I’ve been receiving different questions from people on Instagram, each one of them with the same purpose of knowing how in the world I can travel “so much”. First of all, I don't normally post pictures the moment they are taken, most of them are throwbacks. This means that if one day I posted a pic of Milan and the day after one of Denver I am simply posting old images, and so I am not in a different city every day. Second, I am currently studying abroad so this gives me the opportunity to travel around my host country and most of the planes I’ve been taking flew me back home to visit my family and friends.

That said, I am not denying that I’ve also been traveling for fun, in fact, last week I was in Madrid, but it is all about budgeting correctly everything you do. You won’t see me at the club every Friday and Saturday night, I don’t get wasted every weekend and I don’t spend hundreds of euros on clothes every month. I simply work, pay my rent and save the rest for my travels.

I work in a warehouse, where I take night / morning / afternoon & evening shifts. Night shifts mean that after university I go home, eat dinner, pack a snacking and go to work from 11pm to 7am. Morning shift in the winter meant waking up at 4.40am, freezing at the bus stop at 5.20am and starting working at 6am. I don’t like afternoon shifts because even though they are the shortest I still lose the whole day. And lastly, evening shift means leaving directly from university and go to work from 3pm to 11pm, taking the bus back home, showering, and sleeping at around midnight. Sometimes after an evening shift, I even have work the morning after, which means that I can sleep just like 5 or 6 hours at the most (depending on the job/terminal I have to go to) and go back to my workplace.

This was just an insight for you to understand that the things you see on my Instagram are just the fun stuff that comes after me working at a dusty warehouse. If you come after me on Instagram claiming that you envy me, at least you should know that if you wanna switch lives you also have to wake up at 6am tomorrow because there are boxes for you that are waiting to be lifted.

"Everyone sees the tip of the iceberg, but very few see how much it took to rise above the waters."

Anyways, it doesn’t matter where you work, as long as you work and you spend money on necessary things and not on stuff that you don’t need, you will be able to save money and enjoy roaming around as well. Sounds cliché and everyone tells you to save money, but this is what it is. There is no magic trick, but if you want to make things easier for you: write things down. Set goals and spend money only on them. Keep notes of what you spend and when you spend it.

Problem Solving.
You also need to be keen on problem-solving because you may have loads of them. See, I've had problems with my visa, with my host university, even with something as simple as the issue of my passport. Prior to my exchange, a doctor who didn't know what she was doing even told me that something was wrong with my heart or surroundings, I can't remember the specific term she used, but my point is that I literally thought I was not going anywhere because of that. After a few more doctors appointments it turned out that I had no problems and she just scared the crap out of me. So whenever you see someone's feed and think "I wish I was them" remember that there is also a second side to the story and not everything is as it seems.

READ ALSO: IS TRAVELLING EXPENSIVE?



- Cris