Showing posts with label Gap Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gap Year. Show all posts

Sunday, 12 February 2012

Shoestring issue # 6 out now!

The new issue of Shoestring is out now!

Among the stories featured in this issue are: Mount Everest off the beaten track, Teaching English as a foreign language, Exploring Cuba, Aboriginal Australia and Travelling through the 'Stans!

Go on, have a look!



Sunday, 21 August 2011

Wednesday, 11 May 2011

Be a Shoestring contributor!

G'Day!!

Fancy yourself a travel writer or photographer? Have you had a Gap Year / Career break or backpacking experience that opened your eyes and you'd love to share it? Then you're in the right place!

I'm always looking for contributors and reviewers for Shoestring! Next to features about your experiences and sound advice, I am also looking for reviews of travel books and gear, as well as simple but tasty local recipes!

I'm currently looking for stories to go into issues #5 and #6. The July issue will deal with all things festival, hippie/alternative and generally outdoors, so if you have a summer story, I'd like to hear about it.

Please have a look at the contributor guidelines before you send story proposals! Please come up with a specific topic or angle, not just a country. Please also state whether you would have photos to go along with your story - you have been there and know what it looks like, while I might have to search for photos online without exactly knowing what they should look like.

Contribution is voluntary, as Shoestring is a free and ad-free magazine. But you will get to share your experience with like-minded travellers and maybe even inspire someone else's Gap Year!

Interested? Send an email with your story idea to editor@shoestring-magazine.com

I'm looking forward to hearing about your travel stories soon.

Happy Travels, everybody!

Friday, 29 April 2011

Shoestring Issue #4

Today is a very special day.

Prince William has just married Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey. The Royal Wedding has been a massive cause for celebration in Britain and I am chipping in with the latest issue of Shoestring as a wedding gift.

But Shoestring itself has a reason to celebrate today as well! Today one year ago, the very first issue of Shoestring was published. One year of support from contributors and readers alike means that I am now able to give you the fourth issue of Shoestring, on its first anniversary!


Friday, 28 January 2011

Shoestring issue #3 OUT NOW!!

The third issue of Shoestring is online now, and packed full with travel experiences and advice from backpackers like you!

Check it out!

Wednesday, 19 January 2011

Wie plane ich ein Gap Year?

Von Conny Kaufmann

Ein Jahr nach dem Abi oder der Uni im Ausland verbringen: Das ist der Traum vieler junger Leute. Doch ein „Gap Year“ verlangt Planung, bis es so weit ist und man im Flugzeug der Welt entgegenfliegt.

Welche Art von „Gap Year“ will ich?

Zum einen bietet sich Freiwilligenarbeit in Einrichtungen wie Tierschutzorganisationen, Schulen und Waisenhäusern an. Beliebt sind zudem Praktika im Ausland und Au-Pair-Aufenthalte. Natürlich besteht auch die Möglichkeit, einfach zu reisen – ob auf selbst-organisierter Weltreise oder als Teil eines „Work & Travel“-Programms, bei dem man hier und da arbeitet. Außerdem werden so genannte „Multi-Sprachen-Jahre“ angeboten, bei denen man in drei Ländern lebt und arbeitet oder studiert. Die Programme lassen sich mit Reise-Intervallen verbinden.

Soll ich mit einer Organisation oder auf eigene Faust reisen?

Einige Projekte wie Freiwilligenarbeit oder Multi-Sprachen-Jahre werden meistens von Organisationen angeboten und sind schwer, selbst zu organisieren. Für Praktika und „Work & Travel“ sind Organisationen jedoch nicht unbedingt nötig. Obwohl Organisationen nicht billig sind, haben sie den Vorteil, dass man Ansprechpartner vor Ort und zu Hause hat. Viele Anbieter bestätigen die Programmteilnahme am Schluss mit einem Zertifikat – Arbeitgeber trotzdem zusätzlich um ein Zeugnis bitten. Auf eigene Faust zu reisen, bedeutet mehr Freiheit, was Ziele und Reiserouten angeht. Und es ist meistens etwas billiger. Allerdings kann es schwer sein, Hilfe zu finden, wenn etwas schief geht. Wer Kataloge angefordert hat und sich nicht entscheiden kann, kann auch Beratungsdienste wie „Weltweiser“ in Anspruch nehmen (siehe Kasten, unten).

