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If you have the desire - see the world!

You don't have to be financially wealthy to travel the world, and information/tips for Sri Lanka and the Maldives.


For me, travel and seeing the world has always been a priority. This longing is not something that exists in everyone as I have learned throughout my life. Most of my family thought I was insane when my first trip abroad at the age of 21 was not only solo, but to Spain and Ghana! It was my graduation gift to myself. For me, it is deep in my heart and spirit, and always has been, to see the world and experience other culture's in as many beautiful ways as possible. So, I write this for others who also have this wanderlust in them to experience as much of the world as possible. My experiences travelling and experiencing other cultures are honestly some of my most memorable and favorite experiences in my life. They have also shaped and I feel been a huge part in developing who I am as a person. Too many people think you have to have a lot of money to see the world, but really the best part is you don't have to have a lot of financial wealth to make it happen!


First off, according to Ayurveda and yoga, wealth/prosperity is also known as artha. It is not just wealth as in money and finances, but it also includes resources, spiritual well-being, and health - having a healthy balanced mind, body, and spirit. So, yes, travel does require wealth (you need a somewhat healthy body and some money), but you don't have to have a surplus. Unfortunately, the majority of cultures assume that travelers are made of money, which can be tricky being a traveler on a budget, but it is still possible!


Some realities and recommendations for those who want to travel, but perhaps don't have a lot of financial wealth. This is from my own experience and from what I do. :)

  • If you want to do it, save for it. It has to be a priority no matter what.

  • Reflect on what you really need and want. I know people who get a fancy coffee every single day. The cost of those has increased so much! So, some individuals are paying $6-7 every day which is nearly $100 per month, which is more money in one year than the cost of an expensive plane ticket. This can put things in perspective.

  • Create a travel abroad savings account and set aside some money every month. You will forget it is being taken out, and before long you will have enough money in the account for your next trip.

  • Plane tickets are the most expensive. Sometimes it is cheaper to get two round-trip tickets rather than one ticket directly to where you want to go. *Refer to the paragraph after the bullet points for a recent example.

  • Places to stay can be second most expensive depending on what you are ok with. If you don't need a 3 or 4 or 5 star hotel, there are plenty of budget options.

  • Use local transportation instead of tourist transportation - this will save you so much money and give you more of the local experience rather than the more sheltered tourist experience.

  • If you don't mind sharing space with others - hostels are fantastic! They can be quite the adventure themselves, and are also definitely not for everyone.

  • Eat local. If you look for the tourist restaurants you will get the tourist dishes and prices. Eating where the locals eat, or eating the street food, saves you so much money and is usually tastier.

  • Go to the open air markets! Not only are they one of my favorite places to go when I travel, but you can also buy some food and snacks that allow you to eat when you need to. *Travelling is not always Ayurvedic with having a regular eating routine so snacks on hand are lovely. ;)

  • Some countries are more expensive to travel than others. Typically, the less western you go, the less expensive it is. It's way more challenging to travel on a budget in Europe and the UK, for example, than it is to travel in South American countries. It is still completely doable, but overall you will be spending more in Europe than you would if you were headed to Peru - as an example.

  • When I was younger, in my 20's and early 30's, I honestly would save up for a plane ticket, bills while I'm gone, and a little spending money, and just go. I would be broke by the time I was back, but I had saved up to pay bills so by the time I had worked a bit I could pay the next round of bills and start the saving process again for the next trip (1 year, 2 years, or more).

  • If you are self-employed, where can you go that you can write it off as a business expense? :) I studied yoga in Costa Rica, Thai massage in Thailand, taught yoga in Bali, clinical internship in India, etc. Or can you get continued education for your organization and/or career somewhere fun?

  • I prefer to have the money saved before I go. However, sometimes it's worth it to have an experience on the credit card and pay it off when you get back. It's all a matter of perspective, choice, and knowing how you are with money.


Visiting the Maldives has been on my husband's bucket list. We never really thought we would make it there due to how far away it is, the cost of plane tickets, and we heard it was extraordinarily expensive to stay there. Well, it just so happens none of those thoughts are complete truths. When I decided to go to India as part of my Ayurvedic internship requirements, we realized that the Maldives were really close to India. We dove a little deeper. Plane tickets from India and Sri Lanka to the Maldives were only about $150 - wow! I was going to be so close. Then, we discovered that it was cheaper for my husband to get a plane ticket to Sri Lanka from Seattle rather than flying directly to the Maldives. So, we decided to just go for it! I would finish my internship in India, then meet my husband in Sri Lanka for five days before heading to the Maldives for 5 days. It was an amazing trip!


Here are some perspectives and tips for any of you interested in visiting Sri Lanka or the Maldives.


Sri Lanka:

  • Completely safe. There are a lot of online comments that it is unsafe. We felt very safe there, and if I had been by myself as a female I would still have felt 100% safe. I felt safe in India, but not 100% like Sri Lanka.

  • Clean! I was so surprised after having just been in India how clean Sri Lanka is. The roads, everywhere, are so clean. Most often there is zero trash alongside the roads - both within and outside city limits. Sri Lankans definitely take pride in taking care of their environment! This is not common in many of the countries I have visited, so it was unexpected and refreshing.

  • It is absolutely beautiful! Enjoy the gorgeous scenery!

