Here’s Exactly What it Costs to Travel Around the World

The Boring Secret to Full-Time Travel

Fun fact: I’ve never earned more than $25,000/year since I became a full-time freelance writer six years ago.

Not once. And to be clear, that’s before taxes.

While $25k might sound like a lot of money to some of you (it’s really not), after taxes my annual earnings—on a good year—come out to:

• $57.25 a day
• $402.16 a week
• $1742.50 a month

Yet despite the fact that I earn less than half the median income in the US, I’ve managed to travel the world for at least three months a year nearly every year since 2007. Heck, I’ve been to 40+ countries, even living in places like Rome, New Zealand, Iceland, and France for months or even years.

So how do I afford to travel the world when I only make $400 a week while also living in one of the most expensive cities in the world? (I forgot to mention that I’ve lived in New York City for the past decade).

The secret to traveling whenever you want—for as long as you want—is actually pretty easy. You just need to do two simple things.

But odds are, you’re won’t believe me.

The Boring Secret to Full-Time Travel

You don’t have to make a lot of money to travel. Honestly, you really don’t.

But you also don’t need to scour the internet for secret budget travel deals, generate “passive income streams,” or build your brand to become an influencer in order to travel for a few months a year.

No, the way I afford to travel the world for months at a time is pretty boring by comparison to all that, but it’s effective as hell.

Here’s exactly what I do to travel full-time:

1. Spend less money than I earn each month
2. Work a remote-friendly or online job

That’s it.

That’s the secret. If you set a monthly budget that’s less than what you earn and find paying remote work (even if it’s a little at first), you can afford to travel full-time.

And the best part is that it gets easier the longer you travel.

How do I know?

Let me show you exactly how much I’ve spent (and how much I’ve earned) oin the first four months of my year-long trip around the world.

How I Travel Around the World on a Normal Income

Sorry, before I show you the numbers I just have to get this last thing out of the way because I’m sure a few of you are already mumbling angrily to yourself about my situation:

• I don’t have a trust fund or any other external financial support. I recognize how lucky I am to come from a good home and a loving family, but they’ve never given me anything but emotional support
• I’m not a credit card points guru. The only “free” flight I ever booked with points or miles was on Southwest to visit my mom
• I’m still paying off my student loans. I put myself through college 20 years ago, and even though I refinanced and locked in a low-interest rate, I’m still paying off money that I borrowed when I was a teenager

Just in case you were wondering.

Now that we’re done with that, let’s look at my actual earning and expense spreadsheet from my current around-the-world-trip (which is in month four right now).

How Much Does Full-Time Travel Really Cost?

Since leaving New York City on June 3, 2019, I’ve spent $7,065—for an average of $63.06 per day.

That daily rate — $63 dollars — is honestly higher than I’d like, but it includes literally every dime my girlfriend and I have spent on this trip so far including:

• Every flight
• All our travel vaccines and medicine
• Six months of premium travel insurance
• Every single night of accommodation in Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Singapore, and Malaysia
• International phone plans
• Several rental cars (and scooters) including tolls and gas
• …and all the microbrews, Spanish reds, coffee, gifts, souvenirs, taxi rides, and everything else we’ve bought along the way

And my cost per day is going down all the time.

But to be clear, that budget of $63 a day includes some pretty great stuff. We aren’t “budget travelers” in any sense of the word, and since leaving NYC our quality of life has definitely improved.

In the past four months we’ve been lucky enough to:

• Walk across Spain for six weeks
• Glamp in a glorious Irish yurt
• Soak in the hidden (and completely free) thermal hot pools in Ourense, Spain
• Drive a scooter to secluded beaches and waterfalls in Langkawi, Malaysia
• Explore Portugal in a teeny tiny rental car
• Sip exquisite white coffee in Penang and the original (and shockingly expensive) Singapore Sling at Raffles in Singapore
• …and I’m currently writing this article from a nice little luxury apartment in Kuala Lumpur before we head to Vietnam next week

We plan to travel for another eight months—health and circumstance permitting—and I fully expect our daily budget to be in the $40s by the end of the trip.

