How do you make this work?

[jknobler]

I've recently joined the forum, and I'm looking at really getting into overlanding. But I have one question. How do you guys make this work? I've been reading reports and stories about people going on overlanding trips that cover 3+ months, several thousand miles, and several countries. I'm here looking at this, and wondering how you get the money. I understand how to get the money for the car, I'm already working on that. But for the travel expenses, things like shipping, gas, food, water, the general everyday items that you need while traveling. It can't be cheap. I mean when you're covering 23 countries in 9 months, driving everyday, you've obviously got to buy fuel along the way, as well as water and food. It's unlikely that you'd be working. So is it a process of saving up for the trip, or are you independently wealthy? If you have a job, how does that work? Do you just take a sabbatical?

I know these seem like rather naive, but I'm new and I figure that it's better to learn from people who know than to stumble blindly.

Thank you guys, you've been all been a help with my other thread:
{ http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/75785-What-s-my-First-Love-going-to-be-Land-Cruiser-or-Land-Rover }

Jordan

[haven]

It's a question many people ask. The first answer is: Commitment. If you're committed to taking months or years to travel, then you'll willingly make adjustments in your lifestyle to scrimp and save for your travels.

You don't need a fancy off-road vehicle to travel internationally. Lots of travelers just take the bus. It's cheap, and a great way to meet people.

Many people have ridden small motorcycles around the world. I particularly like the story of Ken Preston, a Seattle construction worker who flies to Southeast Asia as soon as he has enough money in his pocket, buys a small used motorcycle, and travels around studying how Indochinese craftsmen build boats by hand. His trips generally last for 2 months, then it's back to USA to work and save for the next trip.

You can follow his blog here http://kens-vietnam-adventures.blogspot.com/
Ken's web page about boats is here http://www.boatsandrice.com/index.html

[jknobler]

I figured that there was a lot of saving involved in the whole process. Thank you for answering!

[VDBAZFJ]

Ive always wondered the same things. I understand the need to save for the trips...but taking long periods off work is not an option unless I quit. And that doesn't seem very smart given today's economy. (I am NOT calling anyone "not smart"...just not smart for me) But believe me when I say I would LOVE to quit and travel like so many here have. It must be a wonderful sense of freedom. Got Money?...No time. Got time?...No money! I admire you guys!

[NH Moto Expo]

20 years ago I thru hiked the Appalachian Trail. The most common question was "where do you poop"! But after that was always "How did you get away from work?" I quit! I committed myself to going and decided that I was going to do it. So many people along the way said "I wish I could do that" or "you're so lucky"...It's not luck, it's just finding a way to make it happen and committing to it. The dangerous thing about completing a big adventure is that you now KNOW that it can be done so you are apt to repeat it.:) The idea of how doesn't come into mind again.

Find something you are passionate about and you'll be surprised how many things you can do without in order for it to come true.


Good luck in your explorations

[OutbacKamper]

1) sell house
2) quit job
3) hit the road
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4) get new job
5) buy new (less expensive) house
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6) repeat as necessary

[dwh]

MODS: This is in the wrong section. Feel free to delete this nag. :)

[Christian P.]

Jordan,

that's a question that comes back often and like many things in life, there is no one size-fits-all solution or secret recipe.

In my case, I do IT consulting so I cycle through working in a cubicle with my consultant outfit, saving money, then spending it on travel. Then repeat.

Some other situations I have seen:

-sell the house and use the equity
-work really hard for a few years and save every penny you can
-military pension
-work while road
-make tons of money from previous business
-put everything on credit cards and pay back later
-work overseas, travel locally while working, save and then do the overland journey when the contract is over

or any combinations of these....

to give you a very rough idea, factor about $100/day while on the road. So if you plan 9 months, that's about $18000 in saving.

Many people spend that much just on interest on their car payment...

[Christian P.]

Here is a very good article about costs for the Panamarican journey.

http://panamnotes.com/2012/01/costs-by-country/

And read this to learn about this family's way of paying their trip:

http://www.discovershareinspire.com/2012/03/9-ways-we-earn-money-to-fund-our-travel-lifestyle/

[BlitzleBlat]

Good thread, esp for a n00b like me :)

[1leglance]

I am taking my family (wife & two sons..21 & 14) to Australia for 2 months of travel.
My 21yr old lives at home since he going to college but he is responsible for his moto/cell phone payments and he needed to save up to cover those (not much really).
Otherwise we made a plan about 1 yr ago and commited as a family to save, save, save...along with selling stuff and I have/am working stupid amounts of overtime.
I figure we will spend $10,000-$12,000 for the trip..
Airfare for 4 is $6000
Rail passes for 3 is $1500 (the 21yr old is flying back at 1/2 way point as he can't miss as much work as me).

As for the time off...
Well I am an ICU RN, and I don't have enough PTO to cover the time so I am just taking some unpaid leave. I am float pool so no issue and they know I would just quit if I didn't get the time off.
My wife has worked for the same place for 17yrs and she found someone to cover for her over the 2 months. They love her!

