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Portugal |
My husband and I didn't have to file income tax this
year because we didn't make enough money. In fact, we haven't made
enough money to file taxes in a few years. And still we manage to
travel.
A lot. In the past six years, we've been to the
Philippines, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Spain, Ireland,
Portugal, Mexico, Palau, and Thailand. People often ask how we're
able to travel so much, so we put our heads together and came up with
some things that make our gypsy lifestyle possible—a few tips for
anyone who is looking to do a little vagabonding. Jason wrote some
of these and I wrote others, in case the narration gets confusing.
Most of these tips have to do with either saving up for a trip in
advance or staying thrifty while you're on the road. Not all of
these tips will be practical for everyone, but they work for us and a
lot of people we know.
1. Just do it. There's a whole
wide world out there, why not go and see it? The number one way to
make travel possible is to develop a burning desire
to travel. If you want it bad enough, you'll find a
way to make it happen. Many people have the desire already, others
get it after their first great experience traveling. Reading travel
essays or blogs is another great way to pique your interest. If
you're hesitant, just give it a go at least one time. Once you get
bit by the travel bug, the desire comes easily and before you know
it, your passport is full of stamps from around the world. We started
a few years back and can't seem to stop. We think the travel bug in
our case might be a terminal illness.
2. Get your priorities straight.
When talking to new acquaintances in the U.S. about the traveling
I've done, I'm almost guaranteed to hear this: “I wish I could do
that.” Of course, anyone
can do it. Most people choose not
to, for a variety of very good reasons. The want to stay close to
family, or they want to maintain a certain lifestyle, or they have
long-term career goals that might be jeopardized by extended
sabbaticals. But you're kidding yourself if you sincerely want to
see the world and think that you can't. Most people who tell me that
earn more in one month than I did in all of last year. Travel does
cost money (though a lot less than people think), and if your
money is spent on other things, it won't be spent on travel. The
rest of this list includes things that
we do to help us keep
our priorities straight.
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South Korea |
3. Track your spending.
When we were teaching in Korea, we kept a notebook where we wrote
down any time we spent money, no matter how seemingly insignificant.
Coffee on the way home from work, dinner and drinks with friends on
the weekends, fresh fruit and veg at the open air market. Anytime
you spend, write it down. Do this for at least a month. At the end
of that month, you'll have a very good picture of where your money
goes. You might see that you spend, say $200 a month on eating out.
If you decided to eat out half as often, in 4 or 5 months you would
have enough for a round-trip flight to Central America. The most
important part of budgeting is being conscious of your spending
habits, so that you can improve them. Don't use your debit or credit
card. Spending cash makes you feel like you're losing money (which
you are), and discourages needless spending. Writing down what
you've spent does this too.
4. Cut your spending. The
best way is to stop buying things. Many people, especially young
people, spend a considerable amount of their money on things.
Many of these purchases only give temporary satisfaction. A new $120
watch may look nice, but really-- who cares? Sure, those $70 heels
make you look sexy, but what is it really
worth? If you stop and think about all the little things you've
purchased, it adds up. All that money spent on meaningless things can
get you a trip to somewhere amazing, which is worth so much more than
all your material possessions. If
I have to pay $10 for a shirt, I cringe. BUT if there's an awesome
deal on a flight to Argentina for $500, I have no problem. For me,
the experiences and memories I'll get from the trip are worth more
than having more shirts in my closet, or boots collecting dust. If
travel is your number one priority, you'll spend less on other
things, like eating out or shopping.
5. Find another way to get to work.
Before I moved to Spain to study abroad, I sold my car. I got a
little bit of cash from the sale (not much, it was a piece of crap),
which helped me out, but I noticed the real difference when I came
back from Spain. I decided not to get a car. Instead, I bought a
mountain bike from a thrift store for $40, and when that wasn't
sufficient I used public transportation. All the money that I
would've been spending on a car (payments, insurance, maintenance,
gas, parking, etc.) went into my savings account instead. For most
people, that can easily amount to several hundred dollars a month.
