I am fairly new to posting travel blogs here on Travelfeed, and realized I haven't introduced myself from a travel perspective. I thought it would be a good idea to explain my background, how I got into travel, and what have been some highlights. I encourage you to do the same, and use the tag #travelintroduction and I will give away some bonus SBI shares :)
I am from New Zealand, and until I was 28 the only place i had been was Australia. My wife has done a bit of travel when she was younger and really wanted to do some more travel before we get to old. After some research we found that we could be Auxiliares de Conversacion (language assistants) in Spanish schools! The application is a bit tricky as it is mostly in Spanish and we dont speak Spanish (Google translate was truly our saviour!). To apply all you need is a bachelors degree (in any topics).
Once you apply and have been accepted, you will be placed in a region based on what you allocated as your preference. We were placed in the region of Galicia, in a small fishing village called Santa Uxia de Ribeira. It is a lovely place, and was an awesome place to live! The people there are amazing and very friendly helpful. Learning Spanish was difficult for me, as alot of the locals speak Galician as their preferred language.
Language assistants get paid 700 euros a month, for working 12 hours a week at a local school (although this could be changing a little), and are on student visas so technically the pay is more of a scholarship. Along with this it is possible to pick up some private lessons or work at an English academy. Even with this there is still alot of spare time to take up old habits, learn something new, or just watch Netflix!
Most schools give language assistants either Friday or Monday off, and so 3 day weekends means it is possible to travel alot.
Over summer language assistants dont work for about 3 months (and thus dont get paid). Some only complete one year and then head home, others go home for summer, and others save and travel. We decided to save some money and travel in a small camper for the summer! It was an amazing experience and the first summer we went to around 10 countries, and had some amazing experiences.
After our second year we embarked on yet another roadtrip and explored different countries this time, and were on the road for nearly 5 months.
Our trip has recently come to a finish and we are heading back to New Zealand to continue with our lives.... All in all we visited and explored over 3- countries and have some amazing stories to share. I hope to share some of the travels with you all, along with some advice and tips to help you have the best travel experience you can have!
All photos taken by me!
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