Welches Visum benötige ich?

Wenn man in einem anderen Land arbeiten und Geld verdienen möchte, sollte man sich entweder ein „Arbeitsvisum“ besorgen oder ein „Working Holiday Visum“. Allerdings werden „Working Holiday Visa“ pro Land nur einmal im Leben vergeben. Daher sollte man sich gut überlegen, wie lange und wo man arbeiten will. Freiwilligenarbeit und Praktika unter drei Monaten kann man mit einem Touristenvisum absolvieren. Man sollte sich aber immer bei den zuständigen Konsulaten und Botschaften informieren. Wer Visa für mehrere Länder braucht, sollte beachten, dass der Pass frühestens sechs Monate nach Rückflugdatum ablaufen darf – sonst ist er ungültig. Da der Pass unter Umständen an mehrere Konsulate geschickt werden muss, falls kein elektronisches Visum erhältlich ist, sollte man pro Konsulat mindestens zwei Wochen für die Bearbeitung einrechnen.

Gesund reisen: Impfschutz, Erste-Hilfe-Paket und sterile Spritzen

Alle für die Reiseziele empfohlenen Impfungen sollten eingeholt oder – wenn nötig – erneuert werden. Außerdem sollte sich im Rucksack ein kleines „Erste Hilfe Paket“ befinden samt Pflastern, Thermometer, Bandagen, Tabletten gegen Kopfschmerzen, Durchfall und Entzündungen. Der Standard in Sachen Gesundheitsversorgung und Hygiene ist in vielen Ländern weitaus niedriger als in Deutschland. Für alle Fälle ein paar sterile Spritzen mitnehmen.

Welches Flugticket soll ich wählen?

Bei größeren Fluggesellschaften kann man seinen Sitz meistens bis zu einem Jahr im Voraus buchen, was oftmals die billigste Alternative ist. Ein paar Reiseveranstalter bieten Weltreise-Tickets an, die „Round-The-World“-Tickets genannt werden. Allerdings sind dort Routen vorgegeben. Wer ein Land besuchen will, das nicht auf einer dieser Routen liegt, sollte entweder alle Flüge einzeln buchen oder ein RTW-Ticket mit separaten Flügen kombinieren.

Wie bleibe ich in Kontakt?

Wer unbedingt zu Hause anrufen will, sollte lokale Telefonzellen benutzen oder sich eine SIM-Karte im Gastland zulegen. Eine günstigere Alternative ist das Online-Programm Skype, das auch über Telefone funktioniert. Allerdings haben nicht alle Internetcafés das Programm installiert. Eine eigene Website oder ein Blog sind weitere kostenlose Alternativen. So kann der Reisende Fotos und Videos zeigen und mit Familie und Freunden über Gästebücher oder Foren in Verbindung bleiben.

Wie bereite ich mich vor?

So viel wie möglich über das Gastland und seine Kultur lesen. Auch das Durchschnitts-Wetter beachten und dementsprechend packen. Mit Foren für Gap-Year-Reisende und Interessierte Kontakt aufnehmen: Die Reisenden waren vor Ort und wissen, wovon sie reden. Einige können helfen, Kontakte zu Menschen im Gastland aufzubauen. Wer einen gültigen Studentenausweis besitzt, sollte sich die „International Student Identity Card“ anschaffen, mit der es in vielen Ländern Vergünstigungen gibt. Ohne Studentenausweis bekommt man die „International Youth Travel Card“, wenn man jünger als 26 Jahre ist. Auch eine Mitgliedschaft im „Deutschen Jugendherbergsverband“ (DJH) lohnt sich, weil man so billiger in allen YHA- und „Hostelling International Herbergen“ schlafen kann.

