“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of . . . → Read More: Hiking: Solo vs. Groups]]> Daniela Baker is a social media advocate at CreditDonkey, where travelers can compare airline credit card deals to prepare for next summer.  As someone who’s been bitten by the travel bug at an early age, she hopes this post will help other fellow travel enthusiasts and backpackers.

“I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.  To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating.  I love to be alone.” – Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

For many people, the idea of solitude is enough to make them entirely uneasy.  Not for nothing is solitary confinement considered a punishment.  Hiking in solitude must seem to these people the activity of the mentally unstable!  Hiking solo versus hiking in a group is no choice at all to so many people, however if approached in an intelligent manner, the choice can open up different worlds of hiking enjoyment.

I learned my hiking and enjoyment of the outdoors as a teenager.  Our parents might not always have been happy with the way I applied their lessons, however.  My friends, all between the ages of 15 and 18, decided early on that we didn’t have much place in the forming of younger scouts.  After one unfortunate incident involving matches, Coleman lighter fuel, and several sleeping bags, our parents agreed.  On campouts and hikes, we were allowed to do pretty much as we pleased.

This independent spirit followed me to college and beyond.  If I felt the need to go hiking and there was no one available to accompany me, I simply grabbed my boots and went by myself.  Conversely, if there were a group forming for a trek up one of the mountains that are nearby to almost everywhere on the East Coast, I joined that, too.  As time went on and the miles added up, I began to prefer solo hiking in most cases.  I found I came more and more to embrace Thoreau’s sentiments.

Hiking alone carries one overriding challenge: the fact that you are alone.  This is often seen as solo hiking’s greatest drawback, but it can also be solo hiking’s greatest benefit.  Nature can be very rewarding as an escape from everyday life.  The rewards can be somewhat muted if you’re sharing them with several people, some of whose enjoyment of nature takes on a different pace, a different noise level, and a different speed than your own.

Granted, if you get lost, there is no one to help you find your way.  If you get injured, there is no one to help rescue you.  Unless you take precautions to counter these types of potential problems, you’re putting yourself, as well as the people who may have to come and get you, at risk.  Be honest with yourself: “it will never happen to me” is almost the surest way to ensure that fate will strike you down at the first opportunity.

I’m doubtful whether anyone who has seriously considered hiking alone wouldn’t have already considered these points, and wouldn’t have a modicum of experience to mitigate them.  It goes without saying (although I’ll say it anyway) that any solo hiking trip requires both experience and planning.

There is a trade-off here: safety in numbers, as it were, versus being your own boss.  Hopefully, you will find a happy medium, or at the very least hiking companions who share both your views and your pace.  There is a place for hiking solo and for hiking in a group, as I’ve said before.  Embrace the situation, use common sense, and hopefully the times you find yourself weary and dissipated (with apologies to Thoreau) will be few.

As you all know, I’ve been totally swamped with work since I moved to Philadelphia; yours truly is now not only a PhD student, but a blogger, in the midst of writing my first book, AND running my nonprofit. It’s enough to make anyone wish for a nice long vacation!

So, my blogger friends: where should . . . → Read More: Holiday Vacation – Where should I go?]]> Hey Everyone!

As you all know, I’ve been totally swamped with work since I moved to Philadelphia; yours truly is now not only a PhD student, but a blogger, in the midst of writing my first book, AND running my nonprofit. It’s enough to make anyone wish for a nice long vacation!

So, my blogger friends: where should I go? Part of me wants to just stay in Philadelphia (overwintering, if you please)…but something tells me that I’ll be over the snow about thirty seconds into the first winter storm. No, the more I think about it, the more I want to get out of my cave (aka my office) and discover something new, preferably in a place where sweaters are not a required piece of clothing. Any thoughts? Better yet, do you guys know of any place I can find cheap holiday deals?

Let me know! For now I’ll just keep reading other people’s travel blogs in envy

Cheers!

