How I Travel The World On a Less Than 50k a Year Salary

Over the past 6 years, I have had loads of people reach out to me asking me how I make it work. In 2019 alone I traveled from Australia, back to California, to Croatia, Barcelona, back to California again, and finally landed in Australia living there for just under a year. And no, my mommy and daddy don't hand me cash to make it happen. So how do I successfully travel so cheap? It takes a lot of mental strength between needs and wants, and what is truly important to me.

The Mindset:

I feel it's important to state my life does come from a place of privilege. Yes, I work hard and strategically to maintain my cheap travel lifestyle, but I still have the opportunities to make good money that most people might not have.

My father drilled into us that you had to work hard to have basic necessities, and having expensive things is just a facade for your own ego. This idea of living is deeply instilled within me. Sometimes getting me in deep trouble with myself, but overall why I have the discipline to live and travel cheap.

I have a harsh relationship with money. I knew I didn't want to settle for a traditional life in my 20s, so I made sure I didn't have expenses that kept me tied down to one area. I didn't have student debt, no mortgage, minimal car payments and for years I didn't have a serious job that forced me to settle. I rarely buy things I don't need, and I don't subside to the ridiculous notions of social marketing. I don't treat myself often and most of my clothes are second-hand. It is not because I can't afford nice things, but because I don't care to have them. You won't catch me dead buying a $200 bathing suit, a $300 dress, or a $200 pair of shoes, because in my eyes those are cheap roundtrip flights to New York or a two-day Mammoth lift ticket to enjoy a real-life experience.

The Drive:

My drive to travel cheap mostly comes from my lust to experience the world. I love to be out and about meeting new people, seeing new things, and eating my weight in exotic new areas. This urge comes hand in hand with living a nomadic lifestyle. You have to grow comfortable with the idea of surviving out of a suitcase and giving up your comfortability for some dingy places along the way. It's not always Aperol Spritz's and garden balconies, as much as my Instagram may make it seem. I have gotten lice in hostel beds, slept in digs that looked like prison cells, and roasted in shared rooms with 6 people no AC in 100-degree weather with 95% humidity. With it came overwhelming amounts of anxiety I have mastered along the way. With new adventure comes ripping away from your conventional wants and needs and simply just making it work. Trust me, people are living in a lot worse conditions than anything I have ever suffered through.

It helps that most of the places I do end up in fall into cheap travel destinations. I am quite tactical with where I end up because I'm not Oprah and I need to calculate my expenses wisely and cheap travel destinations allow me to live luxuriously. I usually find myself in South East Asian countries or South American countries long-term, but love a couple of weeks in Europe or even traveling the states.

In the end, you have to question, what are you willing to sacrifice in spite of your ego?

Budgeting Travel & Cutting Costs:

I worked in high-end restaurants at the time I started traveling, eventually picking up a second job at a nightclub every once in a while to bring in some extra cash. On average I would make around $800-$1,400 a week during the high season, and bottom out at $600-800 a week during the low season. But with all the extra spending I was doing wasn't stable to the life I wanted. So, I started to get picky. I started sacrificing my day to day budget enable to budget travel costs.

Things I cut out:

• Clothing, jewelry, and shoes over $100

• Professional upkeep on my hair, I dye and cut my own hair mostly now - saving $150-$300 every 2-3 months

• Eyebrow shaping, upkeep my own now - saving $25 a month

• Twice a month nail salon visits - saving $80-100 a month

• Monthly subscriptions, the secret killer (Netflix and Spotify only) - saving $30-50 a month

• The obsession with new clothes, when you can find amazing pieces second hand - savings ranging from $200-$500 depending on how much I shopped

• Costly drinking habits, cutting myself off at 2-4 drinks when out - saving $200- $300 a month

• Stopped buying coffee out every day - saving $100- $150 a month

• Eating out breakfast, lunch, and dinner 4x a week - saving between $300-500 a month

• Expensive make-up products, not something I have ever been into but still relevant - $150-$300 every 3-4 months

* Even if you add up the minimal amounts of these travel budgets you're saving $1,335 every 2-3 months. That's $8,010- $5,340 a year on the things you can live without. *

To help put this in perspective, I lived in Bali for six weeks and spent no more than $2,500. Accommodations & cheap airfare included, eating out every day, and at that time heavily partying. So you even can walk away with extra cash to save when you go home.

Things I refused to cut out:

With all the things I decided to cut out, there were a few things I refused to give up in spite of the travel budget. I can't deprive myself of everything good in the world, and when traveling to cheap travel destinations it makes the guilt of spending too much money a bit more tolerable.

• A nice dinner with friends when I am home or traveling

• A decent place to stay when I'm traveling for a time

• Treating myself to massages/bodywork while traveling cheaper countries

Conclusion:

This general mindset has been my driving factor in being able achieve cheap ways to travel. My presence of being extremely cautious of my spending, cheap travel destinations, budget travel expenses, and being tough on what is a necessity over what is not. People have a hard time letting go what their comfort zones, which is perfectly fine. It's scary to walk into the unknown and get a handle on a new and crazy life adjustment, but it has worked out every time for me. My lust for travel overtakes my fear, and I find myself changing along the way, in the most beautiful ways. You can't take your possessions to the grave, but you'll lay on your death bed knowing you had experiences that gave your life the illustrious euphoria you deserved.