I get asked a lot how I afford to travel and not have a conventional 9-5 full time job.
There are many aspects to how this works for me…but here are a couple of the things I did and am doing to get to where I am now:
I sold most of my expensive material possessions (i.e. Tag Heuer watch, Celine Phantom bag, clothes, shoes, electronics…anything that I knew was a “want” not a “need”).
If you own a home, rent or sell! I chose to rent my house furnished so be able to afford to pay all the necessary bills that are associated with my house and also to have furnished place to come home to should I decide I no longer want to be on the road.
Pay off your debts or consolidate debts to one monthly payment. Most banks are willing to work with you when you show a desire to work towards eliminating debt. Basically the important thing here is to get rid of any unnecessary monthly bills that hold you hostage.
Apply for a travel rewards credit card. I chose the Chase Sapphire Rewards card because I was able to get the most points in the shortest amount of time…and ended up flying to Costa Rica for $13.79. I love this card! I have used it everywhere in Costa Rica and pay it off every month with my money in my US bank account. I am not charged international fees when I use it, I earn extra points because I am using it on travel related purchases, and I don’t pay the wire transfer fees to get money from my US account to my international account. Paypal is also a really important tool when moving money between accounts
If you need to supplement your income whether you don’t have a lot saved up or you don’t want to blow through your savings to travel…find a remote job. You would be surprised at how many companies will hire remotely. I currently work for Education First as an ESL teacher, but I have found many additional opportunities on FlexJobs and Indeed.
Research, research, research! Research where you are wanting to go and what it...