You’re stuck at home with an insatiable appetite to travel abroad. You’re still looking at pictures, skyping old friends, and experiencing daily deja vus that remind you of your glorious past experiences on the road and in foreign bathrooms. Short of throwing yourself off the cliff, you need something else to do. Here are a few things to do, of both the sulky and productive variety, to buy (waste) time in a hipster-backpacker manner while you’re waiting to use your passport once again.

1. Learn a language

How? Local community college, Rosetta Stone, local friend/cultural group, or LiveMocha. Learning a language will be fun and give you an excuse as to why you’re still in the States. It’s productive, will let you meet likeminded people, and prevent you from being the rich-puta-that-only-speaks-english when you finally do leave.

2. Get spicy. Cook!

Seriously. Go to your local ethnic grocery store and buy everything. Oyster sauce? Check. I-can’t-read-the-label spice? Mmhmm. Make some foreign dishes. It’ll likely taste like shit, but it’s a good way to get your cultural fix and open up your senses again to tastes outside of sandwiches and Kraft Mac n Cheese.

3. ..Or, just eat out

For everyone that dismissed #2, I suppose this is for you. Go get some ethnic food. Nothing fusion, nothing over $8. If you’re fortunate to live in a real urban area, check out a real ethnic corner restaurant and feast.

4. Date a foreigner

No comment.

5. Get involved

If you live in a city, there are a million cross-cultural volunteer opportunities. From refugee centers to minority support groups there is no lack of ability to get involved. Outside a real city, check out a Rotary club or get involved virtually (see b).

5 (b). Virtual involvement

For the antisocialites out there: If you can write, have any sort of online tech skills, or know a smidgen about social media you can always get involved virtually. Find an interesting not for profit (Idealist.org, VolunteerMatch.com are good starting points) and give away your time to a cause. You’ll probably be able to make mad amounts of Facebook friends and perhaps a language learning buddy.

6. Read a book

No better way to escape your shitty life than to read interesting stories about others that aren’t as boring as you. Imersing yourself into a good novel once and awhile (or every waking moment) is a good way to expand your mind, knowledge, and litereary street cred for your late night hostel convos in the future.

7. Make Money

If absolutely nothing else, focus on the bottom line and make some money. Improve your cash flow by expanding your top line (get another job, start a project, invest better +Revenue) or cutting your expenses (Netflix > cable TV and is 1/6th the cost). Save, invest wisely, and accumulate a travel fund.

7a. Be clever with your finances

To reiterate, think about cutting your costs and making some sacrifices in order to expedite your travel fund growth. Learn and LIVE personal finance. Get a budget (Mint.com), learn quirky life hacking/budget tricks (Lifehacker, GetRichSlowly, a gagillion other resources), and check out AONC’s Travel Hacking Cartel niche resource when your travel dates get closer. (legit – TravelHacking.org)

When it comes to travel and opportunities to get abroad, my mind is always churning for ideas. I enjoy soaking up all the ideas and opinions out there on how to make it as a mobile expat. After 5 years of searching around, I’ve seen quite a lot, and still find myself a bit confused as to how to make it abroad.

So. For both your and my benefit, I’m going to lay it all out there and give you your ONLY realistic options outside of serendipity to make it as an expat living abroad for a decent amount of time. If you have any other reasonable options, please leave a suggestion in the comments and I can hopefully update the post.

1. Teach English

I purposely put teaching English as #1 to be annoying, and I’m already annoying myself looking at it. But (more…)

I’ve been all over the ‘travel to europe because it’s cheap’ thesis a little lately if you’re an american, and this post will be further evidence of this train of thought. Fall off-season travel is approaching as travel companies across the board begin offering different deals and incentives to fill rooms, flights, or seats. Europe, still, again?

Why Cheap off-season Travel to Europe NOW:

1. Cheap Euro. The flight to the US dollar and away from the Euro is still prevalent. The medium term outlook on this does not seem to benefit the dollar given the rough shape the US economy is still in even after all of the spending and US dollar devaluing.

2. Off-Season Deals - the summer travel season is over, (more…)

After 5-6 months of living in Bangkok, Thailand last year, I have a feeling it will always be my second home. Culture, food, people, weather, and cost of living- all appeal to my very western upbringing seeking a radically different travel experience. I continue to be surprised by how my travel critic peers tend to agree with my love for Bangkok, even while the city is the center of a political firestorm that has flared up too often as of late. Namely, Travel + Leisure named Bangkok the number one city of 2010despite its political issues, with its northern, much smaller sister Chiang Mai taking #2 on the list.

