People often associate a high price tag with traveling. I think they often take the typical cost of a weeklong vacation and use that as a basis as what it might cost to travel full time. When you add in airfare, hotel costs, parking, car rental, dining out, going to attractions, pet sitters and more – yes, indeed, a typical American 1 week vacation adds up and would be quite unaffordable for most on a long term basis. Even if you shop for sales and bargains, many folks save up for months, or even years, to manage a single memorable week-long trip.
Things get especially expensive when you consider that you still need to keep paying your normal living costs as well – your rent/mortgage, utilities, debt payments, etc.
Traveling full time as a lifestyle however isn’t the same as going on a typical vacation full time. It’s a lifestyle change.
Redefine what travel is
Travel doesn’t have to cost a fortune, as long as you don’t equate travel with being at Disney World full time. There are many ways in which to travel that bring the costs down, even if you are planning to circumnavigate the world. Lonely Planet actually estimates that you can travel the world for a year for as little as $14,000 if you make efforts to keep your costs under control.
Some choices to consider for full time traveling include:
- You can do like what we and many others have done and choose a ‘full time RVing’ lifestyle. Find yourself a rig that fits your style and take your house with you. I’ve outlined our typical costs in a prior post if you want to get an idea of what’s involved with that.
- Full time boating is another take on RVing, but on water – get yourself a boat and live life offshore. Sailing is a great way to go, as you limit your fuel costs. If you learn to do your own maintenance, live-aboard sailing can be surprisingly affordable.
- Backpacking, tent camping, staying at hostels, budget motels and/or Couchsurfing are all low-cost ways to see the world.
- Subletting, renting and/or house-sitting in places you want to be. Longer term rentals on places are a lot more affordable (and more comfortable) than short nightly rentals on hotel rooms. Keep in mind, traveling doesn’t mean you’re always on a plane every few days.
- Work at the places you want to be short term – such as seasonal work at parks or hosting at campgrounds.
And so on… For some indepth tips on how to keep travel affordable, check out Nora Dunn’s excellent article Travel full-time for less than $14,000 per year..
The key is to divorce yourself from the idea that travel has to be a luxury experience. Not everyone is independently wealthy, and even if we were, I’d still usually prefer staying (and helping out) on a friend’s ranch than being pampered at a luxury resort.
Get rid of expenses for things you’re not utilizing
It’s amazing how much more affordable life is when you’re not paying for a lot of the things that we tend to accept as being default costs of living. Imagine cutting out things like mortgage/rent, car payments, cable TV, utility bills, etc.
Imagine what your budget would be like if you kept yourself at least somewhat employed (see our prior post on Jobs & Careers), and you vastly reduced the costs you’re paying now to live.
If you own your home, that may mean either selling your house or renting it out – perhaps not as easy to do in this economy, but trust me – if you want it to happen, it will. If you have a lease on something, even easier to get out of your obligation. In either case, without a typical ‘home’ – you can have no monthly payments on rent, mortgage, property taxes & insurance, utilities, upkeep, etc.
You’ll probably find that you’ll need storage space somewhere, especially if you’re setting a time frame for your travels until you return to ‘the real world’ – either by paying for a commercial unit or utilizing a friend’s basement. I highly recommend considering shedding yourself of as much stuff as possible if you’re considering traveling indefinitely. Paying for storage space for stuff you’re unlikely to ever need again is kind of silly – but you may not be ready to come to that decision until you’ve fully embraced full time travel.
Just about the only set monthly expense that we consider indispensable is our mobile internet bill.
Even gas / diesel expenses are easy to control – just move at a slower pace. Chris used to commute 80+ miles a day to his Silicon Valley job. Now we are able to focus on going just a few hundred miles a week, or even less when we stop to linger in one place for a while.
Debts
It goes without saying, debts are a huge anchor – whether or not you’re considering full time travel. Structure your life early on to pay off any you have and avoid accumulating them in the first place. I know it may seem insurmountable, but once you put your mind to do it, it’s the most freeing thing.
Combine work and travel
Seriously consider how you can make money as you travel, instead of seeing traveling as a retirement reward or a sabbatical from ‘the real world’. See our Excuse #1: Jobs & Careers post for ideas on re-thinking this.
You CAN afford it!
If you really embrace nomadic living as a lifestyle, you will find it surprisingly easy to afford. Shed your debts, stop paying for a “home base”, and stop thinking of travel as an expensive indulgence. Once you’ve managed the transition, you will find that life can be rich with experience and yet affordable as well.
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To travel full time would be my dream. My question is how does one do this with $8k in credit card debt and $45K in student loan debt when one is unskilled, unemployed and living in a state that has double digit unemployment (California)?? If I were to wait until all the debt was paid off I would be in my 50’s before I traveled. I’m already 32 and have waited long enough, but can’t seem to justify spending money on anything other than paying off bills and am in no position to afford a RTW trip. The thought is depressing. Especially since my debt was not accumulated from buying luxuries or taking trips, it was simply accumulated from trying to keep my car running so I could make it to school and work and pay every day expenses like rent when I lost my job.
