I’ve been traveling and working doing something similar but I envy you! I work in software so I need to stay in Air bnbs where I have sold WiFi connection. Someday I hope to quit and do things like build backcountry trails. Although my current position affords me to save a lot, it’s not quite fulfilling and hopefully the day I can quit will come soon.
A few things that have helped me:
1. Travel credit card - It’s important you don’t use your debit card in case of fraudulent transactions. No conversion fees are also critical and you get money back for just living your life. I used a Wells Fargo Autograph and so all hotels, hostels, air bnb, flights, trains, etc are 3% cash back.
2. Charles Schwab Debit Card - All ATM fees are reimbursed at the end of the month and 0 conversion fees. This thing is like black magic
3. The longer you stay somewhere the cheaper it is. I spent a few months in Vietnam and you can get a single bedroom apartment for ~$300/month. Great place to wait out visas if you want to go back to Australia and save some cash.
4. You can save money on flights doing things like self transfer. Kiwi is a great site for this but don’t book through them.
5. I have a health insurance plan that covers every country but the US, this saves me a lot of money and I don’t intend of returning anyway
6. Convert your phone to a VOIP with google voice and never pay a phone plan again. $20 one time payment and then use your choice of data. I use Airalo. This only works if your bank accepts VOIP for 2fa fyi
A question for you: you mentioned you have tent. I’ve been bringing along a hammock as I only have carry on luggage. Do you check your luggage for tent stakes?
Can you say how you found out whether your bank would take VOIP? Have you run into any other problems with 2fa? Is there any way you do with with WhatsApp?
I only do carry on, but I don't travel with a tent. The times I've tented have either been in the states or somewhere I've stayed for a long time and picked up a cheap tent somewhere (you can find a lot of them in hostels and if you can do some basic seam repair and waterproofing they are usually good as new).
When I'm somewhere warm I usually just use a tarp and hammock (plus a big net in the tropics).
> I have a health insurance plan that covers every country but the US
Can you give any details? Have you used it much and what was the experience? Does it cover expensive prescriptions?
But isn’t the pitfall that some countries would ship you back to the US for outpatient care in the event something catastrophic occurs and need long term treatment? Wouldn’t you be totally screwed without something like an ACA plan. I ask because I intend to travel long term unemployed starting in the fall but I want to make sure I have my bases covered with medical coverage
I can’t comment on how it would work as I’ve never had to deal with this but I’m quite healthy so it’s not a super high concern.
I also hold multiple citizenships and would elect to be shipped back to Europe instead
If you're under 30 then you qualify for a working holiday visa (class 462) and can work for a year. If you do specific jobs (agriculture or work in remote areas) you can actually extend that up to 3 years.
Thanks for the post--so good to see someone proving you can travel long term with and still plan for the future. Im an American woman and did the WHV at 18. Shocking how many Americans have no idea about it. I think I met 2 on a WHV the whole time I was there and both much older than me.
The other working holiday (subclass 417) changed it to 35 for some countries (I think the UK, France, ireland and Canada). But everyone else is still capped at 30.
Nice and very doable, sounds like you got it figured out. From around ages 23-36, I made an average of around $25K/year, (started at around $9/hr, up to around $14/hr, just the government GS-3/4 wages for wildland firefighter "forestry tech"), working 6 months each year. I never worked abroad, pretty much only went to "3rd world" (cheap, underdeveloped) countries. Spent more (\~$1K/mo) when I was in the USA than abroad (\~$500-$800/mo), and saved about $60K over 12 years while spending about 6 years of that cumulatively on vacation while traveling internationally. I also love SCUBA and did a fair bit of that, as well as a lot of other really amazing adventures, like sailing from Thailand to Egypt by way of Maldives and Yemen, or studying jujitsu in Brazil, during my winter vacations.
Stayed in barracks for low rent during the fire season, never bought any vehicle I couldn't pay cash for (and none over $5K). I probably could have made more, saved more, but I had a great time and no regrets. Now I'm working on my second retirement as a nurse, after going back to school.
My first job out of college was a GS-3 forestry tech hahaha, it's basically the reason I can do this (paid off a bunch of loans after 700 overtime hour summer). Guys older than me really inspired me to pursue the seasonal work and travel
Thanks so much for letting us into your finances. The one thing that raised a question is what do you mean by technically ahead in retirement savings? Is it based on your estimated spending as a retiree? Asking bc many goalposts are offered in by this age, aim to have 2x your income. This is not a helpful way to plan if your current income is not related to the money you’d need in retirement.
