How Students Can Prepare for a Location Independent Lifestyle

I’m sure there are plenty of younger people out there in College or even High School who are thinking about what they want to do in the future, travel will be high on the list of many and some may be thinking about how they can make it a part of their career. College is a good time to start planning your location independent lifestyle and High School even better. Here are a few tips that will give you a head start.

Learn A Second Language

The earlier you learn a language the easier it will be to pick it up, but unless you are a toddler it’s going to take a bit of effort. Having a second language under you belt will make traveling to where that language is spoken to a new level where you can really get to know the culture and the people. It is also a great skill to have on your resume, once your out living the nomad lifestyle full time there will be plenty of employers after someone with local knowledge and language skills if you decide to work for yourself it can significantly increase your potential customer base and your ability to close sales with them. It’s really easy to combine this with any of the following suggestions and accelerate your learning.

Participate In A Student Exchange

If you think you have been bitten by the travel bug just wait until you actually travel somewhere and you soon find you have just got a bug but a full blown disease. Doing an international student exchange will confirm if you are up to living in foreign countries long term and can give you so great local contacts if you decide that the country you exchanged with is one place you would like to travel and work in. Ask about this even if you think its not an option for your situation, I didn’t and later found that my parents would have happily sent me off but I didn’t think they would so I never asked.

Take A Gap Year

Any traveler will tell you that traveling gives you perspective, builds your self confidence and focusses your priorities. Its a big ask for a young adult to come out of school knowing what they want to do with the rest of their life but a year out in the world can help you do just that, you will begin to find what it is you are passionate about and if there is one thing essential to living an intrepid life it’s find your passion.

With so many Gap year orginations around it’s pretty easy to get yourself on an adventure that will be filled with experiences that will benefit your future, you can take a course, work, volunteer or just bum around. Many people though spend their Gap years in a western country doing much the same they would at home, don’t make this mistake, It’s a great idea to sign up for a conservation or community development project in a developing country where you will learn much more about yourself and the world around you.

Study The Right Subjects

This is where having done the previous two suggestions can really help, knowing what direction you really want to go in should make choosing what you study much easier and well directed for your future career. While this isn’t essential it is valuable and can make your life easier later on and this post is about laying foundations after all. Having a good understanding of the internet is a good place to start and follow it up with something that really interests you.

Now you don’t have to be a student to take heed of this advice but if you are you are in the fortunate position of not having to worry about things like debt, family and the like or at least it is a lesser worry. So be aware of the opportunity you have in front of you and use it to lay the foundations for a life far beyond the mundane so many become a slave to.