These e-books always make it sound so easy.
If traveling is your dream, and what you want to *really* want to do – I would not think that a debt could hold anyone back.
Do you not pay living expenses now? Rent/mortgage? Utilities? Food? Laundry? Car/transportation? Healthcare? Unless you have family, friends, partner or someone else footing your cost of living, you are likely not *only* spending money on your debt payments.
To travel full-time, most of us get rid of living expenses that we won’t be utilizing while we travel.. and replace it with travel costs. And a lot of people can travel really well in under their previous budget for typical living costs. You’re also living in one of the most costly places in the country to live, with a horrible unemployment rate. The rest of the world is not so expensive to live in, and the other places in the world have ample work opportunities and/or volunteer opportunities that cover basic living expenses.
I would also find it incredibly hard to believe that you’re completely unskilled. Your writing is too clear, too concise, too educated and too full of correct grammar & spelling to agree that you’re unskilled. You’re obviously educated (as one would hope with carrying around that amount of student debt). I would tend to suggest (without knowing you, of course), that perhaps you’re lacking motivation, creativity and/or self-confidence at this moment to trust that if you take the leap you can make it work out.
Anyone with the motivation to travel full-time *can* find a way to make it work. Let your motivation fuel your creativity to find ways to embrace a life of travel that you want. Just realize that you will likely have to find work along the way to do it (most of us who travel full-time are not on ‘vacation’ – we work as we roam). I just met yesterday a young man with a college education who hadn’t yet held a job in his field.. but has been traveling for 2 years now, mostly picking up jobs as a waiter in the places he stays in. In the states, he went unemployed for 5 months, but in the places he travels he can choose where he wants to work without problem – he gets hired instantly. Why? Because he’s having the time of his life, he’s motivated and his attitude shows it.
I’ve heard of you a few times over the past few months (since my RV bug hit me!) but compiled so many blogs to follow already I kind of avoided adding another. I’ve been reading for over an hour now, but absolutely had to respond to this with a question.
I get that once on the road costs go way down (I’ll be heading to jobs and careers next, but I’m one who has faith that all that is necessary is provided to us, given we use it appropriately and with respect.) And, I get that you can figure how to make travel affordable and manageable.
What I don’t get at all is how to make the transition. I have yet to read any of my RV bloggers speak of that ini detail. I read along as Tara, Justin, and Zeb did it and enjoyed playing along with them in my mind. But, it seems as though even in her ever-descriptive blog she never included HOW they made it happen. We don’t carry debt. In fact, we’re “those” kind of people who only have credit cards for our credit, so we pay our utilities and insurance from them and pay them in full every month. But, we have a home. So, I wonder… how do you get from in a home to in an RV?? We surely can’t afford to buy the RV until we sell our home, but without knowing when the RV will come to us do we really want to sell our home and rent an apartment while looking? Seems like a LOT of transition in a (hopefully) short amount of time. Hmmm… Any advice on this?
Hi Shannon —
I think the key is just to jump, and to trust that you’ll work out the details along the way.
For me, things really started to fall into place when I decided to “evict myself” from my San Francisco apartment. I gave my landlord notice that I would be out by April 1st – before I had even begun researching an RV to buy! Having a deadline really worked to motivate me, and kept me from pushing things off until a better time.
Cherie on the other hand had a house to sell, in a bad market. And it took over a year before it did. But it wasn’t until she actually moved out and left the house empty that a buyer emerged. Only once she was fully committed to leaving her house behind did the pieces fall into place financially to actually allow it to happen.
Jump first – faith manages.
Good luck!
– Chris
Hi Chris,
How did she leave the house behind and pay for it at the same time? Just wondering how you worked that out.
Lynn – It was a simple matter of making the numbers work, and being willing to take a leap of faith that it would all work out. I was able to manage continuing to keep current on the mortgage, pay for the travel (which is actually pretty cheap considering Chris already had the RV & tow vehicle) AND take a significant pay cut to give me more flexibility (ie. less hours worked).
Anything is possible when you make it a priority.
I totally agree, and for everyone it is different. Selling a house, even in the Alaska market, is a challenge right now. We left our house in Tulsa 9 years ago in the hands of a property management company, and they put people in it that completely trashed it to the point we could not even sell it.
This time, owning a house worth almost a half mill, we’re not making that same mistake again. The closing will be finalized before we point our bus down the Alaska Highway.
It just depends on what your situation is and how much you’re willing to risk because the risk is there.
Lynne
But I do very much agree with you that anything is possible. If it wasn’t, we would not have gotten to where we are today (all of us). I just saw this in my email and thought of you and Chris:
Each and every component that makes up your life experience is drawn to you by the powerful Law of Attraction’s response to the thoughts you think and the story you tell about your life. Your money and financial assets; your body’s state of wellness, clarity, flexibility, size, and shape; your work environment, how you are treated, work satisfaction, and rewards—indeed, the very happiness of your life experience in general—is all happening because of the story that you tell.
