Update.

About every two weeks my life does a 360. So here is the latest update.

I'm still waiting to see if I can get into BYU-Idaho through letters of recommendation from professors. If I don't get in (which is probable) I'm going to take a break from school and run away to Europe.

No joke.

I'll be spending 3 months in Ireland, 6 months in the UK, and 3 months elsewhere.... probably Spain and France. WWOOFing it and traveling by bus, ferry, and bike.

And why not? I'm single, healthy, have no obligations, and absolutely nothing to lose.

It will all work out.

If my father eats only raman for the next month...... ;)

In my travel planning exploits my father mentioned that he wanted to go somewhere warm with good fishing.... aka Central America, so I figured Belize is a good option. It has 240 miles of coastline on the underside of the Yucatan Peninsula, 50% of the population speaks English, and (according to my roommate who served her mission in Belize) you can easily eat in Belize for around a dollar a day. So here is the travel package I have come up with so far:

Rigby to Salt Lake and back: $100
Salt Lake to Guatemala and back: $400
Bus ride from Guatemala to Belize and back: ~$10
Renting an entire apartment for a month in Belize: ~$40
Food for a month: ~$40

Currently Reading- The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

If I eat nothing but raman for the next month....

I've done my research. And if I had $300 I could be in Dublin, Ireland next Wednesday.

:)

Travel the World.... For Free (Part 2)

Anyone who knows me even a little knows I have an obsession with culture. I am fascinated by the different ways people think, dress, act, move, eat, sleep, work, play, etc. And yet I have never been out of the country.

But we all know travel is expensive. I see it all the time; my fellow students saving up for years to go on study abroads. Hotels, food, airfare, souvenirs, attraction entrance fees, taxis, all require huge sums of money it takes months or years to save.

But I have decided I'm going to see the world for free (or incredibly cheap ;) )

Presumptuous! yes. Bold! definitely. Unsafe! probably. Impossible! no.

How? You ask! Well I'm still working out the details. But I will give you the frame work I have come up with.

Bethany's 5 Principles of How to See the World for Free

1. Travel with Purpose

The first and most important question you need to ask yourself is "Why do I want to travel?" If your answer is "I want to see all the major tourist attractions of Europe in 7 days or less" than I cannot help you. You will fork out thousands of dollars. If your answer is "to learn", "to have adventures", or "to experience a new way of life" than just maybe, you could pull it off.

2. Move Slowly

The slower you travel the cheaper it is. plane > train > taxi > bus > bike > foot . As long as you believe that time is money, you will spend money all the time. Time is not money. Time is free. You have all the time in the world.

Instead of buying a plane ticket, catch a ride out West, or remodel an old sailboat, or just hop on your bike and ride away from town. The slower you travel, the less money you will spend.

3. Leave Possessions and Obsessions Behind

Redefine your needs and wants. Physical needs are as follows.

1. Clean water
2. Healthy Food
3. Clothing
4. Safe place to sleep

Nothing more. Nothing less. Everything else is a want.

4. Embrace Serendipity

You will not stick to your itinerary, and all your nicely planned days and tourist activities will probably not work out. But you will have adventures.

As Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”

Go Dancing.

5. Trust in the Inherent Goodness of the Human Race

If you don't talk to strangers you will die. Talk to strangers. Contrary to what you learned in first grade most of the people of the world are inherently good, are trying to do their best, and will be willing to help you if you let them.

Travel the World.... For Free (Part 1)

My Postcard

Someone must go out there, and send home the postcards.
Someone must go out there, and live the world
In all of its glory and pathos
And myriad twists of the mind and soul.

I have been where you dreamt to go, but cannot.
I have seen what you cannot dream of,
Felt what you only fantasize,
Lived what you wonder is possible.

Stripped bare to the human realities,
I have looked up to heights
And ventured into the depths.

I have sought the sublime and found the mire,
Sought out the vilest depths
And found the springs of hope and contentment.

I have strode the edges of reality
And passed over into realms of mystery and tabu.
And all I have found are the secrets that dwell in the depths of us all.

And so I send back my postcards
And I write my stories
That you may know that all is well and right in the world
Both the good and the evil.
That they continue on in their myriad manifestations,
As unintelligible as ever they will be.

Having a great time, wish you were here.

-Randy