There have been a plethora of posts on Bangkok’s ‘Top 10’, one of my favorite being from CNN: 50 reasons why Bangkok’s the world’s greatest city. However, many people have asked me about my trip lately (i.e. during interviews) and I’ve tripped up a few times in my efforts to succinctly sell my experience in the World’s greatest city in 2 minutes. So with some reflection, here are the top 10 reasons answering the question “Why travel to Bangkok?”

1. Thai People

Straight chill waves. Peaceful, nice, accepting, and relaxed. Perfect, Western-friendly culture for confused travelers. There are obviously scams and touts like everywhere in Asia, but just use common sense.

2. Food

Say goodbye to too-sweet $15 American pad thai, and hello to $1 street Pad Thai glory. A decent diet can be made up of a rotation between noodle dishes, rice dishes, street fruit, and plentiful international cuisine.

3. Cost of living

Overall, there’s an extremely friendly cost of living (more…)

Don’t you hate when people start or title a travel piece with a rhetorical question? But seriously. On your backpacking adventures, typically the first buzzword that comes to mind regarding budget friendly lodging needs is…hostel. Depending on your geographic locale or lingo, maybe it’s guesthouse, bed, or dorm. Couch or floor will do if you’re a couch surfer. But nevertheless, resort and villa are typically terms out of the question. In an independent or small group setting, this is probably rightfully so. However, in a larger yuppie backpacking/flashpacking group setting, villas and vacation rentals might not be so far out of question. I said it…yes..vacation rentals. Hear me out.

First, (more…)

It’s nice to travel abroad just for the sake of traveling, vacation, or a little R&R - but getting abroad and “doing something” to facilitate international budget travels is an option worth considering. For the less wealthy westerners of this world, justifying a few grand for 4 weeks of ‘vacation’ is a bit more difficult. Thus, the options below that are more than just plain traveling might offer a medium to help you get abroad.

• Study Abroad
• International internships
• Volunteer abroad
• Language study
• Working

Study Abroad

University Partner Exchange

I always advocate for high school or university study abroad programs. Your best bet will be to go through direct University exchange partner. Coming from a big land grand university, it’s easy but somewhat naive to expect everyone has such opportunities. Doing so will ensure credits transferring and support so you don’t have to go another $10,000 semester of college to make up for a ‘lost’ semester abroad.

Directly Enroll Abroad

While there are 3rd parties that facilitate a lot of exchanges, I’ve heard some not ideal things about some operators. Maybe another option might be deferring a semester, finding a university you like abroad, and go off the grid to study for a semester. Your uni will probably frown on this since they won’t get a cut of the profits from unnecessary fees, but it’s a possibility. This way you’ll pay the local university rate which is likely much less than your current tuition.

For example, a colleague in Thailand directly enrolled into the college as an exchange student. While it was a research, credit transfer, and paperwork nightmare, he paid something like $1,500 for a semester, whereas most others paid their home university’s tuition (likely $5,000+). Definitely worth the hassle considering the savings in this case.

Conclusion: Look at direct university exchanges offered through your college, or target a country and google yourself into oblivion looking for universities and inquiring about exchange programs.

Internships

Tons of for-profit offerings. I call complete bullshit and would avoid them out of principal. Paying placement fees for low or non paying internships (in addition to flights, visa expenses, etc.) is ludicrous and I find it hard to believe that most are beneficial. I have no personal experience, this is just the strong vibe I (and most others who’ve been on the internet for more than 2 years) get.

AIESEC

A slight alternative to such internship-arrangers (can i make up that word?) is AIESEC, which is a very large, diverse, and reputable student run non-profit that arranges international experiences and internships from their large database. Unfortunately, there are annoying fees, but the wage for internships with business or technical focus is substantial enough to probably make it a net $0 type of program in the end after all is said and done.

As a student run non-profit, it caters to undergrad or grad students and requires you to be within 2 years reach of either study option I believe. To find out more, seek out a local AIESEC chapter and they can explain more of the details and possibilities. Or just email me.

Corporate

If you go to a good university or take your career seriously, you could have a chance at a real corporate internship abroad. Dual language speakers win at this as well. Probably best for business and finance majors, look at massive multinational companies like Siemens and Unilver, and also at multinational banks and investment banks if you have the resume and experience to land a great internship.