Kim

As you all know, I’m a proud German, having been born there and raised in the German culture. Being German, and not living in Germany, is a funny thing; everybody wants to tell you about their long-lost fifth removed cousin (“you must know who he/she/it is!”) or their favorite beer that they drank once, five . . . → Read More: Hannover, Germany: Home of the other Oktoberfest!]]> Hey Everyone!

As you all know, I’m a proud German, having been born there and raised in the German culture. Being German, and not living in Germany, is a funny thing; everybody wants to tell you about their long-lost fifth removed cousin (“you must know who he/she/it is!”) or their favorite beer that they drank once, five years ago (“it’s kinda dark and tastes good…you know which one I’m talking about?”). Even more frequently, I get asked things like: what is your favorite thing to do in Germany? Where do you like to go? Where can I drink beer and not go broke?

So, in the spirit of sharing more of my home culture AND in appeasing those of you who have long been asking for my top pick…here it is:

The Other Oktoberfest: You thought Oktoberfest just happened in Munich, no? Wrong! Oktoberfest, and other festivals like it, are celebrated throughout Germany and you can experience it for a fraction of the cost and in a more authentic setting if you go to the  Hannover version of the affair. That’s right, Hannover hosts the second largest Oktoberfest in Germany, and I gaurantee you’ll see much more German people (and less American, Australian, British, and French) for so much less money. I know, I know: you’re probably worrying that nothing could measure up to the infamous Munich affair…but if you like the sound of 160 rides, two tents holding over a thousand people each, and over one million people to drink with, you’ll be sure  to like Hannover’s version.

Sold on the idea of visiting? How not check out flights to Hannover and start planning your trip!

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of emails from friends and readers asking about how to find volunteer or work opportunities abroad. In the past, I’ve addressed part of the issue in this post, but I never really got around to the volunteerism part.

Finding volunteerism opportunities abroad is quite easy, as any google search will . . . → Read More: How to volunteer overseas!]]> Hey Everyone!

Recently I’ve been getting a lot of emails from friends and readers asking about how to find volunteer or work opportunities abroad. In the past, I’ve addressed part of the issue in this post, but I never really got around to the volunteerism part.

Finding volunteerism opportunities abroad is quite easy, as any google search will show hundreds, if not thousands, of hits for search queries like, “volunteer abroad”, etc. I think what gets people worried is not where to volunteer, but with whom. Just the idea of shelling out several thousand dollars to help someone seems scammy and conjures images of West African entrepreneurs stealing credit card numbers and such.

These leaves most people with two options: pay the price for a reputable volunteer abroad agency, or do the leg work and get an opportunity at no cost.

If you go the first route, you’ll find it’s easy to volunteer abroad via an agency or a third-party provider; often these folks have got gap years down to a science, and you won’t have to worry about much except how much spending money to bring. The benefit of these trips is that you do get some working experience, with the promise that it will go as planned. I’ve found it to be true that most future employers look equally on these paid opportunities; at the end of the day, all that matters is what you did and how long you did it. Whether you want to volunteer in Africa, Asia, Europe, or America – the whole world is open to you.

If you’d like to volunteer overseas, but you might not have the money to pay for it, there are options for you too. Try calling agencies and third-party providers – they often have deals, discounts, or might be willing to cut you a deal if you’re looking to do multiple trips with the agency. In addition, there are many volunteer listing websites (idealist.org, stopdodo.com, craigslist.com, WWOOF program, to name a few) that allow for you to set up your own opportunities at little cost. The down side? It could be a scam, expectations might not be met or clearly articulated (perhaps due to language barriers), or you might not see opportunities listed in the area to which you want to travel. In fact, these problems can be so detrimental to travel, that my personal suggestion is to first use a volunteer service to get your overseas, and then (once you’re in-country), use free volunteer listing websites to get yourself hooked up on your next job.

Hopefully this post has answered some of your questions…keep them coming!  In any case, I’d love to hear feedback from you about how you’ve managed to volunteer overseas; maybe I’ll learn something new!