The end of one trip - and planning for the next

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The question now is – Where Next ?

Well, I have been back from my travels in Cambodia for a while now. It took a while to catch up on my ordinary life. I spent some time with the people important to me that I’d missed while I was travelling. I also did some of the things I missed while I was away – like a bit of sailing.

How did the money work out

Over all, I probably broke even on the trip. The money I earned from the short term ‘gig’ work (on the website beginning with an F and ending in rr.com) filled in some gaps when I needed it. I do keep a website which I run myself at home, called whatphone which provides a baseline income. Working was an important part of the trip for me. I like to keep my mind occupied. If I wasn’t working, I would have needed something else to keep me stimulated. I could have read or whatever but then that wouldn’t have made money to help with the trip.

I needed some savings to make sure the peaks and troughs of the financials could be evened out. For example, buying the plan tickets in the first place was quite expensive. I did make that money back over the course of the holiday but I couldn’t have done it the other way around. I needed the savings to get me going.

The next trip is probably Mexico

I have a friend who lives in LA. He has been working on getting funding for a start-up going for some time. He wouldn’t thank me for describing what it is here – it’s all top secret. But I have invested in that, too. (If it comes off, I will go travelling 5* for some time!) He was running out of money and had a lot of work to get done so he went to Mexico and lived cheaply for a couple of months. The place he hired sounded idyllic. Tulum (the town where he stayed) is just outside Cancun I think – if I have it right. He found a place which cost a few hundred a month and the food was virtually nothing.

I want to go for longer this time. Overall, a trip of about 3 months, based on what I learned from the last trip. It would mean I would have to rent my place out and do a bunch of more ‘permanent’ changes to the situation back at home. But I think that will make it more affordable. Also, obviously, splitting the air fares over a longer trip will make the cost per day lower.

I will also take a bit more stuff this time than last time. With a longer trip and thinking about spending longer in each place, that makes sense.

I’ve enjoyed keeping the blog as a way to remember what I’ve done and another thing to keep my mind working. So I will extend this when I get to Mexico.



Safe travels to you.

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