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6 Reasons You Should Invest in Travelling

Money, money, money! Some people have lots of the stuff, others, including most of us in our early-mid 20’s, not so much! So what should we do with the money we do have? It’s easy – travel! You don’t have to be rich to travel, in fact anyone can do it – a bit of preparation, time and hard work is all you’ll need to save up enough to start your trip, so if you have the opportunity to travel, take it! Here are 6 reasons why I believe travel is priceless and the best thing you can spend your pennies on!

1. Experiences vs Things

When you’re older, you’ll look back on experiences not things. You’ll remember sitting and watching that beautiful sunset, how skydiving over the Great Barrier Reef was the most exhilarating thing you’ve ever done and those friendly locals you met trekking through the rice terraces of Sapa. You’ll have stories to tell and experiences to share. In the future, noone will remember what car you had or how big your TV was but they will remember those stories you told.

2. You’ll Make Lifelong Friends

Some of the friends you’ll meet travelling will end up being friends for life. You will have shared some of the best moments of your life with these friends during your travels and when your friends at home can’t stand hearing another word about how amazing your life is, your travel friends will be there to reminisce on the good times! Let’s face it- you can’t put a price on lifelong buds!

3. Your Career

Some people put off travelling because they’re scared a gap or break in their careers will make it hard to find another job when they return but in most cases, it’ll actually help in your career. Not only can travelling help you figure out what you enjoy doing (you might discover you love to dive and want to train to be an instructor or you just NEED to work with animals) but the skills you’ll gain during your travels make you attractive to employers too – promise! Read our blog ‘How travel can help in your career’ to read why. Another bonus…travelling could help you figure out what you DON’T want to do with your life – better to find out early on right!?

4. You’ll Be A Better Person!

Need another excuse to pack up your bags and go travelling? How about the fact that you can spend a year exploring the world, chilling at the beach, meeting new people and you’ll most likely go home a better person?! Travelling requires patience, tolerance, decision making, organisational and social skills. You’ll become a more confident, interesting, stronger and well rounded person. No amount of money in the world can give you the experiences and life skills that travelling gives you.

 

5. You’ll Have More To Talk About

We’ve all met them..those people that have been travelling for a month and have a million stories to tell (‘That time, on my gap yaaar..”) and as much as we would like to hate them, there’s no denying that these people and their stories are actually really interesting! Why? Because when you’re travelling, you experience so much in such a short period of time. You can do more in one week travelling than you’d do in one year at home. One day you’ll be swinging through the jungle on a zip wire, swimming in waterfalls, partying on the beach at night and the next day you’ll be hopping on the overnight bus to your next destination, socialising with interesting people along the way. Your experiences and travel stories will mount up and before you know it you’ll be the one telling tales of your amazing ‘gap yaaar’.

6. See The Real World

Travelling opens your eyes to the real world, beyond the comforts of home and the things we take for granted every day without meaning to. Travelling through poor countries will remind you how lucky you are to even have a roof over your head for the night. When you see locals who have no food, clean water and some who are even missing limbs from war still smiling with their families it really helps set your priorities straight. You might not even realise at the time how important the comforts from home were to you until you don’t have them anymore: a family meal, a bubble bath, somewhere to unpack your belongings, a room to yourself…When you go home, you’ll appreciate what you have so much more.

Want to travel but not really sure where to start? Get in touch! The Ultimate team have all been there and we’re happy to help! Check out our tours in Australia, Thailand and Vietnam.

‘Like’ us on FB for travel inspiration, photos, videos and more blogs and follow us on Instagram (ultimate.travel) for travel pics!

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The ULTIMATE Internship in Sydney

Being an Ultimate Intern described in one word: AMAZING!

When I came to Australia on my own I was a bit nervous and worried that I might not be able to handle everything, including the foreign language, the new people and the new city in general. There was no need to at all! Already after the first week I knew I was having the time of my life! And I still do!

How to describe the internship at UltimateOz? Well, first of all, get rid of the boring image of interning in an office, where everyone is wearing a suit and is sitting next to each other in a small room focused on his computer. As an intern at UltimateOz you’ve got your own desk right behind the travel agents and get in contact with the customers every day!

The UltimateOz office is fun!

Usual tasks are for example applying for Tax File Numbers and bank accounts, managing all the mail of our customers and working on our facebook page. Furthermore we have to do various bookings for the UltimateOz programme in Sydney, the Outback Range, Surfcamp or other tours and trips for our customers all over Australia. What I was afraid of the most in the beginning was answering phone calls. 😮 Especially when talking to other companies, where the people had a hard (Australian) accent or when it was pretty noisy in the office, I struggled to understand them. However, so far I feel at least much more confident than in the first weeks and I even did bookings via the phone or Skype! (proud of myself!)

Furthermore you can try yourself out in group leading! Going along with our customers having the time of their lives is just awesome! We start with a city walk checking out the best places in Sydney, followed by a pretty cool harbour cruise with a real Aussie barbie.  Then we’re heading off to basecamp, including fun activities like sandboarding and a dolphin cruise. There’s just one rule: What happens at basecamp stays at basecamp! 😉 Saturday means party time, but before the great pub crawl, we do the Coogee to Bondi beach walk to catch some breathtaking views!

