How To Pack for a Semester Abroad

As I've said before, I am a reformed over-packer.

True Life: We wore all of our clothes on the plane to avoid being charged for heavy bags.

I mean I really, really, REALLY badly overpacked. Always. It's embarrassing to think about how much I towed around for almost no reason.

When I was a senior in college, I took a semester abroad in London. We lived in a flat near the Marble Arch, and it was the best few months of my life - hands down.

What I wish I knew then was how to pack for this wonderful time of my life. I brought two massive suitcases (weighing very close to 50lbs each), one carry on sized suitcase with my heaviest items, and one "personal item", a pretty large duffle, that I would never get away with these days. 

I have so much advice for you, future study abroad student, you have no idea.

I'll share my massive mistakes, and provide some smart solutions... so you don't have to share in my overpacking misery.

MISTAKE: Bringing too much luggage. As I said, essentially I brought 4 pretty sizable bags.
SOLUTION: Bring one large suitcase and a 30-40L backpack for weekend trips. Remember - this is a lot of space. Just because you have two big bags doesn't mean you have to FILL them.

MISTAKE: Bringing 20 scarves & 5 thin jackets. Scarves are bulky, and 5 jackets are too many - not to mention I needed something a little more heavy duty once we got into December.
SOLUTION: Bring 3-4 scarves, 1 heavier coat and 1 lightweight jacket.

MISTAKE: Bringing unnecessary, bulky toiletries
SOLUTION: Things like your favorite foundation or specialty product (like prescription face wash) should come with you. Regular things like body lotion, body wash & shampoo (especially things that you will run out of anyway) should just be purchased once you land. No use wasting precious kilos & space on things you can easily pick up abroad. This goes for things like tampons, Qtips, nail polish remover, etc. Bring enough to get you through a week and grab some at a local store. 

It's fun trying new products abroad! I found some of my favorite lip gloss & mascara when I was living in England. Don't be afraid to try something new.

MISTAKE: Packing copious amounts of unseasonable clothes "just incase", knowing we would have a chance to travel Europe
SOLUTION: Do your research about the time of year you'll be studying abroad in your specific location. Pack 80% for your climate you'll be in full time, and 20% for specialty items. 

So for me, I should have brought primarily jeans, tops, boots, and sweaters, and brought a few dresses, tank tops, a pair of shorts and flip flops for warm weather trips. This way, I was outfitted for a trip to Greece, but I didn't have half of my clothing sitting useless for most of my time in London (plus, most places nearby were cold in October). Also remember, layering is your friend!

MISTAKE: Overpacking on shoes, purses & other accessories. Let's just say there were at least 3 pairs of heels and 4 medium-large purses.
SOLUTION: One of each would suffice - athletic shoes, boots, flats, sandals. I did not need heels AT ALL (I wore one pair one time).... the nice flats, boots or sandals would have worked just fine. Also, one carry-all bag, a cross body bag (great for traveling!) and a clutch would have fit inside of each other and covered a multitude of sins.  

MISTAKE: Bringing extremely specific items
SOLUTION: Choose versatile pieces, like neutrals, and add color w/ jewelry & scarves. Also, choose pieces you can layer & pack easily without wrinkling. Make sure that these pieces mix & match with other items, so you'll have the maximum amount of outfits with the least amount of pieces.

MISTAKE: Bringing things I never wore at home
SOLUTION: If you don't wear it at home, you won't wear it on the road. Leave anything like this at home. Repeat - LEAVE IT AT HOME. Sorry, I didn't mean to yell ;)

MISTAKE: Bringing things you're too attached to
SOLUTION: Anything you'd be lost without, please leave it at home. It's unlikely that you'll be mugged, but why risk it? Keep valuables at home and bring costume jewelry, leave extra delicate tops and dresses and opt for less expensive pieces. 

MISTAKE: TOO MANY BOOKS.
SOLUTION: You're lucky, you live in an age of e-readers and iPads. We brought books, unfortunately. I didn't think about the fact that there are libraries all over the world, and many hostels have a take one/leave one mentality. Leave any unnecessary books at home. Here's how to get e-books for free (you can even download Kindle apps on your laptop!)

MISTAKE: Bringing two things that did the same thing
SOLUTION: I believe this was my problem in my entire packing strategy. Why bring two light weight black jackets... when 1 works just fine? Why bring two pairs of neutral flats? Why on earth bring 20 scarves, when you're only going for 4 months?!? I'm telling you, less is more. 

MISTAKE: Leaving no room for souvenirs
SOLUTION: Underpack, and pick up some fun things on the way! If I only brought 2 or 3 scarves, I could have picked a few up on my travels and had plenty of room to spare. Also, funky jewelry is fun to buy as a souvenir. (More on souvenirs, here!)

The truth is.... with all that clothing, I still felt like I had nothing to wear, because so little of my "closet" worked together. I had plenty of "fancy" clothes (ya know, JUST INCASE...), but not as much for the every day. I had 5 jackets, but none of them kept me warm! I ended up wearing mostly the same things, but I brought so much - for pretty much no reason at all.

