I've got a Year and a Half to do this...And I need your help

[Chives the Conquerer]

I'm a high school senior with about 2500 dollars saved up. My goal is to travel with my cousin to, and spend the latter half of the 2015 summer (after my freshman year of college) in Australia possibly using couchsurfing. So I've got about a year and a half. I've heard of the travel hacking, but don't really know where to start, especially without a credit card. I want to create a game plan to help me do this, and your help would be greatly appreciated.

[SansSerif]

Hey, just to clarify, you are looking to travel/live in Australia for a few months in 2015?  Does your cousin have some money saved up too?  

 

Signing up for a credit card bonus might be a bit tough since you probably have a limited credit history, but I'm happy to help you find other ways to make your adventure happen.  

[Chives the Conquerer]

Yeah maybe like a month and a half. And he does have money saved, but I'm not sure how much. What do you suggest I do to make this happen? Do you have experience with this?

[Chives the Conquerer]

Hey, just to clarify, you are looking to travel/live in Australia for a few months in 2015?  Does your cousin have some money saved up too?  

 

Signing up for a credit card bonus might be a bit tough since you probably have a limited credit history, but I'm happy to help you find other ways to make your adventure happen.

Yeah maybe like a month and a half. And he does have money saved, but I'm not sure how much. What do you suggest I do to make this happen? Do you have experience with this?

[Tim_no001]

I went out and lived in Australia for a year on  my own - now I wouldn't necessarily advise everyone to do it in the same manner as I did - but it proves that you can actually do it on a lot less than you would imagine..

 

I flew into Perth airport with less than $300 AUD in my bank account, it was a city where I didn't know anyone and was starting on a completely clean slate.. Once I arrived I lived in the airport arrivals for a day or two - there was free internet and by the time I hitch-hiked into the city I had organised a couch to surf & got a load of job interviews lined up. I ended up crashing in a few airports in AUS (and other places) whenever I was too low on cash to get a room - they are warm, generally have internet and nobody notices you (providing you look reasonably smart).

 

I ended getting a job that week and worked there for 6 months, even rented a house on a short lease 5 minutes from the beach. Through the friends that I made I got a job working at a cafe on a tropical island off the coast.. 

 

Later I managed to live an entire month in Melbourne with not a single cent to my name (I worked as a handyman for a hostel in return for lodgings and some food, did some removals work to pay any debts and also the occasional pop upto the local soup kitchen or Hari Krishna center for a spot of lunch.)

 

The reason I am saying this is because providing you can think outside the box there is a way of doing anything.. I had the best year of my life starting with less than a weeks holiday would typically cost.. dw worry too much about the money - especially in a place like Australia where its greatest attraction, the outdoors, is free!!

[Chives the Conquerer]

I went out and lived in Australia for a year on  my own - now I wouldn't necessarily advise everyone to do it in the same manner as I did - but it proves that you can actually do it on a lot less than you would imagine..

 

I flew into Perth airport with less than $300 AUD in my bank account, it was a city where I didn't know anyone and was starting on a completely clean slate.. Once I arrived I lived in the airport arrivals for a day or two - there was free internet and by the time I hitch-hiked into the city I had organised a couch to surf & got a load of job interviews lined up. I ended up crashing in a few airports in AUS (and other places) whenever I was too low on cash to get a room - they are warm, generally have internet and nobody notices you (providing you look reasonably smart).

 

I ended getting a job that week and worked there for 6 months, even rented a house on a short lease 5 minutes from the beach. Through the friends that I made I got a job working at a cafe on a tropical island off the coast.. 

 

Later I managed to live an entire month in Melbourne with not a single cent to my name (I worked as a handyman for a hostel in return for lodgings and some food, did some removals work to pay any debts and also the occasional pop upto the local soup kitchen or Hari Krishna center for a spot of lunch.)

 

The reason I am saying this is because providing you can think outside the box there is a way of doing anything.. I had the best year of my life starting with less than a weeks holiday would typically cost.. dw worry too much about the money - especially in a place like Australia where its greatest attraction, the outdoors, is free!!

That's an awesome story! One of those cool life-changing adventures. I'm staying around two months though, so I wouldn't be looking for a job.

[Cruella T'Kill]

Be careful about flying into places with no money.  If you look at the terms of visas, they usually stipulate that you (a) have an onward ticket or ( have enough money to support yourself for the duration of your stay.  9/10 times they probably won't check, but when I flew into England to stay for 3 months they wanted to see bank statements to verify that I had enough money.

 

I don't know much about travel hacking and considering you are just graduating not sure how easily you will get approved for a credit card.

 

But I do have a recommendation to help with expenses while in Australia (because it can be very expensive).  www.helpx.net is a website that you can help you find places to exchange work for room and board.  It is mostly farmwork, but there are sometimes places in the cities that need some landscaping or handyman work.  You create a profile and can browse potential hosts and read reviews about other people's experiences.  I used it a bunch when I was travelling around Australia and had such a great time.  It can help get you to some out of the way places and meet some fantastic locals.  Then you can save your money for the big cities!