BootsnAll Travel Community

And how do you save $$ to travel in the summer/winter/spring break? Where do you go?

I'm not a teacher but I have friends who are (and both my parents are!). Some of my teacher friends work in art camps or camps at counselors/teachers/coordinators to make extra loot...

I work for a school district and have summers off. Almost 80 solid days in a row, depending on the year, that I don't have to work. I don't know that I could go back to having a job that requires me to be there all year; I think I would mutiny.

I save money every month, budget, all the things that other travelers do to save. I also have my paycheck spread out across the entire year so that I don't have to drive myself crazy with being super budget conscious over the summer.

One of the great things about being around students (especially high school students) is that they are eager to explore new things (well, mostly. Math homework aside.) There are many travel companies that run student trips that depend on teachers to help recruit those students. The bonus to this is that you, as the teacher, after you have recruited enough students (generally 6) will have your trip paid for by that company. You get a free airline ticket, your hotel room and all fees to scheduled activities paid for -- generally, this also comes with breakfasts and dinners. Not a bad deal!

The downside is that you have to go on the trip with the students and keep an eye on them. Do things like make sure they don't run off with the first foreigner who makes googly eyes at them and threaten them with returning home if they ever drink *that* much alcohol again. Sometimes you have to sit with them at the consulate if they lose their passport. Or comfort them if they get a little homesick.

Generally, though, if you recruit the right kinds of students, ones who you think will be enthusiastic and responsible, and especially if you declare that there will be no drinking during the organized parts of the trip, things go quite well. You get to see tons of things at little to no cost and you help to encourage a whole new generation of vagabonds.

I chaperoned a trip last summer and will be doing the same this summer. Sure, I would probably like to travel a bit slower than the tour does and yes, getting off of a big giant bus is not exactly the way that I would go, but the price is pretty great.

Check out Passports,
EF, and Explorica for more information.

The big problem is that the infamous "summer off" is an endangered, shrinking thing.

We just don't get as much time off as we used to. I can recall years (some would say ages...) ago, we were off Memorial Day to Labor Day. Not any more. I just got my 08-09 calendar and we're back on frikkin' August 11th.

And, there's so much work that can't be done during the normal school day, meetings, paperwork, etc. that you're so stressed out & tired from it all, it takes a week or so to "decompress" and then another few days at the other end to mentally get ready for it again.

Summer is often the only time you can get done the things around your house you need to do that you just don't have time for during the school year.

Maybe it's just me, but the "glamour" of the summer off has long since lost it's luster. It used to be what saved you from getting to irk'd by the crappy pay. Well, the pay is still crappy & the summer is shorter. A few years with some companies will accrue one the same number of weeks.

I still enjoy those few weeks---spent them in Argentina last year, actually. But...

August 11th?! That's nuts! When do you get out??

We are scheduled to get out June 19th. As long as we have no more snow days, that gives me 10.5 weeks off. Even with decompression/amp-up weeks (which are definitely needed!!!) that gives me 8.5 weeks to play This summer I'll be in Nashville with my brand-new nephew who will be born in June. Next summer the possibilities are endless! I actually look forward to being able to try out new jobs in different places, I'll work away from home so saving $ won't be as much of an issue.

quote:

Originally posted by Tracy Ann:
August 11th?! That's nuts! When do you get out??

The Friday of Memorial Day weekend. New teachers actually have a NON-PAID orientation they have to be at a week before that!.
So, yeah, we have the 8 weeks of June & July, or 6 if you take off the "decompression & amp up times". I guess I'm just whining about when it used to be 12 weeks, the whole "What's the 3 best things about teaching? June, July, August."

Skyehiker, my schedule is similar. We used to get out Memorial Day weekend, but the state thought that was a bad idea (which, honestly, it was. We had to go back the 4th of August last year), so now we get out the first week in June and go back around the 11th, as you.

The last two summers, I spent moving house. This summer I will be in the same place, so I think I will go to Bulgaria. Well, that's the plan right now. But it's looking a bit more expensive than I had hoped. So maybe I will go somewhere else.

How do I pay for it? Savings, scrimping, credit cards, and my tax refund. That's my goal, anyhow.

I put away money from every paycheck so I have travel funds at the end. Over the last six years, I have had a plane ticket outbound leaving the last day of work, or the next day. The return flight gets me back the day before I have to show up at work, or in the case of Asia, three days before so that I can start the adjustment procedure without falling asleep at a meeting. This upcoming summer will be my last one spent that way for awhile because I started a wedding photo business and need to be available during the summer months for work.

I'm in Florida where we get 'only' eight weeks off. Last year we changed our school calender, so I got 10 weeks off. Most southern states start sometime in August.

I'm a music teacher in London. I save very hard during term time so that I can go away nearly every holiday.

