As someone who has done long term travel, spent months away from home, traveled full time from one place to another with just a suitcase, and lived on the move, I know that it can be an alluring and anxiety inducing idea.
What I wish I had before we left for our big trip was this: a friend who had done a similar trip that could tell me everything I needed to know about long term travel.
Enter, moi. Because now I am that friend for YOU! So take a seat friend, and let’s talk travel!
This post may contain affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something I may earn a commission, at no additional cost to you.
Being away from home and all things familiar can be pretty overwhelming, even when you’re still just in the planning phase. But, it can also be one of the most magical experiences.
When we were planning our 6 month trip to 18 countries, we scoured the internet for real advice. We wanted to have realistic expectations and know a little bit about what to expect.
If you’re considering long-term travel, the first thing I want to say is I think you should do it.
It’s very, very unlikely that you would ever regret your travels, and you certainly won’t regret trying!
Let me share with you 10 things to know about long term travel from one traveler to another!
1. Traveling Can Be Less Expensive Than Living Back Home
A very common misconception with travel is that it has to be expensive. It surely can be, but it does NOT have to be.
I’ve actually learned that traveling full time can even be less expensive than every-day living back at home!
Now, this is of course going to depend on where you call home and where you are traveling to.
If you are traveling for a long period of time, it’s very likely that you’ll be traveling on some sort of budget. More likely than not, that daily budget works out to be less than what you were spending back at home!
For example, we try to go on a budget of $150/day for two people when we travel. That would come out to $4,500 for one month, or $2,250 per person. That is definitely on par with what many people spend in a month back home in the U.S.
Not to mention the fact that it’s possible to travel on MUCH less while abroad! In some places we’ve visited, our daily budget has been well UNDER $150!
If you want to know more about how much we spent on our 6 month trip, I wrote an entire post about our daily budget and how we came up with those numbers!
READ ALSO: Traveling Abroad Can Be Less Expensive Than In The U.S.
2. You Can’t Escape Your Problems By Traveling
Oop, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your problems will probably come with you. I don’t mean that in a discouraging way, though. Let me explain.
When you are traveling for a long period of time, what was once abnormal starts to become daily life.
Whereas on vacation, you are able to take a short break to really unplug, and frankly ignore your problems for a time.
If you’ve been on the road for a few months, eventually it becomes your normal, daily life. Whatever internal problems you have been working through will surface and can’t be ignored forever.
So be prepared to have some unexpected emotions and feelings make their way to the surface on your trip. You are in a new and challenging environment, after all!
Personally, I have anxiety. In the beginning of our long term trip, I didn’t notice my anxiety much. But, it did surface and come up many times later on in our trip. It’s simply because I’m human, and whether I’m at ‘home’ or far away traveling the world, I am still human.
3. Pack Less and Know You Can Always Buy More
Please DON’T overpack for a long term trip. You won’t need as much as you think, and lugging around too much stuff will be a pain!
Instead, remember that you can always buy clothes or other necessities abroad!
In fact in some places, it’s very affordable to buy even the brands you know and love. This is because many clothes are manufactured in other countries, so you can find them for less when you travel.
This rule also applies to toiletries, like shampoo and body wash. You don’t really need to bring those things with you in large quantities.
Instead, buy them when you need them and refill your bottles as you go.
It may feel like you need to have everything you may possibly need packed in your bag when you got on your first flight. But, I can assure you that there will be something you forgot and need to buy. So don’t stress too much!
Plus, when you’re traveling long term, you’re bound to run out of certain items or need new clothes as the seasons change.
So, plan to buy some things while you’re away!
READ ALSO: What & How To Pack For Long Term Travel
4. Don’t Skip Travel Insurance. Seriously.
I always say, ‘if you can’t afford travel insurance, you don’t need to be traveling’. It is worth the money every time.
There is a lot that can go wrong when you’re traveling for long periods of time (not to scare you). I just want to make sure that you are prepared!
I got pretty bad food poisoning in Turkey and had to take a round of antibiotics to clear it up. We were able to get reimbursed for the antibiotics with our travel insurance. Luckily, that’s the worst thing that has happened to us while traveling.
We swear by SafetyWing travel insurance. Not only is it affordable, but it’s also easy to use and very clear to understand what you’re covered for. And, you can enroll on a month-to-month basis.
They also have wonderful customer service and are a company of nomads themselves!
If you are going to be doing some long-term travel, make sure to sign up with SafetyWing before you go!
5. Think About Your Health And Take Care Of Yourself
It can be very easy to have a vacation mindset while you’re traveling long term, and that isn’t an entirely bad thing.
However, you may realize that once you’ve been traveling for a few months, you may need a bit of a routine or some boundaries to keep yourself healthy, both physically and mentally.
Recognize the healthy habits you want to bring with you on your trip to give yourself at least some semblance of normalcy and routine!
Maybe you would like to bring a few exercise accessories so you can work out anywhere. Or you may have a smart watch that tracks your activity that you love.
Whatever it may look like to you, take care of yourself!
6. You Need To Have A Good Budget In Place
If you don’t have any idea of how much money you are allowed to spend in a day to stay on budget, I can guarantee that you WILL overspend.