Shannon.. what a great idea for a future topic to cover in more depth. Thank you!
I think the journey is different for many of us. Like Chris said above, even his and mine were different. The first time I joined up with Chris, I sold off about 70% of my stuff, put my house up for sale (not expecting it to sell, considering the crashing market), and just made it work to continue paying my mortgage/expenses and adding on travel expenses. All the while, I halved my salary in my business to give me more freedom and hours to myself. Of course, it helped that Chris has already bought an RV, and didn’t have to make that purchase to embark on the journey.
After our trial phase, we returned to Florida and put diligent effort to both selling my house and buying an RV more suitable for the two of us. The rest of the story I did write about a year later here: https://www.technomadia.com/2009/07/trusting-things-will-work-out/ Basically.. I did what it took to make it work, and it all worked out. I had to jump and trust that I’d either land on solid ground or discover I could fly.
You might also want to read http://www.livinginmycar.com – Jennifer is taking off this month after a lot of planning. She detailed her transition of budgeting, considering her RV options and what to do with her house.
Very informative series of posts (living on the road full time). Enabled with a Plan (TM) to be financially unburdened in a year, my concerns will then be health insurance (as a diabetic) and providing a meager income. Hopefully, as a scientist and former free-lance writer, I can position myself back into writing and perhaps camp hosting to reduce expenses.
Your blog posts have incited many ideas. Thanks!
.-= Elzi´s last blog ..Elemental Power =-.
Two reasons we can’t right now:
1. Health insurance needs for pre-diabetic husband. My job provides health isurance.
2. Grandma relies on husband for weekly shopping and doctor visits even though their there services that could provide this.
Those are what I would consider very valid excuses. 🙂
Health Insurance is a big concern for many (myself included, it’s an issue I’m battling right now too). I can only hope that some sort of health care reform lends some aid here.
And being there for family when they need you and you want to be there – hard to argue with that one. We consider our mobility to be an asset in that realm (we can pull in for an extended time to help out when family needs us), but for others it is indeed something that trumps being fully mobile right now.
Thank you for replying..
Thanks for connecting readers to my article! Indeed, the traveling lifestyle doesn’t have to be an expensive one….it’s all about setting priorities.
Cheers!
I just stumbled upon your blog while I was looking around to see what is new in the world of life sabbaticals and I wanted to thank you!
I am a Life Sabbatical / Long-term Travel Coach based out of San Francisco and my mission is to empower my clients to realize their travel dreams by moving beyond excuses and rationalizations as to why they “can’t”. This entry about finances is full of great wisdom, tips and inspiration. It is always wonderful for me to be reminded of why I love what I do by seeing other people on the road. Thanks for such a great blog!
If you are curious, you are welcome to learn more about my company, Three Month Visa Coaching and Consulting, at: http://www.threemonthvisa.com
We get this same sort of thing and make this very same point to friends all the time. From now on I’m just going to point them here, lol.
I only disagree with one tiny little statement. One word really.
I have to say that you have less of these expenses, but to say that you have no rent, insurance, utilities or upkeep is sort of misleading.
For us, things like campground fees and payments on the rig take the place of “rent” in our monthly budget. In fact a lot of our standard expenses simply took another form; i.e. we have no water bill, but we pay for laundry facilities. Some parks charge for utilities like electricity, though the motorhome definitely doesn’t draw anywhere near as much power as a house. Upkeep can certainly be costly on occasion, though monthly, it’s not anywhere near the cost of maintaining a typical home. That’s how we ended up in our rig in the first place!
Yes, of course there are other expenses associated with travel that take the place (usually in lesser amounts) of these often re-occurring home expenses.
However I’ve found that for a lot of folks traveling full time, it’s a very different way of looking at these expenses. In other words, they’re not by default or necessarily re-occurring (like rent/mortgage might be). For instance, you don’t have to have campground fees if you set up your rig to not need them (ie. in our case, we’re designed to be totally off grid – and thus campground fees are a choice, not a need). For someone who is sailing, there may only be occasional port fees if they choose to have extended access to land. And someone who is couchsurfing, might not have any ‘rent’ to speak of at all.
And if you avoid the debt anchor all together and scale your home (whatever it might be – an RV, a boat, a backpack, etc.) to be what you can afford in cash – there’s no equivalent of a mortgage. Not to say that’s always desirable to mesh budget with desired lifestyle. But it is possible.
As far as utilities and upkeep costs, those are going to vary widely depending upon the form of travel one chooses.
But, I do see your point, and I’ll edit it to be ‘you can have no monthly ..’
Excellent observations. I can add this collection of thoughts from 1993…
First Steps to Aquatic Technomadics
Cheers from S/V Nomadness!
Steve