It’s no wonder, then, that the majority of us do what we can to keep fit and healthy while travelling. All the better for making the most of every moment. But, ignoring the possibility of getting sick or injured while you’re travelling would be naive. Regular travellers especially may need medical care at one point or another. Whether it’s food poisoning, a broken limb, or even a local virus, there are tons of different possibilities you could get ill that you may not be able to avoid. To make sure you’re prepared for whatever situation that may come up, we’re going to look at three steps you can take to ensure a hospital stay isn’t the most challenging thing you traverse during your time away.

Keep a translation app on your phone

Language barriers are one of the main issues with healthcare abroad. Chances are that you didn’t think to learn ‘chest infection’ during your trip preparation. Yet, waiting around for a translator could cost you a day or more. That’s an epic waste of time and could possibly be dangerous when it comes to your wellbeing. Instead, make sure you keep a translation app on your phone. That way, you can communicate what’s happened and understand what the doctor tells you. Options like iTranslate are free, so there’s no reason not to take this step.

Gain some basic medical knowledge

We’re not saying that you need to become versed in medicine before heading away. That wouldn’t be practical or worthwhile. But, it is worth getting a feel for some general knowledge here. If you often react to insect bites, for instance, ask your doctor which injection they use. If you’re worried about breaking bones, research machinery like the oec 9800 x-ray machine before you set off. Knowing what machines are used commonly around the world, you can make sure you get the correct diagnosis when you need it.

Get travel health insurance

Of course, this list wouldn’t be complete without mention of travel health insurance. It doesn’t take a genius to work out why this is necessary. Even if you already have a policy, there’s a good chance it doesn’t cover oversea injuries. The last thing you want to worry about is not having enough to cover health bills abroad. Instead, sign up for health insurance before you head off, and rest easy that you’ve got this covered. Then, make sure to take your paperwork with you. Simply hand it over when there’s any mention of payment. All the better for getting out of there in quick time and getting on with your holiday.

Work out what your budget can afford.

First of all, you need to set yourself a budget for your trip. Think about the very most you’d be happy to spend out of your personal funds. From that starting point, you can start to write down all the places you’d like to see and all the things you’d like to do there. You need to calculate the costs of all those activities so that you can get some sort of idea as to how much the entire venture is going to cost you. Of course, if you find that you’re going to go over budget if you do everything on your list then you might need to make a new plan. That doesn’t mean you need to compromise and scratch places off your wishlist; you could look into getting an online personal loan to help fund the remainder of your adventure. There’s always a way to finance your travels, but you might have to think outside the box if your personal finances are being stretched a little too thinly.

Search for cheap transport.

When it comes to traveling, it’s often getting from place A to B that costs the most money. You can save money on food and accommodation (as we’ll discuss in the final point) quite easily, but it can often be hard to find cheap options when it comes to actually getting to your destination. When it comes to transport, much like everything else, you need to do your research. There are lots of websites, such as Skyscanner, that can help you by comparing different flights. You should also look for cheap deals during the off-season period because airlines are often more eager to sell their available tickets during the quieter months of the year.

Be smart about your choice of accommodation.

Finally, the best way to save money on your travels is to choose cheap accommodation. With the power of the internet at your fingertips, you can do a lot of shopping around to make sure that you choose the cheapest places possible at every destination you’re going to visit. Additionally, online reviews mean that you can easily avoid staying at a place that has a bad reputation. You don’t have to opt for a hotel, either. Hostels are a good option for young travellers looking to hop from place to place. You might want to try an Airbnb if you want to stay in a high-quality flat or house for a ridiculously cheap price. You could even consider swapping houses with someone in another country. There are many possibilities available, so make sure you take the time to do some online research into accommodation options when planning your trip (or many trips).

So there you go! Three quick tips on frugal traveling. 

Until next time, 

Transportation

The first piece of advice is to get yourself the best credit card for travel and leave your debit card at home. Especially if you are traveling to another country, your debit card won’t be accepted if your bank isn’t also available there. There are many great credit cards that even give you travel reward points with every purchase! 

Looking at flights to start off with can be stressful, especially if there is no direct route to your final destination. Although a flight might look pretty cheap to begin with, you need to take a deeper look into the extra costs involved and also think about the cost of you getting to and from the airport. Take a look at a comparison site such as Skyscanner to help you compare different flights and find the one to suit you.

If you are on a budget it will also be worth your steering clear of renting a car. It might seem to start with like renting a car is your best option, but it is not. Your daily fee may be low, but it is the fuel and parking which you need to think about, and it will rack up after the week is over. Plus who wants to be bothered with looking for parking while they are on vaca? I know I don’t. Figuring out the public transit system in the city that you’re visiting is going to be your most cost effective method of transportation.

