I wanted to make a video on how I was able to afford long term travel. My travel costs ended up being less than rent here in the Bay Area! But I was only able to do that with the following tips. Check out the video below and let me know what you think!
7 Tips on How to Afford Long Term Travel (with a Nice Standard of Living)
Show Notes
Introduction
Traveling the world on a low budget can seem impossible, but that is far from the truth. In this episode, I would be giving you seven tips on how to afford long term travel with a nice standard of living.
Notes
Hey guys, I’m Sharon from Digital Nomad Quest, and today I want to teach you about how you can afford long term travel while maintaining a nice standard of living.
I think I am qualified to talk about this because I quit my job and traveled for two years. I am going to speak on my nine months of spending during my travels and drill on that. I was able to spend a little under 1400 dollars a month for about nine months while traveling the world. The reason why I calculated nine months is that within the first year, I spent about three months in Hong Kong with family and a place to stay. The rest of the following year, I returned to the bay area traveling within the USA and Canada and Asia. I want to count the nine months where I was doing month to month at each place by myself.
I left May 31st of 2016 and returned May 9th of 2017. I spent 87 days in Hong Kong, which I am not going to count which leaves 256 days. I ended up spending 11,766 dollars and 98 cents, including travel insurance. This meant I spent 45 dollars and 96 cents per day if I prorated it would come out to 16,777 dollars and 14 cents for 365 days. This amounts to 13,098 dollars and 10 cents per month. It includes flight, accommodation, transportation within the city, food, entertainment, and any other spending I might have had to do if I ran out of something or some splurging. The seven tips for affording this long term spending are:
- Research on Accommodation: Research places to stay using Nomadlist.com. I use these two sites to figure out the cost of staying in different places, and I was able to find locations that were cost-friendly as well as safe and fun. I highly recommend those two sites.
- Book Ahead of Time: Book accommodations and flights ahead of time. I booked six months in advance. I recommend using Google Flights, Kayak and Airbnb. When you book in advance, you are guaranteed to get some good rates, and you don’t have to worry while you are traveling because you have everything figured out.
- Discounts on Airbnb: Book Airbnb for about a month if you are a digital nomad. The reason is that Airbnb offers discounts for a longer-term stay. Every time I booked for about a month, I get a percentage discount if the owner offers it. You can check on the site for Airbnb owners offering such discount
- Negotiate prices: Contact Airbnb owners to see if you can negotiate on prices. A tip I got from my nomad friends. Some owners may reduce their rent while others may not. it wouldn’t cost you anything to ask.
- Track your Purchases: Spreadsheet your expenses to see how much you are spending. On this trip, I tracked every single purchase, that was how I could talk about the figures I spent in other to blog about it and inform you guys traveling does not have to cost so much. This made me more conscious of my spending and make a better budget and spend within it.
- Public Transportation: Use public transportation in other to spend less money. Uber can be booked for the convenience, but using public transportation and walking is the way to go. I did that for most of my trips, and in the process, I gained local experience. It is also the right way to immerse yourself in the culture.
- Cook: Although I tried to, in the beginning, I didn’t cook that much during my travels. This also shows that travel does not cost so much because I was eating out every day. To save money, you can cook and buy food from the farmer’s market. I did so in Athens, buying food from a farmer’s market and eating healthy by cooking. I recommend this if you are trying to save money.
Transcription
Below is a transcription of the podcast. This transcription was taken from Otter.ai so it might not be completely accurate:
0:02
This is the digital nomad quest podcast with Sharon Tseung, teaching people how to build passive income, become financially free and design their best lives.
0:15
Hey guys, it’s Sharon from digital nomad quest. And today I want to teach you guys about how to afford long term travel while maintaining a nice standard of living. Alright, so first, let me tell you guys about why I think I’m qualified to talk about this. So I quit my job and travel the world for two years. And in this video, I’m going to talk about nine months of spending and kind of drill down on that. So I was actually able to spend a little under 1400 dollars a month for about nine months while traveling the world. And the reason why I’m only calculating nine months is within that first year, I spent about three months in Hong Kong, where I’ve family and places to stay. So I wanted to only count that remaining nine months and kind of dissect that number. The rest of the following year, I did come back to the Bay Area spent time traveling within us and came Canada. And I stayed here for a little bit then went back out to Asia. So it’s a little all over the place, I want to count the nine months where I was doing month to month at each place just by myself.
