’s all fun and excitement. They think that taking time off from their “real world” jobs will not do anything to advance their career or give them any useful or marketable skills. This is not true. Travel can be work as well. Landing in a foreign country for the first time and finding your way around takes talent. In fact, there are a lot of skills that you will gain while you travel.

Nomadic Matt’s Secrets to Successful World Travel is available now to download from www.nomadicmatt.com priced $9.99