There are downsides. Riding my bike or taking the bus, it would take
me an hour to get somewhere that would only take 30 minutes in a car.
But it goes back to priorities. That extra time and effort bought
me a degree of economic freedom, and I was happy with the trade-off.
In fact, my one-hour bike-ride to work, listening to NPR, was one of
my favorite parts of the day. A lot better than inching along in
traffic.
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Costa Rica |
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6. Get healthy. When we moved to
Ecuador, our bank account was looking incredibly bare (even by our
standards), since we'd just spent a lot of money on our Costa Rica
wedding. Despite paying less than $200 a month in rent and enjoying
an absurdly cheap cost of living, we needed to cut spending. We
weren't going out much or spending a lot of money otherwise, so one
of the only places we could cut was our grocery bill. By cutting
meat out of our diet (mostly) we were able to cut our grocery bill by
more than half. As a bonus, we both lost a fair amount of weight.
Of course, food prices vary everywhere, and if you live in the U.S.,
you're at a big disadvantage, since the freshest, healthiest food is
usually more expensive (the opposite of most of the rest of the
world). But meat is generally one of the priciest items on the
shopping list. Drinking less is another great way to save money,
especially if you do your drinking in bars.
7. Embrace
the unknown. Many people are scared to
travel. Understandable. BUT fear holds people back from doing some
amazing things. This is very true with traveling. You have to let go
of that fear because you could be missing out on so much. Traveling
with a friend, boyfriend/girlfriend, cousin, etc., is a good way to
get around that fear. Talk to people who have traveled about their
experiences. Read what people say on travel forums. Do research
about your destination—the more prepared you are, the more
comfortable you'll feel. When you get there, be
open-minded. You'll be interacting with people who are
not from the same place you're from, which means they may do/eat/say
things that are different and seem strange to you. Just go with it!
See what it's like outside your comfort zone. If you want everything
to be just like it is back home, international travel probably isn't
for you.
8. Lower your standards. This is a big one.
Probably the biggest. You can travel the world for VERY cheap, but
to do so, you've got to forgo some of the luxuries of home. The
lower your standards are, the cheaper your travel becomes. If you
can live without hot showers, air conditioning, cable TV and stuff
like that, the range of places you can stay at (that fit your budget)
gets a lot bigger. Even as a married couple, we sometimes share a
dorm room with others to save money, but when we travel, we almost
never pay more than $20 a night for accommodations.
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Ecuador |
9.
Make Google your best friend. When searching for airfare, use
meta sites like Fly.com or Kayak, but don't forget that for some
airlines, the only way to book or see their fares is directly through
their own sites. Find out who the cheapest carriers are for the
route you want, and check out their sites. Also, use travel deal
monitors like TravelZoo. You'll see some crazy deals (I once flew
from Dublin to Los Angeles for $380), and if your schedule is
flexible, you can take advantage. You can also use sites like Trip
Advisor and Wikitravel to find good, cheap hostels and restaurants
wherever you're going.
10. Couch surf. If you
don't know what it is, just go to couchsurfing.com and check it out.
Basically, it's a network of a bunch of people who want to travel and
meet people. You say, 'hey, I'm traveling to Sydney, and looking for
a place to crash,' then someone says, 'I live in Sydney, and I've got
a couch.' That's it. It's free. No strings attached. It's a great
way to meet new people and get local insights into the places you
visit. Everyone's worried about creepers, I know. But the
couchsurfing site is set up sort of like a social network, where you
have people vouch for you, including people you've stayed with,
people who have stayed with you, etc. So it's not just a
free-for-all for serial killers. I've had incredible experiences
with couch surfing with extremely kind and generous hosts. Tons of
my friends (guys and girls) have couch surfed and hosted surfers, and
I haven't heard a single complaint.
11. Ride share
or hitchhike. If you want to travel within the U.S., check out
the ride share listings on Craigslist. Pitching in for gas with a
stranger is usually a lot cheaper than any other option. Outside of
the U.S., you can often hitchhike, but do your research to get an
idea if it's safe or not.
