A year of travel was never going to be enough – too much world and not enough time. The monotonous, sedentary lifestyle that awaited us upon our return simply fuelled our desire to make travelling a permanent state. The question was how.
Luckily for us, there are plenty of opportunities where, instead of paying in cash, we can contribute time or effort. This helps stretch the travel budget as well as offering unique and interesting experiences. We’ve tried out a few of these already and they have been incredibly rewarding, so we are looking forward to trying more this time.
Couchsurfing
Couchsurfing is a huge hospitality network where hosts from around the world allow travellers to stay on their couches or in their spare rooms for free. This is an amazing opportunity to save money and to meet local people who can give you tips about the area and even show you around. We had a great experience hosting interesting travellers in our home, and now we are looking forward to trying ‘surfing’ ourselves.
House Sitting
Stay in some amazing houses all over the world rent free with house sitting. Usually all you are required to do is look after pets or the garden, and you get the house to yourself. This will be great when we want to take a break from travel and focus on writing or freelance work. We’ll be trying Mind My House and Caretakers Gazette for a small annual fee. There aren’t many options in South America but houses do come up in Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Accommodation/Work Exchange
You can save huge amounts on accommodation costs by working in exchange for a room and sometimes meals. One of our favourite experiences of our last RTW trip was WWOOFing in the Australian outback. We spent four hours a day gardening and had the rest of the time free to relax. We didn’t spend anything while we were there, but best of all we got to know our wonderful hosts and learn more about Northern Territory life.
WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) is the most well known work exchange programme, but there are plenty of other options including Help Exchange, Workaway and Grow Food. They all charge a small annual fee, but this often works out to be less than the cost of one night’s accommodation. You could also organise your own position when you reach your destination – hostels are particularly open to this.
Volunteering
Erin volunteering at an elephant orphanage in Sri Lanka
You may want to contribute something to the country you are travelling in, but this isn’t always cheap. There are many volunteering placements that charge high participation fees, especially when you go through an agency. I paid them myself when I volunteered in Sri Lanka after university.
However it is possible to help non-profit organisations for free (or for the cost of your own living expenses), and the fact you aren’t paying an agency generally means they really want your help. You’ll need to organise your own placement but websites like Volunteer South America, Independent Volunteer and Idealist can help you find organisations looking for volunteers. We also recommend the Underground Guide to Volunteering, which has lots of useful information on independent low-cost volunteering.
The benefit of long term travel is that we won’t be in a rush to reach our next destination, so we will be able to contribute a decent amount of time when we find the right organisation.
Crewing on Yachts
We would love to learn to sail and it is possible to get free passage (usually contributing to expenses) on yachts by helping out. Sometimes you don’t even need any sailing experience, although any you do have will increase your chances of getting a position. Crewing opportunities can be found by asking at local yacht clubs or on websites such as Find A Crew and Crewseekers.
But what about cash?
The resources above will help us save money, and we’ll travel frugally to make our savings last as long as possible, but when we find ourselves in need of some cash there are plenty of employment options without having to return home to the UK.
Freelance Work
Simon is a web designer and developer and will be building up his freelance business while we are on the road. There are a number of services, such as Elance that help freelancers find jobs. We are also looking into various ways to make money online, as our ultimate goal is to be location independent and be able to work from anywhere in the world.
Teaching English
It may take a while to build up the freelance work so if we run out of money the plan is to get our CELTA Teaching English as a Foreign Language qualification (we’ll keep some money aside for the month-long course) and look for work either in South America, Taiwan or Japan. Working in Ecuador or Colombia for a while would be great, but we would only earn enough to cover our living expenses. Working in Asia would enable us to save money to continue our nomadic lifestyle as well as being a great opportunity to experience a different culture.
Working Holiday Visa
Another option for making some money is getting a Working Holiday Visa in Australia or New Zealand. You can apply for these up until your 31st birthday and work for a year in each country.
These are just some of the ways that will help not only to make things cheaper, but to get us involved with local communities and give us the chance to contribute back. Whatever happens – whether we are house sitting in Mexico, teaching English in Taiwan or volunteering in the Amazon – we want our life to be full of excitement, exploration and learning. We hope it lasts forever.
I feel the same way, 1 year is not enough. I’ve only been out on the road for around a month but I’ve learned I’m a very slow traveller, I prefer to get to know a place a bit before I move on. When I left I said maybe a year, maybe forever, I’m more strongly than ever leaning toward the forever now.
It’s definitely possible to be a permanent nomad, I’ve met someone who is on their 4th year and says he has no desire to go back to the 9-5 sedentary lifestyle. If he can do it, so can you. It looks like you’ve covered the ‘how’ and I wish you all the best!
.-= Catia´s last blog ..How to Stay Healthy While Travelling =-.
Thanks Catia! Weirdly I was just over at your blog leaving a comment on your packing post! Slow travel is definitely the way to go. Good luck if you decide to become a permanent nomad too.
Hey Erin,
You definitely seem to be aware of all the amazing options out there that make it so much easier to become permanent nomads/location independent than most people think! I’ve just entered my 11th year of traveling around the world and I don’t have any plans on stopping any time soon. I’m looking forward to reading more about where you end up.
.-= Earl´s last blog ..A Night Of Miracles In Cancun =-.
11 years! Wow, that’s amazing Earl. It gives us hope! There are so many incredible opportunities out there – it has really opened our eyes.