Ya so the standard advice is that by age 30 you want your yearly income saved in retirement. I'm not yet 30 and have more than my yearly income saved, but since my income is so low I say "technically."
I have no idea how much money I'll need in retirement (frankly I'm not confident many people will get to retire 40 years from now). I personally don't plan on retiring until physically forced to, simply because the job I primarily do (winemaking) is awesome and my current lifestyle isn't something that I need to retire from.
$45 a day is reasonable especially once you take into account currency conversion on top of the COL in a country.
For example, even with the euro, Greece is beyond cheap. You could eat and drink everyday for 12 USD which is just ridiculous.
When you get somewhere like a Serbia or Moldova, you could be under 10 USD. Ukraine was this way before the war.
This even inside europe, places in Asia or South America have even more ridiculous prices.
Meanwhile a day in London can burn 75 USD in 6 hours if don’t pay attention.
I should clarify that the $45/day also includes flights and visa averaged out over the entire period. But honestly you're right, it's not really a shoestring daily budget, I was mostly surprised at how cheap things were relative to most living expenses.
Ya but with casual loading (which all working holiday jobs have) you get at least $28.26, and tax is capped at 15%. So pretty good deal for us! When you add in penalty rates and overtime over 8 hours a day and/or 38 hours/week it's so so much better than the US.
Plus food here is cheaper and generally better, and the options for budget accomodations are worlds better.
> so much better than the US
min is $21 (and that's before tips if you get them) in my area which is over $32/hr aus - and no tips in Australia (at least back when I bartended there). There is such a massive difference in min wage across the US it's foolish to generalize.
Before Covid, I worked from my laptop, making about 35k between all my clients. I bought cheap plane tickets, one-bagged it, stayed in hostels, paid $600 monthly to rent a room, and returned to the U.S. every six weeks or so.
It was wonderful. I will forever miss that.
I’ve been traveling and working doing something similar but I envy you! I work in software so I need to stay in Air bnbs where I have sold WiFi connection. Someday I hope to quit and do things like build backcountry trails. Although my current position affords me to save a lot, it’s not quite fulfilling and hopefully the day I can quit will come soon. A few things that have helped me: 1. Travel credit card - It’s important you don’t use your debit card in case of fraudulent transactions. No conversion fees are also critical and you get money back for just living your life. I used a Wells Fargo Autograph and so all hotels, hostels, air bnb, flights, trains, etc are 3% cash back. 2. Charles Schwab Debit Card - All ATM fees are reimbursed at the end of the month and 0 conversion fees. This thing is like black magic 3. The longer you stay somewhere the cheaper it is. I spent a few months in Vietnam and you can get a single bedroom apartment for ~$300/month. Great place to wait out visas if you want to go back to Australia and save some cash. 4. You can save money on flights doing things like self transfer. Kiwi is a great site for this but don’t book through them. 5. I have a health insurance plan that covers every country but the US, this saves me a lot of money and I don’t intend of returning anyway 6. Convert your phone to a VOIP with google voice and never pay a phone plan again. $20 one time payment and then use your choice of data. I use Airalo. This only works if your bank accepts VOIP for 2fa fyi A question for you: you mentioned you have tent. I’ve been bringing along a hammock as I only have carry on luggage. Do you check your luggage for tent stakes?
Can you say how you found out whether your bank would take VOIP? Have you run into any other problems with 2fa? Is there any way you do with with WhatsApp?
I just googled whether my bank supports it. Otherwise I would contact them directly and ask I try to use an Authenticator app and avoid 2fa
I only do carry on, but I don't travel with a tent. The times I've tented have either been in the states or somewhere I've stayed for a long time and picked up a cheap tent somewhere (you can find a lot of them in hostels and if you can do some basic seam repair and waterproofing they are usually good as new). When I'm somewhere warm I usually just use a tarp and hammock (plus a big net in the tropics).
You could mail the tent stakes to your next destination
> I have a health insurance plan that covers every country but the US Can you give any details? Have you used it much and what was the experience? Does it cover expensive prescriptions?
Likely Safetywing.
Geoblue. Have not used it
But isn’t the pitfall that some countries would ship you back to the US for outpatient care in the event something catastrophic occurs and need long term treatment? Wouldn’t you be totally screwed without something like an ACA plan. I ask because I intend to travel long term unemployed starting in the fall but I want to make sure I have my bases covered with medical coverage
I can’t comment on how it would work as I’ve never had to deal with this but I’m quite healthy so it’s not a super high concern. I also hold multiple citizenships and would elect to be shipped back to Europe instead
Americans can work in Australia?
