How to Afford to Travel Full Time

Let’s rewind to circa 2014 when I had the strong desire to quit my job to travel. I would see people traveling the world and wonder, “how the heck do they afford to travel this long?”.

Now let’s fast forward to present day where I’ve been traveling full-time for a few years now. I’m here to tell you, there’s no “secret” that allows people to travel full-time or long-term. Majority of travelers aren’t super rich and haven’t won the lottery either. They just all have a passion for traveling the world and are willing to make it happen.

There are different ways that will help you afford to travel full-time. The more items you implement, the easier it will be to afford full-time travel. Let’s dive in!

Table of Contents

Save your money to allow you to travel full-time

The most common way to afford traveling full-time is to save your money. Yes, you can travel inexpensively where you don’t need a lot of money to travel, but you do need some money to start. Get a travel savings account where you can contribute and save money for your trip. You first want to get a savings account that offers higher interest so that you can profit off of your savings. Next, you want to have the right intentions with your money. Analyze your spending habits, dedicate a percentage of your income to your travel fund, cut back on purchases, and be intentional. There are a lot of different ways to save money for your round-the-world trip.

Travel inexpensively to allow you to travel longer

There are so many different ways you can travel inexpensively and not break your bank while traveling. There are so many travel apps and travel tips that help you minimize spending and were created specifically to help you travel the world on a budget. Take advantage of those travel tips and implement them as much as you can to help you travel longer. You don’t want to throw money down the drain when you can easily avoid certain things. For example, using a no-fee ATM card, booking with reward sites, traveling during off-season, getting the right travel card, sharing transportation, etc.

Being able to lower your travel expenses in any way will help you save money and give you the opportunity to travel full-time.

Learn travel hacks to travel for free

Travel hacking is a great way to travel for free and minimize travel costs. Not only is learning how to properly use points to travel, but learning different travel tips/hacks that can help you afford to travel full-time. For example, learning how to get huge discounts on accommodation to help lower costs, learning how to get free accommodation without using points, learning how to get cheap flights, etc. are all great travel hacks to help minimize travel costs and afford to travel full-time.

Travel to the correct countries and places

If you want to be able to afford full-time travel without needing a lot of money saved, you want to travel to the right countries and destinations. For example, if you are from America, it would be best to travel to places where your money can get you further such as Southeast Asia, some of Central America, and eastern Europe. When you travel to places where your money can get you further, you can travel on as little as $15-$20/day (amount varies).

But let’s say you come from a country where your currency isn’t strong and $20/day still seems like a lot of money. You can implement different travel hacks to cut costs such as getting free flights, accommodation, or activities. When you minimize a lot of your travel expenses, you’re able to lower the amount needed per day.

Get free accommodation so you don’t need a lot of money

When you’re able to get free accommodation, you are able to lower your travel expenses and not need a lot of money to travel. There a lot of different ways you can get free accommodation. You can work in exchange for free accommodation, volunteer, house sit, create content, work with brands, and so many other ways. If you travel hack, you can also get free accommodation through points.

Travel slow

The beauty about traveling full-time is being able to travel as fast or as slow as you want. Slow travel is a great way to help decrease your travel costs. When you travel slow, you’re able to stay in places for a longer time and take advantage of cheaper prices. Slow travel allows you to potentially get discounts on your accommodation, have the luxury of booking activities at a discounted price, and “live” abroad. You have the ability to choose the cheaper routes, cook more, and have days where you don’t even spend any money.

Make money while you travel to help you afford it

A popular way people are able to travel and afford full-time travel is by making money while they travel. There are several ways you can do this. One option you can do is find a job that allows you to work remotely. You can also create different methods of passive income. You can also get creative and work while you travel to help fund your trip.

Think of different things that you’re good at that you can do while traveling. For example, let’s say you love yoga. You can teach yoga and make money doing that while you travel. Or let’s say you’re organized and you’re an assistant in your professional life, you can become a virtual assistant and support online business owners. Or let’s say you are really good at social media and you love creating content, you can be a social media manager or content creator to make money while you travel.

There are so many different jobs you can do that allows you to make money while you travel the world. If you want to figure out the best type of job you should do and receive 30+ different job ideas, you can check out my free resource on how to make money while traveling the world.

Take advantage of free travel activities

Yes, there are activities that you have to pay for, but there are also a ton of free activities that you can do while traveling. Some days I don’t spend any money on “tourist” activities because a lot can be done for free. You can go to a secret beach, hike to a beautiful viewpoint, walk around the stunning city, do a free walking tour, visit museums, check out churches, etc. There are so many free travel activities that you can do.

Eat & travel like a local

When you eat and travel like a local, you are bound to afford to travel full-time and save money. Try avoiding the touristy areas and find restaurants where locals eat. When you walk around, if you see a bunch of locals eating there, eat there! That means it’s delicious and cheap. You can also eat street food. Instead of taking private shuttles, taxis, etc., opt for the public transportation that the locals use. Eating and traveling like a local is a great way to help minimize travel expenses.

In summary, saving money and making money are the two top contributors to allow you to travel full-time. However, there are so many different ways that contribute to being able to afford full time travel. When you can minimize your travel expenses as much as possible, it allows you to use that extra money to travel the world.

If you want to learn how you can travel full-time and afford to travel full-time, check out Travel the World Academy™ that teaches you the specific programs, apps, travel hacks, and tips to help you travel the world.