Realities+of+Young+Adventurers+Seeing+the+World

Many young people from all over the world (many Aussies and Kiwis) often save their money for trips around Europe or South America before heading off either to college or graduate school. They pack a giant backpack of some essentials and get a round trip ticket for two weeks to a month (it doesn’t make sense to take suitcases because you are traveling to several countries on a budget and want to save money- public transportation is a lot easier without a suitcase!) Whether it is an American, Australian, Brazilian, or Argentianian, or French backpacker, the average amount that was spent on a two-week trip was US$4,000. You will be traveling by train or bus from different cities around South America and Europe. Renting a car is not an option for your budget.
 * THE REALITY OF YOUNG TRAVELERS ON ADVENTURES!**

**www.lonelyplanet.com** This will be your main research station (except for airline ticket research)! Any other web page must be noted on your webpage. You will actually link this page to your website. Packpackers usually carry the Lonely Planet book (for the country they are in) in their day bag.

**NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!** **REQUIREMENTS FOR YOUR TRIP!**
1. You must go for at least 14 nights (including overnight flights). You can extend your visit, if you have enough money (by finding the cheapest flight, hostels, and do mostly free activities!) If you are very frugal and still manage to see and experience a lot of traditional culture, you may extend your visit. You will earn extra credit for every day you manage to extend without forfeiting your return trip, food, hostel stay and visits to landmarks.

2. You must visit at least four different countries, if you go to Europe. You must visit two if you go to South America (these countries are much bigger and take longer and are more expensive to get to).

3. You have $4,000 (virtual dollars ☺) to spend and must not exceed this amount. If you want to live like the more affluent tourists and stay in fancier hotels and eat out every night, you will run out of money (nor will you meet many other young, adventurous young people from around the world.)

You will need to find the cheapest airline tickets available by doing some careful research online. They will be peak days during the summer, but you have a month to find some good deals. Don’t go with the first price you find! The cheaper you can get there, the more money you will have to spend while you’re there. The ticket back and forth usually eats up most of their expenses but restaurants, hostels, and tourist attractions eat up your money fast! Whether you’re in Europe or South America, you will need to keep a record of every penny spent! You want to see as much interesting attractions as possible (in Paris? Go up the Eiffel Tower! In Peru? Go up to Machu Pichu ruins! If you are in England? Go see Buckinham Palace! Mexico? Go to the pyramids!) = 4. You will need to keep a journal in web-format.This is how you are graded! =

You will start by going to www.wikispaces.com You will log onto your site and create pages for the following categories: ==> Home Page: Describe when and where you went (overview- do not get too specific here). what you did and saw. Include here a map from the widgets. You will insert a map with all the countries that you visit, tracking the trip, like the one below. You will also insert a calendar with the two weeks of your trip and when you are going to each country. You will also have a list of common phrases you will need to get by in the main language of your country.

==> Our Daily Journals and Photos (these may really be of you- downloaded from your own camera, pretending you are in one of the countries you are visiting). For each day of your visit, you must write up what the physical landscape is like, what you did, where you ate, who you met, what your adventures were, how you traveled to all the places you visited and upload pictures (at least one per day). You will need to find a video about two young travelers in your area on youtube or teachertube and insert it into your website, pretending this is you on your trip.

==> What We Are Bringing in our Backpack- A list of what we will need to bring. No, you will not need your blow dryers and curling irons girls. The only electronic device, you will want is perhaps an MP3 or music player. All the electric current is different in both Europe and South America and you will need special chargers if you are to plug anything in. Your parents can go two weeks without you on the other end of the cell phone. It’s expensive and easy to charge. You can arrange to call home once a week from a pay phone by buying a little card. It’s easy.

==> Our Budget- Daily log of every penny spent using the table on your icon bar. You won’t be able to carry or purchase large gifts but there will be tons to buy. Be smart about gift purchasing (small, token items). You will be popping into grocery stores and will need to write down the actual names of stores in the countries you visit! Find out what is reasonable to be spending on bread, cheese, lunchmeat, and juice for lunch in the various countries. Everything on here must be true about the country.