How to travel the world after college?

Peace corps? Merchant marine? Riding the rails?

If money is not an issue, you can do anything you want. If it is, put that degree to use for a couple of years like I did w/ my engineering degree, bank your money, then quit your 9 to 5 (as an engineer, it’s really more like 7 to 6) and live your dream. Come on – you’re educated. You can figure this out for yourself.

@lilikoi‘s idea of working for a while, banking the money and then traveling may make the most sense.

Any engineering degree besides civil/environmental is a hard sell for the Peace Corps…you’d likely be teaching.

Consider traveling while you’re in college. Sounds crazy, but hear me out. See if your school has any study abroad programs. That’ll let you do two things at the same time. They’re usually pretty expensive, but student loans ought to cover the costs.

Consider a student exchange program. Only the rich kids go to Europe after graduating.

Sign up with an non-profit that puts in wells in undeveloped countries.

Has anyone tried hichchiking on an airplane?

Seriously, try Facebook. lots of different ideas there and maybe someone is just looking for a companion to see the world….free. it could happen!

Peace Corps (can be done in conjunction w/ a MS program at select institutions), AmeriCorps, WWOOF, Idealist.org, SCA.org, Earthwatch.com, study abroad, REUs, cruise ship jobs, first mate on a boat, military, cleaning fish or crab/salmon fishing or service industry jobs in Alaska, learning a foreign language by living in a foreign country, transitionsabroad.com, the JET program, teaching English in various countries (no shortage of opportunities for that), Engineers Without Borders (although electrical and mechanical engineers are quite often excluded – boo), globalexchange.com, perhaps a future caravan to Cuba, backpacking through Europe, manual labor for Raytheon in Antarctica if you have desirable skills, sailing throughout the Caribbean, Indonesian surf trip, retracing the footsteps of some famous ancient idol, climbing the 7 peaks, circumnavigating the globe solo in a sailboat, get to know the Somalian pirates, embark on an overland trip across Africa, taste Yak butter tea in Tibet while immersing yourself in Buddhism, marvel at excess in Dubai while skiing in the middle of a desert, see the Egyptian pyramids, work for a tour company in Hawaii, attend a foreign university graduate program, visit all the national parks in America, hike the Appalachian/Pacific Crest/Continental Divide trails (perhaps break a world record), swim in all five oceans, hitchhike from coast to coast….............I could go on and on with ideas…...

There are plenty of organizations, often sponsored by other national governments, for Americans to teach English in other countries. I have a friend working on a grant from the Colombian government, and another friend did the JET program, teaching English in Japan. It takes about six months of training to get your TOEFL certificate, but your department’s advisors or local community college should be able to point you in the right direction.

You need to look into Engineers without Borders, yo. Pretty much like Peace Corp, except for engineers, and they do some amazing work.

Also if you want to never have to pay for housing AND make awesome local friends in the countries you visit, Couchsurfing.com is the way to go.

Though I just saw above it’s more difficult for electrical engineers. Boo indeed.

I`d say I would go island hopping in the Caribbean, start in the Dominican Republic and head to Cabarete beach, have a wild party night and later visit Sosua and Puerto Plata, nearby. If cash is plenty, I`d rent a Dominican Republic villa by the beach and have a great weekend sipping tequila with lots of girls. There`s a thousand beaches to explore, just get a backpack and a ticket.

Dominican Republic Villas – Sosua