So I left may 31 of 2016, I came back may 9 of 2017. I spent 87 days in Hong Kong, which I’m not going to count which leaves 256 days I ended up spending $11,766 and 98 cents, and that includes travel insurance. So that’s the amount I spent for 256 days, this meant I spent $45 and 96 cents per day which if I prorated, it would have come out to $16,777 and 14 cents for 365 days for the whole year. This amounts to about 1300 $98 and 10 cents per month. So that’s not bad, right and includes flights includes accommodations and might include transportation within the city, which includes like Uber’s, and poet transportation. It also includes food, entertainment, and spending that I might have needed to do for if I ran out of something or you know, I decided to splurge a little bit. So that figure includes all of those categories. Now, I want to give you guys seven tips on how to afford this long term travel that I specifically use for myself. And I highly recommend this. And I think that it’s a great solution to travel long term and build your businesses as well because you’re able to lower your expenses while trying to build that passive income towards financial freedom. So you’re actually saving money while you’re traveling.
So in order to do this, number one, you should research places to stay using number to calm and Nomad lyst calm. So I use these two sites to figure out how much it costs to stay at these different places. And that was how I was able to find locations that were cost friendly, as well as safe and fun. So I highly recommend those two sites to do your research.
Number two, book accommodations and flights ahead of time I booked about six months in advance my recommendations is use Google flights, kayak and Airbnb, those were my favorite sites to book all these flights and accommodations for your travels. That way when you’re booking so far in advance, you’re guaranteeing that you’re getting some good rates and you’re also locking yourself down where you don’t have to worry while you’re traveling right? You’ve already haven’t figured it out.
Number three, you should book Airbnb for about a month each time if you’re a digital nomad right so the reason I say this is that Airbnb actually offers discounts for longer term stay. So every time I booked about a month, it would give me some percentage discount if the owner offers it. So you can check on the site, Airbnb owners are actually offering these discounts.
Number four, you can contact Airbnb owners to see if you can negotiate on prices. This is actually a tip I found out from my Nomad friends where they would talk to these owners to see if they can lower the rate a little bit. So some owners won’t do it but others can. So it’s worthwhile to message a bunch of owners and see if these people would be willing to offer you a room at a lower rate.
Number five, you should spreadsheet your expenses to see how much you’re spending while I was on this trip, I tracked every single purchase. And that’s how I can talk about these figures because I actually did this so that I could blog about it and tell you guys about it and prove that travel doesn’t have to cost that much. And, you know, while I was doing that actually made me more conscious of my spending, I was able to budget better, I was able to think ahead of time if I wanted to spend on that unnecessary thing or if it’s worth it to buy this or that. So it’s good to track your expenses to see where you’re at when it comes to how much you’re spending. Number six, you should use public transportation if you’re really trying to spend less money so yes, you can book Uber’s and taxis for the convenience. But if you want to save money, public transportation is the way to go walking is the way to go obviously, for a lot of my trip actually did that because I actually enjoyed it, trying to do that local experience and figuring out the different bus routes and the tram routes and Metro route. So it’s actually a great way to just kind of immerse yourself within the culture, I highly recommend using public transportation if you’re trying to save money number seven, you can cook I actually didn’t cook that much while I was traveling, I tried to in the beginning to be a little healthier. But I ended up going out to eat for most of my trip, which again shows like travel can costs really little. I was eating out like every day. But anyway, if you want to save money you can cook you can buy food from farmers markets. That’s what I did when I was in Athens, I started buying food from farmers markets and eating healthy food by cooking. And you know I recommend this if you’re trying to lower your expenses even more.
So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. Please make sure to rate review and subscribe. It really helps our podcast grow. And thanks again. I’ll see you guys in the next one.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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