Studying whilst travelling...

Does anybody have experience of studying for something whilst travelling?

I'm curious how it worked out. I'm considering studying a a long distance course during travel (where all your course materials are sent via e-mail).

I planned on doing that once, ended up just lugging a textbook around for a month and a half without opening it.

Traveling on it's own usually takes up all of your attention and energy -- far too many distractions. You'll have to carry a lot of self-discipline with you. And you will need to find a quiet place for study time. Will you want to spend the time in a hotel room during the day? Will you be alert enough at night? If you are changing locations a lot then it will be even more difficult to find the time to concentrate. If your trip is relatively short, it will be more difficult. The longer the trip, the better chance (eg taking 2-3 weeks off to stay in one location during a year-long trip might be doable).

All in all, it will be difficult to combine the two.

Travel itself is the perfect study opportunity. There is so much that you can learn from all of the places that you visit and the people you meet.

I admire your way of thinking. I couldn't do it myself - I am a part time student during term time (studying Spanish) and I have taken trips in that time (I work full time and can only get leave at certain times of the year, not whenever), and usually taken one lightweight book or some notes with the intention of studying but just don't. I am either really busy doing stuff or I am far too tired to take it in.

However, if you are VERY self disciplined and motivated, and you genuinely believe that you could give it the time it needs, I would say go for it. I would advise in this case that you try to plan to set time aside.

Just a suggestion - their a number of free courses available online, in many subjects, although you won't get a certificate then. I am using the internet a lot at the minute to learn more about art. I have some links I could send you. It might be worth giving that a try and seeing if you can regularly set aside time and take it all in. Don't forget other online sources you could use - encyclopedias, dictionaries, pages on just about every feasible subject set up by keen people, some organisation websites give considerable information, sometimes college and university websites have a lot fo factual information etc.

My advice: go for it! Seriously! I don't now where you are planning on travelling, but since this is the Europe branch: I've done it, and I've found that a great way to see a country is to hop from library to library (in between the obvious sightseeing, clubbing etc). I've studied in about 30 different libraries in France and Italy - great Renaissance buildings and beautiful book collections! They're worth a visit anyhow, and are often overlooke by tourist! Try to find the academic libraries affiliated to universities - they own the most beautiful old buildings and often have 1-3 days reader cards, or cards for a month for visiting scholars and students. It's often cheap and even the food in their restaurants is often sponsored (ie cheap!). I've had a great experience studying and travelling at the same time. Great buildings I could never have entered otherwise, and great people.

By the way: if you have any questions, drop me a message on my profile. I could give you lots of adresses for great places to study close to backpacking/traveller hotspots!

Priorities will make a difference. What comes first in your own mind? The travel as a holiday/vacation? And then wondering if you could add on a different activity at the same time (ie take an online course)? At the other extreme, is the travel just a means by which you can further study as the main activity? Answering these questions may help you make a realistic evaluation of your own discipline and commitments.

Another detail worth thinking about: has the course anything at all to do with your own travel plans? If 'travel' and 'study a course' are simply two independent activities tacked together, then it will be more difficult than if the course has something to do with your travel activities. For example, a course in history or architecture combined with actually visiting relevant sites and museums. As another example, #4's suggestions are interesting, but that also assumes that your intended travel destinations overlap with towns with universities/libraries. If your trip involves, eg, island hopping around Greece, then the Renaissance library idea won't fit. If you plan to be trekking in the Alps, libraries will be hard to find.

So if you want this to work, then the more coordinated the course activity is with your travel activities and destinations, the easier and more workable it will be. Overall, the idea deserves some serious thought and planning.

Yes I agree, and thankyou all for your replies.

I suppose i'm trying to kill two birds with one stone really. I don't really want to stay in one place during study, and I don't really want to travel without studying something for the future.

I am considering studying French, so maybe coinciding it whilst travelling France is the only way.

It does need careful planning and self-discipline since it is easy to put things off and the pace is relentless. I finished a distance learning post-grad course last year and my list of places to study include 40,000 above the Indian Ocean, in front of country pub log fires, tea shops, various trains and buses, on hillsides etc.

However I prefered to be at home close to the interminable deadlines for projects.

So there! You do not have to go into hibernation for two or three years!

Good luck!

R

I think it's a very difficult thing to do. I tried a couple of times as my job allows me to work remotely, but I ended up not doing much. Well, even without traveling I'm not very productive anyway.