Accommodation

Although they might not have the best reputation, hostels still offer the most affordable accommodation for those who are traveling and backpacking around. If you do want to go down this route, take a look at Hostelworld to find the best ones in your location.

Another way to save is to rent a house instead of staying in a hotel. Airbnb is usually my service of choice when it comes to looking for places to rent. Finding yourself an apartment is also going to be a great way to stay in a specific area rather than to be restricted to areas where hotels are. 

Stay connected

The beauty about technology these days is that it is much easier for us to stay in touch with our relatives back home than it used to be. If you can find a cafe near where you are staying which has free WiFi, you can hold. Skype call to home and avoid the roaming charges you’d get using your phone to call them up.

Taking tours

If you are stuck for things to do during your stay abroad, free walking tours could be the perfect answer for you. It will allow you to walk around the city or town you are staying and learn about the different landmarks. It’s a great opportunity to learn about where you staying and to meet some other travellers along the way!

Hope you found this article helpful! Don’t let your cashflow limit your wanderlust. There are always options to travel for cheap! 

Until next time, 

Dress For The Part You Want Not The Part You Have

This sounds super cheesy, and I know there are a million memes out there of people dressing like princesses or Victoria Secret models (haha). But this corny line actually packs a punch. I’m not saying you should be wearing thousand dollar office clothing to dress like a CEO would but putting more effort in looking professional can help make you feel more confident and productive at work. And at times, it can have an effect on how others see you at work too. Work on your wardrobe for work if you’re not currently dressing like you’re in a position of power! As I always say: Look good to feel good. 

Don’t Forget About Your Benefits

Make sure you discuss benefits with your boss or controller! A lot of people forget about their benefits and let it go to waste year after year. Consider it this way. The money you save is more money in your pockets. Some companies even will cover gym memberships, transit expenses, and telephone reimbursements! All of these things add up and paying attention to whether your firm offers overtime benefits, travel expenses, and more could land you some serious extra bucks in the bank account. 

Ask For A Promotion Or Pay Raise

How will you get a promotion or a pay raise if you just wait around for somebody to hand you one? Chances are, this won’t happen. Asking for it can be scary, but it lets your boss know that you value your job and want to continue further within the company. Arrange a meeting with your superior and talk about performance, and don’t forget to negotiate on expectations. Explain to them what you have done to earn the promotion and how you’ve demonstrated your worth and ownership of tasks by taking the lead. Just make sure your manager is aware that you would like a promotion. Trust me when I say, not every manager/boss is constantly thinking “when should I give my employees a raise”. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to! You can keep an eye out for internal job postings too! If there’s a role that has opened up that you think would push you further in your career, take it! No matter how small the promotion, it is still important to push yourself to go further in your career while also reminding your superiors that you take your job seriously. 

Consider Starting Up Your Own Venture On The Side

Entry-level jobs don’t always pay the best, and sometimes it may get a little tough starting out, especially right after you graduate. If this is the case, consider starting up your own venture on the side! My side hustle is freelance work and blogging. And most of the time, all you need to start a small side hustle is a credit card and a good idea. But of course, if you get into a bit of a jiffy, there is always credit card debt relief available, should you need it.

You could even create multiple income streams if you’re ambitious; how about affiliate marketing, blogging, writing e-books, tutoring, selling your talents online? Whether you’re great at drawing up a logo or you do a pretty good voiceover, you can sell it!

So those are some small tips that I’ve learned in the past couple of months of starting my career! 

Hope they were helpful for my fellow new graduates. 

Until next time, 

Pick a niche/area of interest 

This is definitely one of the first things you should consider when starting a blog or an IG. I know everyone has endless interests that they would like to share with the world. But I think it’s important to consider what your niche is so that it makes it easier to define who your audience is. Having a good understanding of your audience helps a lot when it actually comes down to content creation. I’m definitely not saying your niche and your interests can’t expand and grow as you go along, but I think having a niche helps a lot when you’re getting started to get your followers ball rolling. 

Consistent content

I’m realizing more and more, as a blogger and as someone who is constantly flipping through IG, that content consistency is extremely important. I’m not just talking about the quality of the content (which really is #1 when it comes to level of importance) but also the timing and frequency of your posts. A huge difficulty I face is the lack of time I have to shoot and create content. As a full-time student who also works part-time in retail, fitting blogging in my weekly schedule is a struggle. However I continue to dedicate my rare days off to working on my IG and blog because it is something I love to do. This means that I have to maximize every waking moment of my days off to try to create as much content as I can. Creating quality content is not an easy thing to do and it is crucial when it comes to building a successful social media account. So here are my my biggest tips regarding this issue:

Shoot as many outfits as you can during your shoot days

That way, throughout the week when you’re busy, you still have worthy content to upload and you’re not stuck with uploading filler photos (like I do sometimes!)

