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| 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
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| 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.
 |
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.
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| 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!
I
want 100% transparency with this project, so I am listing all the details below,
under the HOW IT WORKS section.
We,
as people who live in safety, who have homes and jobs, who know that we will
have food tomorrow- we should show our appreciation for our incredible luck by
giving to those who aren’t so fortunate.