We usually take at least a 1 month trip out of the country each year (that didn't happen the last few years though for other reasons) and we have just saved money.
We have a small 1953 home, my wife has a newer car & I love old rigs, no fancy clothes, furniture or nights out (well I will treat the wife now & then).

All in all you just make a choice each and every day what you want in life.

[Sean VHA #60013]

As for the time off...
Well I am an ICU RN, and I don't have enough PTO to cover the time so I am just taking some unpaid leave. I am float pool so no issue and they know I would just quit if I didn't get the time off.
My wife has worked for the same place for 17yrs and she found someone to cover for her over the 2 months. They love her!...All in all you just make a choice each and every day what you want in life.

Lance, yours is one of the most practical posts along this line I have read in awhile, thanks!

Our lives are somewhat similar: I am an ER RN, third shift charge nurse and Team leader [think Patient Care Co-Ordinator for 7p-7a], cigar & coffee aficionado, off road enthusiast, etc etc.

My particular travel passion is that I am planning to take our family of 6 and kick off a series of numerous 4-8 day "mini" overlanding trips and camp and explore most of my home state of Virginia within a 2 year time period. The entire coast of the Chesapeake bay, the Blue Ridge Mountains, various caverns, etc etc. I hope to start sometime in the early fall :coffeedrink:

[1leglance]

Well Sean as one overlander to another I would say you need to pm me as I have a cigar connection you might just be interested in...

Before I was a RN I owned a couple of cigar shops...yep I was a tobacconist. Now that job let me do plenty of travel through Central America and some choice islands.
It was always a working vacation as Latin America focuses on quality of life a bit more than the USA so our host were always great at taking me & the family around.

Honestly as much as I like the extended trips they only really pay off if you are paying expensive airfare....I think next year we will enjoy a bunch of week long adventures vs a big out of country trip. That way we can get out more often with less major disruption to our lives.

My older son is now looking at Firefighting (he checked out nursing by working in the hospital with me...too much poop/blood/vomit) as he wants the same great travel schedule I have as a RN.

[LR Max]

As others have said, commitment. You just say to yourself, "I'm gonna do this."

Now for many in the west, it is easy. You knock off work a touch early, jump in your truck, drive for 5 hours and boom you are there. Your biggest expense is fuel. For me, I'll typically go somewhere within 3~4 hours from my home.

So you save and budget your $$ to make it happen. As of right now, I budget ~$200 for a local trip (3 hour drive out and back). This covers fuel and food. As you can imagine, fuel eats up most of that budget so my food is store bought and prepared by me. If you think about it, you can blow $30 a day on food easily if you eat fast food or sit down at a place. So if I leave work, and return sometime Sunday afternoon, we are talking roughly $60 in food. That is for one person. Throw in a female unit and a couple of kids, that goes up. But going to the grocery store, getting stuff to make sammiches, snacks, a decent meal for dinner, and quick stuff for the morning, you can save a lot of $$$ right there.

I usually come in under the $200 mark, but if I don't, so be it.

I'm not really a movie-goer or go out to eat a lot. Yesterday I spent $15 at the grocery store to get all the food I need for lunch for this week. In comparison, I could've easily blown $15 for lunch today. I conserve money in places it doesn't matter so I can blow it on wheeling/mountain biking/hiking/special events. You just make it work.

[BlitzleBlat]

Did someone say cigars?

(looks longingly at his three boxes of partagas 160's)

Sean VHA #60013 : I would love to learn more about your plans for the VA overland trips, routes, etc. (maybe a quick pm?)

[DR1665]

I'm glad I came upon this thread. I've had my suspicions, but it's nice to get some confirmation.

If I'd won that lottery this past week, I was going to order up an EarthCruiser with a matching trailer for the race car and then enter every rally in the world. Of course, I think it's important that I also get just as excited to get my rig (cost me all of US$2000, by the way) up to snuff to spend a week in Death Valley or up on the Mogollon Rim here in Arizona, or even up into British Columbia.

As someone who's spent the last decade (and then some) hanging out in online automotive forums - mostly related to drag and rally racing - I can say with certainty that there will ALWAYS be someone with a flashier machine and more change in his bank account to play cars than you. At the end of the day, it's not the vehicles or the adventure clothing or name brand titanium coffee mugs that makes this pursuit so appealing - it's the spending time with fellow human beings AS human beings, and discovering the ways all the little things we have in common help us realize the potential in our differences.

Press on regardless.

[BlitzleBlat]

put those Ti mugs are so shiny and purrtttyyy... ;)

I have to say this, as someone just "getting into" this my single largest concern is how to fund the sort of trip worthy of a thread in this forum. Thankfully i can make a living on the road/from home if i have an internet connection (something im looking into now). So who knows maybe in the next year or two there will be a thread on this site "Nerd Nomad".

[timaus13]

Hello there I live on a relatively small island Below Australia called Tasmania.
Some things I do to prepare for my trips and I must admit my trips are usually a couple of days to a couple of weeks, I can afford to tour for around two weeks at a time.

