How to travel for a year

Fethiye, a turkish town along the Mediterranean

When I tell people that I’m traveling for a year, they often say, “Wow, you’re so lucky,” or “I’m so jealous,” or “I hate you.” Mostly they just say I’m lucky.

Now, I am lucky, I truly am. Lucky to have an American passport, lucky to have my health, lucky to have a family who understands my travel needs. But no one ever says, “Wow, you must have worked your ass off to travel like that,” or “Man, you must have saved and sacrificed a lot.” Nope, it’s just “lucky,” as if I won the trip on a game show.

Now, a year of budget-backpacker travel can cost about $10,000 - $15,000, depending on the countries you visit, and the standard of living you maintain while abroad. Some people travel for a lot less money, some a lot more.  

This blog is about how I’m able to travel for extended periods of time, and I hope you find it useful.

WORK HARD

Morning rush hour in Shanghai

When I was in Shanghai I was working 6 or 7 days a week. When I was living in Korea and Japan I worked my full shift and then picked up jobs on the side, which included tutoring and writing text books. If traveling is worth doing, you’ll find a way to work for it.

High roller in Cambodia

SAVE HARD.

Whenever I want to buy something fun and unnecessary, I ask myself “Do I really need this? I’m saving for travel- is this fun thing more important to me than traveling?”

And often the answer is no.

In the last 5 years I have purchased 3 pairs of jeans, and worn each pair until they fell apart. I buy 1 new pair of shoes per year, and wear them til they die. I am still wearing the same jacket that my dad bought me in the fall of 2011. I am still using the same wallet that was gifted to me five years ago. I’m still using the same duffel bag that I bought back in 2009, even though it’s in tatters and one of the wheels has lost its rubbery coating. All these small sacrifices add up over time.

BUDGET HARDER

Keep your eye on the prize.
This is what all the work gets you;
waking up to sunrise in the Himalayas.

When I make a budget for traveling, I estimate that each day of travel will cost around $30.

With this budget, I think of money as time. 420 dollars is two weeks of travel. 15 dollars is half a day of travel. 1 dollar is 2,880 seconds of travel. “Do I REALLY need that glazed donut? Because it could buy me an extra 48 minutes of travel.”

And I set a daily budget while I’m working as well. When I was living in China my budget was $10 a day. When I was living in Tokyo and Seoul, my budget was $20. At the end of each day I’d calculate my spending and see how I did. If I was over budget, then I’d make an effort to make up for it the next day. If I was under budget, then I’d pat myself on the back.

SPLURGE SOFT

Constantly saving and having a one track mind will make you go insane. It’s simply not healthy. So if I’ve been good and I’m under budget then I will splurge on something that’s purely for shits and giggles.

 I’ll go out and get drunk with friends, or I’ll go to a CouchSurfing event and make some new friends. I’ll eat at a fancy restaurant. I’ll buy a box of cheez-its and eat the entire thing while binge watching Parks and Rec, or Community.

You need these little breaks in your routine to keep you stable. Otherwise you will become a horrible person.

FIND WAYS TO TRAVEL CHEAP

There are SO many ways to save money while on the road. Here are two of my favorites-

Couchsurfing.com

Helpx.net

Couchsurfing.com is sort of like facebook for travelers, and there are a bunch of knock off sites. The idea is you network with other travelers, and find people who allow you to stay on their couch. For free. If you can’t travel, but are keen on meeting new people, you can open your home to 

Me at a Couchsurfing event in Istanbul. Such a great group!

travelers and have people stay on your couch.

Or you can go to Couchsurfing events, which are little meet ups at cafes, or bars, or in a park- you’ll meet interesting travelers, as well as locals who will give you tips on how to save in their city. I LOVE couchsurfing events- it’s a fun way to meet new people, and it’s a great way to get started in a new city. I’ve used it in Tokyo, Istanbul, and Berlin, and always had a great time.

A pic from my Bulgarian HelpX place.
I bathed in the river as the water hadn't yet been turned on
in the hostel I was working at.
It was much colder than it looks.

Helpx.net (WOOFF.com and workaway.com are very similar) will help you find temp jobs, in which you don’t get paid, but you work a few hours a day and get free lodging. It’s a great way to see an area if you have very little money. The website charges $20 and you get to use their services for two years, all around the world.

