How to Afford to Travel the World & How I Do It
How can you afford to travel so much? This is the number one question I’m asked when I talk about my non-location-based lifestyle. I’m fully paying for it myself and no, I don’t have a trust fund, or have I won the lottery. It is actually way cheaper than you expect to travel and while there are people who really can’t travel I believe a lot of us can do it with a bit of preparation and a few sacrifices.
In this article, I’m sharing exactly how I do it and a few tips I have learned from having made travel a priority in my life for almost ten years, from saving money to making money to keep traveling!
Table of Contents
How much money do you need to travel?
Here I am giving you my real secret to afford traveling and how to know how long you can travel:
You need an emergency fund and a dedicated travel savings account
Around 45% of Americans have no savings, if that is you, do not worry, as I’ll be going through ways to budget and save money. Here are the two types of saving accounts you should have in my opinion:
A savings account with ideally at least 3 to 6 months of expenses for when you come back or if you have to stop traveling and get blocked in a country for any unexpected reason such as a global pandemic, or you broke your leg. This is an emergency fund, and it’s the key to worry-free travels!
You also need a travel savings account that is separate from your current account. This way you can see how much money you are actually saving and stay motivated!
Calculate how long you can afford to travel
How long you can afford to travel is a simple equation: How much money you have vs how much money you spend. Make sure you are realistic as we all have a tendency to overestimate how much we have and underestimate how much we spend.
The real secret to saving money for travel: I live below my means
Traveling out of a small carry-on backpack during college really showed me that I don’t need much to be happy.
Living below your means is the secret for saving for travel without even noticing it. Yes, it is less glamorous than travel hacking and credit card tricks, but it is way easier and more relaxing.
Keep track of your expenses and be honest with yourself, what do you really need in life?
I adopt a minimalist mindset when it comes to my finances by asking myself these two questions: “Will it bring me happiness to buy this?” and “Do I value this more than my long-term goals (that include travel)?”. You can use these two questions to figure out how to save for travel in a way that makes you happy.
Here are a few ways I’ve reevaluated my spending habits that have made me happier and put extra cash for travel and long term goals in my pocket:
I don’t shop for clothes as much. When I do I mostly go thrift shopping.
I avoid takeout.
I like to bike around when I can or take public transportation.
I now mostly gift experiences to people or products I’m really sure they need
I live in a simple and affordable place that I love
As you can see, these spending habits are super in line with what I love and value: physical movement, sustainability, and efficiency! Yours might be different but make sure they really make you happy.
How to travel cheap around the world?
Travel can be surprisingly cheap, that is when you choose to travel a bit differently than usual.
This is not strictly a budget travel blog as I believe that sometimes cheap things can end up costing you money in the long run. Here, I’m sharing all the tricks to travel with no money (or less) that I find worth doing.
Plan your travels smartly:
Be flexible on the location or date, you’ll find deals: Use the explore function on Google Flights or Kayak for this.
Don’t have crazy high standards: When I look for a place to stay, I pick the cheapest place that I will actually enjoy! I’m particularly careful of staying in a place that is central enough so that I can walk everywhere.
Cook your own meals: I enjoy having a kitchen to cook healthy and delicious meals with local products. Click here to read an article about this next.
Choose connection first: Traveling is about the experiences you’ll live. To me, this means going to visit friends who invited me to go visit them abroad or couchsurfing. I always make sure to host people at my place in return!
Pack light: If you travel only with a small carry-on, you’ll avoid luggage fees.
Avoid bank fees: Research no fees credit cards or take cash out
Buy a local sim card: This will save you roaming fees.
Say no to taxis: Local transportation or walking are fun
Travel locally: Observe the locals and do the same thing! You’ll find great food, awesome accommodations, and overall have a lot of fun!
Travel for longer if you can: full-time travel can be more affordable than taking a vacation as the flights are often the most expensive part of a trip. As a digital nomad, you can often experience more for less.
Time is your most valuable asset
My rule is to ask myself: “Will this bring me joy and improve my experience?”, this is why I try not to take crazy 28-hour buses when traveling as it takes me 3 days to recover after one. It is also not worth it financially in my case as I will be tempted to spend more money to recover from it by choosing a fancier accommodation for example (and treat myself, a lot!). Sometimes cheaper is not better, and you need to always take into account the long-term cost of things.
When not to save money
There are things that are worth investing in, like your health or your safety. So make sure you have travel insurance and don’t stay in a sketchy part of town just to save a few bucks.
The real way I can afford to travel more: being financially savvy
Saving money is the number one key to traveling more, but it can only get you so far as you cannot save more than you make.
The solution for me is making more money while living well below my means. For me, travel is a lifestyle and not a vacation, so I want it to be fully sustainable financially.
It goes without saying that I’m not a personal finance pro, so this is just my personal experience and what worked for me, so don’t consider this a recipe for how you should handle your personal finances 🙃
I make sure I’m financially secure first:
Before making any type of non-essential big purchase (like going on a vacation) or big life-change (like becoming a digital nomad) make sure you have the basics covered:
You have health-insurance: I can’t stress that enough. You won’t feel you need it, but then you’ll really need it!
You have an emergency fund
You can pay for your travels or have a plan on how to do it (more on this in the next section!)
You have learned to live a bit below your means (see above)
2. I’ve increased my income to travel more doing this:
Increasing your income can be starting a side hustle or learning how to make money on the road, but this means you’ll have to put in the work.
If you’re a student, I’m going to cover how I traveled for at least two months every year during college in a separate article!
Here is what I’ve done through the years to increase my income for my travels:
Asked for a raise
Put my apartment on Airbnb when I’m away
Taken up some freelancing projects during the weekends
Tutored in Spanish and Math as a side hustle
Done every type of college side hustle possible, from working at a coffee shop to selling makeup or giving out free samples in supermarkets
Worked remotely while I was traveling
Here are ways I make money while traveling now:
This site
My YouTube channel
So as you can see, all of this takes a lot of work (freelancing on the weekends means you have less time to rest) and discomfort (negotiating a remote work agreement or a raise is scary!). It definitely was a long process to become fully non-location-based for me. I hope this section can really motivate you to start your own remote business or to find ways to make more money.
If you were wondering “How do people afford to travel?”, I hope you now have a few clues on how I do it and are motivated to travel more often without breaking the bank. Just know that you don’t have to go far to have fun: click here for my favorite staycations and local travel ideas!