I received a moderate savings on my international airfare due to the fact that I was a student once again. Discount airfare is just one of the numerous advantages that exist for students which I cannot recommend highly enough. Whatever your position is however, I imagine most would be surprised by the low cost of air travel relative to its potential to yield learning and self-development. Despite my criminally low salary as a public high school teacher, the cost of airfare for my first three-month leg was slightly less than what I would make in just six weeks. So long as one is capable of finding enjoyment in activities whose costs are not too immoderate for their means, independent travel is within the reach of more individuals than one might realize. It has been my experience that once one arrives in a foreign place, the most rewarding and remarkable experiences often have no monetary cost whatsoever.
The web of airlines, routes, and hub cities that make up air travel is a complex and constantly changing system. It is necessary to learn some of the nuances of how airfare is determined in order to know what routes might be possible. For instance, when creating a international multi-stop itinerary one is sometimes shocked to find out, that in some cases, travel to additional unplanned destinations can actually save money. I spent a significant amount of time working out a route that would satisfy my interests and still be within my means.
With the countries I was going to visit and the dates that I would be there determined, I began the long process of planning the specific sites that I would visit and activities I would partake in once I arrived. Many of the things I planned to do within each country included visits to museums and other public institutions dedicated to educating the public. These sites often represent how a society remembers its own past, and offer insight into the collective memory of a people. They are invaluable as centers for the prevailing knowledge concerning certain subjects. They are the logical starting point for the understanding of a number of things that I hope to be able to teach my students. However, I wanted to be certain that my trip also included exposure to everyday life in different parts of the world, and the opportunity to consider how these experiences could be revealing about humanity and its past. This required an itinerary engineered towards interaction with various segments of each society I was to visit, and I gave much consideration to what it is that I would do in the limited time that I would have in each country.
I also wanted to avoid constraining myself, by over-planning to the degree that would not allow my path to be swayed by the circumstances I encountered on the road. The result is a list of sights and activities that I had researched thoroughly enough to help me gain access to them, but that I could adhere to loosely enough to allow the insight gained from being in each region still influence my trip. I am eager dive into the thinking behind my selection of particular items, but I would prefer to include their description where I narrate their encounter.
I also spent time making the final selection of the reading materials that I would carry along while on my trip. I wanted to bring anything that could provide useful information about the history and the culture of the regions I was going to visit. Of course, once again this would be restricted by the fact that everything I wanted to bring from home and read at any point along my trip I would have to carry on my back. To maximize what I could fit, I spent a few days in the public library and the school where I work, shrinking down and making copies of written materials using a Xerox machine. The result is a neat half-sized three-ring binder which includes a diverse range of materials I selected from a variety of sources.
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