As I write this I’m in about £9K, give or take of debt. Debt being, credit cards, bank overdraft, shopping accounts etc. So for me the question is, how do I get myself out of all this debt?
advice
Is jet lag still hanging around?
As I start writing this, it’s Monday 11th July 02:41.
After completing my trip from Boston to San Francisco, it was time to head home. I got on the plane in San Francisco on Wednesday 29th June at 14:00, travelling to Amsterdam first (9 hour time difference) we arrived Thursday 30th June at 10:00 (approx). A few hours to chill in Amsterdam before our final flight back home to Glasgow, getting us in Thursday 30th June at 13:00.
I was awake from 08:00 on the Wednesday until 20:00 on the Thursday, minus about 2 half hour snoozes (one on each flight). I thought this was a good thing, I was thinking “get to my bed at 20:00, if I can sleep till 08:00 tomorrow I’m fine! I’ve bet the jet lag.”
20:00 I fall asleep.
22:30 I wake up.
01:00 I fall asleep.
11:00 I wake up.
I looked at this and thought, “I’ve done pretty well. I think I’m going to be okay.” I spoke far too soon.
Friday 1st, or should I say Saturday 2nd as I didn’t get to sleep until 08:00. I then woke at 12:00, napped for an hour and a half later on and that was me up until 03:00. So Sunday 3rd I slept until 12:00 again, how bad could this really be? Sunday or should I say Monday 4th 05:00, I managed to fall asleep. I wouldn’t have cared as much had I not been starting work at 10:00, so 4 hours sleep before my shift wasn’t the best way to start my shifts back at work.
4 nights I’d been home at this point, I couldn’t imagine this sleeping pattern to continue much longer. Once again I spoke too soon.
Monday, nope Tuesday 5th: didn’t get any sleep, started work at 8am.
Tuesday, nope Wednesday 6th: fell asleep 05:00, woke up 09:00.
Wednesday, nope Thursday 7th: fell asleep 05:30, woke up 09:59 (late for work as I was meant to start at 10:00).
Thursday, nope Friday 8th: fell asleep 06:00, woke up 12:40.
Friday, nope Saturday 9th: fell asleep 08:20, woke up 13:40.
Saturday, nope Sunday 10th: fell asleep 04:15, woke up 09:00.
Sunday, nope Monday 11th: (today, it’s currently 03:03 and I’m awake). I start work at 10:00.
When will this sort itself out? I thought I’d done well, I thought I’d bet the jet lag; yet here I am 11 nights later and I still can’t sort this out. Truthfully, I was never a great sleeper anyway. I’d get about 4/5 hours a night at best, but I’d be sleeping at 02:00/03:00 and awake from maybe 07:00 so it didn’t effect my work or anything and honestly I could cope. Now though, now it’s effecting my job and I need help.
Does anyone have any advice on how to help me sleep? I would appreciate it so much for any advice you could give me? Thanks in advance!!
Blogging when you’re not travelling
When I first started yasmintravels I neglected my blog a little (okay maybe more than a little).. but as someone who was just starting out I often wondered how do I write posts on a travel blog when I’m not travelling?
It’s a question that took me more than a little while to eventually figure out the answer to. I found that when I wasn’t travelling somewhere it was difficult for me to work out what to post. I just assumed I could only really post about travelling and as it happened.
I’m not saying that now I have everything completely figured out or that I have my blog where I would want it to be but I thought I’d give you all a couple of hopefully useful ideas if you’re ever stuck in a rut like I’ve been many a time.
Lists:
Everyone loves a list!
Whether it’s your top 5 favourite destinations, top 10 favourite hotels, top 3 restaurants. Anything just get writing lists, everyone loves to read about them and it let’s people get to know about you and what you like a little more.
Advice and tips:
Even if you feel like you have no advice or tips to give anyone or if you feel like it’s all been said before there’s someone out there that hasn’t read it and is searching for your post to help them.
Photo posts:
If you are anything like myself, you will have about a gazillion photos of absolutely wverytjing you’ve ever done and everywhere you’ve ever been. Turn them into posts! I don’t know about you but sometimes I can’t be too bothered reading a post and will basically just go in search of beautifully picturesque images instead.
Reviews:
A classic post. Write a review. It could be a review of somewhere you’ve ate, somewhere you’ve stayed, a company you have used. Reviews are always going to be useful to people so write them.
Stories:
The thing that I feel attracts me to posts and blogs mostly is the feeling that there is a person behind writing all this and the getting to know someone. No-one wants to read another generic post, add some of yourself to it. Tell us a story about something that’s happened to you, let us get to know the person behind these posts.
Future plans:
So you’ve found yourself stuck at home, you’ve been your trips that you’ve had planned and now you’re sat at home planning some new adventure. Write a post! Tell us all what you have planned, maybe we can add some advice and give you ideas of where to go and what to see next.
Guest posts:
You’re running out of ideas but you’ve made a friend that runs another blog. Why not ask them to do a guest post? Your readers will get to read posts from someone else’s point of view and you’ll invite some traffic towards the guests blog.
Bucketlist:
Another absolute classic. Everyone and their gran these days have a bucketlist (and if you don’t you should). Some people think they’re overrated, not me. I love reading people’s bucketlists, I love knowing what other people aspire to do in the future.
Explore your own:
Something I’m trying to do a lot more at the moment is explore my own city of Glasgow more, and sometimes I’ll try to venture out to see more of Scotland. If you can go out and explore your own town or city, somewhere you’ve probably grown up and thought you knew everything about. You’ll probably learn that there’s things and places you didn’t know were right around the corner from you.
Favourite blogs/posts:
The great thing about blogging is there may be so many people writing about the same thing, but we all have a different view and perspective on things. Dedicate a post to your favourite blog or post out there.
