How to Afford Long-Term Travel
People often engage in long-term travel activities for many reasons. Some want to move out to different countries to teach English. Others have business expansion endeavors or other business activities that bring them out of their home country as well.
Whatever the case is, long-term travel can be exciting and thrilling to those who want to explore new cultures and travel the world, but oftentimes low budgets or higher-than-anticipated costs can put a damper on the dream to traveling for an extended period of time.
Fortunately, there are several useful tips that can be utilized to make long-term travel a little easier to afford (and a lot more enjoyable!) These are especially vital for people who are new to budgeting who might need an extra bit of help understanding the ins and outs of traveling to different places for the long-term.
Be ready to save for the long term
Make sure you cut back on your expenses and start saving up your money as soon as possible in order to support a long trip. It’s important to continuously put money into your savings account without touching it or spending it. This is often a challenge to manage but it can be done if you are careful and you fully understand how well your savings work and where your priorities lie.
Watch for what locals do when traveling
A good idea when traveling is to see what locals in certain places do. You might find good, cheap options for transportation or for dining or even great deals on housing that you wouldn’t have known about otherwise. As you observe local habits, it becomes easier for you to see how they live and what they do to get by in their individual situations. This keeps you from having to spend money on stuff that targets tourists that are not all that familiar with the area and therefore might be extremely overpriced.
Do not rush yourself when traveling
Long-term travel should not be something that pushes you to rush through cities and countries. Getting a slow, deeper appreciation for an area is always better than speeding through cities “checking them off your list.” Be willing to space plans out and to have a bit more fun and pleasure in getting a greater appreciation for an area and its culture.
Look for low-cost accommodations
The places you can find for lodging should be examined carefully and compared using online booking sites such as hostelworld.com or hostels.com. You might even want to stick with lower-cost spots that are a little off-the-beaten-path in exchange for the relief of knowing your accommodation is not breaking the bank or shortening your travel plans.
Be willing to work while traveling
Think about the jobs you might wish to take on when traveling. You might take on jobs where you teach English to people or simple temporary jobs where one-off help is needed for special events. You could not only earn money in some of these jobs but also expand your horizons and learn a little more about what people in certain areas might enjoy doing.
Look for public transit services
Public transit is much more affordable than using taxis or renting a car. You can even use public transit to travel from one part of a country to the next depending on where you go and what kind of options there are in terms of bus and train schedules. In most cases, public transit entails low-cost bus or train services. Look at how such transportation solutions work in an area and see if they are options that are easy to enjoy using when traveling.
Avoid many of the more popular spots
Be willing to stay off the beaten path a bit and find less popular things to do or activities that might not cost as much. Generally, it’s quite easy to find the typical tourist zones, where you may pay two to three-times the going rate for an item. This is especially important if you are trying to immerse yourself in a culture that you will be surrounded by for a while, as you can take your time finding the options that suit your needs.
All these points are critical for your long-term travel needs. When planning on traveling to teach people English or do other things, you have to think about how you will get out there as traveling is not cheap unless you think about some things you can do to make it easier to manage.