All you need to have is a number that will guide your daily spending. And don’t just come up with a general *feeling* in your head of ‘oh, I feel like I spent a lot today’. Come up with an actual number.
On top of that, keep track of your spending! It’s so important to know how much you are spending and on what to stay within your budget.
Most people will have either a chunk of money that they are traveling on, or income from a remote job or passive sources. Know what is coming in and what is going out!
Our ideal daily budget for 2 people when we travel is around $150/day. This number will vary depending on where we are and how affordable that country is for travelers.
We use a pre-trip budgeting spreadsheet and research online to determine the daily budget for each country we visit.
To keep track of our spending, we use another spreadsheet where we simply add in each transaction at the end of the day. You can also write it down in the notes app of your phone for each day so you can refer to how much you have spent throughout the day!
READ MORE: How to Save Money for Travel – Budget & Save for Your Next Trip
7. You Will Miss Out On Things Back Home
The sad reality of being away from home while traveling is that you will miss out on life events back home.
We have missed weddings, baby showers, engagements, and other milestones for our friends and family.
It’s not that we don’t care about these important events in other people’s lives, it’s just that we happen to not be physically there when they happen. It doesn’t mean we aren’t supportive from afar!
However, it can be sad to miss out and to feel the F.O.M.O. that can come with not being present during these events.
We remind ourselves that we have to live our lives, too! We make the effort to be there when we are able, and our friends and family still love us no matter what.
But at the end of the day, we decided to prioritize travel in our lives and we are so happy we’ve made that decision!
You can be both sad you are missing out and happy you’re traveling at the same time.
8. There Will Be Sacrifices That Need To Be Made
Traveling long term, whether it’s as a digital nomad, a solo-traveler, for work, or just for pleasure, is not the norm. Therefore, it will probably take some sacrifice and adjustment to make it possible.
Because this lifestyle isn’t the ‘default’, it is going to require that you make some decisions that aren’t considered ‘normal’ and that may require sacrifice.
But, if it is what you truly want, those sacrifices will be worth it.
Before we left for our 6 month trip, we sold a car, saved aggressively and lived very minimally, sold most of our possessions, and didn’t renew our rental lease and effectively became houseless.
For us, all of those sacrifices were worth it because they were in line with our greater goal of being able to travel for an extended period of time while we were still young.
And looking back, we don’t regret any of those decisions. We don’t wish we had eaten out more while we were trying to save money. We never think to ourselves, ‘man I wish we had held on to that rental house’, because now our life is totally different! Those things don’t fit in our life anymore the way that they used to.
You will have to lose some comfortable things to arrive in a place of challenge and adventure.
9. You Can’t Be Or Go Everywhere At Once
Not only is it hard to wish you could be home with loved ones while also wanting to be traveling in a different country.
It is also difficult to wish you could go everywhere, all at once.
It can quickly feel overwhelming to choose where to go when the options are endless. If you love to travel, you probably want to go just about EVERYWHERE.
Choosing your next destination is an incredible exciting privilege, to have the world at your fingertips. But, it can also cause some serious analysis paralysis. So just remember, you will have more time to visit more places. Don’t get too hung up on which is the ‘best’ to go to. Go where your heart desires!
10. If You Don’t Have Income, It Will Eventually End
This was a hard pill for us to swallow.
We never wanted our travels to end, but we had left home with a full savings account and no monthly income to support our travels. So, when the money ran out, we had to come back home.
Now, we could have looked for online jobs or found work abroad, but we also had a cat to get home to and my sister was about to have a baby! So, we knew for us that it was time to go home.
But, there are so many ways you can finance your travels if you are looking to do so in a sustainable and steady way.
You could get a remote job and become a digital nomad. Or maybe you would like to build your own business or be a freelancer with a skill you already have. Maybe you have a form of passive income, like a rental property, that could support your travels. You could even get a working holiday visa in a country like Ireland or Australia and move abroad for 6 months or a year.
There are a lot of ways you can achieve a steady income while traveling to make sure you can continue to travel on your own terms.
It is probably good to think about if you want an income while you’re traveling, or if you want to do what we did and be free to travel without any responsibilities for a shorter period of time.
READ ALSO: Travel Credit Cards: Our Secret To Affordable Flights All Over The World
Why I Think You Should Still Travel Long Term
After reading this list of 10 things to know about long term travel before you go, you may be thinking, “is she trying to talk me out of going on a long trip?”
The answer is NO! I want you to go travel long term, so I am trying to prepare you for what may come!
Like a friend sitting down to coffee with you, I am sharing my own personal experience to hopefully help you prepare as well as you can.
Travel has transformed me, given me perspective, changed my career, and so much more.
And leaving home, selling all of our belongings, even quitting our jobs, was all worth it for us to have the chance to experience what the world has to offer. I will never regret our choice to prioritize travel the way that we have!
So if you’re on the fence about taking an extended trip, going on a long term travel adventure, or just drastically switching up your lifestyle: DO IT!
READ ALSO:
4 Most Important Travel Safety Essentials For Long Term Travelers
21 Amazon Travel Essentials You Need For Long-Term Travel
14 Simple Tips To Make Your Next International Flight A Breeze
Maxine Bennett