If you adore getting your wanderlust kicks by heading to far flung destinations on a whim, you probably aren’t too keen on putting down roots. Your idea of commitment means planning a six month trek in South America, hot footing it to Asia or taking a tour of Eastern Europe. Settling down and waving goodbye to the spontaneity of travel can be a hard pill to swallow. But it doesn't have to be this way. If you yearn to travel, but you also want to do something a little more substantial with your life, you could consider combining learning and travelling. This could be the perfect way of committing to study as well as immersing yourself in different cultures across the globe.
Sandwich Course
The ideal way to secure some long term travel is by enrolling in a course at university that embeds a year abroad as part of its requirements. If you study history, you might be working at a museum for a year in downtown Rome. If you are studying Russian, you could be teaching at a school in the Ukraine. Or if you are reading maths, you could find yourself in Singapore, studying the latest ways of solving simultaneous equations. These sorts of university courses are designed to give students a professional experience abroad as well as to broaden their horizons and allow them to see another part of the world. If a sandwich course is a little too full-on, you could link up with a college or university that does more short term field trips abroad. These educational establishments tend to be aligned with a student travel company that helps organise high quality and well planned trips overseas.
TEFL
One of the most common ways of funding travels abroad is to undertake a TEFL qualification. Being qualified to teach English as a foreign language can open up many doors. You could spend your days teaching English to businesspeople in Dubai, teaching nursery kids in Scandinavia or working with small groups of teenagers in Japan. While abroad, you may choose to supplement your income by doing language trades. You could teach English in your spare time while your student teaches you the native language of your destination. Learning how to communicate when overseas will enable you to be a more understanding and culturally aware traveller.
Study Abroad
You don’t have to complete a degree in your home country. Universities in the United States try to attract students from the UK with glossy brochures and by attending higher education fairs in the UK. If you are keen to head to the USA, studying at one of their top universities could be an option. You will need the funds as you will have to pay international student rates, although other funding sources may be appropriate.
Travelling is life affirming, but so is continual learning. By combining your love for taking jaunts overseas to experience new things, and your thirst for learning, you can become a more conscientious and considerate traveller.