The UltimateOz staff are always playing pranks on others.

 

You really take part in the daily business work with everyone else of the awesome crew and help them out with special tasks – instead of making coffee (we’ve got the coffee run for that!). From time to time you might end up tethered at your chair with cling wrap and a cardboard box over your head, but it could definitely be worse!

Every couple of weeks you get the chance to check out new trips and tours like OzSnow, Surf Camp or a part of an East Coast Trip! Can you think of better team building session spots?

Due to the location of our office right at Central and Railway Square, there’s a lot happening every day. Last week there was a film set in front of our door; Hollywood is calling! Moreover we often see people promoting new stuff, which usually means free food! Now we’ve got breakfast cookies for the rest of the year!

Overall my experience as an intern for UltimateOz was definitely the best way to spend my semester abroad, which is part of my tourism management studies back home in Germany. It has been 4 month full of fun, new experiences, new things to learn and loads of awesome people and friends for life!

After my internship, first I will travel to Cairns; do the skydive and go snorkelling. (already so excited! :)). Then I’ll fly to Alice Springs to start a tour through the outback via e.g. the Ayers Rock, Coober Pedy, Adelaide and the Great Ocean Road to Melbourne!

Then it’s time to say goodbye to Australia, but one thing is for sure: I’ll come back! 🙂

Nadine – ULTIMATE intern

 

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How Travel can help you land your dream career

Whether you’re planning a gap year between studying, a career break or just an extended holiday away, there’s no doubt that your travel experiences will boost your career opportunities. Travel broadens the mind, and gives you a whole load of good personality traits that employers look for when hiring. Read on to hear some of the many valuable lessons you can learn from travelling:

1. Social and Communication Skills

Travelling is a great way to become more social and improve your ‘people skills.’ If you’re usually the one avoiding social interactions, especially with strangers, travelling will probably change that! Most people you meet whilst travelling will have similar interests to you (or at least one common interest: travel) and will be happy to chat and get to know you. You may also bump into people along the way that you don’t really ‘click’ with. Hopefully you won’t have to spend that much time with these people (you’re travelling, be freeeeee!) but if you are stuck with someone you don’t really like, you’ll soon figure out ways to make it work and how to communicate your feelings with them. You can use these skills to your advantage at work when meeting new people, interacting with your work buddies and expressing your ideas and opinions to other colleagues.

2. Planning/Organisation

Travelling takes planning and unless you’re one of those ‘Into the wild’ type of travellers who plan for nothing, just goes with the flow and grows a crazy beard, chances are you’ll be working on your organisational skills every day when travelling! You’ll be booking flights, hostels, trips and tours and looking after important documents along the way! Travelling also helps you deal with and gain perspective on unplanned events such as flight delays and finding somewhere to sleep at the last minute so not only will you work on your organisational skills, you’ll also learn to deal with any  unplanned situations without panicking and stressing out!

3. Patience

Ever had to wait 10 hours in an airport because your flight was delayed? Or take the overnight train in Thailand? Travelling takes patience which you can then put into practise in your job. What you want in your career might not happen straight away. You may have to wait for that moment to prove yourself or get a promotion so sit tight, be patient and enjoy the journey!

4. Flexibility/Adapt to change

Plans change all the time when you’re travelling so you’ll be thrown into situations where you have to think on your feet and create a new solution. The ability to be flexible and easily adapt to change is important in any career. Your employer will want to know that you can handle being in sometimes difficult situations and ‘go’ with changes within the company. If you can not only adapt to all situations thrown at you at work but also thrive on the challenge,  you’ll be a winner in your employers eyes!

5. Teamwork

Working well in a team is, in most jobs, one of the most important qualities employers look for when hiring. You might fit the bill in all other aspects but if you can’t work with others, bounce off your colleagues ideas and share your opinions within a team there’s no room for creativity and to grow in your work position. Sure, some people work better solo but in every job there will still be an element of teamwork needed to do the job properly. When you’re travelling you’ll usually be surrounded by other people so working in a team will crop up every now and then. It might be something simple like working with your fellow travellers to dig your 4WD out of the sand on Fraser Island or deciding in a group where you’d like to travel next (ahh- it’s a tough life isn’t it!?) but teamwork it is all the same!

6. Self Belief

Believing in yourself can put you at the top of your game in the working world. If you believe in yourself, others will too, so at work if you’re confident in your ability to do the job in hand well, your boss will believe in you and will pass on new projects and challenges to help you learn more and grow within the company. Self belief usually goes hand in hand with gaining confidence in dealing with any challenges you’ve been faced with. The more challenges you overcome during your travels, the more you’ll believe in your ability to handle them and anything else thrown your way!

Has travel helped you in your career? Let us know in the comments! ‘Like’ us on Facebook for blogs & travel inspiration and follow us on Instagram for ULTIMATE travel photos!

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