Try to designate one day a week, at least, to creating content

Creating a schedule for yourself gives you no excuse to avoid shooting for that week. And trust me, you’ll thank yourself for following through with shooting when Thursday rolls around and you realize you still have photos to post! 

Set a posting schedule. 

My posting schedule for my blog is WAY less organized than IG. For IG I post at least once a day and sometimes more if I have worthy content (anywhere between 1-3 photos). I find that because I know I’d like to post everyday it has really helped with creating a sense of urgency and discipline when it comes to shooting and writing. But keep in mind you should create a schedule that works with your life! Don’t over-burden yourself and end up posting just to post! 

Improving your content

Everyone starts out taking photos with their phones and that is totally okay! It is absolutely unecessary to have a camera when you’re just starting off because most smartphones these days have great quality cameras. However, I do think improvement is very important if you’re serious about IG or blogging. For me that means creating more content with my camera, finding better and more interesting backgrounds, and planning my outfits better. It’s easy to get lazy and post just for the sake of posting. Heck I still find myself doing that more than I should. But I try to put more effort in my content whenever I can. Especially since I’ve been trying to build on my blog more consistently, I find that I need those high-quality DSLR photos to use in my posts. 

I am not saying that you need to go out and drop bills on a nice camera just to start a blog or IG. But I think it is important to always think about how you can improve on your work!

Using hashtags

Not everyone uses hashtags and a lot of people get by just fine without it. But I still use a group of hashtags every time I post a picture because I think it does make a difference! Hash-tagging allows people to more easily discover your content, and really I’ll take any type of optimization I can when it comes to bringing more awareness to my profile. I’ve copied and pasted the little paragraph of hashtags that I include with all my outfit posts down below so that you guys can use it too! I usually keep this in my notes on my phone and just paste it into my comments every time I create a new post. You can go ahead and remove or add any hashtags you’d like and that you think relates to your post!

Cross-platform sharing

I’m seeing more and more benefit in cross-platform sharing your content. One huge thing for me is ensuring that all of my social media handles and platforms are brand-aligned and follow a certain theme. Whether this means using the same profile photo or using the same banner, I like to create a sense of unity between my accounts so that all platforms are uniquely ME! Once I have all of my accounts (Twitter, IG, Blog, Facebook, Youtube) aligned, I make sure that every time I create a new video or blog post or G post, I share that throughout all the accounts. This way you spread your reach and create a larger opportunity for people to discover you! Not to mention it looks super professional when all your accounts are in sync with the others. Shows that you can manage more than one platform at a time!

Collaborations

So this is always something I get asked about. Do I reach out to companies and brands that I want to collaborate with? How do I get brands to notice me? What do I have to do to get brands to want to work with me? 

Well, here’s the breakdown:

I’ve only reached out to two companies in my entire lifetime of being on IG to collaborate. All of the other collaborations that I have been so lucky to do so far has been brands and companies reaching out to me. There really isn’t a surefire way to get companies to start partnering with you except for creating continuous quality content. I know I’ve said this already probably more than once in this post but it truly is the KEY to growing your profile. Once brands and companies see your work and your growth and it’s aligned with their content, they will naturally want to work with you. One thing you could do if there is a specific company that you want to work for (and you don’t want to directly email them an request) is to create content with their products and tag them and use their hashtags. This creates an opportunity for the social media manager of that company to notice your content and decide whether you are a good fit for their affiliate program or current collaboration opportunities. 

As for actually reaching out to the brands and companies, you would send an email to the brand with a collaboration request. In this request email it is important to keep in mind who your audience is and how this collaboration with benefit them. I would include your current stats (impressions per post, follower count, engagement level, the accounts and platforms that you would be able to post on) as well as a specific offer for the collaboration. Usually this entails number of posts, frequency/timing of posts, content ideas etc. Remember to keep this email audience-centric! Focus on how this will benefit for them and creating a long-term relationship with the company. There’s nothing these brands hate more than people who just want to collaborate to get freebies. 

This was such a content heavy post! Ah! Hope I didn’t over-bombard you guys with text. I hope this post was insightful for those of you thinking of becoming a blogger or influencer! I’ve been asked over and over again about how I got to where I am today, and honestly this is all stuff I learned on the way. And of course, most importantly do it for the right reasons. Do it because you enjoy creating content and interacting with your followers NOT because you want freebies! 

If anyone has any questions feel free to comment down below or email/DM me directly! 

Until next time,