Can You Really Travel Without Caring About Money? Let's talk about this and some other myths...

In the world heavily influenced by social media travel vloggers, we are sometimes made to believe that it's rainbows and butterflies. They make it seem so easy, do they?

I do get the possible rationalisation about that. It would be difficult to sell a story that shows the realities of travelling - it is much easier to paint a pretty picture and make everyone believe that if they can do, everyone else definitely can. But that is not always the truth.

Here are some very common travel myths that I constantly here and what I think about them...

You can travel without thinking about money.

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If flights, accommodation, food, etc were free, this would be true. Or if you have parents who smother you with generous travel funds, sugar daddies/mommiees or a huge trust fund this would be true for you as well. However, for average people like myself it is impossible to travel without thinking about money.

Travel is a luxury. It is an extra expense that needs months or sometimes even years of saving up. It needs to align with a budget. Even if a holiday trip is paid off with credit cards, one still has to pay for all of it after the glory vacation days.

Never be the kind of tourist who ends up begging for money in another country.

You can work on a visitor/tourist visa.

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If you do read the stipulations of a visitor or tourist visa when you apply for it, you will see that you are legally committed to visiting the country solely for tourism or visit purposes. Working or sometimes even just looking for work are already illegal.

Let's say you don't give a flying fck about the other travellers in your country who will eventually be affected by your actions - so let's talk about how this would affect you personally. Violating tourist visas have serious consequences. When you apply for a permanent status in any country, you will have to declare every country/address you've lived on for x number of years. You might also have to declare any overstaying or visa violations. Those who have violated visa will most likely need help from an agency or immigration lawyer which can be very expensive. You might also get flagged even when you just travel as a tourist to other countries since a lot of countries share their immigration offices' data.

The tourist spots are going to be perfect.

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By now you might have already seen a couple of expectation vs reality memes on social media. The pretty photos that we usually see are usually altered and edited to make the spot look more perfect. And I know in many ways it is. However, we should set our expectations more realistically because it for popular tourist destinations, there are high chances for problems like overcrowding, bad weather and construction.

Now, it's not always bad. My point here is that a lot of places are not how they're shown in social media. It's not a reason for you not to go there - again, it's just setting the right expectations.

Bringing a parcel that you don't know the contents of.

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When it comes to packing your luggage, the main rule is know your limits but another important one is: TRUST NO ONE. For Filipinos, it is much too common for people to ask you to bring stuff to their families/friends/neighbors wherever you're going. Sometimes these take up three quarters of your luggage - even when you know your limits, others will not. 

I know people who have asked their packed parcel not to be opened which I think is incredibly stupid. Never ever agree to bring something you are not allowed to open. This is for a lot of reasons but I'll state a couple:

• If they don't trust you enough to open that shady parcel, then there is absolutely ZERO reason for you to trust them enough to carry that with you.
• Airlines, customs, immigration will most likely ask you if you packed your own bag and if you're aware of the entire contents of your bag. Your answer will be a legal hold on you so if you lie, it will be taken against you.
• Whoever is asking you to bring something is the one who is asking for the favour and whoever they may be, they have no right to draw out the limitations.

Always know what you're bringing.

Give up your 9-5 to travel the world and find yourself.

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This does run back to our first point which is it is a very popular myth that you don't need money to travel. There are influencers who threw away their stable lives for the life of travel and it's their lives, their choice. I have nothing against that.

However, this concept is a myth for those of us who have to ask ourselves - if I make that choice and my online persona does not take off enough to be monetised, how will I pay for everything? Do I have enough savings to cover the costs of travelling? What quality of life will I get?

If you have answers to those and if they're not very comfortable but you still want to take the plunge, then by all means go ahead. 

Another option is to make very impactful decisions like that with a very conscious connection to your own reality. Sometimes we have to make decisions on what you have and not what you think you think you'll have in the future.

The most important thing is that finding yourself isn't always a journey found in travelling. Peace is also about finding your home. And we should always be open to wherever things may lead us.