“How do you travel so much?” – my friend asked me as we were working out at the gym earlier this week.
It’s a question I’ve been getting more and more recently and I typically like to shy away from it because I don’t want to draw attention to myself.
But if anyone in my personal life knows, I’ve been on a travel bender for the last year. In 2018, my New Years Resolution was to travel more.
And I think it’s safe to say I’ve accomplished that! And for 2019, I have similar goals in mind with no end in sight.
So, back to the question at hand. How can I afford to travel so much around the world?
Well, luckily I don’t use any crazy strategies that the average person can’t do.
So this post will be discussing the three major ways how I’m able to afford to travel around the world:
- Credit card points
- Passive income
- Budgeting
1. Credit Card Points
One of your biggest expenses as a traveler is airfare.
Yep…even an economy class international ticket can set you back $1,000….and that’s with many layovers!
Well, I get around this with credit card hacking.
BUT won’t credit card hacking ruin my credit?
That’s what I thought originally when I saw blog posts about people doing this. I figured they were ruining their credit and just laughed at them.
In reality, they were laughing at me because I was passing up a golden opportunity!
Credit card churning WILL NOT ruin your credit if you do it the right way.
Now, your credit score is determined based on a variety of factors, including:
- The number of inquiries into your credit
- The number of accounts you have open
- Age of your credit cards
- Your credit card utilization (credit card debt as a % of your credit line)
- And most important…your payment history
Just opening a new credit card doesn’t necessarily lower your credit score because there are offsetting factors.
First, the number of accounts you have goes up (a good thing) and your credit card utilization goes down (a good thing).
On the other side, there could be a hard inquiry into your account (a bad thing) and the age of your credit cards goes down (a bad thing).
In my experience, those factors typically offset each other and there’s really no change in your credit.
The #1 thing to remember is to pay off your credit card statement at the end of every single month.
DO NOT let anything roll over or you’ll be burdened with very high interest rates (18%+).
The cool thing with credit cards is most of them have sign up bonuses. For example, you may get something like 50,000 airline points if you spend X amount of money within 3 months.
At most airlines, 50,000 miles will get you an international round trip economy class ticket.
And if you’re going to be spending the minimum amount to earn those points anyways, you’re not really “spending” additional money on stuff you don’t need.
Pretty cool, right?
Anyways, credit card hacking has been one of the smartest things I have ever done – and believe me…I don’t do many smart things haha!
With credit card points, I haven’t had to really pay for a flight for years now.
All of the trips I have booked within the past year have been on credit card points.
Here’s a list of the places I’ve gone to with my credit card points:
- Paris
- Copenhagen
- Cuba
- Morocco
P.S. The Points Guy is one of the big leaders in credit card hacking. They have a lot of information on their site about the best travel credit cards to get.
2. Passive Income
If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep you’ll work till you die
This is a quote I’ve seen thrown around the internet with Warren Buffet’s image.
I have no idea if he ever said that or not, but it doesn’t change the fact that the quote is RIGHT.
Passive income is king.
Passive income makes money 24/7 even while you’re sleeping, spending time with your kids, spouse, parents, family friends, or even when you eat!
And passive income is one of the #1 reasons why I can travel so much.
These days, I make passive income from a variety of sources:
- eBooks
- Online courses
- Niche sites
- Writing erotica
- Dividend investing
- High yield savings accounts
When most people travel, they have to take time off from work and some of them might not even be making any money.
But if you can generate passive income, you can still make money even while you’re traveling around the world. It makes traveling around the world affordable.
That’s total freedom. And guess what? There’s no feeling better than being able to pack your bags and go to a far flung destination of your choosing at a whim.
P.S. check out this post if you want to learn how to make passive income while traveling abroad full time.
3. Budgeting
Budgeting is super important when you’re traveling.
It doesn’t matter if you’re balling with cash or are traveling on a tight student budget. It’s important to know where your money is going.
Some people like to budget every last cent of their travels, while others like to have a general idea of what they are willing to spend.
To be honest, I’m in the latter category.
When I go on a trip, I have a good idea on what I want to spend money on.
In general, I classify my spending into 4 major buckets (outside of airfare):
- Hotels
- Souvenirs
- Entertainment and experiences
- Food and drinks
Hotels
In general, I don’t go for expensive hotels or resorts (typically). Instead, I’m looking for a “good enough” place to sleep.
As long as it’s clean and doesn’t have cockroaches or bugs, I’m fine with it. And I try to shy away from hostels as much as you can.
Hostels are a great way to save money when you’re young and traveling, but it gets old quick….trust me on that.
There’s nothing sexy or romantic about traveling the world and sharing a bed with 8 other people.
AirBnb is a great option if you want to save money and also sleep in a halfway decent place.
Souvenirs
When I first began solo traveling, I would buy a ton of souvenirs.
I’d buy stuff for my sister, my nephew, my mom, friends, co-workers, my neighbor’s grandma, the lady at the grocery store…and everyone else (yeah…you get the point haha).
But anyways, buying souvenirs can get expensive FAST.
Most souvenirs are terribly overpriced because they know people are willing to pay for it as they may “never come back here again.”
Not to mention, souvenirs take up a lot of space in your luggage, which can cause additional fees with your airline.
When I first started traveling I’d probably spend a few hundred bucks on souvenirs. And most of the stuff I bought for people they never used.
Talk about a waste of money!
So now when I travel, I never spend more than $50 bucks on souvenirs. I typically buy small things like post cards or bottle openers and maybe a t-shirt.
Entertainment & Experiences
Now this is one area I WILL spend money in.
I’m a big believer in spending money on creating memories – whether it be a cool tour of a tequila distillery or a snowshoeing adventure in the mountains.
For me, spending on entertainment and experiences is 100% worth it. And it’s a lot better than collecting junk you’ll never use or need.
You’ll always have those memories and they will be great story tellers. Plus, I like having pictures of my adventures on my phone so I can look back and reminiscence about them.
Food & Drinks
Food and drinks is another area I like to spend money on.
When it comes to food, I’m a little weird. I like to either go to really cheap hole in the wall places or really expensive and nice restaurants.
There’s no in between for me. But I always budget to eat at at least one nice restaurant on my trips.
When I visited Paris and Copenhagen over the summer, I wanted to eat at a Michelin Star restaurant. And I did…and it was amazing!
The point is, budgeting your food is really important as it can add up quick if you don’t pay attention.
Final Thoughts On Affording To Travel The World
Overall, you don’t have to make half a million dollars to travel the world comfortably.
If you follow these three tips, you can travel the world on an affordable budget and have the time of your life.
Life’s too short to be building someone else’s dream. Get out there and explore while you’re still young 🙂