How to Travel More

I know a couple who sold everything, bought a sailboat, and set out for the Caribbean. They sailed for about two years. He worked odd jobs as a carpenter. She did freelance computer work. They and their young son lived on the boat. In the travel blogger community (yes there is such a thing), there are families who leave everything behind and travel for a living. They tour the world and blog as they go.

These people are daring! We are not nearly that brave. We have been able to spend weeks traveling, though, and have visited wonderful places. Allow me to briefly explain how we manage this. Below is the abridged version with details following.

1.  We do not travel for a living. I work full time.

2.  Working extra shifts allows me to have more time off to travel.

3.  Travel is a spending priority for us.

4.  Money saving strategies allow us to stretch our dollars further.

We do not travel for a living.

I write a travel blog because I love to travel, take photos, and write. Until I retire, travel will not supply our income. If we do receive perks, great. But if we do not, then that is okay, too. My career is rewarding and provides well for us.

I work extra shifts.

In the U.S., we do not get as much vacation time as Europeans. 15 days of paid vacation is all that I get. 5 of the days are federal holidays. My normal work week consists of 4 days of 10 hours. I choose to work an extra half shift weekly. This allows me to save up more days for vacation. By doing this, we are able to travel for about 5-6 weeks each year.

Travel is a spending priority.

Other than our house payments, we have no other debts. Our house payment is well within our means. Where we live in the U.S., a car is a necessity. Our cars are quite old. My Mazda (zoom-zoom!) is 17 years old. It is great not having a car payment. You will also not find us with designer clothes or new furniture. Not that it would be wrong, but we choose to direct our savings to travel (and our garden).

Money saving strategies allow us to stretch our dollars even further.

Most of our travel is during the off season when rates are cheaper.

Using a Southwest Airline credit card significantly cuts back on domestic air travel. A United Airline rewards card earns miles for international flights. We pay these off each month on time. Otherwise, using credit cards makes no sense. We have several other “tricks”, but I will not bore you with them, now.

I wish that I had some sage advice or secret strategy to share on how to leave it all behind and travel the world. But I do not. We are an ordinary family. For those wishing to have a normal life, but see more of the world: work, save, prioritize, and try to find bargains. It’s not an exciting method, but it works for us.