Last week was February half term - I went to Maui.
In the summer I did a 6-week roadtrip across the USA (27 states)
In May I went to Berlin and Brussels
In the Easter fortnight break,I backpacked around Eastern Europe.
In the February previous, I headed to southern Spain.
Before that trips included Indonesia, Holland, Iceland...

I live for my holidays,so save up hard!

Viaggero - good on you for being professional enough to fix your jetlag... I turned up on MOnday and actually fell of my chair asleep in a whole school meeting due to my jetlag..!

remily,

After falling asleep at the wheel of my car (after a 12 hour nap)and almost crashed, I learned my lesson about jetlag.

wow you teachers have been spoiled! Most people are lucky if they have 2 weeks off, and you guys are like "remember when we had 12 full weeks off of work to galavant the world and play? now we only have 10... haha, cracks me up!

quote:

Most people are lucky if they have 2 weeks off,

You are displaying ethnocentrism. That is our experience. In Europe most people get at least a month off a year. Even when they are in the states. My buddy worked for a Finish bank and started with a month off a year. That was in New York.

when i said "most people" i was referring to people in the states (not working for european companies) as the majority of responses on this thread are from people from the states. I know that other cultures have it different... yes, oh yes, I envy it! I was just reading and chuckling about the thread bc it IS very different having the teacher mindset - it makes me laugh with disbelief. I WISH I could be saying "oh man, remember when we had 12 weeks off from work every summer? man those were sweet days!" jealous to the bone

on a similar note, when Brian and I were just in Central America, there were many many times where Europeans especially were shocked to hear a couple of Americans were traveling for 2 months.

This is my first year in a public school and the first summer I'm not working at a camp! We're spending about 2 1/2 weeks in Peru and Argentina this summer. Like others, I save throughout the school year so I have two full paychecks to cover the salary I'm missing in the summer. Here in Jersey we don't get out until late June and realistically have to go back to set up the classroom by the last week of August. So, not too much time off there. But yes, it is much more than the three weeks I got in the corporate world!

Hindsight really is 20/20. I remember all the time growing up and in college, not knowing what to do with my life and my mother telling me I should be a teacher because at least i will get my summers and holidays off. I really regret not listening to her. I think I could've been a great teacher and now I'm stuck working way too much and having to fight for a few days here and there.

quote:

Originally posted by Brooke vs. the World:
wow you teachers have been spoiled! Most people are lucky if they have 2 weeks off, and you guys are like "remember when we had 12 full weeks off of work to galavant the world and play? now we only have 10... haha, cracks me up!

Ah, but "summers off" was the balance to all that is hard & harsh about teaching. For many trying just to get by, to make ends meet on the crappy salary, it was a chance to take on a summer job to keep bills paid, kids fed, houses fixed, etc. Less of a summer means less time & money to do that.

The point I was making was simply that with that now shrinking, the "perk" isn't what it used to be. You could put up with the crappy parts of the job looking forward to those precious three months. But, the crap has grown much bigger and the summer has shrunk much smaller. The scales have truly turned.

Narrow that summer down to 8 weeks, and there's plenty of much better paying jobs, that also offer many of the similar "difference-making" "people-reaching" & "life changing" opportunities that led people into the field in the first place.

quote:

Originally posted by Littlemustard:
I think I could've been a great teacher and now I'm stuck working way too much and having to fight for a few days here and there.

Ah -- there is nothing that says that you can't go back to school and become a teacher... lots of people are doing so as a second (or seventh) career

As for the shrinking summer -- I am still pretty thrilled to have the time off that I do. I have about 9 weeks in the summer, a week at Fall Break, 2 weeks at Winter Break, a week at Spring Break and a few days here and there for things like Thanksgiving, Veteran's Day and Rodeo Vacation, which is special to Arizona. I haven't found a job yet where I get this much time off at the rate of pay that I currently earn. I once calculated that if I were to make the same rate of pay and worked a full year, I would have to almost double my salary. In Arizona, that position in my current field (school social work) does not exist. The thing to keep in mind is that there are many other fields that work in the school district who enjoy the same schedule but work only peripherally in the classroom.

I think the classroom is what one makes it. In teaching a foreign language, it is a lot of fun and games to get students to use their vocabulary. While I am still in the student teaching/practicum phase of the program and tend to be very enthusiastic about the future, there are many days that I can't believe that I will actually get paid to play with kids all day.

Do any of you teach a foreign language or history?

My Latin teacher in high school took us to Italy with a program and it changed my life! She also gets to go for free with the program and goes almost every 2-3 years with students. I think that would be AWESOME to do since it gives so many students an eye-opening experience. If I were a teacher, I would definitely, definitely try to do stuff like that.


and skyehiker - I understand why you would be saying it is different having 8 instead of 12 weeks of vacation. I was just joking because from outside of the teaching field it sounds a little hard to believe! :-) But I do get ya, completely, its not an easy job!

This is one of the reasons that becoming a teacher seems so appealing....my English teacher took a bunch of us to Europe when I was in high school and it, too, changed my life!