Did you rob a bank? One of the many questions garnered by our travel pics on Instagram. A fair question, since traveling is typically something we see as cost prohibitive. We’re going to let you in on our secret, since you are taking time to read our blog and all.
- No rent
When we decided to leave the US and travel, our apartment lease was up, and we opted not to renew it. Instead, we sold / re-homed some things and then put the others in a storage unit. Rent in the US is EXPENSIVE – so not having that obligation while we travel has allowed us to reallocate that money to pay for housing abroad.
We typically use airbnb to rent homes (at least for our first few nights in a new location – so we can scope it out on the ground) and budget for $65 per night, with most locations offering a discount for monthly rentals. Splitting this between us, leaves us spending less on rent than we were in the US, by several hundreds of dollars.
- We have food at home
Such an unfortunate phrase to hear growing up – but it’s totally true. When booking an Airbnb, we always ensure it has a kitchen. Eating out is expensive in some of the countries we’ve traveled to – so a kitchen is a must have! In Martinique, a basic hamburger was €22. Prices like that are fine when you’re only there a week, but a month of €22 burgers will blow a budget. Groceries have been reasonably priced, sometimes meat has been hard to find – so flexibility is important when meal planning!
- Shoulder season travels
We often travel to places during shoulder seasons. There are two main benefits of this – it’s less crowded and less expensive. During a shoulder season, the weather has only slightly shifted, so it’s still pretty ideal. Skipping crowds and soaking up the good weather – sounds pretty perfect to us.
- Flexible travel plans
We have a list of places we’d love to visit, and are constantly monitoring flight prices to those places. We also use the “anywhere” feature when looking up flights on Kayak, Google Flights, or Kiwi. If we want to go somewhere far away, we look for places to stopover on the way – which breaks up the cost a bit. So, we won’t be able to tell you where we’ll be in 6 months, but we know wherever it is, it’ll be great!
There ya go, our top four secrets to being a digital nomad without having to rob a bank. Shh… let’s keep this between us.
WanderGays 