During high school I didn't have a ton of friends. I was the girl who was incredibly shy and socially awkward. I was nice to people, but I didn't have a ton of confidence (side note: I still do not have a ton of confidence. I am so nervous when talking to people.) to go out and actively make friends. I went from one class to the other, and would mentally prepare myself to say "here" when my name was called on the attendance sheet. If I had to put my hand up, it was even worse.

However, despite all of this, I had a small group of friends who would sit with me at lunch, even though I mostly did homework during lunch and ate protein bars on the bus to Elkhorn Crossing School (a magnet school I attended). I managed to not take a summer off during high school and graduated in three years.

During my gap year between high school and college, I had the opportunity to travel. I loved every minute of it. My gap year was the best thing I ever did for myself, even though everyone I met told me not to do it. I overcame being this incredibly shy and awkward person. My mom likes to say I "blossomed". Being in another country really changes you. It opens your mind up to ideas you wouldn't ever think of. It helped me become a person who loves to meet strangers! Who would have thought I would love to talk to people?

Back story time is over. Now, on this week's article. Because I love to travel so much, I decided to tell you guys about an opportunity called WWOOFing. WWOOFING or World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is an amazing way to travel on the cheap. To quote the official website: "WWOOFers are revolutionary-minded individuals who are driven to do their part within the worldwide organic, eco-friendly farming movement. They sign up through WWOOF Hawaii to lend a hand on scenic farms of their choice throughout the five main Hawaiian islands. During their WWOOFing journey, they take part in exciting educational organic farming activities and experience the joy of travelling to new places, where they meet a vibrant collection of people from all over the globe. WWOOFers typically participate in farm duties for about three to six hours a day, five days a week and receive meals and accommodations. Please note: If you have no interest in learning about organic farming and are looking for a place to crash in Hawaii, we are not the organization for you." {The WWOOFing program I am writing about WWOOF Hawaii, but there are farms in almost every country.}

Within the WWOOF Hawaii movement, there are easily over 200 farms to choose from, some are mostly fruit and vegetable oriented, some a tea farms, some are Kava farms. There is literally a farm for everyone!

How do you get to Hawaii in under $300 you ask? I will tell you.

Allegiant air is a relatively inexpensive way to fly. If you have more time than you do money, Allegiant is the way to go. How my father found the way to get to Hawaii is by flying from Cincinnati to Las Vegas which runs at the cheapest we found being $48. It was about a $100 flight. You can not do that drive for that amount of money.

Here is where it gets pretty tricky. Allegiant Airlines has a flight from Cincinnati to Honolulu costing at the cheapest $160 if planned right. But it may not match up to your flight from Cincinnati to Las Vegas. You may have a few days to spend in Las Vegas, but hey! It's Vegas!

While you are stuck in Las Vegas, I have a few recommendations:

~ Antelope Canyon. It is roughly a four and a half hour drive, but totally worth it in my own humble opinion.

~Hoover Dam. It is a whopping 30 minute drive! I know, so incredibly long.

~Grand Canyon. Roughly a four hour drive, but an incredibly beautiful drive.

~Santa Barbra. Five and a half hours of driving on mostly interstate. But, if you have an incredibly long layover, you could drive to Santa Barbra, take the ferry out to the Channel Islands and camp! It would totally be worth it.

OR, you could just stay in Las Vegas. It is Las Vegas after all.

Now, once you finally get to Hawaii and either decide to WWOOF or not is up to you. I do have some useful information to go with WWOOFing or not. Hawaii has an amazing bus system called "The Bus" (I know, super original). A monthly pass is $60 and a one way ticket is $2.50.

Here is the WWOOF Hawaii Website:

https://wwoofhawaii.org/

Here is the web page for answering questions about WWOOFing in Hawaii:

https://wwoofhawaii.org/what-makes-great-wwoofer

*This is only how to get to Hawaii. Prices may or may not be the same for return tickets. The prices listed are one way tickets.*