Wanderlust and the Poor Newlyweds: Our Experience

Travel.  

The whole topic is a can of worms, I've decided, because everyone has such different beliefs about how to best spend their time and money, especially in early married life when planning and preparing for the future.

This video: hilarious.  As it ended, Shad and I looked at each other with smiling but slightly concerned expressions: "That's not us, right?"

The travel guru girl represents our attitude in some ways, I guess, but she doesn't represent our financial situation.  Shad and I joke about how we don't really budget or pay attention to our finances because there's no money to manage!  And yet, somehow we've spent a combined total of about seven months abroad since we've been married (and that's not including Shad's six-week study abroad last summer).

That's pretty cool.  And has caused me to think a lot lately about how in the world it happened.

I have almost scrapped this post multiple times because I'm so humbled when I think about all the support we've received from family and friends since we've been married ("Forget it! None of this would've happened without them!").  But I know there are steps that Shad and I have taken as well to make "our dreams become realities... and some of our realities become dreams."

So, despite the potential "yeah, but"s of this post, I write to reflect on our experience with my younger siblings in mind, who can still take advantage of traveling as students if they'd like to.  Because that's what we did: capitalized on our time in college when schedules are more flexible, expenses less permanent and opportunities abound.

How to Travel as a Married Student Couple with Insatiable Wanderlust

Spouse missing from photo: a side effect of traveling as a couple without a selfie stick.

1. Look for Opportunities

Each of our opportunities to travel abroad has centered around a program at our university and contributed to our academic and personal goals.  Some programs get more publicity than others, so go out of your way to discover what is out there!  Attend study abroad fairs, pay attention to bulletin boards and emails from your department and talk to professors.  Shad's current internship is attended by only one other BYU student, but still, it exists!  And it's a fantastic experience that is preparing him well for medical school.

Also, think about whether you prefer breadth or depth; would you rather see tons of places in three weeks or stay in one city for three months?  Shad and I prefer depth-- making home of a new place.  But luckily our program in Vienna, Austria featured some wonderful side trips that allowed us some breadth as well, so do your research on what each program entails.

2. Do Your Best in School

Shad has earned many scholarships due to his hard work to get good grades; these scholarships have pretty much covered his portion of the program costs.  I did not have the most stellar grades in college, yet I was able to earn academic scholarships here and there as well.  Some scholarships take other things into account like specific majors or community service; don't assume that scholarships are out of your reach!

3. Get Married

Ha!  Yes, getting married is to your college travel advantage.  During college, Shad and I were both full-time students, and though we each had part-time jobs, we still qualified for pell grants.  These grants are pretty essential to newlywed survival, but if you are able to earn any scholarships you can put some of the "remaining" money toward your travel goals.  Aaaand make sure you pay it forward by growing up to be a contributing member of society.

4. Be Frugal

Generally speaking, Shad and I don't spend money.  It's not a super conscious decision on our part; neither of us like spending (unless it's at the movie theater or the local burger joint).  We have been wearing the same clothes for years and we go without a lot of stuff that we "could" have, but we don't mind...

Ok, sometimes the clothes thing drives me crazy.  I cry happy tears when my mom buys me a new outfit for Christmas.  But!  Our willingness to live and travel frugally has helped make it all possible.  Consider taking cheap flights, staying in inexpensive Airbnbs, not checking bags... things like that.

As a budget traveler you will learn with time where you are willing to cut costs, and where you are not.  Like with the cat experience, we've had plenty of chances to learn where we can save and still enjoy our trip... and vice versa.

5. Ask and Apply 

I cannot emphasize this enough.  Shad has turned out to be the most resourceful guy; if there's anyone on campus that might have money to fund his study abroad, he has talked to them.  And he doesn't give up!  If they're hard to get ahold of, he visits them personally.  Departments and colleges across the university often have money set aside for students wishing to study or intern abroad; go ask about it.

We have also applied for multiple scholarships and grants offered outside the regular university scholarships.  Some we received, others we didn't-- the point is that we tried, and some of those attempts succeeded.

And, that's about it!  If you really don't care about your finances because your husband plans to attend medical school and you'll be in thousands of dollars of debt anyway, you could always take out a student loan to fund any travel beyond what your program offers *cough*.

For those of you college grads that still have no money but still wish to travel, you should talk to my sister-in-law, Annika, whose husband is in dental school.  She has traveled to multiple places across the country at minimal expense thanks to some serious strategies she's got up her sleeve!  There are all kinds of ways to do it.

It's all about priorities-- not everyone cares to travel as much as Shad and I do, and others have solid financial goals worth pursuing.  So only you know what's best for you!  Obviously.

There may be future negative implications for the choices we've made, but luckily we don't yet know what they are.