Save money each week by doing the following.
No rental Dvd,s , No takeouts, Shop once for the fortnight in bulk and add things to each grocery shop for my trips, such as Powdered milk, canned foods, dry foods, and other trip related food stuff that has a good shelf life, I allways look for the longest dated products.

I limit my weekly travels in my vehicle and cycle to the shops for any extras such as fresh Milk and bread.
Every pay I will buy one to two things for my truck, such as Fuel filter and oil filter, the following pay I will buy the oil,s and fluids and so on. This way I do not have to find Big $$$ for my Servicing.
I find I can go touring at least once a month and have pleanty of fuel and cash to visit parks and for a campsite in a caravan park to access hot showers and amenities. PS A cold Beer or two also.

Open a saver account and put away around $25.00 per week and forget it is there after 12 too 24 months there is enough funds to do a great trip, as you can afford two add to the savings with any overtime pay or tax return funds as you can afford two.

Commitment to what you want to do is very very important. Place motivating Pictures on your fridge and around the house, Eg Photo,s of a favourite trip you have allready done and maybe wish to go back too.


Also when we travel in a convoy with our relatives we Group shop and cook to save $$$$ and share chores, it is fantastic to be a part of a team that all have the same interests as us. I usually carry all recovery gear and my Brother carries a Boat and Motor / Safety gear for boating, Between all of us we have everything required to go offroad and camp without filling our 4x4 trucks to overflowing and running up massive fuel bills from excess weight. More Trips and good food is also a by product of sharing the trip. Often we will have room for a visitor or two to come along and all they need to bring is sleeping gear and personal care items, we have found that doing this has added to our group numbers and there are more people at the fire to tell tall stories and laugh at LOL.

I hope some of this helps you with your plans.

[DR1665]

Thank you for sharing so much detail, Tim. I like how you prioritize expenses with adventure in mind as well as find ways to introduce more people to the hobby. Many hands make light work.

[Jay H]

Thanks for starting this thread. This is a topic that can not be discussed too much. Seriously helpful as this is the fist real concrete step of starting travel. When you are seriously ready to travel this topic is the one that gets addressed. Seriously I think this is the hard part. It sounds kinda cheesy but this thread serves as motivation for me to keep having crazy out there goals, planning for them and making them happen.

Set your travel goal
make a travel plan
make a travel budget that fits your plan and means
set goals to save to meet your budget
stick to your budget while on the road

The last one can be hard since s#!* happens. On my servicedriven.org trip I got badly burned and had a bunch of medical bills but the journey went on. Sure we could have probably stretched it out longer if nothing bad happened but that is not how it went.

This all looks really easy a set of plans on paper. Execution is not so easy.

If you set goals make a plan to achieve them and follow through any one can travel. My fiance and I are far from wealthy but by doing things like becoming a one car house hold we could afford a year on the road. Yes we did quit our jobs and sell a lot of our stuff but it was a lot easier since we did not like that area we were living in.

The reason any one can travel is because no two travelers are alike. My friends Brad and Shena at drivenachodrive.com, Jim and Wendy at global roadtrekker.com there approaches to the journey are very different but also very similar.

People are shocked that we were able to do a year on the road at 28 and 29 years old. Doing the trip was one of the best decisions I have made. My generation can not wait till retirement to travel as retirement both in concept and reality may not even exist by then.

[james severus]

Excellent points and very helpful.

I once heard a man say "everyone says they want more time, but always opt for more money", it is very difficult to avoid this mindset. I earn only around 75% of what most in my field make, but I am able to spend time with my family. I drive an old toyota 4x4 and I am comfortable never owning a new car, etc...

I know a woman who has a large house. Her electric bill is $1200 USD per month. In my mind I say 'wow I would have to work x hours more every month'

it is all a matter of perception

[SEETHEWORLD349]

I own a distribution company and a grocery store im lucky enough my dad can run one while my wife runs the other (plus employes) I ask for an allowance X and have a emergency fund just in case I have to fly back or replace en engine etc..

[UK4X4]

Doing trips like this are relatively easy, the determination to carry it off is the issue.

The saving
The down sizing
The 300usd runarround and not the 300usd car payment
The sitting in cooking rather than out with the mates on the town.
making a sacrifice to make a life changing trip.

Lots of large employers these days allow a non paid personal leave, if they don't -well just leave.

I think every long term traveller has his life changed by the experience both in the saving down sizing phase and also the trip its self

many never return - others find a home along the way - some fail and come running back to mum and dad.

Most travellers I have met are the most down to earth self content people I have met,

they have been inversley happy with their life.

ie having nothing but a back pack to their name, and experiencing the sunrise over Machu Pichu- or visiting the Gorrilas in Virunga

V's huge bills car payments and a cubicle...............

me I never stopped..........left the UK at 21 and I'm now 25 years and counting !


Mind you as I get closer to 50 I'm tending to lean towards a proper home and a cottage job

I quite fancy learning how to black smith and build stuff in my garage for fun and payment !