HIER GIBT'S NOCH MEHR INFORMATIONEN!

EINSTIEG ABI Eine wichtige Messe, die nicht nur zur künftigen Berufswahl, sondern auch ausführlich rund um Auslandsaufenthalte informiert, ist „Einstieg Abi“. Nächste Messe: 11. und 12. März, Koelnmesse (Freitag, 9 bis 17 Uhr; Samstag, 9 bis 16 Uhr), 5 Euro. Freikarten (begrenztes Kontingent) und Infos zum Gap Year auf http://www.einstieg.com/

WELTWEISER Kein Reiseveranstalter, keine Austauschorganisation – aber dafür ein unabhängiger Bildungsberatungsdienst und Verlag: Das ist Weltweiser. Über Homepage und Handbücher liefert Weltweiser jede Menge Infos über Auslandsaufenthalte, internationale Bildungsangebote wie Schüleraustausch, Sprachreisen, Au-Pair, Work & Travel, Praktika, Freiwilligendienste sowie Studium im Ausland. http://www.weltweiser.de/

REISEBESTIMMUNGEN Verlässliche und aktuelle Meldungen zu Visa-Bestimmungen, Impfschutz, Wetter und Reisewarnungen liefert das Auswärtige Amt auf http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/

MAGAZINE Empfehlenswert sind zudem die engagierten Magazine Itchy Feet (auf Deutsch), www.itchy-feet.net, und das englischsprachige Shoestring (http://shoestring-magazine.blogspot.com/) von der Solingerin Conny Kaufmann, die ihren Uni-Abschluss in Reisejournalismus in England gemacht hat (siehe Artikel unten). lm


Solinger Tageblatt, 22. Januar 2011

Sunday, 10 October 2010

Shoestring Issue #2!!


Read. Enjoy. Be inspired.

And please feel free to leave a feedback comment!



A special thank you goes to the contributors David Simister, Sophia Kwong, Karima Wenner, Doris Fin, Emily Johnson, Joseph Reaney and Sebastian Marshall

Shoestring is a voluntary project. If you would like to contribute as well, please get in touch!

If you can't open the magazine above, please try opening it on issuu.

Thursday, 30 September 2010

Idiots abroad


A thought has just occurred to me: What is it with British travel shows lately, in which the protagonists do not enjoy travelling at all?

By far the best example for this has got to be An Idiot Abroad. And what an idiot he is. Mind you, what do you expect from a show that is basically a prank done for Ricky Gervais' own enjoyment? An English guy gets to travel the world, sees places so many people would love to see in their lifetimes - China, Egypt, India, for example - and he hates every minute of it. Here is somebody who makes fun of people who are not like him, has no intention of getting to know his host cultures and generally just whimpers "I wanna go home!" for an hour. When asked what he thinks of an experience, his usual answer is "I hate it."
I'm sorry, but that's not a travel show. That's just a show about the blinkered world view of one man. Maybe it's enjoyable in mute mode, when you can't hear the complaining and moaning. I don't know, I never tried. I lost interest after the first 5 minutes.

The other example that comes to mind was an episode of My Family's Crazy Gap Year, that aired on Monday (27th September). A mum and her 9-year-old daughter go around the world, immerse themselves in volunteering projects and township stays. So far, so good. But about halfway through their trip, they have a month in Indonesia for which they have not organised any projects or host families to stay with.
So they travel around a bit, and instead of checking out the culture, enjoying some time off or finding another project to help with, they decide to head back to England because they've had enough of bumming around and can't wait around until their next placement starts somewhere else in the world. That entire Gap Year had been planned for quite a while, so the free time should not have come as such a big surprise. If anything, that's just bad time management. I personally know quite a few people who would quite happily travel around Indonesia for a month without any plan.
And I am sure, that Shoestring readers and contributors combined could come up with hundreds of things to do while out there. The real loser in this episode was the little girl, though. She missed out on so many stories to tell and so many cultural experiences she could have had.


