Travel adulting, Important Points for the New Adult

As you may know I am only 18 years old.  I used to tell people that when I got older I wanted to just to travel, and I didn't plan on going to college or getting some super fancy normal job that made lots of money.  This, of course, freaked a lot of people out.

Now, I have found ways to say the same thing, but without saying "I want to do something where I can just travel!".  Such as, "I'm slowly starting up a travel blog, and I've got a nice camera so I'm learning about photography", and "I'd really like to write and run a travel blog, in fact I already have a blog that I've been working on for a little while!" These answers, to the common adult, sound way better than the original.

Saying I want to travel is one thing, actually traveling and being smart about it is a completely different one.  Anyone can say "oh I want to go other places in the world", it takes a lot of time, effort, and money to plan an entire trip, and then actually do it.

So, I have here a couple of things new adults will want to consider when traveling for the first time (or first couple times) without a parent.  Hopefully this will give you a couple things to think about.

• When, where, what, who, how?  When are you arriving/departing, times and dates.  Where are you going, exactly?  What are you doing while you're there?  Who, if anyone, are you going with?  How are you getting there, back, and to/from bus stations/airports, etc?  Answer these questions to start.
• Travel Insurance.  Depending on where you're going and how long you're staying you may want to consider Travel Insurance.
• Budgeting.  Do you have enough money to buy that souvenir and get dinner tonight?  Taxi, or the subway, which is cheaper or faster, and do you have more time or more money to spare? 

As an example check out my answers and thought about the above points in reference to my upcoming Boston trip:

• When?  I am leaving in the morning on April 9th, and returning late night on April 10th.  I know I need to be at the train station at least 30 minutes before departure.
• Where?  Boston, Massachusetts.  Personally I don't know the exact address, we're staying with my friend's friend. 
• What?  My friend has most of the plans, that she has made.  I do know that on Saturday we are going to the aquarium in the morning, and to get piercings afterwards.  We'll also be visiting some museums, and the cheesecake factory on Sunday!
• Who?  I'll be traveling with my one of my best friends, Amy.
• How?  We'll be traveling by train there and back.  She will be driving to and from the train station here.
• Travel Insurance?  I did get cheap travel insurance through Amtrak because in case of a last minute cancellation, if I wasn't concerned about that I probably wouldn't have gotten it for this short of a trip.  However, because I am concerned about that (I've been sick a lot lately!), and because it wasn't very expensive I went for it.
• Budgeting?  I'm still working out my budget for the trip.  My friend has been looking into pricing for piercings, and has already gotten passes for a couple things.  I bought the tickets for both of us already.  The biggest thing is going to be food, so as long as I plan for that I should be all set!

So, maybe I don't have everything 100% figured out for my trip, but I do have possibly the most important things, my tickets there and back.  I also know where I have to be and when I have to be there for those! Being prepared is important.