  • There are many articles talking about how unethical safaris are in the national parks. We almost did not schedule a safari because of this, but are so glad we did. After a lot of research we went to Wilpattu National Park. Not only did we have a great time, but we also learned all that they are doing to protect the wildlife and the environment. I did not see anything unethical. It is not as busy as other parks, so there is less people (which may be part of it). They have very strict rules about what people can do. For example, no one (not even the jeep driver or guide) can get out of the vehicle at any time (even to go to the bathroom). There is only one place (the washroom and picnic area) where anyone can be out of the jeep. Now, that does kind of suck for those of us who like to walk around to explore a place, but at the same time this rule really prevents so much damage that can happen when people are able to get out, walk around, go pee in the bushes, have trash fall out of their pockets, etc. There were a low number of jeeps in one place at any given time. We read that in Yala National Park in the southern region this is not the case, and there can be hundreds! If Sri Lanka continues to grow with tourism, then like most places, additional guidelines will need to be placed in order to protect the national parks.

  • We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Big Game Camp Wilpattu National Park. The price included lodging, food, and the safaris. It was a little bit of a splurge for us, but how often do you get the chance to do a safari and stay in a tent in the jungle in Sri Lanka!?! The cost of one night was still less than a cost of one night hotel stay here in Washington, but also included food and a safari!

  • You can tell Sri Lanka is trying to cater to tourists. So, with this in mind, some of the tourist points do require tickets that may be more than you want to pay - $35 as an example. However, Lion Rock (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) was well worth the $35 to see.

  • Pidurangala Rock was also well worth the short hike up the steps, and only 1000 rupees per person!

  • The Sri Lanka airport in Colombo is the same as Bangalore, India in regard to the fact that they do not let you into the airport unless it is 3 hours before your departure time. So, if you show up earlier than that they will not let you in. Our flight back to Sri Lanka got in at 5pm. Our flight home leaving Sri Lanka was at 12:50am. We were originally going to just hang in the airport, but found out we could not. That's aok - we just went into Negombo for a little bit and came back. :) It would have been nice to know this ahead of time, thus why I am mentioning it.

  • Go to reputable sim card dealer. Foreigners are an easy target for someone to sell you a sim card that doesn't work - this happened to us. The airport is probably your safest bet.

  • Tuk tuks are a great way to travel short distances - fun and cheap!

  • There are bus and train options in addition to hiring your own driver. I'm a huge fan of local buses and trains, but for our short period of time it was better to have a driver due to the amount of time to get places. If you have the time, figure out bus and train transportation when you are there because the locals and hotels seem to know the schedule well, whereas the information online isn't always accurate.


Maldives:

  • To be honest, I wasn't really excited about the Maldives. I was excited to be on an adventure with my husband, and was excited we were making his bucket list item happen, but it was definitely not a bucket list item for me. However, once I was there it was definitely surreal, magical, and amazing! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  • The cost of a hotel in the Maldives can be expensive or on the cheaper side. You can find places to stay for $4000 per night or you can find places to stay for $40 per night. So, yes, it may not be as cheap as $10/night lodging that you can find in other countries, but $40/night is inexpensive for the Maldives. So, you can find a place to stay for whatever your budget allows.

  • A lot of the islands are owned by resorts, and some of the islands are considered local islands that still have locals living and working on the island. I highly recommend your stay include both. We stayed on a local island for three nights, then splurged the last night at a resort island. Both were amazing. I don't think you can really go wrong wherever you stay.

  • The snorkeling, and diving if you are a diver, are magical! I'm sure it depends what island you are on, but we definitely appreciated the snorkeling/diving trips where a boat takes you out versus snorkeling on your own from the beach.

  • Snorkeling/Diving trips vs. Whale Shark trips. Most likely the majority of hotels will be offering both of these. Honestly, there isn't much difference. The whale shark trips will cost more than a regular snorkeling trip and you will spend more time in the boat looking for whale sharks. However, you may still see whale sharks on your snorkeling/diving adventure and you may or may not see whale sharks on your whale shark trip. Ironically, we did not see any whale sharks on our whale shark safari trip (snorkeling/diving), but we swam with whale sharks four times the following day on our regular snorkeling/diving trip. :) As our guide stated at Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka, "nature is nature". Nothing is guaranteed. You will see what nature decides you will see.

  • Eat at a variety of places rather than limit yourself to your hotel or restaurant. Different hotel menus offer different items, and the local restaurants offer a lot more traditional and local menu items. We discovered that the hotel restaurant menus catered to westerners a lot by offering a lot of western food. I have no idea if the western dishes were great or not because I tend to try to eat local when I travel, so we didn't try any. If staying with western food is where your comfort zone is, then by all means do that, but I still recommend trying different places because the chef's are all different. :)

  • It seems to not be consistent across varying islands and hotels, but do realize that pricing frequently includes taxes and fees that can be pretty expensive. One of the fancy resorts we were looking at in the planning phase required a sea plane to get there. One way was about $400, but then taxes and fees were more than $400! However, at a different resort they did not charge the $400+ in taxes and fees. So, make sure communication is very clear regarding pricing including taxes and fees.

  • Speedboat costs are dramatically cheaper than sea plane, but some places require sea plane.

  • It is easier to set up speed boat transfers when you are on the island, rather than planning ahead of time from home. This may be due to English as a second language during email communication.

  • It's expensive if you explore multiple islands that are far apart. A more cost-effective way of travel in the Maldives is to explore one or two islands, that are close to each other.

  • It was interesting to note that in addition to local Maldivians working on the islands, there were a lot of foreigners. Our driver in Sri Lanka used to work in the Maldives and elaborated that you can make a western salary there. So, many people come from other countries to make money for their families. Very interesting.

Both the Maldives and Sri Lanka:

  • Whatsapp seems to be way more effective and widely used for communication than email.

  • Please be respectful of the cultures and keep shoulders and legs covered. It was so disappointing to see some tourists wearing short shorts and tank tops in countries that are very clear online the expectation that tourists cover shoulders and legs. If you are on a "bikini beach" in the Maldives it doesn't matter, but everywhere else please respect the culture.

  • Be kind, be present, be appreciative, and be grateful.


Hope this was helpful!

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