I got home from travelling 3 years ago. since then I was taking finance at university then i switched to try advertising design, im going back to finish marketing and advertising at university next year, I have 2 years left.
I admit, travelling for an entire year does make going back to school really tough. your study skills are kinda out the window a bit. however my study skills in highschool sucked. I just kinda understood what I had to do and got good marks with very little effort. Just put in the effort and you'll be fine.
I highly recommend if you are wanting to go travel do it. Its real easy to take a year off, and never actually leave or cut your trip into a 3 month trip instead of 8,10 or 12 months. I had alot of friends who said they were going in september or october and never left until february or march.
This is how I did it.
When I graduated from highschool I had 2000 in my bank. I bought my plan ticket for the end of august because I found 2 jobs that would give me about 7 grand if i worked hard for 2 months. I spent maybe a 1000 dollars in 2 months on having a decent summer and then i pocketed about 4500. My grandparents gave me 500 euro as a grad/birthday present which was awesome, and I banked about another 500 since my birthday was just before i left and i only asked for cash. My parents bought me my eurorail pass and a bag for my birthday and my australian working holiday maker visa. that visa runs about 100-150 bucks. it allows you to work in australia at any job for 3 months, then you have to quit and get another job. its meant to force you to travel but usually if you like your job and want to stay they'll fire you and give you a different job title.
southeast asia is cheap as shit. 5000 would easily allow you to travel for 6 very very fun months. just to give you an idea of very very cheap, we stayed on this small island in malaysia, our room ran us about 33 cents each a night, meals were 50 cents to 1 dollar for a cheap dish. expensive was about 5 bucks. to take my entire open water diving course cost 75 bucks with 2 free extra dives at the end. europe is fairly expensive if you stay in hostels and eat at resturants and such. however if you look into it, there are camp sites in alot of the cities that are either close to downtown or very close to a city bus to get you around. camping costs about 7euro/night per person. cheap as fuck. Australia is about the same as canada, so its more expensive then the states if your from there. But you can find a job fucking easy. Worse comes to worse go fruit picking in queensland or farther up the coast. the minimum wage was $13.80 when i was there, and your working 10-12 hour days. you bank your cash quick.
and I did leave with one buddy, i then met up with my girlfriend and another friend about 2 months later. then 2 other friends. at the peak there was 10 of us in australia. its rad to meet up or travel with buddies, but i also did 2 months alone, which was just as fun. it definitely helps to start out, and depending on where your going its nice to have a friend as well. australia its not necessary, neither is thailand. it does cut down on the costs in thailand because 2 of your can split a room.
anyways if anyone is serious about it and wants some info just PM me. here is where i've been, italy, greece, spain, france, belgium, amsterdam, england, ireland, malaysia, laos, vietnam, cambodia, thailand, bali, australia, and 3 month surf trip west coast mexico.