Don't make the same mistakes I did. Pack light, pack smart, and have SO MUCH FUN during your semester abroad! :)
xo

How to Budget Travel Into Your Lifestyle: Part I

If there's one question I've been asked over and over, it's "how do you travel so much?" quickly followed by things like "It's so expensive" and "I wish I could do that"

Well guess what - YOU CAN! All it takes is deciding what is more important: a new shirt for $50 - or knowing that's 1/4 of your flight to Seattle.

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Full disclosure on financials for this. I will give you an idea of my budget and how I made it work. It's about budgeting your essentials, and then deciding what's most important to you.

When I was 24 I was working at my first job, and after my raise, I was making $35,000/year. After taxes, this came to about $2700/month.

This is about what I was budgeting a month. Of course there's always the things you forget about, but I'm $100 under budget, and that's also what misc expenses are for. I also always budget extra into my 'gas' budget, for things like your registration, burnt out break lights, and oil changes.

My rent was rather low, but to make up for it, I was making double car payments ($300x2) so I could pay my car off early. Once that was done, I planned on taking that extra $300 a month to place towards student loans. Budgeting means taking care of responsibilities and debt first.

What you might notice is low is my "fun" budgets - $150 for eating out, for example. At approximately $15/meal with tax and tip, puts me at 10 outings a month (or 2 per week and a couple left over). This is more than enough to accommodate girls nights, coffee stops here and there, so-and-so's birthday, brunch on Saturdays with my roommate. There is absolutely no reason no eat out every night unless you don't have a kitchen. And even then, you can get a hot plate. It's one of the biggest money vacuums to a young budgeter - don't fall for the trap! Save your restaurant excursions for special occasions and being social. Skip the table for 1 or the close relationship with the local pizza delivery guy.

A small experiment - let's say every dinner costs $15 with tip. Every "quick, cheap" lunch costs $6, and every coffee you stop for is $3. If you do each of these things 3 days a week (very easy to do if you aren't paying attention!) you're looking at an average cost of $72 per week, or just under $300 per month. Check your eating out habits, and start saving to eat out when you're in Chicago instead.

Another thing that's low is my "others" category: mani/pedi's, movies, buying clothes. I would limit myself to 1 movies a month in the theater, and 1 mani/pedi every 2 months. A bottle of nail polish costs $8, and $35 saved is a 1/5 of a plane ticket.

Now clothes. Ohhhhh clothes. I'm a girl. I love them. But there are more important things in life! This doesn't mean I never buy any - it just means I play it right. I wait for sales, scope out TJ Maxx, and save my $50 budget from this month, so next month I have $100 to play with :) It's much more satisfying, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

Giving myself this budget allows me to fly 8-10 times a year, visiting friends and places all over the US. I'd also like to add that I took a few babysitting jobs a month - between 1-3 per months - and put that cash directly into a box labeled TRAVEL FUND. This is how I managed to visit Europe three years in a row. $50-100 per babysitting job, I was pulling in about $2k per year of unexpected cash. This could easily be done with a 1 day a week night job at a coffee shop, or doing retail floor sets. If you work one, 5 hours shift a week at $8/hr, you'll earn $2000 before taxes. Now where did you want to go again?

If you find yourself thinking you have no room in your budget, I'd challenge you to do this. Take your debit/credit card statement from last month and get a few colors of highlighters. Highlight anything like in spending (i.e., all coffee, or all take out/eat in food, all clothes shopping). You'll be shocked what you're spending! I did this with my coffee habit fresh out of college, and realized I was buying 1-2 coffees every single day - putting my bill at almost $200 a month! For that, I could have purchased a fancy espresso machine. I put myself on a budget of 2x a week, for more like $25 per month, and enjoyed my new extra $175 to buy myself a plane ticket.

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Budgeting travel is all about taking all of your "extras" and deciding if they're worth it. Let's say you want to take a trip to New York with your girlfriends.
Flight: $200
3 days of meals: $150
Drinks+Coffee: $75
Broadway Show: $100
Hotel split 4 ways: $225pp
Weekend Metro Card: $25
Misc Spending: $50
Trip total: $800

Luxuries You Want:
iPhone 5s came out (you still have a 4s) = $200
Monthly Mani/Pedi $600/year (at $50 per session, including tip)
Never Packing Yourself a Lunch $1560/year (at $6/day, 5 days a week for 52 weeks)

Deciding if they're worth it?: 
Stick with your 4s for another 6 months, and your flight is paid for. $200 saved
Take cut your spa days to every 2 months instead, and pay for your hotel & drinks/coffee $300 saved
Decided to pack your lunch MWF every week, with leftovers, or batch cooked meals (very affordable) - even if you spend $50 extra on groceries a month, you'll have enough money to pay for your drinks, food, coffee, souvenirs, metro card, broadway show, and still have $275 extra to put towards your next trip. $650 saved

It's a matter of priorities. If new technology is on the top of your list, then go for the iPhone. If seeing old friends and new places ranks higher, stick with the ghetto phone as long as you can (I got an iPhone when the 4s came out - and I still have it), and enjoy texting slightly lesser quality photos to your friends stuck at home.

