Week 5 Posting

Hi Readers, welcome back!

This week my focus was to select my budget that I can work on saving towards as well as selecting how long I want to travel for. I will also be looking into travel VISAS and Vaccinations I will need for certain areas or diseases to be safe, as well as travel insurance.

 

Determining a Budget

 

The budget I have determined for myself is $2,000 to travel for 2 months. This is my goal budget however as I continue to further my research this budget will fluctuate and change with different aspects. These include where I decide to travel, the disease rates, tourist areas, where I decide to stay (if I know anyone staying there),  my excursions/extras, and my transportation I use while I am there. Other things that will influence my budget that I have discussed in previous blogs include currency exchange rates, popularity of locations, flights, and again where I decide to travel to. Below I am going to share a few tips on how to decide on a budget and how to save and make your budget a reality!

 

First thing is to start saving your pennies, stop spending money on extra stuff and only buy what you need. No extra candies at thee grocery stores, stop eating out, make your food and coffee at home, and do not go out as much. You can have just as fun going hiking, biking, or having wine nights in with friends as you can if you go out. Tip #2 make this trip a goal, it has been proven that if you create a goal for yourself you will be able to reach it faster and there is a higher rate of you actually getting it then if you don't. Creating a goal is also a great way to get excited about a trip and should always be the first step in planning your vacation. Tip #3 figure out how much you will need each day, and always round up when figuring out costs, it is better to be more prepared and safe then unprepared and sorry! Tip #4 Do not skimp on travel insurance (MUST GET) if you can't in afford travel insurance you can not afford to travel. Tip #5 The most important when budgeting for a trip is flexibility. You need to be willing to add on the go travel splurges. Tip #6 keep your money in a variety of different places not all in one spot just in case you lost or had it stolen you will not loose everything.     

 

Travel VISA
 

A travel VISA is an official document, usually stamped or glued inside a passport, giving permission from a foreign authority for you to enter a country. Before you leave to go away on a trip you need to consult a travel advisor/agent for a Visa specific information. You need Visa's  in most foreign countries if you are there for longer then 90 days. Visa's must be obtained before leaving Canada. You may be denied entrance to a country if they require one and you do not have this!! Which would suck after all of your hard work budgeting fro the trip!  

 

To get your travel Visa today check out this website: https://www.visahq.ca/

Vaccinations

Talk to your health care provider about recommended vaccines before you travel.

Check with your local health department. Some health departments provide travel vaccines.

Find a travel clinic in your area. 

For the yellow fever vaccine you will need to go to an authorized vaccine center.

 

These vaccinations will depend on where you decide to travel too look into this using Google to see which vaccinations you need to be safe when travelling to your destination.
One more tip is global medical insurance can cost around 62$ to anywhere in world if you are under 60 years old.
  

 

Check out my blog next week on transportation and my chat with a travel agent on more tips!!

 

Cheers!

Week 4

Welcome back readers!

 

This week I have a lot of exciting news to share with you all on my recent research on my genius hour project! Travelling on a student budget is becoming more and more of a possibility for students like myself and you, who are on a budget.

Check out my latest findings through my interview with my best friend!

The interview I conducted was with my best friend in the comfort of my home. We discuss places she has been and how she has travelled both with friends, and on her own, including Florida 14 different times!!

Video Interview

 

 

P.s. Do not mind my face as I had dental surgery a few days before and it is still very enlarged!!

 

Extra Costs 

When travelling we all know we will give in to random trinkets and souvenirs to prove that we really did travel to those places. I know I won't be able to pass up shot glasses from different places around the world as well as post cards or something unique from the towns I pass. However saying that I need to make sure I do not go over board as not everything will fit into my luggage and second I do not have a large budget to buy expensive gifts for every member of my family and friends. To avoid going above and beyond I am going to give myself $100-$200 limit for all extra costs this also includes excursions and extra stuff I want to do  while I visit these different places. Again this will come back to this or that tip I discussed in my second blog posting. Do you really need that $200 Vase from China or can you go bungee jumping instead and enjoy the experience more? 

Travel Insurance
 

The best way to travel is to be worry free, you never know what types of infections, diseases, viruses, or other things that you might catch. Some body systems will be different in how they react depending on where you are in the world, and it is because they are use to the different climates, temperatures, and environments as they have grown up in them. Another way to look at this is how your body adapts to different foods or places. I know that some foods that are too spicy to not agree with me, and pop makes me burp the loudest ever! When thinking about travel insurance one thing you need to know is it will help you and save you all the expensive fees if something were to happen to you and you had to go to a hospital in a different country. Travel insurance is a must! A MUST! How do I get travel insurance? There are many sites such as: https://www.insuremytrip.com, where you select you departure dates, cost of trip, age you are, and your home residence. They will compare all available travel insurance rates from all websites and will provide the best rates for you. An example: If I went to France today February 24th until March 1st and I am 23 years old from Canada, and my budget of my trip is $1,000 then I can pay $80 for full coverage insurance.  For travel insurance I would budget $100 just in case to make sure you will cover everything and that way you will be safe. Travel insurance can be lower or higher than $80 depending on the length of time you are travelling, when you go, and where you go!
 

Genius Hour in the Classroom

 

I would use this activity as a culminating task in my future classroom. I think this is a great task that shows students creativity and individual skills. It allows students to pick a topic that they are interested in which makes it more engaging for the students. They will be excited about doing this task, and it will feel less like work. By using this in the classroom students will also gain researching and computer skills, as well as learning how to explore a topic with no limits. Genius hour also teaches students to step outside of the box by have no limitations, as they are responsible for their own learning. Motivating students can sometimes be a challenge for teachers and by incorporating this genius hour task into your classroom can eliminate this challenge. However like all tasks this task can have challenges. One challenge that you could occur with using this in your classroom is how to assess it. There will be multiple projects all based on students choices and interests. How can you assess every students individual work? How will you make it equal by marking every student? This can be assessed by having students create the same tasks and completing them on different topics. For example students can all create videos to explain their topics and have the same outlines of what are expected on each. This can be used for the genius hour projects.

Cheers!