Poverty Travel

My parents say that people always receive a certain amount of money, but they all spend it differently. Some people may spend it on alcohol, or clothes, or movies. (I am rather addicted to movies, so I have to be honest, a bit of my money does go there.) But my main expenses go to travel. I make next to nothing. Really, I’m not going to say the exact amount of my peasantry wages or whatever, but I make – on good months over poverty level, on bad months - less than poverty level. 

Berlin Victory Column

Yet, I have made sure to travel. Right now, for instance, I’m living in Berlin, Germany. 

Yes, yes, it is absolutely the greatest city I have ever been to and every day I say, “I am NEVER leaving this amazing wonderland.” But I don’t live luxuriously and that is because, say it with me: I want to travel.

So, I guess let me start off with how a penniless 24-year-old American girl from Michigan decided to move to Berlin while she was living in Wyoming.

We all have bad jobs, right? 

Yes. And if you said no, then I am elated for you and pray that you don’t ever have to go through a bad job. It’s not fun.

So, I was at a bad job, desperate to figure out how I could work the job (I loved the work, didn’t love the situation) and travel/live abroad. I came across this program eventually while researching and it said it would help me move to Berlin and whatnot.

Well, obviously, I knew I couldn’t actually move.

But, a little voice told me to not write it off quite yet (I say it is God because I am a firm Christian and I most definitely could not have ever gotten here without Him). 

Fast-forward a few months later and I had left that job and was working remotely. (Hallelujah!)

Over those few months, I had kept thinking about that program and when I finally worked remotely, a lot of things fell into place and pointed towards going. So, I pulled the trigger and said “ok, family, friends, life, cat, I am moving to Berlin.”

Now, not everyone has such amazing parents that they would let you move home for the summer. Fortunately, I do have the most wonderful incredible parents ever and they did. I moved home for three months, worked something like 70 hours a week between two jobs, and saved up so I could head off to this wonderful amazing city that I now call my dream home.

I’m sure in every other travel blog (or at least the ones about budgeting) they say this: If you want to travel, you have to work hard to make it happen.

I worked so many hours and all the people that I was with in the moving program when I got here, they had worked crazy hours too. One guy said he worked 90 hours a week! (Welcome to Hate Week in 1984.) But each and everyone of us – ok, well a majority of us – worked hard so that we could make it here, so that we could travel and honestly, live what we dream.

Travel isn’t always going to be easy to achieve, but trust me, when watching the Festival of Lights on the Brandenburg is a typical Tuesday night, you will realize it is more worth it than you could ever believe. All those frustrating hours at minimum wage jobs or scrimping together tips can add up to something wonderful with determination and a goal ahead of you.