How do you afford to travel the world?
So far this question is the one I’ve heard the most during my world trip in more than 120 countries. They also asked: “Are you rich?”. I always answer you don’t need to be rich to travel. People in general associate travel with vacation, booking one expensive flight and hotel with lots of convenience. This is actually what travel companies want you to think, so they can get more profit on your leisure time. After reading this, you will be able to do similar trip as mine with very little money. Above there are some of the strategies I use to extend my travel time. If you want to really get in to the detail on how to travel around the world for cheap, check out my book JUST GO [EN] [PT] [ES] [DE] [FR].
1. Use shared economy while traveling
Everyday traveling gets easier and easier because of the shared economy. Its origins were in not-for-profit initiatives such as Wikipedia (2001) and Couchsurfing (2003). People discovered that together they are stronger and plenty of start-ups are creating a market to put people together. They simply connect demand and offer without intermediates.
If you are driving to another city and you have a free seat in your car why not share it with a reasonable price? That’s why all the ride-sharing websites were created. I used Blablacar, one of this websites, 13 times in Europe and it helped me to save a good amount of money with transportation. For example, from Krakow to Hamburg, 900 kilometres by train would have cost me 100 euros, by bus 80 euros but instead I booked a seat in a comfortable Mazda 6 for only 29 euros. Hitchhiking is still my favorite way of moving, because it is FREE. I saved 100 USD from Tokyo to Osaka taking 3 free lifts. I also saved almost 300 USD hitchhiking in 14 cars, from Sydney to Cairns in Australia. I used the website Findacrew where I found a sailing boat to travel the Caribbean on a cheap.
2. Volunteer or surf in a couch
The same happens with accommodation. If you have one empty room in your house, why not rent it or offer it for travelers so you can get some cash or finally learn that foreign language? That’s why they created Couchsurfing and Airbnb (Get up to 35 USD for your first trip with this link). With Couchsurfing you pay using cultural exchange, is free! I surfed on couches in more than 100 countries and I had amazing experiences. I also hosted people while I was living in Brazil, Germany, Austria and Tanzania.
When I visited Hong Kong I stayed for a week in the house of an architecture that was planning his world trip. I helped him to do his route, select countries, buy his travel gear and backpack. In exchange I saved around 200 USD of accommodation and went to many local and unique places in Hong Kong. In Indonesia I treated my self and booked one amazing house in Airbnb.
Also if you have some work to be done, but can’t afford to pay one employee, why not get a volunteer in exchange you can host and feed him? With this idea, Workaway and Worldpackers have been created, generating gain gain situations, helping you to save money, to travel cheaper and longer. As a housekeeper in Kyoto I saved around 200 USD in accommodation in one week. I also worked in a rice farm in Thailand where in one entire week I spent 2 US dollars. I spend that to buy a used pair of pants in the shop.
3. Change your consume habits
As a low cost traveller you definitely need to learn how to cook, not only noodles, but healthy and food full of nutrients to keep you strong to explore. When I lived for a year in Australia I can count in my hands how many times I stepped into a restaurant. I mostly cooked all my meals including lunch that I brought to work in a food container. Considering my week groceries. I was spending and average of 4 USD per meal. And that included eating meat, that makes the bill expensive. Too good to go is a food waste app, where you can find food that will be thrown away by establishments, before they do it, for very cheap. You can also save a ton of money with a reusable water bottle. If there is a good filter in the bottle you can even drink tap water considered unsafe for consumption. The website RefillMyBottle show places to refill water for free!
Cut superfluous expenses are essential to help your savings to grow. With this idea of consumption that the market instigate us, we are currently changing clothes, buying the last launched mobile phone and following the trend. Instead I chose to spend my money traveling. I have still a few clothes that I got in my Panama Trip in 2013 and I have a shirt that has more than 10 years… Superfluous include buying a car if public transport works for you or why not using a bike to go to work? Cheaper and sustainable. Expenses with restaurants, parties, entertainment, I try to reduce to the maximum.
4. Play with the money currencies
First of all, the money has a different value in each country. If you work in a country that has a strong money value you hit the jackpot. You will be able to do much more and travel longer if your visit countries with a low currency. One day I felt like I was a millionaire in Vietnam, but unfortunately I had only 45 US dollars for my entire week.
For example a cup of draft beer in Hanoi, Vietnam, cost 0,50 US dollars. A cup of the cheapest beer in Europe could reach even 5 US dollars in a bar, It means 10 times more expensive. The expenses of one month living in Australia for example is equivalent to living in India one entire year. So if you want to travel longer, one of the strategies is staying longer in cheap countries and short time in expensive ones.
5. Work and travel at the same time
Having a remote job, a work that you can do in your computer from anywhere in the world with internet would be the perfect solution. If this is not for you, move abroad every few years and explore always closer to where you live, reducing transportation expenses. You can also travel working or volunteering in exchange of food and accommodation, again the shared economy.
6. Work a lot, save money, than hit the road
That’s my travel style, work-hard-play-hard. I work a lot, save a lot than travel cheap for long with a comfortable budget. My first world trip I saved, in three years of work, 30k US dollars in Brazil and travelled a year and a half through 55 countries, with it. Saving a lot means to do a lot of extra hours in the office (working 80 hours/week), having a humble life and spending as less as possible in superfluous stuff. Some people save 30k to buy a car or to start paying an apartment … I’ve never had those things, I’m happy with my backpack and my guitar. It’s all about priorities in life, mine is travel.
7. Control your travel budget
Of course you learn how to save money from your own mistakes! While I chose Europe as my kickstart (understand why here) I blowed exactly half of my budget in the first five months of travel. The main reason was extra spending not considered at the first place. Alcohol, parties, touristic attractions and new countries to explore are the main reason of my out budget issue.
Luckily I handled to finish my trip staying 5 months in Africa and 7 months in Asia with the rest of the money. I’m pretty sure If I was starting the same trip again today I could spend less than half of the money… because you learn from your own mistakes!
After Asia I went to Australia, a backpacker paradise to save money. I worked for almost a year and saved 20k US dollars, the travel budget for 2017 and 2018.
Of course is not that simple to save money, I am having a saving-style life, home made meals while others go out for Brunch or pizza, no alcoholic weekends while others can’t even remember their names and working working working hard ( about 50hrs/week) to finally play hard after.
Later on I also worked in a cruise ship where I could travel and make money at the same time, saving about 7k euros in 6 months. Here I teach you how to work on a cruise ship!
I have also worked in a Ski-resort in Austria for 3 months where I saved 7k euros as well. Here I explain how to work in a ski resort!
So whenever you follow my strategy or you do your own, the most important thing to have in mind is to keep on traveling.
If you want to get more detailed information on how to travel around the world for cheap, check out my book JUST GO [EN] [PT] [ES] [DE] [FR].
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