Monday, December 17, 2012

Inspiring Travelers: Ron from Guatemala


Right now I am doing my very best to not freeze to death here in Estonia. As I write this, I am also working the night shift at the hostel I stay at. One of my favorite things about working in a hostel is the wide variety of cultures I encounter in one day. I love hearing or reading stories that inspire me to travel. I always have my eye on a map or on hte horizon, and it doesn't take much to motivate me, but i still love hearing travel stories. I meet so many awesome travelers on the road, or in the hostels, that I thought I would share some of their great stories. One such person is Ron from Guatemal. He is a pretty dedicated traveler, who also writes a travel blog www.nomadicforever.blogspot.com. For my first of many interviews, he agreed to help me out.






Inspiring Travelers: Ron from Guatemala decides to change his life into one big adventure on the road.

 So tell us about yourself.

Ron-
I'm from Guatemala and I am one of the few long term travels that I know from my country, because we don't really have a traveling culture. We don't really go on gap years, just safe, short holidays, because for them traveling is a big expense, and most people can't imagine it being possible to travel with little money, and would rather use their hard earned money for cars or toys, worldly things. I learned early that somethings are more important than social status, and I'm the proof that one can travel with little money. One day i decided i didn't want a regular life, being stuck in a office for my whole life, so i told my parents i was going to go travel, and i left a week later. I figured i would be gone for that long, but that was 3 years and 3 months ago

So what have you been up to? Where have you been traveling?


Ron-
I started out busing from Guatemala to Costa Rica. From there I flew to Florida and started traveling around the east coast of the US for a month, looking for jobs. After a while I went to the west coast to meet a friend I met in Nicaragua, I was getting low on money so i was trying to find work. Not finding any, i ended up going to Mississippi to work with a relative. between working there and again in Florida, I saved some money. My goal was to make enough to get to Europe, so when i finally did i bought a one way ticket to Belgium. I was trying to travel as cheap as possible, but after 4 months i ran out of money. I didn't want to rely on family to keep me traveling, so I started finding work in hostels and picking up ways to travel with little money. long story short, I have been traveling between different jobs around Europe, central and south America ever since. I worked or volunteered in many hostels, I posed nude for an art school, I bartender, and many other things as well.

Were you affraid when you first started out?

Ron-
I wouldn't say i was afraid, more like anxious. I was ready for the next chapter in my life to start.

How do you keep on budget?

Ron-
I have a very small budget always, so I developed many secrets. I always hitchhike. while I am traveling and not working, I don't drink a lot, I never eat out, and I cook my own food. I Couchsurf a lot. Most of the expenses traveling in Europe are transportation and accommodation. I hardly ever pay for transportation, and I've never paid for accommodation yet. I've slept in bus and train stations, churches and fire departments in Latin America, in parks and where ever. not to mention Couchsurfing and working at hostels. When it comes to working, I am good at keeping in contact with people I meet, and that gets me jobs here and there sometimes. A guy I met back home got me a job here in Estonia. A guy I met, who picked me up when I was hitching from Germany to Denmark, offered me a job on his sail boat in the Baltic.

What advise or tips would you give someone who wants to travel but doesn't think they can?

Ron-
leave your comfort zone. don't make excuses just make it a priority and go for it. It's all a state of mind. If you tel yourself you can do it, you will.

Do you have a favorite spot in the world?

Ron-
no.

Least favorite?

Ron-
Maybe Bulgaria. Just because of the mean border police. It was hell. They even told me not to return. But I did meet a really hot Bulgarian girl there.

So what's next?

Ron-
Well you know this answer since we are going together, but after New Years we are going to leave Tallinn and hitch to Ireland to find work and be there for St. Paddies day. We are meeting a girl we met here in Estonia, and 3 guys you met in Australia. just another example of keeping in contact. after a few months we will probably hitch to Georgia and try to get to India from there. Hard to plan that far, but that's our plan.

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