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Peru | |
12. Make friends.
Sharing a room with strangers in a hostel dorm room can save you
money, but it also gives you the chance to meet cool people. And
traveling with your newly found group can save you money on
transportation, get you discounts on tours, excursions, admission,
etc. If there are enough of you, you can even drink for free! My
first night in Madrid with my study abroad group, we decided to get
to know each other by going out. There were maybe 15-20 of us, so we
went around from bar to bar, demanding a free shot for everyone in
the group, or we wouldn't come in. I don't think there was a single
bar that turned us down. Being friendly and making conversation with
locals will often lead to helpful advice, offers of food and drinks,
and invites to events that can be incredible experiences and give you
great insight into the culture of the place you're visiting.
13.
Build your network.
You probably know someone who knows more about the place you're going
than you do. Your Uncle Joe might know someone in Barcelona that can
put you up for free. Your friend Paco might know of some good places
to eat in Tokyo. While traveling, you will meet people from around
the world. Many of them will be good people that you really like and
that really like you. Keep in touch with them. Many of the people
we've met traveling have become good friends. People will tell you
“Hey, if you're ever in Australia, come visit me—I'll show you
around.” You've got a free place to stay and a free tour guide.
Score.
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Philippines |
14. Stay awhile. The
faster you travel, the more expensive it is. Flying for a weekend to
Cancun is going to cost a lot more per day than staying for a couple
weeks or months. Even staying at hostels in developing countries,
you're likely to pay $10 or more/night for your bed. If you stayed
for a month, you could probably rent an apartment for half the price.
Plus, longer stays allow you to take in the culture and people more,
and get more out of travel than the typical tourist experience.
15.
Market yourself. If you have skills, see if anyone needs your
services. If you can do some simple graphic design, stay at a small
hostel or hotel and offer to build them a website or blog. In
exchange, they might give you a discount on your stay, or even let
you stay for free. There's a whole network of organic farms that you
can stay at and eat at for free in exchange for a few hours of work a
day. Most places you travel you can earn a little extra cash by
giving English lessons. In fact, we've made a career of it. In
Ecuador, we each taught about 15 hours a week, which was enough to
cover rent. In Korea, we worked our butts off and made a ton of
money. But even if you think you're the least qualified person to
teach English, there's someone who's willing to pay you for your time
just to get a little practice speaking English. If you're good at
making something, like jewelry for instance, sell your stuff to other
tourists. If you travel on typical backpack circuits, you'll see tons
of people doing this. You might not make a killing, but you'll
probably have enough money for a meal.
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Spain |
We hope these tips might help someone
interested in making the big, scary leap to another country.
Vagabonding isn't for everybody. Many people are perfectly happy
staying in one place. They see their friends and family often, have
jobs they like and life is good. But for us, it's the only way to go.
We've gotten so much out of our travels and experiences, met so many
amazing people, made lasting friendships, eaten so much amazing food
and seen so many beautiful places. Living simply has afforded us the
freedom to travel extensively, and travel has been very, very good to
us.
I think these are great tips. I can't believe the places you and your husband have been able to travel. I'm definitely not as good of a taveler as you two are, but I agree with so many things you said on here. We knew how to live and travel cheap while living in Cambodia and it led us to have fabulous and cheap vacations in China and Vietnam. I need to figure out a way to do that while my husband is so tied down to school here. I am excited to read more about your travels. If you do go to Cambodia, a. let me know your cheap flight info because I want to go too. and b. let me know and I'll give you some great tips, like how to hitchhike easily.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Will do!! -- p.s.- my husband was in the Peace Corps, too. He was in Palau in Micronesia. We're talking about maybe doing Peace Corps together in the future. & sidenote- I'm a BYU grad, too. =)
DeleteSome great tips, Leia! I want to start doing rideshares back in the states and definitely a good idea to write down spendings...thanks, I´ll be sharing this with friends! Happy travels :)
ReplyDeleteGracias, Lisita! & thanks for sharing!!
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