What’s new?

In my last newsletter, I was in Ireland.

Now, I’m in the mountains of Colombia for the next two weeks. ⛰️

Life is mad…

Travel doesn’t have to be expensive

A lot of people see travel as unachievable and expensive.

If this is you, let me tell you, this is not true!

Let me show you how you can travel on a budget and have a local and fun experience.

I was supposed to work with Worldpackers last year to promote their range of volunteering opportunities around the world.

Almost a year later, I am actually doing it!

What is Worldpackers?

Worldpackers is a platform where people all around the world can list volunteering opportunities and people like you and I can apply to participate.

There’s a huge variety of experiences, from gardening to cleaning and social media help, to name but a few.

If you want to travel on a budget and do some work in exchange for food and accommodation, I would recommend signing up.

I even have a discount code evsadventures for $10 off your yearly plan (it’s only $49 for the year and you can apply to and participate in endless volunteer experiences around the world).

My experience and why you should volunteer too

You may know, I have travelled a lot…

But, I’ve never done something like this.

I’m getting out of my comfort zone, I’m living with a mother and son in their home outside a random Colombian village surrounded by beautiful mountains.

I’m actually paying for this experience, but most of them are ‘free’.

I have a dorm bed (which is actually a double bed in a private room, because there are no other girls here, so I don’t have to share) and I get 2 hours of Spanish lessons, breakfast, lunch and an activity a day in exchange for $140/week and some assistance with social media - content creation and training.

I think I got lucky!

I based my decision off of a few reviews that this place had and I’m so happy I came here.

You can do this too.

It doesn’t have to be so far away, but there are plenty of experiences that you can sign up for and have a cultural, eye-opening experience, by giving up some of your time in exchange for a bed and food.

Where I’m working from today

I’m in a little village called Jericó in Colombia and here’s what my set up looks like ⬇️

Some inspiration

This might sound random, but this really resonated with me.

I was recently reading ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’ by Tim Ferriss, and he spoke about the difference between happiness and excitement.

He states that “Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all.”

When we speak about following our passion, we’re talking about what excites us.

Don’t chase happiness, chase excitement.

That’s what I’ve committed to do over the next few years in life - hence the random adventures I’ve got coming up…

You will find some of the main lessons from the book here and maybe it’ll inspire you to read it too.

What’s coming next?

In the next newsletter, I will share more reflections of how I’m getting on here in Jericó and also more about my group trips (as promised previously) - if you have any questions about Sri Lanka or Kyrgyzstan, please email me or DM on Instagram.

If there is anything you want to see in these newsletters, I’m always open to your suggestions and questions, just hit reply and let me know.

Some things you may be interested in

My group trips in 2024 will be to Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan (what a f*n adventure!!!), if you’d like to join or see the itineraries, click here for Sri Lanka (limited spots left) and here for Kyrgyzstan.

If you’re interested in becoming a TEFL teacher and earning money online or moving to Thailand (like me in 2021) or somewhere else in Europe/Asia, check out the courses and internships on tefl.ie and use code EV16 for 16% off any course/internship.

And just a note, some of the links in this email are affiliate links, which help me earn a little bit of money at no cost to you.

If you enjoy my recommendations or simply want to support me, click on those bad boys.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading, subscribing and following!

Ev x