Nonprofit love

Finally, getting an internship in a NGO / nonprofit might be your best bet outside of AIESEC. Don’t expect to be paid much more than living expenses, if that. If you’re motivated here, look at grants available to those going abroad in case you qualify for a grant to go abroad and save the world through a good NGO.

Conclusion: If you have the skills, you can make mad money and build your resume going corporate. AIESEC is reputable, but be wary of other 3rd parties that act as middle men. nobody should need to pay to work, period.

Volunteering

Volunteering, like most for profit ‘internships’ can be a bit tricky to search for. I highly recommend not paying $3,000 to volunteer with babies in India for 2 weeks. There are plenty of organizations out there that would just love you to help out for free.

I’m no expert on the subject, but fellow travel blogger Nerdy Nomad has created a well-received ebook on the subject titled “The Underground Guide to International Volunteering.” I haven’t been able to read it myself, but the blogosphere seems to like it so far and she’s a great resource. I’d surely shell out $14 if I was in the market to volunteer abroad.

If you want to totally DIY, due dilligence is necessary. Here’s a quick list of reputable volunteer possibilities:

• Idealist - Authoritative volunteer search
• Peace Corps - Have 2 years? Tons of benefits upon return
• Red Cross Volunteer
• Kiva Fellows - For microfinance, Kiva rules. There are tons of microfinance programs out there if Kiva doesn’t work for you.
• UN Volunteer - its da UN, I’m assuming it’s legit
• WWOOFing - Work abroad on organic farms for room and board. This is legit.
• WorkAway - Similar to WWOOFing, but a lot more options here not limited to farm or outdoor work necessarily
• Matador Travel list of 44 International Volunteer Organizations
• Esacape Artist - Just another link list.

Language Study

Traveling slowly and learning the language along the way through private language schools is a great option for anyone. 123TeachMe is hands down the greatest resource I’ve come across that caters to those primarily interested in Spanish. There are a multitude of larger language learning companies that offer experiences around the rest of the world as well. Due dilligence will be key here though as quality can vary as the offerings have probably been commoditized recently.

Alternatively, if you’re an outstanding student you may have a shot at programs through the State Department. The Government sponsors several distinguished critical language learning programs that I’ve mentioned numerous times before.

Conclusion: If you have a shot at a grant to study or going through the State Dept, this should be your first choice. Otherwise, once again, due dilligence. Shop around and compare hourly rates. A place I found years ago with good rates was AppleLanguages - I have no experience, but 5 years ago they looked decent, so take that for what it’s worth.

Working

Teaching English

The last option is for those that actually want, or need, to work..most likely for financial reasons. Teaching English is your best bet. I’d even go so far as to say it’s a shoe in for all native english-ers. Anybody with a pulse can go to Asia and teach English, typically with just a Bachelor’s Degree. Some positions may require a TEFL beforehand, while others will offer training opportunities or sponsorship for the certification.

Teaching English is great in that it’s location flexible and/or is paid well in some areas of high demand. The possibilities are essentially endless if you’re into the whole teaching thing. Some resources to get started:

• Wikipedia TEFL - possibly information overload, but get used to it.
• JET Programme - competitive teaching program in Japan
• ESL Cafe - Active teaching forums at ESL Cafe as well
• TEFL Net
• Ajarn - Teaching English in Thailand resource
• Tealit - Teaching English in Taiwan Resource
• Footprints recruiting - Get recruited and let a 3rd party help match you.
• Teach English in Korea - Matador Travel resource
• Teaching in Japan - Matador Travel Post
• Matador ESL - All of Matador’s ESL resources

Online Entrepreneurship / “Lifestyle Design”

Lifestyle design, independent living, vagabonding entrepreneurs - whatever you want to call it, this is in. There are a ton of blogs on the subject and people to help inspire your own lifestyle designing abroad as an entrepreneur. My favorites, most definitely being AONC and Thrilling Heroics

Through the fluff, this is online entrepreneurship. Sell online products, offer online services, or run profitable advertising driven websites. Many like Cody at TH do this while living and traveling abroad where the cost of living can make online cash flow a lot more sustainable.

Multinationals & Executive search firms

If you’re a corporate executive type you should be in pretty good shape in our globalization environment. Get in touch with executive search firms and multinationals. I’m assuming that if this is you, you wouldn’t be reading my lowly budget travel blog.