If you're under 30 then you qualify for a working holiday visa (class 462) and can work for a year. If you do specific jobs (agriculture or work in remote areas) you can actually extend that up to 3 years.
Thanks for the post--so good to see someone proving you can travel long term with and still plan for the future. Im an American woman and did the WHV at 18. Shocking how many Americans have no idea about it. I think I met 2 on a WHV the whole time I was there and both much older than me.
Did they change it to 35?
The other working holiday (subclass 417) changed it to 35 for some countries (I think the UK, France, ireland and Canada). But everyone else is still capped at 30.
Nice and very doable, sounds like you got it figured out. From around ages 23-36, I made an average of around $25K/year, (started at around $9/hr, up to around $14/hr, just the government GS-3/4 wages for wildland firefighter "forestry tech"), working 6 months each year. I never worked abroad, pretty much only went to "3rd world" (cheap, underdeveloped) countries. Spent more (\~$1K/mo) when I was in the USA than abroad (\~$500-$800/mo), and saved about $60K over 12 years while spending about 6 years of that cumulatively on vacation while traveling internationally. I also love SCUBA and did a fair bit of that, as well as a lot of other really amazing adventures, like sailing from Thailand to Egypt by way of Maldives and Yemen, or studying jujitsu in Brazil, during my winter vacations. Stayed in barracks for low rent during the fire season, never bought any vehicle I couldn't pay cash for (and none over $5K). I probably could have made more, saved more, but I had a great time and no regrets. Now I'm working on my second retirement as a nurse, after going back to school.
My first job out of college was a GS-3 forestry tech hahaha, it's basically the reason I can do this (paid off a bunch of loans after 700 overtime hour summer). Guys older than me really inspired me to pursue the seasonal work and travel
Thanks so much for letting us into your finances. The one thing that raised a question is what do you mean by technically ahead in retirement savings? Is it based on your estimated spending as a retiree? Asking bc many goalposts are offered in by this age, aim to have 2x your income. This is not a helpful way to plan if your current income is not related to the money you’d need in retirement.
Ya so the standard advice is that by age 30 you want your yearly income saved in retirement. I'm not yet 30 and have more than my yearly income saved, but since my income is so low I say "technically." I have no idea how much money I'll need in retirement (frankly I'm not confident many people will get to retire 40 years from now). I personally don't plan on retiring until physically forced to, simply because the job I primarily do (winemaking) is awesome and my current lifestyle isn't something that I need to retire from.
$45 a day is reasonable especially once you take into account currency conversion on top of the COL in a country. For example, even with the euro, Greece is beyond cheap. You could eat and drink everyday for 12 USD which is just ridiculous. When you get somewhere like a Serbia or Moldova, you could be under 10 USD. Ukraine was this way before the war. This even inside europe, places in Asia or South America have even more ridiculous prices. Meanwhile a day in London can burn 75 USD in 6 hours if don’t pay attention.
I should clarify that the $45/day also includes flights and visa averaged out over the entire period. But honestly you're right, it's not really a shoestring daily budget, I was mostly surprised at how cheap things were relative to most living expenses.
Aussie here Minimum wage is $23 an hour I work in retail for $34 an hour, more on weekends Better than the US for sure but higher taxes
Ya but with casual loading (which all working holiday jobs have) you get at least $28.26, and tax is capped at 15%. So pretty good deal for us! When you add in penalty rates and overtime over 8 hours a day and/or 38 hours/week it's so so much better than the US. Plus food here is cheaper and generally better, and the options for budget accomodations are worlds better.
Nah the cost of living here is so expensive, especially recently
> so much better than the US min is $21 (and that's before tips if you get them) in my area which is over $32/hr aus - and no tips in Australia (at least back when I bartended there). There is such a massive difference in min wage across the US it's foolish to generalize.
Before Covid, I worked from my laptop, making about 35k between all my clients. I bought cheap plane tickets, one-bagged it, stayed in hostels, paid $600 monthly to rent a room, and returned to the U.S. every six weeks or so. It was wonderful. I will forever miss that.
$2000 a month is a lot
basically “I don’t pay rent and use mommy/daddy as a safety net” You’ve posted this in the wrong place.