Historically, there was a clear distinction between traveling and “normal” life. But with the rise of the internet and the explosion of jobs online and work that can be done remotely, that line has been blurred in many areas. Today many people are traveling for a prolonged period of time – some save up to travel, some find odd jobs to do around the world, others go to one specific place and get a ‘normal’ job for a year, and others can just enjoy life as a digital nomad.
For the purposes of this article, long-term travel is considered to be traveling for six months or more internationally. This article will assume that one would like to be a traveler more than a typical tourist. After the Pandemic came the Great Resignation, with many people quitting their long-hated jobs and seeking to realize their dreams in life.
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How To Decide If Long-Term Travel Is Right
Most people need a place to call home and quickly become homesick if they are away from home for a prolonged period of time. But there are some who can travel for a long period of time and enjoy every bit of it.
Deciding if long-term travel is the right choice or not is a personal choice. Long-term travel means leaving one’s pets behind and finding someone to basically adopt them. It means leaving family and friends behind – and major events (marriages, birthdays, etc.) are likely to be missed.
Long-term travel is a great way to break the sometimes relentless wheel of life. More often than not, life goes with finishing high school and going straight to university. After graduation, most start their career job and spend the next 20 years climbing the corporate ladder while taking on responsibilities that tend to tie one to a specific place (like marriage, kids, mortgage, pets, etc.).
Long-term travel means one is free of all of that. If one would like to see the world and break the wheel (or at least put it on ice for a while), perhaps long-term travel is the right decision.
Tips For Starting Out On Long-Term Travel
Long-term travel requires a little bit of planning (but most can be planned along the way). Here are some tips:
- Banking: Many Sure One’s Bank Has Low International Fees & Is Notified One Is Traveling
- Budgeting: Decide If One Is Using Savings Or Working While Traveling
- Living Expenses: Every Country Has A Different Cost Of Living
- Passport: Make Sure The Passport Will Be Valid For The Whole Time (Plus 6 Months)
Travel is not as difficult or scary as many people might think. People all around the world are making a living just like everybody else.
It is important not to overthink anything. Make some basic plans and make sure one has enough money to travel, but don’t over plan (or overpack). The most important thing is to make a decision to travel. Then the most important thing is to buy a flight ticket – to somewhere, anywhere. The rest will follow on from there.
Where To Live In The World
Both of the following statements are true: it’s a small world, and the world is a big place.
The world is a big place because it is almost impossible to see all of the world in a normal lifetime, with around 250 countries to explore in the world (including countries like Greenland). If a traveler spent only a week in each country, it would take around five years of non-stop travel to see them all.
The world is also a small place – it is possible to fly from almost any significant city to any other significant city in less than 36 hours. There are flights to just about any destination in the world for less than $1,000. In a way, that means few places in the world are more than 36 hours and $1,000 away.
This means that travelers can’t see the whole world, but they can be just about anywhere they want, whenever they want.
With an American (or other Western) passport, one can just live in many countries in the world without having to worry about visas. Just turn up and stay in Europe for three months or Korea for three months, or Malaysia.
One of the key factors in deciding where to go is the budget. E.g., It will be much cheaper to stay in Thailand than in Germany. Where one should live in the world depends on what one wants – the tropical beaches and exotic food of Thailand? The old cities of Europe? The untapped wonders of Africa?
