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Travelling to Latin America alone | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| chokofingrz Pentaglot Senior Member England Joined 5191 days ago 241 posts - 430 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Japanese, Catalan, Luxembourgish | Message 9 of 23 16 June 2014 at 11:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think schools are great because you get a guaranteed 4-8 hours of Spanish a day and you meet cool people to chat with who are your potential travel buddies. Yes it costs money but maybe there is a school out there offering some good deals (often they slash prices to fill last minute empty spaces).
If you just go travelling solo, it will be 2 sentences here to buy a bus ticket... 4 sentences there for a hotel room... you won't necessarily have many long or interesting Spanish conversations. My ideal scenario is 1-2 weeks in a school and then double the amount of time travelling around. There will almost certainly be people at the school doing the same thing and going to the same places. You can join them for 2 hours or 2 weeks, no pressure (and ideally they won't be Anglophones!) My best travel buddy was a Lithuanian in Spain. Of course, if you are a sensible person who reads the guidebooks and takes the recommended precautions, there is probably little reason to consider most of these places much more dangerous than Europe. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hungringo Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 3990 days ago 168 posts - 329 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, English, Spanish Studies: French | Message 10 of 23 17 June 2014 at 9:57am | IP Logged | ||
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If you use Couchsurfing or similar sites not necessarily to find a couch, but to set up locals in every town you plan to visit to meet you upon arrival then you can kill many birds with one shot: You don't have to pay for language lessons, if you don't mind small inconveniences you can actually use their couch, get to know real local people and save loads of money.
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| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5024 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 11 of 23 18 June 2014 at 12:05am | IP Logged | ||
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I second the recommendation for Chile, Argentina and Uruguay,, although prices are comparable to those in Europe. I traveled through these countries for 7 weeks about 18 months ago, and it was hands down the best thing I have ever done, period. Even if you don't enroll in a school, if you stay in hostels, you will meet a ton of Spanish Speakers. Hostels over there are full of people both from the country you are visiting and over South American countries. Make an effort to avoid speaking English, and go out with South American people at night, and I guarantee you will have the time of your life.
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| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4624 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 12 of 23 18 June 2014 at 5:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Total immersion will always bring big benefits if you are prepared to engage with the society around you. South America isn't exactly overflowing with competent English speakers so there's probably no better place to improve your Spanish.
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| i_forget Triglot Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5199 days ago 35 posts - 38 votes Speaks: Greek*, English, Spanish | Message 13 of 23 19 June 2014 at 12:13am | IP Logged | ||
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The reason I don't want to go to a school is because my level is good enough, I want to
go for the adventure. What is holding me back is that 1. if i go i'll go alone, 2. it's soooo far from Europe! I live in the UK and my family is in Cyprus, and Chile and Argentina are quite expensive destinations, at least with regards to the flight tickets. Also if I go, i guess i would be staying in a hotel as, them being poor countries, their hotels should be cheap. Thanks for the replies! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5024 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 14 of 23 19 June 2014 at 5:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Don't stay in a hotel! You will struggle to meet people and it will kill the adventure. Stay in decent hostels, (look on hostelworld or hostelbookers) and you will meet a ton of people and have a blast. I find I meet more people if I travel alone and it makes it more of an adventure. I find traveling with friends often means that you stay in your own little bubble.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5377 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 15 of 23 19 June 2014 at 11:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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Dbag, when you stay in a hostel do you stay in the "dorm" rooms where there are several other people/strangers or do you get a private room?
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| sctroyenne Diglot Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5393 days ago 739 posts - 1312 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Spanish, Irish | Message 16 of 23 20 June 2014 at 12:25am | IP Logged | ||
Many will have both - though a private room is typically the same rate as a cheap(ish) hotel. The dorm rooms will vary a lot - from packing in a ton of people to only having 4- 6 with ensuite bath. Sometimes they have a mix and paying a bit more will get you a bit more privacy. Though I've stayed in hostels that are really upscale and are better than most hotels besides the sharing a room thing. A good one will organize activities, bar/restaurant crawls, etc which are great for solo travelers. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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