Travel is Cheaper Than You Think

Travel can be expensive. That’s true. But it doesn’t have to be.

The thing no one tells you is that the longer you travel, the cheaper it gets (per day) since you average out the cost of bigger purchases like flights and visas with the lower cost of things like housing and food.

In fact, when I travel, I typically pay less for food, accommodation, and entertainment combined than I pay just for rent back in NYC.

The point I’m making is that actually traveling is the easy part. And, as I said, I’m not a budget backpacker.

If you want to stay in hostels and travel on overnight buses, your per-day expenses could be $15 or $20 a day. Heck, it can be in the single digits if you travel to affordable places during the off-season.

The hard part of travel is saving up enough money to travel when you don’t earn much to begin in the first place.

If you want to learn more about how I save for full-time travel, check out this extensive article about the 11 Things I Don’t Spend Money On Anymore (coming soon).

For now, let’s move on to how much I earn while I travel, and how you can find remote work to fund your next adventure.

How Much Money Do I Earn While Working Remotely?

Living within your means and saving up a bundle before your trip is great. But it’s only half of the equation for traveling on a less than stellar income. It helps to earn some cash while you’re on the move.

The good news is that you don’t really need to earn that much money to travel full-time.

Thanks to a few writing gigs I’ve picked up along the way, I have more money in my bank account than when I left New York four months ago.

So far on this trip, I’ve earned $7,692 in the past four months.

Again, that might sound like a good chunk of change to earn while traveling, but it’s only $69/day. Luckily, I spend less than that each day, so it’s more than enough to keep going.

Heck, I’m actually managing to save a little on my world tour. Imagine that. Traveling around the world and actually saving money.

The Guide to Remote Work: 4 Ways to Earn Money While You Travel

There’s never been a better time to earn money with a laptop and a wifi connection. Truly.

Here are four strategies and websites that have actively helped my partner and I earn money online this year.

If you have any other sites or ideas, please shoot me an email: [email protected] or let me know about them in the comments!

Contently: Freelance Writing

Freelance writing is a great way to earn money while traveling—especially if you already have a portfolio of your work. It’s how I earn nearly all of my income. The only problem is getting your work in front of paying clients.

That’s where Contently comes in.

Contently is a free writing portfolio website. You can create a profile and upload your best articles from around the web (just paste the url and you’re all set). But the best part is how Contently connects you with actual paying clients.

Once you create a Contently profile, upload a few pieces, and set your specialty (blog writing, travel, SEO, email marketing, etc) you can send your spiffy new portfolio site to anyone you want. Here’s what mine looks like:

But the best part is that you can also be discovered by new clients via the Contently Marketplace.

I’ve been contacted by dozens of publications and brands to create content for their blogs or website. I didn’t have to spend any time marketing my services or negotiating prices. And the rates are good.

Companies sent me their guidelines and rates. All you have to do is submit a short pitch based on their writing style, needs, and audience. If you’re a good fit, you’re in.

I like the speed and efficiency of the pitch process, including my ability to step away from writing during my trip. If I like the rate for a job, I can send a quick pitch or summary. If not, I can decline it and keep sipping my Mai Tai on the beach. Contently works for you, not the other way around, which means you can log off if you don’t need to work that month.

But the best part is the instant payment system. When I submit my story, I get paid instantly via Paypal. No invoices. No “late” payments. Just click, and the money is there. It’s great.

Pitch Travel Publications Directly

Contently is a solid inbound site, but if you want to get paid for travel writing instead of niche blogging or copywriting, you also need to reach out to specific publications. And it’s fairly easy.

