Traveling consistently and often must lead to a substantial credit card bill at the end of the month. So, I just wanted to throw the question out there to whoever feels comfortable answering. Who is your alter ego besides the the travel junky we see here. Where do you get your money from?
What do you people do for a living? I mean stuff is expensive these days, not just the airline tickets but in general life costs too much. So how do you people do it?
Or is there a way to deduct the airfare against your income?
Reply to this Saving might be the key word here and it doesn't really matter what your job is.. less paying jobs may jus take longer to save for trips.
And you can still have fun no matter what you bank balance is.
Depending on how much/ how commited you are to wanting to do certain things.
Anyone can travel.. it takes time and money either way and you have an entire lifetime ahead of you, make the most of it.
If you want to do something or go somewhere, make it happen. You don't have to be rich to travel, nor have a huge credit card bill.
(I dunno if this helps... and whats with the travel junky bit?)
Also maybe consider staying at home instead of going to the movies or out shopping every day/week. Every little bit of money you can save helps
Reply to this I think 'travel junky' refers to being addicted to traveling Krystal.
I don't have a credit card. I don't believe in them. I only spend what I own. I don't even do layby's. If I can't afford it, I don't buy it. (Of course I have the luxury of not having a credit card because I still live at home, but the concept's a good one.) When I went to England for a month last year I opened a credit account just in case. I barely used it. I think there's got to be nothing worse than coming home from a great trip and having to work your butt off for the next few months to finish paying for it.
The way I'm saving is to cut back on eating out and I'm putting the money for my trip into a high interest bank account where I never draw the money out. Once it's there, it ain't moving until I leave.
Reply to this Yeah, I wasn't trying to come across as being rude.
I also got the luxury of still not having to pay rent and I'm the same way, not a big fan of paying credit card interest. So if I don't have the money I wont spend it either. Just the credit card is much more functional than finding an ATM.
I guess I was trying to figure out what type of workers/career people are more adventurous by nature. I myself am back in school studying accounting/business hoping to get some kind of consulting gig somewhere down the road. I've worked in engineering for a little while but there was very little time to play and too many weekends where I was stuck doing work. I think that most of you would agree that life should be more than just work.
So now I'm studying, and working in a not so fast paced job where the perks/benefits are nice and the schedule is flexible. Still just a job though, nothing that I see myself sticking with for more than a few years while I'm in school.
Adios, hopefully I can get more responses.
Reply to this I agree that some jobs lead to more adventurous lifestyles. I was heading down a path to medical-nutrition research (ie: stuck in a lab) and worked the floor of a hospital ICU for while (stifling!), and decided early that I needed something less regimented. I would agree that engineering is definitely not a career that gives you flexibility -- my father's an electrical engineer and while the money is there, the time to enjoy it certainly is not!
Right now I'm working in the food-tourism industry - no money (especially in January in Seattle) but I do have a flexible scheldule, I work outdoors in a big open air market, and I travel vicariously through the people I meet and interact with. So it works for the time being. Andras works in the wine industry, so smart budgeting enables me (us) to take regional trips around the area while saving up for something big later.
Career-wise I'm heading back to graduate school to pursue food history/culture and food science. I hope to end up teaching and writing about local foods/food systems/etc. That's my passion (one reason I love to travel -- new foods and flavors everywhere you go!). We'd also love to own and operate a B&B on a vineyard.
Reply to this My alter-ego (- great term by the way, I'd never thought of it like that!) is a translator in an office in Kyiv. It means I only get the standard three weeks a year holiday to travel, but it means that when I do get the opportunity to leave Ukraine I'm closer to many European cities than I would be if I was at home in England, making visiting them easier and cheaper. Plus, working abroad is like constant travel, but with a city to explore rather than a whole continent.
J.
Reply to this Finding a job that you can;
a) do from anywhere
b) involves travel
c) pays enough and is flexible enough that you can travel
or
d) Complete refocus your life and put travel or living somewhere else first - forget mortgages and kids and careers and material things - save a little and just go.
I don't mean buy a first class airline ticket to Tahiti - but if you live in USA - get on a bus and go south - and keep going south, in Europe, South or East - go where you can live for $5 a day - travel by sticking out your thumb and going with the flow.
Adventure and travel doesn't have to cost a lot - it's the time out of "real life" that puts most people off - the cost is usually an excuse to play it safe. Also in the pages of the glossy travel magazines this philosophy isn't going to sell much advertising - so you rarely see it - read blogs here from the likes of
bedreddin,
His Dudeness,
aspiringnomad - they travel cheap (usually!) and visit places off the beaten track - and make their money in unconventional ways...
(Disclaimer: I know option D isn't available to everyone - eg. if you're born in Indonesia to a poor family then the costs of travel to any where outside of Indonesia are prohibative, but for those in Western countries even moderate savings can stretch to months of adventure in many easy to reach places.
I also know that if you have kids then you have responsibilities - but think imaginatively for those long summer breaks and ask if you can take unpaid leave - if you can't look for a job where you can.)
Reply to this Right now I'm working for an airline "part-time." Flexibility wise you can't beat it, compensation can be a little better though. Problem come when the new classes start.
d) I'm organizing my life in a way that more travel is possible. Just catching up on some bills from my trip to England, it wasn't anything adventurous, just went to visit some family.
I'm hoping that the money situation will be stable enough at the end of August (Vacation Time). The master plan say's that I'm going to go somewhere that requires a visa and involves a hike or trek of some sort. If that doesn't workout... use the money that I did manage to save for an insane amount of beer, steaks and a new grill!
Start the saving process for next time 😊
Reply to this I normaly go to Norway when I feel the travel itch starting - in fact I am in Norway right now! The pay is good even for a 'crappy' jobb like waitress. (19$/hr) Season worker, so a lot of work and very little time to spend it. Great combo!
My fourth time in Norway now. Previously I stayed for 6-6-8 months and it has resulted in two trips of five months each and with money to spare when I got back home to Sweden! The last time, and also the longest, life took an unexpected turn and no trip was made *sob*
This time I will stay for five months and travel in the southern parts of Africa for two. No debts, no worries. =)
Reply to this ...forget mortgages and kids and careers and material things - save a little and just go.
At least forget about them until you have them. Things have a habit of working out when they need to.
I focused on travel and getting the money for it, until I was in my late 20s. Then I started doing some serious work on getting some qualifications so I could get a decently payed job. I spend a few years doing a ''propper'' job(meaning one that required qualifications) in my late 20s while still doing quite a lot of travelling and working for a company at the same time. They used to give me more time off in exchange for overtime. I asked them to give me time off instead of overtime pay. I was lucky that they thought this was an ideal solution to the staff shortage situation, because they often had me for 12 hours per day. Since overtime pay was more than regular time pay, I got quite a lot of time off in exchange for it. I was only working for a few years like this when the kid and mortgage came alone. Even with just having a ''propper'' job for a few years I managed to score enough savings to get a mortgage just a year before my daugher appeared on the scene.
Dont be completely irresponsible but dont be too careful either, because things you want will fall into place when the time is right for them to, and if you really want them to. 😊
Reply to this And I think travel experience makes us excellent money managers because we have to learn to save up for what we want and then make our money stretch over the travel we want to do.
Reply to this My alter ego is an English Teacher in Moscow. My contract, along with the mountains of private lessons I take on, allows me to work for 6 months, save up, then travel for 6 months - 1 year, then repeat.
Reply to this I was considering tutoring, but locally for some cash money. 1-2 times a week or something... I tend to waste a lot of time.
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