Can You Make A Life Of Travel A Long Term Lifestyle Choice?

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For many of us, it’s all too easy to slip into the rat race working a nine to five office job that doesn’t challenge us, that we don’t enjoy and that saps all our creativity and mojo. This is the sort of job that is so mundane that it crushes your soul, but the wage is half decent and secure so you stick at it. The adventures that you choose to get up to outside of work are the ones that refresh your mojo and enliven your senses.


Travel is one of the most life affirming experiences that you can choose to partake in. Whether you hot foot it to trek the Inca Trail in Peru for three weeks or whether you culture vulture it around the capital cities of Eastern Europe on your two week vacation, it is these escapism moments that can make life worth living. Being able to see the world, immerse yourself in new cultures, meet new people and enjoy new gastronomic delights is what you look forward to every year, when your annual vacation swings around once again.

But what happens when this annual vacation isn't enough? Some of us get so bogged down and stuck in a rut that we feel that travel is our only way out. The sheer joy you experience when venturing to distant shores and witness new sights is much more fulfilling than landing a lucrative contract at work. When you touch down on home soil, your mind might be racing with ways to get back on a plane as quickly as possible. When the thoughts you have of travel outweigh any other ideas, start impacting on your job and you even begin to feel depressed with your current life set up, it’s time to start being proactive. You only have one life, so live it well. If this means making a life of long term travel work for you, do everything within your power to make it happen.

Finances

Before you can even attempt to embark on such a radical lifestyle change, you need to get your finances in order. This means ensuring that you have enough funds to travel, and making sure that your mortgage, credit card debts and other financial obligations are looked after before you set foot on your flight.

If you do own a house, you may think that you are financially tied to your home nation and destined to remain on terra firma. However, you are actually in a highly fortunate position. Depending on how long you have owned your pad, and how much work you have done to it to outperform the market, you may have a decent amount of equity in your humble abode. This means that you can sell it and pocket the profit to fund your travels. This is a drastic step as it means empowering your travel dream to the fullest but saying a firm farewell to the foundations of your life at home.

Alternatively, you could choose to rent out your home. While you are gone, you will need a steady income in order to repay your mortgage every month. By letting out your property to a young professional couple, or family, you can be sure of a regular income that will cover your repayments and hopefully line your pockets a little as well. As you aren’t in the country and it’s nigh on impossible to be a responsible landlord from the beaches of Bali, you will need to seek the services of a management company to look after your pad while you are away.

If you have credit card debt, it’s time to live like a pauper for three to six months, eat toast for dinner and spend your nights in as you aim to clear your debt in the fastest time possible. If you can, transfer your debt onto a new credit card with zero per cent interest on balance transfers. This way any and every payment you make will be towards clearing your debt rather than accumulating any more interest.

By getting your finances in order, you will get a clearer picture as to how much money you have to play with when planning out your itinerary.

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Planning

The planning stage of any trip is enjoyable. The nuances of finding those hard to reach and off the beaten track places can fill you with good vibes. While you might be the kind of person who likes to be spontaneous, there does need to be an element of planning and preparation to such a mammoth change of lifestyle. It’s vital that you always have a three month itinerary planned out going forward. This needs to detail any flights, visas, paperwork and accommodation you may need. This is sound for logistics and financing. There’s nothing worse than planning to venture into Kazakhstan only to realize you needed to apply for the visa two months in advance.

Plan well. Don’t dot the I’s and cross the T’s but make sure that you have enough of a skeleton itinerary to get by. If you know there are some destinations that you will be spending more time in, consider renting rather than hosteling. This may not only work out cheaper, but you’ll also be immersing yourself into a native community rather than with fellow tourists. Renting with Harga Rumah di Jakarta can see you experiencing a more authentic way of life in Indonesia. Alternatively, if you are heading to the United States, you might want to look into Airbnb options when planning on staying put longer term.

Packing

When packing for a long jaunt abroad, don’t think that you have to pack everything and the kitchen sink. It doesn’t matter whether you are planning on being away for two months or two years, your backpack should stay the same size. Opt for a front loading backpack of no more than forty five liters capacity. This will leave you with luggage that is never too heavy to carry, but that has enough space for at least seven days worth of clothes, kit, and footwear. You will need to wash clothes along the way. Taking more than a week’s worth is wasteful. Remember you are heading overseas, not off the face of the Earth, so you will be able to purchase items abroad if you need them. A replacement tee shirt and pair of sandals in Thailand will cost very little compared to the more expensive alternatives at home.

Pack as light as possible but don’t forego the essentials. If you love photography, take a decent travel camera. If you want to listen to music when taking overnight bus journeys in South America, take your iPod. Just be sensible and don’t take a dozen pairs of shoes, a ridiculous amount of makeup or your heavy leather jacket. Think in terms of layers rather than massive items of outdoor clothing.

Wheeled suitcases have their place if you are vacationing for a fortnight without being on the move too much. Otherwise, they can become cumbersome on trains, they can annoy people on public transport, and they simply aren’t practical. Get yourself a backpack. It’s a non-negotiable.

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Homesickness

Preparing for homesickness is something that no traveler ever gets ready for. While you are super excited at the prospect of seeing the most wondrous sights and experiencing the most incredible vistas, it will eventually hit home that you’ve missed your mom’s sixtieth birthday or your nephew’s first Christmas. These can hit home hard, and you may go through a period of regretting your lifestyle choice.

The easiest way to cope with this is by staying in touch. Don’t be a traveling martyr and forego your smartphone. Get on Whatsapp every day and touch base with your family and friends, video calling and texting regularly. If you speak to your dad twice a day now, there’s no reason why that has to stop while you’re traveling.

Traveling is the perfect way to get out of a rut. If you want to embark on a nomadic way of life, follow this guide to make it work.