Let’s talk money: How to travel without being rich!

Travel longterm: Here are some fast facts about how you can start travelling and finance your trips:

It sounds cheesy but that is really the first step: you GOT to believe that it is possible!
Once you convinced yourself, convince your friends and family that it is a good idea to quit your job and buy an open flight ticket to wherever you want to go. Of course, keep your job and ask your boss for a permission to get a longer break in case you are not sure and want to see first if you like travelling at all!
The money for your flight ticket is the first thing you should worry about: start saving today and stop spending on unnecessary things like clothes, eating out, drinks or the mandatory coffee at Starbucks in the morning on the way to your office….
You might get some funds by selling all that stuff in your apartment/basement which you won’t need on your trip anyways…and hey, think about it, you can always come back and get news things again, IF you ever come back…! And if NOT, you will have to CARRY all that you want to take!!
Carrying way too much stuff on a 5 day hike through Patagonia’s National Park “Torres del Paine”…
Then, get excited and imagine all your dreams vividly! Again, mind setting is crucial for almost everything in life!! First you have to be able to see/ create it in your head before it can become true!! No kidding!
After that you have a few options to chose from on how to create your travels:
couchsurfing.com or housesitting might be an interesting option for those who want to save on accommodation and get to know places with the help of your hosts…it’s a great way to start and get a feel for travelling.
Whoever likes contributing whilst out there should have a look at wwoofing! This is a great organisation that connects organic farms with volunteers all around the world. Each country has a website and you can contact the farm owners for a small fee to see if they need help. You will receive accommodation and food in exchange for 4-5 hours of work per day, weekends are off, of course. There is no payment, but that means you don’t need a work permit either! Which is great!
Harvesting baby carrots on one of the organic farms in Canada where I stayed as a woofer for 4 weeks!

And there is still plenty of time to explore the surrounding area and you will see that the hosts are mostly more than happy to show you around! Almost anywhere around the world you can find wwoofing…my next stop will be Hawaii, just saying! Type into Google ‘wwoofing‘ and the country you want to visit. There you’ll find the website for the particular country and you can purchase the contact list for all the registered farms. It’s about 20-30 Euro depending on which country you choose. It’s the only investment you have to make, but then you won’t spend any money on food or accommodation…

Wwoofing in the morning and canoeing in the afternoon!
You can always try to go deeper and obtain a new skill that allows you to travel and work online… I have worked on a freelance basis as a copywriter, translator, PR Manager and recently I am doing an online course to get a certificate in web design. You find jobs like that on freelance.com and this way you can easily travel and do a few hours per week from ANYWHERE around the world! Basically all you need is a laptop and internet access…so don’t visit for too long remote places! 🙂
If online is not your thing, you might want to think about teaching a language. English is pretty high in demand in Asia, Africa and Latin America. But even German is popular!! I taught German in Australia for several weeks. It started as a joke but in the end I had 5 regular students, who booked me a few hours per week!! No, I did not have any teaching experiences at all! But this showed me something plain and simple: If you are trying new things, you will always find new opportunities. So getting rid off old habits and routines helps to stay flexible in your mind! Try different things! Learn! Connect! Talk to other people and listen to their stories. You might get great ideas for yourself!
Not one of my best ideas but a lot of fun: On a scooter in India’s Goa…being used to right sided traffic this was challenging, as it felt very “wrong” to drive on the left side of the street! Perhaps it felt strange also because it was my first time to drive a scooter and India’s traffic is crazy…but hey, I survived! 😀
Teaching German was simply an idea to try something different…and it worked! One of these five students was a business owner who sells products on Amazon. He wanted to expand his business at that time and asked me to help him translate his texts on their website. I agreed and up until today I have done several projects for his company on a freelancing basis.

So BE OPEN and trust that one door will eventually open and lead to another one!!! But most importantly, go out there and try it yourself…there are so many beautiful places to discover!!