So, these are a few tips to help you when you feel like you’ve no motivation to write.
You don’t always have to be travelling to write a travel blog.
Do you have any tips or advice on writing posts when you’re not travelling? Maybe I’ve missed something out? Feel free to leave a comment below and let me know!
They say when you road trip
They say when you road trip that there are certain things you should or should not do. 90% of the time we have listened maybe just the first one we haven’t, that’s what happens when you’re friend is slightly obsessed with knowing every detail of everything though.
Do plan, but don’t over plan.
Well.. I’m not particularly one to over plan I’m more of a ‘I’ll see what happens when I get there’ type of person. One of my best friends however, weeeellllllllll she’s very much a plan every small detail type of person. She’s in her final year at uni and had finished her dissertation for the first week in January. She’s very much a think ahead kind of person. Needless to say every small detail of our trip has been pretty much planned out but that’s who she is. We’re all used to it and for us it will work.
Don’t choose driving partners on a whim.
Even choosing on a whim to go with these 3 gals on a road trip it definitely wouldn’t be a poor choice. For the past 18 years we’ve been friends and I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of lads. The longest we’ve been around each other before is 2 weeks and now we’re doubling that time which shouldn’t be a problem. Although every holiday we usually seem to lose a friend and not in the they’ll find they’re way back more of a, “they done my head in why was I friends with them?” kind of thing.
Don’t wait until the last minute to do research.
Well if you’ve paid any attention you’ll have realised my friend would not let that happen. This road trip has been in the planning for 2+ years, we have well and truly researched the shit out of it.
Do decide beforehand how you will divide costs.
This has well and truly been discussed and we have already divided some costs. All motels have been split 4 ways and we will be doing the same with gas etc.
Do consider alternatives to pricey hotels.
Well we’re definitely not staying in pricey hotels (apart from in Las Vegas), it will be all motels along the way apart from that so we’ve definitely saved a whole bunch of money doing that.
Do take a cooler.
Top of the list of what to buy when we get to America. I’m part of the walmart family (asda) so as sad as it is I’m really excited to use my discount card in America.
Do relax and have fun.
This, I believe we can follow this one.
Our road trip is fast approaching and we are all more than excited. I just keep reading posts from people’s experiences and get so excited when they are about somewhere we are going check my previous post on where we plan or road tripping and leave me a comment and link me to your road trip posts.
Yasmin x
Saving for travel
Whether you’re wanting the spontaneity of being able to jump on the next plane to anywhere or whether you’re organising a RTW trip, you need money to get you started on your journey.
Saving.
I find myself asking, what is saving? How do you do it?
Because for me, I couldn’t save money to save myself. No word of a lie. I struggle so much to save any money and I don’t understand how most of the time. My money just seems to disappear right before my eyes, yet I have nothing to show for it.
How does she save to travel? I hear you ask.
Well, firstly I am part of a menauge (when a group of people give someone so much money a week/month etc and once a year; or however long it is going on for you receive that money back in a bulk). I have taken two turns in our menauge, so I get two payments a year, this is £20 per week per turn. So I give £40 a week or £160 a month. With £1000 per turn I manage to save £2000 per year. Although if I’m being honest I don’t see this as me saving money regularly, I see it more like paying a bill each month. I think it’s maybe because I can’t access the money at all until my given slot to receive it back. Which for me is a great thing!
Not everyone has the possibility of being able to do this so why not give the money to someone you trust? That’s what my friend does. She gives so much per week when she gets paid to our other friend who keeps it for her, this way is good as it means you can access your money but you just have to ask for it first.
I have tried many other ways of saving money, things like a terramundi pot. However beautiful they may be, getting my first one when I was a young teen taught me how to get the money out without smashing the pot (the life of a Glaswegian teenager who just wants to get drunk with her friends at the weekend). So these unfortunately do not work for me.
The thing that really annoys me? I wish I could see where all my money goes!! I try and keep note and calculate every penny I spend but I just end up forgetting.
I’ve told myself this year will be different, I opened an Internet savings account last year which currently has about £1.27 in it.. I’m going to use it and not dig into it at anytime. I need to control my money more.
If I want to travel and see more of the world I need to get my act together and learn to do all these things I seemingly can’t.
Do you have any good saving advice to share with us? Comment and let us all know.
Yasmin x
Berlin Bound 🌍
3 weeks time and I’ll be in this beautiful country for 5 days. Spending some of my 22nd birthday there.
I’m looking forward to it so much, going with 2 other girls as we’re going to see Noel Gallagher’s High Flying birds.
Obviously planning on visiting some beer gardens and such, but where are some of the must go places? Places that maybe aren’t obvious tourist places.
Also, how much do you reckon would be needed for 5 days here?!
Advice would be much appreciated guys!
London, help?
So I’m off to london at the beginning of December and I’m looking for a decent hostel to stay in, only thing is I’m hopeless at this kind of stuff. I usually always go for hotels that cost a bomb but I want to try save myself some money. So anyone know any good hostels in London, preferably in the Kings Cross/Camden area? Any info or advice would be much appreciated!
Advice please guys..
Basically everything I’ve read about RTW trips say not to book everything through travel agents and to book it yourself, as you go. I’m one of those people that because I’m travelling myself I would want to have everything booked, whether it be flights, hostels or anything else. But then I know that wouldn’t leave my trip very open to do what I want..
Basically guys I’m asking for your advice? I’m wanting to travel Asia mostly but probably some other places too if I can afford it. What am I best to do? Book as I go or book in bulk before I go? Also any advice of the best places to go or stay or whatever would be greatly appreciated!
Yasmin Travels 