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traveling without a budget

IngridGiles

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IngridGiles

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     I just returned last night from a trip, and I have been thinking about the “privileges” of having less money than some people have.  There is traveling on a budget, and then there is traveling without a budget.  I have done both of those.  You get more adventure without the budget.  


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May 1, 2008 | Filed Under General Forum, Stories 

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5 Responses to “traveling without a budget”

  1. 1
    IngridGiles
    IngridGiles Says:
    May 1st, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    This was supposed to be part of the post, but somehow it didn’t work that way.

    I had to go on this trip; I had no choice. My lawyer told me to do it. (How does someone who sometimes wonders how she’ll buy her groceries afford a lawyer? Ah, well, that is just one of the paradoxes of my life.) I didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to take the time. I wasn’t worried about the money. I knew God would provide one way or another. So I called the people who run a trailer park and asked them if I could work for my lodging for a few days, and I bought a one-way bus ticket. I figured that after I got there, there would be plenty of time to worry about my food and my transportation back.

    If I had had a budget for this trip, I would have missed out on a lot of things: The challenge of packing everything I needed and yet no more than I could comfortably carry for some distance. The satisfying experience of painting the wall that runs along the front of the trailer park. The bright idea of wearing my jeans inside out so that I wouldn’t ruin them if I dripped paint on them. The comraderie of working alongside the groundskeepers and others who worked there. The creative challenge of cooking with what I was given from a food shelf. Being taken out to eat by the managers of the trailer park and getting to know them a little. Being invited to dinner by a couple living in another trailer, and getting to know them a little. As much food from the food shelf as I was able to carry back home with me. The friendship of a couple who knocked on my door one morning (coincidentally the very day after I finished painting the wall and the very day that my business was completed) and said that they had heard of my “plight” and offered to take me several hours down the road for my return journey and feed me and put me up for the night. A quaint mountain village with friendly people (the kind who make you feel like you are not quite an alien) and a breathtakingly spectacular view, where these people live. The emotional restoration that came from just standing there for a few minutes, soaking in this view. An unexpected gift of “a little money for the road.” The second half of the journey home being short enough to take one day with no interrupted sleep. The ability to see that God does indeed take care of me.

    So, what do you do when you get home from one of those “no budget” trips? I suppose like any adventure, you want a meal, a shower, and a bed.

    1. As soon as I walked in, I emptied my backpack and bag of all the food I had brought back with me. It was so much more food than anyone in our house had seen for a while, that they didn’t even know what to say.

    2. I was tired from carrying all those heavy cans of food for the last couple of miles, so the next thing I did was to sit down and rest while people asked me all about my trip and my brother’s wife’s sister made my bed. (Wasn’t that nice of her?)

    3. Using some of that “money for the road”, I bought a five-gallon jug of drinking water. I drank a nice big glass of water.

    4. Then I had to figure out which I wanted soonest: a shower or a meal. My mind went blank and I couldn’t decide, until I realized that probably the reason I couldn’t think was because I hadn’t really eaten for fourteen hours or so. So using more of that “money for the road,” I bought some bread and ate it with cheese that I had brought back with me.

    5. I took a nice hot shower and at about midnight I went to bed. I was exhausted!

    Of course I don’t travel without a budget if I don’t have to. That would be foolish. But you know what? I’m really glad that I sometimes have to! I love this life!

    (Is this spam?)

  2. 2
    IngridGiles
    IngridGiles Says:
    May 2nd, 2008 at 6:00 am

    Oh, and I forgot to say that I thought of an entry for that “You Know You’re an MK When” book, after these people unexpectedly showed up and offered me a ride. While they waited out front with their motor running, I frantically packed my stuff, emptied the cupboards and stuffed as many cans of food as possible into my already full bags, washed the dishes, stripped the bed, took out the garbage, returned the books to the library, etc.

    You know you’re an MK when… you can move out of a trailer house in half an hour.

    (Is this spam?)

  3. 3
    Unregistered
    Margie Says:
    May 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 pm

    Hey Ingrid,

    Can you email me at amongworlds@interactionintl.org?

    You offered to do some writing - and I need to correspond with you via email.

    Thanks!
    Margie

    (Is this spam?)

  4. 4
    Jemila
    Jemila Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 7:40 am

    I wouldn’t know…I have always been on a budget :( I had fun though, most of the time :D

    (Is this spam?)

  5. 5
    IngridGiles
    IngridGiles Says:
    May 5th, 2008 at 9:27 am

    I think traveling is fun no matter how you do it. Except that a lot of adventures are fun in the telling afterward, not so much in the experiencing. But I often enjoy adventures while they’re happening, too. (Or at least I appreciate them. I think to myself, “This is an adventure. I’m going to have another story to tell later.”)

    (Is this spam?)

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