The travel shows I remember where alwys about: "I'm here and I'm doing this, and isn't this amazing!" "Did you know you can do this too?" and "Here's an adventure for you to have." Truly inspiring stories and documentaries that opened your eyes. Unfortunately, all that's on TV these days is: "I'm here and I'd rather be home." And they call those travel shows....

Monday, 6 September 2010

My Family's Crazy Gap Year - Channel 4




The idea behind Channel 4's latest travel show is simple: A British middle-class family goes around the world and tries to get well out of their comfort zone.


In tonight's programme, the Willmott family travelled through India, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and South America, in an attempt to educate the kids - two boys, aged 13 and 9, and a girl, aged 6 - all the while filming their adventures.


Mother Raffia, a bhuddist, does not believe in conventional medicine, and puts her family at risk when they depart for the jungle without any of the recommended vaccinations or malaria prophylaxes and only homeopathic remedies in their bags. Although the family stays with host families in remote parts of India to interact with the locals, My Family's Crazy Gap Year soon turns into a dangerous ego trip when Raffia decides that she just has to meet the Dalai Lama. Head over heels, two cars are organised to drive them 200 miles into the Himalayas to get a chance of meeting His Holiness. On treacherous mountain roads, one of the cars looses grip and rolls twice, with the kids in the back. The Willmott's finally meet the Dalai Lama, and the kids summarise the experience with the words "It wasn't that important to me."


Somehow, the family then ends up on the Mongolian plain (how exactly they got there is any viewer's guess), staying with Nomads in gers (yurts). Within hours, they have to help herd yaks, horses and sheep, and look on as their breakfast is slaughtered before their eyes. While the father of the family has to pitch in, mum looks away in disgust although she claims that they had told the kids "where their food comes from." Only the boys seem to be getting really into it, tucking into breakfast without problems and they even herd the yaks by themselves at the end of the stay.


For some reason, the family then backtracks to the Mount Everest basecamp, before ending up in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. Here, the family seeks out a remote tribe that has never met a Western family before. Next to abandoned huts, the family and their guide set up camp, just to be surrounded by tribesmen armed with bows and arrows as soon as they are finished. Although they are then invited to join the tribe, and the kids definitely seem to be making good friends, the one constant in this episode is the lack of communication between the family and their hosts, most of which do not speak any English at all. But the family only seems to pick up a few words in their hosts' languages throughout the programme. Unfortunately, the viewers only get glimpses of the Willmott family gap year. Huge parts are skipped or only explained with one sentence and one picture, which leaves the viewers wondering: "What happened and how did they get there?" And the whole issue about travel health and homeopathic is not touched again throughout the programme - without medication or vaccinations, I doubt that the entire family managed to travel around the world for a year without any illnesses whatsoever.

The immersion idea is a good one. It definitely takes them all out of their comfort zones and into the unknown, where they have to live like the locals and work like the locals. The children learn not to take things like running water and flushing toilets for granted, and even try insects as snacks offered by the Papuan tribe. Children should learn about these things first hand, make new friends in faraway places, hear different languages, eat different food. The more they learn, the more tolerant towards other people and cultures they will become.

Channel 4's show has left some questions unanswered, though. What kind of luggage did this family take with them? Suitcases or backpacks? When did they get the idea of going around the world and how much planning has gone into it? How much did it cost? Where did they get fitting local dresses upon arrival from? How did they pick the places, and, most of all: how did they arrange all these host family stays?


It's a good show, if you are interested in one family's travels, or want to see middle-class Brits getting back to nature. But from experience, I can only say that meeting the Dalai Lama and living with a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea are not your average Gap Year experiences, nor do these exploits, as down to earth as they might be, sound like they were planned on a budget.

My Family's Crazy Gap Year, Mondays 9pm, Channel 4.