How to Travel the World for (Nearly) Free
Over the last five years, I have spent a lot of time traveling all over the world. All these trips are a significant part of my life and work, but it didn’t just happen. One of the most frequent questions I get is how am I able to travel this much, especially on a nonprofit salary? I’ve spent the last 6 years building systems and resources that have allowed me to spend many weeks of the year abroad. This newsletter breaks down some of the key pieces I’ve discovered.
We were in London last month. This is easily my favorite city in the world.
Developing the right skillset
I had to send a lot of time working and saving up money to get ready to travel to begin with. Over the years, I built systems that allowed me to make travel a part of my life, and it was a lot of work to get this set up for the first time. These things aren’t easy to do, but if you stick with it and are intentional, I think most can get their life in a place that they can travel more (if they want to).
Getting your life in the place to make travel possible is key. Build connections, learn valuable and marketable skills, and jump on the opportunity when it comes. You need to be ready and available when the chance to travel comes along; set yourself up to be ready for it.
International nonprofit work
I spent time developing skills that were valuable and gave rise to opportunities to travel. This started with my work in video. Clients would need a video made, which meant I now was able to travel for this work. If you can find some kind of skills that allows for you to go to new places and help people with what you have learned, you’re off to a great start. That could be filming projects, or as simple as getting a certification in English teaching and spend time teach English in a foreign country. There’s a lot of ways to do this, but it does take upfront investment to learn the skill that will enable you to travel.
Over time I helped build a nonprofit that works internationally, which allows for a ton of travel options. Honestly, if I took all the options available I would almost never be home. Again, this was a lot of work to build over the last 6 years, but its been an incredible opportunity to open my eyes to the needs and beauty of the world.
Travel rewards
This one is a bit of a two-edge sword, but credit card rewards are huge when it comes to travel. I remember getting an offer in the mail from American Airlines for one of their cards that offered free airmiles as a signup bonus. I had never done this before, but figured I had nothing to lose. Those airmiles were enough for me to fly around America a few times visiting friends and ultimately led to some really neat business opportunities later on. There are many great travel credit cards out there, and here’s my favorite that I use on every trip (if you use these links you get a sign up bonus and I get a small referral bonus; win-win!).
Favorite travel credit card (Capital One Venture X): https://capital.one/3DTfijg
Other favorite travel credit card (Chase Sapphire Preferred): https://www.referyourchasecard.com/6f/VCEFPF07DW
Every major airline also offers airmiles when you fly with them. Creating accounts with the airlines are free and simple to do, which means now every time I fly I get miles for that trip. Over time this adds up and I can spend those miles to get a free flight. This is huge, since those miles would be lost without an account with the airline. Essentially, the airlines are handing you free money if you take advantage of this.
Get a remote job
Admittedly, I’ve been pretty influenced in this area by Tim Ferris’ The 4-Hour Workweek, and having a remote job is one of the most important parts of being able to travel. Work yourself into an income stream (ideally multiple income streams) that are not location dependent and can be managed from anywhere with an internet connection. For example, we were traveling for nearly a month this summer for our nonprofit work, and I was able to keep up with all my work. All I need for my job is a computer and good internet.
Just as importantly is relationships. Because of what we’ve done in the nonprofit world and my work, we have friends around the world, which means we can often stay with people we know when we travel. Locals are by far the best option for finding ways to go to places on a budget; if there’s a language barrier, having people to help you out makes things much simpler and cheaper.
Be happy with less
To make this all work, we’ve learned to be content with less. If you want to travel a lot, you can’t be tied down to a lot of stuff (so to speak). It also requires being comfortable to travel the cheap way, which can get old.
When you aren’t spending as much on stuff, you have more resources to spend on traveling. Maintain a simple lifestyle. Don’t spend money on things you don’t need. Little things add up, and if you build your life around what you can save so you have the resources to experience new things you’ll be amazed at how far you can go.
Conclusion
I hope you found this helpful. Here’s a video I made about why I’m always traveling. What your questions are about how to travel the world better? Onward to more adventures!