You just have to know where to look and how to pitch work. Here’s how I find and pitch new publications:

1. Sign up for their email list. If you like a brand or a publication, sign up for their emails. You’ll be stunned by how often publications and brands ask their readers for pitches and submissions. Heck, you might even catch word of the perfect remote-friendly job from an email.
2. Read their website. Spoiler: Blogs and brands have a dedicated page with instructions for how to pitch them ideas, and who exactly to send the email to. Use it.
3. Read the About Us or Press Page to find specific email addresses. If a company or blog lists a contact email with a name (like [email protected]) it’s ok to reach out with a super quick intro stating your expertise and ask if they need any specific pitches. But you have to add value. Think “how can I help Helen this month?” Going through direct channels to add value to a company is a great way to get on the payroll if you provide a service they need.

Once you create a pitch template and hone your messaging you’ll start getting new clients. Now all you have to do is deliver.

No experience? No worries. I wrote a whole article to help you get started as a traveling freelancer.

Teach Something

My girlfriend, Lainey has been a professional swing dance teacher and performer in New York City for the past nine years. So when we started planning our trip she reached out to her network of international dancers, organizers, and other performers to set up teaching gigs at events in Europe, Asia, and Australia.

And it’s been incredible.

The added income from teaching while traveling has been great, but the best part for Lainey (and me too!) has been connecting with her students and the other teachers in each place we visit. When you work with locals you’re instantly invited into a place in a completely different way.

When Lainey teaches in a city we have new friends, expert tour guides, and sometimes even gracious hosts that put us up for a while. But it’s more than just feeling welcome in a city. Working is a great way to feel like a normal person while traveling—not just a backpacker (which is huge)—and it’s easily one of the best ways to see the places other travelers never get to visit.

If you want to travel like a pro, leverage a skill into a teaching position, and get the word out that you’re available to teach. You’ll be surprised by the response you get.

Actually Working While You Travel

A big part of my early travels in my 20’s (before smartphones and free wifi) involved working my way around the world the hard way with a small amount of savings. Luckily, it still works!

I’ve been a bartender, waiter, deckhand, hostel manager, surf instructor, tour guide, club promoter, flyer-hander-outer (ugh), barista, ski field worker, and even a lumberjack.

If you’re under 30 you can get a working holiday visa for places like Australia and New Zealand, as well as a few work exchange programs in Europe.

Some people just head out and wing it looking for work under the table. But be warned, when you work for cash in hand, you lose a lot of leverage if your boss doesn’t pay up. Insist on weekly or even daily payment to protect yourself. It’s also wicked illegal. Just saying that again.

There are tons of other ways to make money while traveling that I know nothing about. Landing a few low-paying remote gigs often leads to more lucrative ones — maybe even your own freelance business one day. Advocating for more vacation days at work gives you the confidence and freedom to take control of not just your career trajectory but your actual life. And eliminating wasteful spending is just a straight-up win.

Feel free to experiment with different methods, just know that you can (and should) make money while you travel. It’s a great way to stay grounded and keep your adventure going for longer.

How I Afford to Travel the World on a Normal Salary

So why did I tell you about my income and travel habits? Is it a weird humblebrag about my financial savvy? God, I hope not.

No, it’s to point out that you really, truly don’t need to earn very much money to travel.

When you realize how little money you actually need to live the life you want, it changes you. Your priorities shift, and the obstacles you thought were insurmountable kind of just vanish.

I’m just a regular guy with some student debt and a fairly good remote-friendly gig that likes to travel. I don’t make much money, but I don’t spend much either, and that’s let me experience a lot of this big beautiful world.

Traveling full-time isn’t magic. You might not be able to travel for months at a time right out of the gate (depending on your chosen destination), but you can travel a heck of a lot more than you think even on a below-average salary (or *gasp, a meager freelance income).

You just need to examine your income vs. expenses and take a look at your career choices. Maybe don’t work for someone that thinks they own every second of your all-too-precious life and hope to travel when you’re 67. Just saying.

But hey, if that’s too difficult for you, by all means, enjoy your 10 vacation days a year. I’m sure you’ll be able to travel someday.