While so many people think that traveling abroad is the only way to go as far as traveling is concerned, these same folks – people who so often extol the virtues of seeing new and different sights – discount just how much this great country of ours has to offer. From sandy beaches to even sandier deserts; from mountains to rivers to deep wavy fields and valleys filled with wild flowers and grasses, and from quite literally one ocean to another, the United States of America offers something for everyone and its landscape is as vast and varied as any country on the globe.

Even though I certainly pride myself on having visited several foreign countries, nations, and other locales abroad I firmly believe that someone should first explore their own country before moving on to visit the rest of the world. As someone who has been to 46 of 50 states as well as several territories (I’m missing just Alaska, Hawaii, Michigan, and Louisiana) I feel that I am in the proper position to give this sort of advice. In fact, before you set out to leave this nation ask yourself, what am I looking to find?

More often than not you will find that you can find what you are looking for, and then some, right here at home. If you are thinking of a visit to the deserts of Egypt look no further than our very own Death Valley in Nevada and California; the Painted Desert of New Mexico; or any other number of deserts throughout Texas, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and even Oregon! If you are more into beaches and ocean play than states such as Florida, Rhode Island, California, and most obviously Hawaii might be more your speed and the states of Alaska and Texas, almost small countries in their own right offer more to explore than many of the international destinations so many Americans are eager to visit.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with international travel and keeping in mind that I don’t want to come off as one of those ignorant Americans who ignores the world at large, I am just saying that, while travel abroad might have its place, we should not be so quick as to overlook the amazing people and beauty that our own country can offer us right here at home. All I’m saying is that before we go abroad, we should travel at home first.

One of the best ways to get cheap accommodation while you travel is to use the site Couchsurfing. Couchsurfing is a site that connects travelers with locals who will give you a free place to stay. You might get a bed, a couch, or space on the floor. But whatever you get, you get it for free. This is a great way to save money. Accommodation is usually one of the biggest expenses people have while on the road and being able to reduce that to 0 will give you more money for things that are important- like beer.

Most importantly though you get the local insight into where you are going. Guidebooks and hostel information is great but it can never substitute the advice from people who live in the area you are going to! They will be able to help you navigate around, tell you about whats going on in town right, good places to eat, the deals, and possibly even be your own tour guide. Couchsurfing is a great way to meet people.

A lot of people get worried that you are going to meet freaks on couchsurfing and that you might get hurt, robbed, or worse. But the reality is that no one has ever reported something going wrong with the site other than the person turning out to be a jerk or an asshole. There are many levels of verification that goes on so to ensure that everything works out safely. In order to sure the best safety, make sure that the person you are surfing with:

1. Has a picture so you know they are real
2. Has friends so you know they are liked
3. Has been verified by the service so you know they are legit
4. Has hosted people before or been hosted before so you know that they are not some crazy psycho killer

If you follow these four princuples, you’ll find that you’ll be able to weed out the crazies and the psychos. Couchsurfing is a great way to travel the world, get free accommodation, and meet new friends.  If you want cheap accommodation, try this service!

One of the best tips I get before I go away is always about budgeting. Budgeting your money is really important. It’s easy to spend and spend and spend but when you are traveling you don’t have a lot of money to spend. You have a finite set of funds. If you keep over spending, you’ll run out of money before you finish your trip and will have to go home early. No one wants that to happen.

One of the reasons that people tend to avoid long term travel is because they think it is expensive and feel they will never save enough for a trip. That is not true. One of the greatest myths of travel is that it is expensive. People assume that to travel you need to be rich because all people see are advertisements for expensive vacations and assume all travel is like that. But it isn’t. In fact, travel can be quit cheap. You can travel around the world for under $15,000 dollars for one year of travel. If you only visit cheap countries, you can do it for even less.

You can save that amount of money before you go abroad but how do you keep that money while you are overseas? The trick to Leave a Comment

May 14, 2009 · Filed under travel advice