For a person that is passionate about traveling, this is the best time to be alive! In this day and age, you can buy a cheap flight to almost anywhere in the world. You can check into safe lodgings, eat cheap and delicious meals and visit historical landmarks, and all thanks to online reviews of other visitors. On a reasonably small budget, you could be traveling forever and enjoy the finest things in life.
So, what’s stopping you? Is it your anorectic bank account? Is it your 9-to-5 job? Or is it your fear of leaving behind a comfort zone that needlessly delays your lifelong dreams of traveling around the world?
If you don’t have familial or exceptional reasons for staying put where you are now, then money, jobs or complacency are not good enough arguments for not putting on your traveling shoes right NOW.
It might seem like a dream or a scam, but living the work and travel lifestyle is easier than ever. There are two essential ingredients to living it successfully:
- Finding cheap/free deals for everything (e.g. flights, accommodation, food, etc.)
- Working as you go
Once you figure it out how to make money without being anchored in one place and finding the cheapest deals you can imagine, traveling for years in a row will become simpler than you think.
How to travel the world on a limited budget
You probably don’t realize it now, but living a settled life is quite expensive. If you don’t own a home, you have to pay rent. If you dislike public transportation, you most probably own a car for which you pay fuel, insurance and maintenance costs. On top of these, you have several habits that weigh down your monthly budget.
Once you start traveling, you will notice how most of these costs decrease and how you can even save money on cheap or free deals for almost everything. All it takes is a bit of experience that you will thoroughly gain after a few months on the road. By then, you will have a trained eye for hunting and discovering cost-effective deals wherever you are.
How to travel low-cost
If you have set your mind on traveling, you most probably want to do it outside your native country. You surely want to see the Pyramids, the Grand Canyon, the Great Chinese Wall, and the Machu Picchu ruins all as soon as possible.
It might seem like getting there will cost you a fortune, but it does not necessarily have to be that way. With a bit of extensive research, you can find amazing low-cost deals on flights, train tickets, bus tickets, and even car rides.
First off, do not visit the airlines’ official websites. Instead, go to online directories that offer thousands of flights and flight connections. There, you can access promotions, discount rates and last-minute prices for a broad range of destinations. Map out your journey for the next few weeks or months, and combine your flights to come up with the cheapest possible alternative.
Once you reach your country of destination, instead of going straight to the bus stop, look for alternatives online. Nowadays, many people offer rides for cheaper fees or even for free depending on the distance. Book these community shared services to save hundreds of dollars on bus tickets or car rental fees.
How to stay in free or cheap accommodation
OK, so you compiled a traveling route of cheap flights and free rides, but where will you spend the night when you reach your destination?
Booking a 5-star hotel seems unproductive and brushes off your efforts of hunting down the cheapest possible transportation costs. Sleeping under a bridge may give you a spectacular view of the sky, but you don’t have to go that far to save some money.
You can find cheap or free lodging if you do thorough online research. Look for cheap hostels or share houses where the nightly fee is cheaper than $10. You can pay even less if you choose to stay with the locals. In many parts of the world, people lend out their couches for free for a couple of nights in exchange for meeting new people and discovering foreign cultures.
As you travel on, you will find more and more of these opportunities. Also, experienced travelers can confirm that with an easygoing approach you can make a lot of friends on your journey. Many of these people are travelers just like you, so later on, when you reach their country of residence you can spend a few nights at their place.
Traveling like this will end up costing you much less than you currently pay for rent or mortgage in your settled lifestyle.
How to work and travel at the same time
Now you know how to save money on the most important expenses while traveling. But, how do you make that money in the first place?
Many people out there believe that you need to save for many years ahead before you even book your first flight. That is not the case, and it is a mistake that could delay your traveling plans forever.
You can leave home and travel the world on a relatively tiny budget. You can earn your money as you go in two simple ways:
Working on location
Getting a job in a different country may seem like a terrifying endeavor, especially for someone who has never left their hometown. However, you should know that there are plenty of skills that are highly-appreciated and generously paid everywhere in the world. Here are just a few examples:
If you know English, you can travel to areas where people are desperate to learn the language and where teaching resources are scarce. South East Asia is a suitable destination in this case.
If you have minimal management skills you can work as a receptionist in youth hostels. Some of these lodgings may even give you free accommodation together with a small salary.
Additionally, you can always pick up seasonal jobs like being a photographer, a salesperson or a repairer. It all depends on your skills, passion, and desire to get an extra buck while seeing the world at the same time.
Having an online/remote working job
As we mentioned before, today’s world offers amazing opportunities to work and travel. One of them is to have an online job as you move from country to country. Such jobs include:
- Freelancing (content writing, graphic design, translations, programming, etc.)
- Customer support
- Online coaching
- Website design
- Consulting services
Most of these jobs offer reasonably high salaries and only require a bit of your time, skill and dedication. Also, you don’t need a working visa or to stay in one place, since all your activity takes place online and remotely.
So, there you have it. If there is nothing exceptional holding you back, you can start your travels fearlessly. Just remember to spend less, be open to working opportunities, and make good use of your skills. In exchange, you will get to see the world and experience life in exhilarating fashion.