Lots of great advice in there and some really cool plans, especially the yacht crewing thing. I’ve always wanted to do that so will be interested to see how that goes.
Working holiday visas are something I’ve used to extend my travels a few times and with Australia and New Zealand now allowing two year stays, it really is possible to stay on the road for ages!
.-= Kirsty´s last blog ..So Long Sumatra, Thanks for the Fruit Shakes =-.
Hi Kirsty,
Thanks for commenting. We’re really excited by the idea of crewing, but need to figure out how to do it. We need to make some sailing friends and get some advice. You’ve been a real inspiration to us, especially your volunteer work. We are definitely heading to Ometepe in Nicaragua after reading about your experiences there.
Definitely a subject always on my mind.
.-= Adam´s last blog ..My Upcoming Weekend Trips =-.
I bet! Well you never know what opportunities might come up on your travels…
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Hi Erin,
Good luck with your trip it sounds great. My partner and I enjoy travelling in a van. We had a beat up old VW van in Europe that we ended up spending 7 years in. It was a great way to see Europe, we camped wild all over the place. Travelling by van is another alternitive way to travel cheaply and works very well in first world countries.
Thanks Anita. Wow 7 years! That sounds amazing. We hired a campervan in Australia and it was a wonderful way to get around. We’ll definitely try it again at some point.
.-= Erin´s last blog ..Photo of the Week: Himalaya Village =-.
What a positive and delightful read! I am a 26 year old male stuck in the 9-5 right now and currently saving, I am setting off/escaping England October 2011 NO EXCUSES!! I have similar ideas to you too, good luck with it all you are a true inspiration! Every time I hear the nay sayers I am coming back to this bookmark!!
Thanks for your comment Anthony. You’ve done the right thing and set a leaving date, even if it is a little while away. It’ll give you focus for planning and saving and you’ll be surprised by how quickly it goes. Let us know if you need any advice. Definitely ignore those naysayers – they’ll be jealous soon enough!
.-= Erin´s last blog ..The First Night =-.
Hey Erin, thanks mate. I estimate to have 7,000 pounds saved up then and I don’t feel it’s enough, as for me-one year is not enough. I will then be on my 3rd year of open university, (studying Spanish) so I am thinking South America is perfect for me.
Do you know the chances of TEFL success over there?
Anth
Hi Anthony, 7000 pounds probably isn´t enough although using some of the tips in this post it could last quite a while. Teaching English is a great option. Here in South America it isn´t as lucrative as in Asia, as I think generally you earn enough to live but not enough to save. Ecuador looks like a cheap place to get the CELTA TEFL course and we are going to look into Colombia for teaching when we get that far, but we don´t know much about it yet.
aaaah bugger! I thought as much! I have been telling everyone I’ll go when I have 20 but then I got impatient! Right, I’ll either go with 20, or like yourselves, create an online venture. Thanks for your honesty.
It’s just…this wanderlust is killing me! I can’t believe you saved 30, well done! I’ll stay tuned hopefully for more TEFL based info.
Anth
Well, if you are desperate enough to go then you can always teach and save up some more (Japan, Korea & Taiwan are supposed to be good for saving). Good luck!
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Good luck!! I am also amazed at how long some of your commenters have been traveling!
Hubby and I are into month 9 in South America. We had the same goal as many – to be permanent nomads. But, lately we are finding ourselves to be pretty tired of it. Living out of a backpack, having no “home”. We have to go home (Canada) in September for a family wedding, and we’re not sure if we will be on the next plane out afterwards or settling.
We have seen/done some pretty incredible things! But there is something to be said for permanence. We aren’t done traveling (THAT is for sure), but we might just need to do it in smaller chunks.
It may not be for everyone, I guess!
.-= Dalene´s last blog ..Privileges =-.
Hi Dalene,
No it certainly isn´t for everyone, and eveyone has to find what´s right for them. It can get tiring moving around a lot – I was going to suggest you try staying somewhere for a few months, but I see you are doing that with your volunteer work in Ecuador. Hopefully that will leave you feeling refreshed.
We feel very ‘at home’ here in Buenos Aires after 2 months, but are now ready to get off and explore some more.
Enjoy the rest of your travels!
.-= Erin´s last blog ..Photo of the Week: Kathkali Makeup =-.
Congratulations on realising the value of money. Too many people nowadays don’t, squander whaterver they have and then complain they are poor.
Looking longer term, after a few years of travelling you can then start looking for jobs abroad and getting other people to pay for your travel.
Since I first left the UK in 1959 I have worked in 12 different countries and travelled in nearly 100, much of it at other people’s expense.
Since retiring I live in New Zealand and Europe according to which is enjoying summer, so soon I shall be relocating northwards, stopping off in Korea, UAE and Egypt along the way.
Happy Travelling!
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Nice stuff about heavenly travel place. I found very less people proving such good stuff on this beautiful country and so many countries don’t even know its use even. Thanks for the ample information.
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Thanks for this fantastic post! I’m bookmarking it.
Its nice to have all of these things grouped together in a single post. Amy and I are just beginning to prepare ourselves for our own journey and its so easy to forget many of these resources with all that is going on.
Cheers and happy travels!
Glad you found it useful. Good luck with your preparations!
Hey
What do you do about insurence?
If you travel more than 18 month??
Reguards
Flemming
We got a years insurance initially and then we’ll get another year.
Good luck! I really recommend doing a TEFL certificate and teaching abroad. I taught in Japan for 3 years and it was a great experience.
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How much money do u leave with ???