When people ask me about my recent travel adventures in Europe one of the first things they ask me is: How much did it cost? How did you afford to do it?
The truth is, traveling is not as expensive as you may think, in fact it can cheaper to travel the world then it is to sustain your domestic lifestyle and that is the big secret. Tim Ferriss spoke about this in his book The Four Hour Workweek.
When you strip away the layers of your life right down to the bare minimum that you need to survive, you will be surprised how much money you have and how much you can save. My travel advice is for those looking to backpack for a long time. If you are interested in taking a cruise or a planned tour such as contiki, some of this advice will still be useful to you but please keep this in mind.
If you want to blow thousands of dollars per day traveling, it’s quite easy to do if you stay in luxury hotels, dine at the finest restaurants and get driven around in a limousine. This is why some people go overseas for 2 weeks and come back absolutely broke. This is not traveling in my mind; traveling to me is all about experiences. Getting on a plane, getting picked up by a limousine and being shuffled around all day on organized tours to gift shops will only get you the “tourist” view of a country.
If you want a real traveling experience, be prepared to explore by yourself, you will also save a lot of money by moving away from the touristy areas.
Most people would be intimidated by the thought of this or may simply not know where to begin. Lonely Planet is a great resource to get started and to read reviews by other travelers.
This is only the introduction to my travel blog and I will going into things in way more detail. To be successful in long term traveling you really need to know how to live a minimalist lifestyle. You will not always have clean clothes, a comfortable place to sleep, a hot shower or a clear direction on where you are going. You need to be able to relax and go with the flow. My brother had a saying, “It’s all Good” – It came in handy that time when we missed a flight or had our backpacks stolen, but those are stories for another post. Believe me, when all your clothes are stolen you will realize how many clothes you actually need.
Quick Travel Tips for Backpacking
- Get travel insurance, it’s cheap and will help you if you need medical assistance or your valuables are stolen.
- Leave the suitcase at home, get a backpack instead. It’s easier to carry.
- Pack what you think you need and then take half of it out. You do not need 10 different shirts or 4 pairs of shoes.
- Get a good camera. Take great photos to look back on in years to come.
- Write a journal, even if you never have had a journal before or don’t know what to write. Everyday write a couple of words in an entry. When you look back on your journal years in the future you will be glad you did. It’s easy to forget little things if you don’t write them down.
- Travel in a group, it’s cheaper and you can share meal costs.
- Pack clothes that can be worn for multiple different occasions.
- Get a rechargeable money card instead of using credit cards or cash, it’s safer and easy to use. I recommend Cash Passports by Travelex.
- Get a netbook or a small laptop, skype and online chat is the easiest and cheapest way to keep in touch with people at home. It is also useful for booking hostels etc.
- Get into books: there will be inevitable downtime while you wait for flights or buses or trains. Reading books is a great way to pass the time and learn. If you are in a country where English is not the main language, get a beginner book for their language. It’s very fun and rewarding.
- Stay away from overly touristy areas, it is way cheaper and more fun in my opinion if you hang around where the locals do.
- Don’t book through a travel agent, cut out the middle man. It’s much cheaper to book flights yourself.
- Photocopy your passport and store the copies in different locations. On this note, keep your passport on you at all times unless you place it in a secure lockup.