After traveling to Portugal in February of 2016 where I attended a language school to learn Portuguese, I came home more determined than ever to travel. I handed in my resignation and gave myself 4 months to organize my trip. I had already put myself in a decent financial position.
Also at the same time I applied and was accepted to the United States Peace Crops and will move to Madagascar February 1, 2017. I will work as a health specialist for two years. Someone at my 45th class reunion (yes 45th –please insert your shocked look that I could be that old here.) said to me “ Aren’t you suppose to travel through Europe and join Peace Corps when you’re young?” and my reply was “Hey I am young!!”
No, I am not retired, have no “pension” of any kind, nor a large nest egg for retirement and I am not what anyone one considered “well off”. But I have no debt and that is a great freedom. I had a garage sale, estate sale, got rid of more than half of the “stuff” from the past and rented the house.
I saved enough money to cover basic expenses at home for 6 months. And enough to live on for about $25.00 a day while traveling throughout Europe. $25.00 a day does not cover the hotel cost in any city and so I found a way to volunteer in places I wanted to visit in exchange for my room and a few meals. Volunteering is not only educational, but eye opening, humanizing and probably one of the most underutilized foreign policy tools around – it is why Peace Corps has been so successful.
These are the web sites I used to find places to travel and volunteer:
HelpX.net, workaway.com and wwoof.com.
The last one are organic farms needing help and the work is a little bit back breaking but also fun. I worked for WWOOF in Hungary for 2 weeks on an organic herb farm in a Monastery in the mountains. All of these sites offer opportunities around the world to volunteer your services in exchange for food and shelter.
When I am not volunteering I stay at Air B and B’s. You can rent a room or bed anywhere in the world from $15.00 a night. Hostels are even less starting at $7.00 a night, I have avoided them up to now, but I am not opposed to trying them at some point.
Most places I have stayed have a small kitchen and I can cook simple meals to save on eating out. Hard boiled eggs and fruit go a long way and are inexpensive and portable. But I do treat myself to a nice typical meal now and then. And always to a nice cup of coffee in an outdoor café!
Rumi: Let your self be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. I love traveling and it has never lead me astray.
My Timshel by Tamara Gonzalez Oberbeck 
Tamara! You are amazing, you inspire me. God bless you!
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