Gary Chen’s new book, “A Cheap Ticket for Student Travel” is a great, yet short, read for college/low income students interested in traveling (especially traveling abroad). At only 23 pages (in PDF form), you can read through it pretty quickly, but it offers some great insights into how you can travel even on a college student’s budget.
He opens with a pretty strong argument for traveling while you’re young ~ time, energy, and lack of ties. This is something I wish a lot more students would keep in mind; by the time you have jobs, families, and other demands on your time and attention, traveling becomes less and less of a likelihood. Since traveling can significantly add to both your accomplishments and the broadening of your experience, taking that awesome trip now is a pretty good idea.
Most of his advice officially starts in Chapter two, where he begins with the important saving tool – Planning. This carries through the next two chapters during which he discusses how even little things like grouping nearby locations together can save money on costs. Chapter 5 is where he really gets into precise methods of saving as opposed to more general recommendations. He also has a really great form on pages 17-18 that helps you list out your expected expenses and likely total. I think filling this out is a great way of reminding yourself precisely how much this might cost you and what you need to save. Throughout the book, he offers some great means of saving and I like the main message he communicates — traveling doesn’t have to ruin you financially!
Writing style: Some of the writing could use some editing and there were a few choppy areas, but overall I found it to be a quick and easy read. A great addition to the ebook is the number of internal links Chen offers his readers–he frequently links to relevant and interesting articles relating to the subject of discussion. Particularly helpful are the links to discount sites and saving tools; I might even use a few of these!
If you are interested or thinking about traveling, I recommend checking his book out. You can find it on Smashwords as a FREE E-book (I like the free part, it matches his theme 🙂 )
Seriously, an honest-to-God sample plot might read:
“Instead of a love triangle, we bring you the love hexagon where two people are murderers (of each other’s parents, though they don’t know that), one is just coming back from America after being falsely accused of the others’ crimes, two girls are sisters but love the same man even though two other men love them better because that one man loves the girl who married his best friend for his money . . . . Oh and there is golden treasure from the ancient Joseon period hidden in a haunted well and protected by a bad guy who knows some badass kungfu and is protected by the mayor.”
Someone brings out a gun and everyone freezes in shock ~ apparently only trigger-happy American-trained people would ever bring a gun to the knife/pipe/bomb/chemical weapon fights that they usually have in the shows. There are two reactions: “Soooo Cool!” or “Do you want to die? Why would you even pack that!?! We’re all going to die!” The number of times I’ve watched a crime drama where all the police run out to a terrorist event with a baton and knife, but NO GUN, amuses me. And the really cool stars don’t need a gun at all. Apparently, it’s still more respected to fight mano-o-mano there.
It doesn’t matter if you are a bad guy or a good guy, no one notices people tailing them. Driving right on my bumper in a giant yellow/orange van with ginormous logos on the side? Don’t see you. Sitting on my porch under a blue umbrella when I walk up into my house? Don’t see you. Wearing a white suit in a dark place hiding behind a skinny pole? Don’t see you. Standing creepily right behind me in the dark glaring? Don’t see you. Walking two feet behind me down seven different streets wearing a purple dress with giant orange polka dots? Don’t see you. It’s like watching a baby hide their face but leave everything else exposed – except the adult actually can’t see them!
“We love good beauty tips, so we’ve rounded up our best get-gorgeous tricks in one spot. Whether you want to learn how to create the perfect wavy hair or brush up on your smoky eye technique, you’ll find beauty tips galore to help you get pretty from head to toe.”
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
Language Translation
Deceptively Blonde 