How I Can Still Afford My Life Of Constant Travel

How I Can Still Afford My Life Of Constant Travel

2012-08-06 13:10:01-04

Wandering Earl

The most popular post on this blog has been How I Can Afford My Life of Constant Travel, a post I wrote back in April 2011. The idea of that post was to offer better insight into exactly how I’ve earned my money over the years, approximately how much I’ve spent while traveling and basically, how I’ve managed to maintain this traveling lifestyle for so long.

That way, you can understand what is really involved with achieving a goal of long-term travel.

And now that 16 months have passed since I wrote that post, I think it’s time for an update. After all, I’ve still continued traveling and earning money since last April, and I still receive plenty of emails from readers wanting to know where that money comes from.

Believe me, I often sit here wondering how this all happened myself. It nearly brings me to tears (of joy!) to think that I’ve managed to travel for so long without having had to sell a body part or participate in any medical experiments. It’s crazy.

And the most important thing to realize is that such a lifestyle is absolutely possible for you as well. Seriously, it’s possible. And proving that point is the main goal of this blog. What I try to make clear is that there are an infinite number of diverse opportunities out there for you to take advantage of. Not only are there opportunities to travel cheaply by doing such things as cleaning a hostel in exchange for a free night’s stay or picking fruit on a farm in Australia or finding under-the-table work at a bar or cafe…

There are also opportunities to create your own work, to earn a very decent income, to save money for the future and to live and travel in relative comfort, all while overseas. Traveling long-term doesn’t have to involve scraping up little bits of money everywhere you go, doing jobs that are less than desirable and sleeping in the absolute cheapest accommodations you can find.

Whatever kind of lifestyle you want, there’s no reason why travel can’t be a part of it.

The Timeline

(Starting from April 2011 – for my earlier Timeline, see How I Can Afford My Life of Constant Travel.)

April 2011

• Lived in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, working on the blog and other websites (such as GoKurdistan.com)
• Launched my How to Work on Cruise Ships eBook
• Reached $2500 in monthly online income through eBook sales as well as my experiments with affiliate marketing

July 2011

• Decided to leave Mexico and return to the US to visit family for a couple of weeks
• Unsure of what to do/where to go next I hung out with friends in NYC for a few weeks, spending almost $250 per week despite staying at my friends’ apartment
• Started accepting very small amounts of advertising on WanderingEarl.com in order to increase my monthly income by around $400

September 2011

• Agreed to partner with Eurail.com for their “Blog Trail” project which allowed me to travel around Europe by train for two months for free, courtesy of Eurail.com
• Took a flight to Zurich, Switzerland in order to begin the two-month train journey
• Traveled to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia and Romania
• Was earning around $2000 per month online (due to the fact I had little time to work while traveling) and I spent approximately $900 per month on expenses during this trip

December 2011

• Spent two weeks in Istanbul
• Returned to the US for five days
• Went to South Africa for two weeks as part of an all-expenses paid Social Media Blogger Tour organized by the South Africa Tourism Board
• Took a flight from South Africa to Bucharest, Romania where I decided to spend some time working on more online projects

February 2012

• Paid $250 USD per month for a room in an apartment in Bucharest
• Total cost of living in Bucharest was about $650 USD per month
• While in the midst of a terrible Eastern European winter, I began work on a new eBook, How to Live a Life of Travel
• Sales of my other eBooks decreased drastically for some reason, leading to only $1200 in monthly income for 3 months

April 2012

• Returned to the US in order to catch a flight to Fiji where I was to participate in a Bloggers Press Trip
• The Fiji trip was canceled at the last minute due to a cyclone so I ended up visiting family and friends in the US for 3 weeks, spending over $1200 during that time
• Flew to Istanbul with a friend from home, stayed for one week and spent $400
• Took the bus back to Bucharest

May 2012

• Traveled to Bratislava, Slovakia for four days to visit friends (cheap flight from Bucharest to Vienna â close to Bratislava – for only $100 USD return)
• Returned to Bucharest, Romania

June 2012

• I finally completed my How to Live a Life of Travel eBook
• Sales of most of my eBooks suddenly increased once again and I began earning around $4000 per month from all of my online work (eBooks, affiliate marketing, small amount of advertising)

July 2012

• Took an 8-day vacation from blogging and work by going to the beach town of Ulcinj, Montenegro
• Traveled around Montenegro, Albania and Macedonia for four weeks, spending approximately $800 USD during that month to cover all expenses
• After the vacation I announced the launch of Wandering Earl Tours with my first tour taking place in India in November
• The first tour sold out in 2 days with a waiting list of over 20 people

August 2012

• Returned to Romania where I’ll remain for one month working on two new projects

Future plans…

September 2012

• Will visit Estonia and Finland for two weeks

October 2012

• Will fly to India for final preparations of the India tour I’m organizing
• Plan to stay in India for 1.5 months after the tour for some meditation and visiting some regions I have yet to visit

January 2013

• I’ll start offering small group tours every couple of months to different parts of the world

Then, who knows?

And there you have it. That’s how I’ve been living, working and traveling since April 2012.

It’s funny because when I first started traveling, I certainly never would have imagined that I would end up as a travel blogger and that my blog would allow me to continue traveling around the planet. That’s the beauty of this lifestyle though…you never know where it will lead.

And that is why, if travel is your goal, I strongly recommend putting all of your energy into taking the first step and finding a way to start traveling. Once you do that, every dream and every goal that you may think is impossible right now will suddenly appear so much more achievable and when that happens, you are able to start living the life you really want.