Do you have any budget tips or tricks? Where would you like to save up to go?
xo

Wanderlust Wednesday: London in the Fall

Hands down - my favorite season + place go hand in hand, with the winning combo of London in the Fall. It is SO pretty, and SO festive, and it stays fall weather for MONTHS! Part of my love for it could come from living there for two falls.... and visiting a handful of other Fall's. I'm addicted! I can't help it.

Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea

Kings Rd, Chelsea, SW3

Southbank.

St James Park

Regent's Park

Regent's Park

Me and the Thames, a few Fall's ago. 

So true. Especially in chilly temps!

Hyde Park

Chelsea, down by the Thames

Kensington Gardens

I swear there is something about it that makes the light look like sunset all the time. Perfect amount of coziness. PLUS, around this time of year (beginning of November), all of the different areas of town start to decorate and light the streets up with Christmas decor. It's the best!

Regent Street, W1

St Christopher's, W1

South Kengsington, SW2

Sloane Square, Chelsea, SW3

Sloane Square, Chelsea, SW3

Covent Garden, W4

Not to mention all of the Christmas markets, Guy Fawkes day and all of the shops decorating their windows to be festive! If you have the chance, November is the best time to visit London.... it's pure magic. I'm always extra nostalgic for London in the fall months.... it's just not the same anywhere else.

Have you been to London in the fall? Or London in general? Do you love it as much as i do? :)

xo

Wanderlust Wednesday: Berlin, Germany

Ok, so i have a confession to make that you probably already know -- it's Friday.

Wednesday came and went, and i was too busy trying to get ready for my current trip to LONDON that i didn't realize it was wednesday at all. So today is technically Friday Fly Day? Frolicking Friday? First Class (but actually flying coach) Friday?

...........

on second thought, i'll stick to Wednesdays.

But back to Berlin.

I was only in Berlin once for 48 hours. At the time, i was on my Trip of the Century (aka, Trip Around The World) with my friend Sharyn (i call her Bear... for Shar-Bear. Just go with it). We were studying abroad for 3 months and made it our goal to go to as many countries as we possibly could. So when we found out that there would be no exams for our extensive classes (i wish there was a sarcasm font) that semester, and we had 16 days before we would have to be deported, we decided to plan a 10 day trip.

There are many pieces of the Trip of the Century that i will get to at a later date. But for now all you need to know is that our first stop was Paris for 4 days, and our next stop was Berlin for 2.

And we were really mad at Berlin... purely for the fact that it wasn't Paris. Bear and i were toured around Paris by my friend Jesus, who took us to perfect little cafes and showed us everything we needed to see... including a picnic at Versailles.

But looking back on it - Berlin is actually one of the coolest places i've ever been to in my life.

We went on a 4 hour walking tour around the city (did i mention it was totally free?) and got to see all of the sights and hear all of the history of this city that seems to have always been war torn.

To be honest, i knew that Germany had Communism and Nazi's, but i never understood the full division in the country. And especially in this city.

The Berlin wall had many implications. It divided the free from the slaved and the new world from the old. East Berliners lived oppressed, in Communism, without much progress or hope for the future. West Berlin was "westernized" in every sense of the word, run mostly by the Allies (USA, France, England). From The early 60's to the end 1989, many people never saw one side from the other. People who hadn't seen family trapped on the other side of the concrete slab down the middle of the city.

Until the wall came down.

For almost 30 years, longer than i've been alive, those people lived split in two.

But my favorite part about Berlin? I felt like they were so honest about who they were as Berliners. They know their past is rocky. They know they had the world's most awful leader of all time running their country at one point. They know they've been divided, and turned against one another, and had numerous other negative things happen on their soil.

They have small reminders around them to show where they've been. But to remind them never to go back. Here are my three favorite:

The Holocaust Memorial

Right in the middle of the city. 2,711 steale (material) slabs that are all different heights. It has been in the works since 1999 but was only completed in 2005. Each slab is different to represent the unique qualities of each person who was murdered in the Holocaust. and that the prejudice wasn't just towards one, it was towards a vast type of people. There is no sign. No list of names. The memorial just is. And i loved it.

The Berlin Wall

I kind of already gave this one a little shout out. But there are small sections of the wall left up for the sake of proving it existed. It hasnt been touched up or refurbished.... it just shows the scars of the past.

Hitler's Bunker

Yes, i said this was one of my favorite places. #1 - where Hitler decided to end all the madness, because he wasnt going to hurt any more innocent people. #2 - it's a parking lot. No statue. No monument. No Neo Nazi place of worship. Just a parking lot for a normal apartment complex. I believe when the World Cup came around last time, they put up a small sign to explain the bunker, but that's it. I love that it is a well known fact that this awful tyrant has no real proof he was actually here. Because Berlin, Germany, and the world has moved on.

This is only a tiny tiny bit about Berlin - there is a ton of history there! I'd love the chance to go again. Hopefully, this time i won't be upset with Germany for not being France :)