I’m writing this blog from a Helpx job- a beach town in Southern Spain. I’m in a hostel, and my job is to answer the door at night. I get a free bed, use of the kitchen, and use of the washing machine. There are many different types of jobs on Helpx, such as farm work, teaching, or homestays in which you just stay with a person and help them out around their house.

Hitchhiking might be a good idea if you have A LOT of time. I tried hitching in Turkey, from Istanbul to Ankara. I got picked up immediately in Istanbul, and was driven about 30 kilometers. After that I waited three hours, constantly trying different corners and locations, until finally a nice bus driver stopped and took me to the bus station- I bought a bus ticket from there. Some hitchhiker I turned out to be…

If you’re not so comfortable staying with strangers, or hitchhiking, or working for free, then just stay in hostels. They’re much more fun than hotels. While in China I rarely paid more than $5 dollars a night for a hostel. In Turkey I paid between $6 and 9 dollars a night for a hostel. Places like South East Asia will be even cheaper. But when you get to Europe… use CouchSurfing and Helpx. And remember, these things require weeks of planning ahead, sometimes months.

When you stay in hostels you can just show up, but when you’re planning to stay with someone, it takes a lot of time to make contact and coordinate and figure out your plan. I mean, sometimes these people don’t respond to your message until two weeks later. If you’re serious about saving money, then plan ahead and contact people at least one month before your arrival.

TRICK YOURSELF

You saved hard and budgeted for $30 a day, but guess what- you’re actually going to live on $20 a day. Boom! Extra money! Yaaaaay! But don’t get excited just yet, this extra ten dollars a day is your emergency fund. Because budget travel is hard and a lot of things go wrong when you’re abroad.

I feel a list coming on…

You will lose shoes, and sandals, and all your favorite t-shirts. Your Kindle will break- so will your headphones and every pair of sunglasses you buy. You will forget ALL your toiletries at the last hostel you stayed in. Your expensive camera will get dust in the sensor and require professional cleaning. Taxis will (always) scam you. You will fracture your spine in Thailand and need x-rays. You will find a weird growth and require eye surgery in China. You will get sick three times in Myanmar and require three separate hospital visits. Your rented scooter will fall over in a parking lot and scratch a man’s car- he will demand $50 for repairs. You will get scammed while crossing the border into Cambodia. You will get scammed in Istanbul by three scary men in a shady bar.

Use this guy if you're in India and want to trek into Nepal

Do you see the point of the emergency fund now? If you planned for

 $30 a day, and you spend $30 a day, then all these unforeseeable events will hit you hard and make you angry at life. Best to save up for the unexpected so you won’t lose your shit every time you, well, lose your shit.

This emergency fund is also useful for fun things, like paragliding in the Mediterranean, or going on a trek through the Himalayas. Fun things that just kinda present themselves.

  

LEARN TO HAGGLE

In many countries, haggling is part of everyday life. Do a little research before you arrive in a country and see if haggling is common there. If it is, then haggle hard and haggle fast. 

Obligatory India picture. 

You get into a taxi in Varanasi, India, and ask him to go to the Ganges River. He says 250 rupees, and you have no idea what the proper price is, so you just halve his offer and say, no- 125. He says ok, 200, you say no, 150. He says no, 200. You say 150. He says no- you walk away. Now you have an idea of what the correct price should be- somewhere between 150 and 200. Haggling takes time, but it’s usually worth it, and by haggling with several people, you learn what the real prices are in an area. The real price is generally just below where the first few refuse to give. Now that you know the real price, you can pretend to be a local and act offended when they overcharge you- be overdramatic and act as if they’ve wounded you with their high prices.

“Come on, why you do this to me,” you speak with frantic hand movements. “You think I am rich man? You give me 150, ok? 150 is good, my friend.”

Your grammar deteriorates fast when you travel.

Oh, one last thing. If you smoke, then you’re just throwing money, and travel opportunities, away. Seriously- three packs a week, at $7 a pack, is almost $1,100 a year, wasted. A full month of travel gone up in smoke.

And that’s basically it! Work hard. Save hard. Budget harder, and so on… It may seem like hard work, but it all seems worth it when you're looking at this.

Or this.

Or this.

 If you have any tips for cheap travel that I missed, then please let me know in the comments section below!