Many people in this world dream of traveling full-time. It sounds like a glamorous and exciting lifestyle, but it’s not as easy as it seems. To become a full-time traveler, you have to do a lot of preparation and make some sacrifices. This article will discuss how to become a full-time traveler and what that entails. We will also provide some tips on how to make the transition from regular life to full-time travel. So, are you ready for an adventure?
What does it mean by “Full-time Traveler”?
A full-time traveler is someone who travels for more than half of the year. They don’t have a permanent home, and they move around constantly to different places.
Some people think that being a full-time traveler means you’re always on vacation, but that’s not true. It’s actually a lot of work. But it’s also the best job in the world because you can see amazing places, meet new people, and have new experiences.
Being a full-time traveler, you can interact with various cultures, eat different kinds of food, and visit tourist sites. Whatever challenge comes your way, it is a lifestyle worth trying.
Example Full-time Traveler
Nora Dunn
One great example of a full-time traveler is Nora Dunn, formerly a financial planner, who runs a blog. Nora has been a full-time traveler for about many years after quitting her job in 2006. Currently, she has visited over 70 countries and five continents. There were times when she traveled with a partner, and other times, alone.
Liz Carlson
Liz Carlson is a full-time traveler, travel writer, and photographer. She has been traveling and working full-time since 2012 and has visited around 60 countries.
Gailen David
Gailen David is a full-time traveler, blogger, and TV presenter. She has been traveling full-time since 2011 and has visited over 80 countries.
Talon Windwalker
Talon Windwalker is a full-time traveler, digital nomad, and content creator. She has been traveling full-time since 2011 and has visited over 40 countries.
Erwan Heussaff
Erwan Heussaff is a full-time traveler, food enthusiast, and social media influencer. He has been traveling full-time since 2012 and has visited over 25 countries.
Brooke Saward
Brooke Saward is a full-time traveler, blogger, and YouTuber. She has been traveling full-time since 2009 and has visited over 60 countries.
Full-time Traveler: Facts and Statistics
Did you know that over 10 million full-time travelers are from the United States? Here are some statistics on traveling full-time.
- The majority of digital nomads are females.
- The average age of persons who travel full-time is 32 years old
- 70% of digital nomads visit five or more countries per annum.
- 16% of full-time travelers live in hostels.
Source: anyplace.com
How to Become a Full-time Traveler?
If you’re thinking about becoming a full-time traveler, here are 12 tips to help you get started.
1. Have complete knowledge of the specifics
Before deciding to do full-time traveling, you might want to read up on it. You can find books on how to become a full-time traveler, such as
2. Save up money for your travel
You need to save up some money that will fund your trip. Unfortunately, the money you save here does not include your budget for food or entertainment you would want during your travel.
When you keep a different amount for your travel, you are well on dodging needless spending.
To be a full-time traveler, you need first to have an estimate of the cost implications. The assessment you come up with will be the amount of money you need to survive as you begin your adventure.
It is somewhat similar to a monthly budget for your household, except in this case, the expenses you’ll be making will differ and hinge on how you travel – expensively or economically.
Below are some things you need to consider to determine an estimate.
- The number of months that you intend to be traveling for
- The places you want to travel to
- Whether or not you want to visit your friends and family at home, even while traveling
- Whether or not you want to keep your car at home
- The activities you want to engage in while you travel
Details of your financial limitations are essential to consider. Many new full-time travelers tell of how they ended up overspending during their first trip as full-time travelers because they had not set up a proper budget to follow.
3. Create and follow through with a budget to travel full-time
The benefit of having a budget is that it helps you stay ahead of all your income and expenditures. You become aware of what you need to spend, which helps you re-evaluate some of the things you already spend money on.
You can easily save up the money you need to travel by following through with a budget. However, you will ultimately find that cutting your budget will serve you better to make it a reality in the long run.
4. Ensure to settle any debts
Another tip is to pay off all your debts before setting out. Â In addition, settling all your debts before embarking on your trip will reduce your budget and provide you with better options, like working while traveling.
5. Create a vision board
A vision board is essential for several reasons. One of those is that it brings the idea of being a full-time traveler to live (makes it realistic). When you have a vision board to travel full-time on the wall in your home, you are constantly reminded of your goal, increasing your motivation to work harder towards achieving it.
Your vision board can be created in the following ways:
- Putting up a graphic that represents your objective on the wall of your home
- Keep a photo of your goal in the car or on your office desk. Then, when you constantly look at the picture (it could be an image of an RV, boat, or one location you’d like to visit), the image will be engraved in your mind.
- Create a travel blog where you record the events you encountered or were a part of during your adventure. You can still upload posts on Instagram. Learn how to edit Instagram posts here.
Nora Dunn is one example of a travel blogger whose blog offers tips on traveling full-time and the experiences of other digital nomads.
6. Work while traveling and keep yourself from depending on any particular location
Usually, when people inquire about how to become a full-time traveler, they are interested in knowing what would drive people to quit their day jobs to travel the world. However, this is the 21st century, and there are various opportunities to make money. Working while traveling is achievable. Here are a few ways you can earn money as a full-time traveler:
- Run a travel blog: In this blog, you could write articles about the places you visited, various kinds of food you had, etc., and make money via reviews, partnerships, and advertising.
Learn how to make money from a travel blog here
- Freelance writing or working as a virtual assistant for online businesses and website owners can help you earn some money.
- Collecting products and selling them to other persons either directly or through online shops like eBay, Etsy, Craigslist, and more.
- Remote work: Certain organizations allow their employees to work from any location. You can find out from your boss if your organization permits it.
7. Finding work at the locations you visit
Instances may arise where you prefer to stay at a particular location longer, probably because you like the area or are trying to reduce your travel expenses. Despite your reason, you can do a few things here and there to make some money. Some of those things include;
- Working at a restaurant, café, or bar
- Working at a hotel or motel
- Working on a farm
- Creating a travel blog
- Work on a yacht or cruise ship
- Tutoring
- Au pair refers to living with a particular family in exchange for doing some housework. A lot of digital nomads do this.
According to the full-time traveler Derek Earl (aka Wandering Earl), “When I first started, I was teaching English in Thailand, and after a while, I ended up working as a Tour Manager on-board cruise ship, on and off for several years.” Earl funds his travels using the money he makes from online projects and his blog. He is currently working on his Wandering Earl Tours – an initiative he put together, organizing and leading small groups on tours worldwide.
8. Increase your travel fund
By now, you should already have the answer to the above question. It’s funding. Besides your travel funds, you will need a few other things for your travel. For example, you can’t take all your belongings while traveling the world. You must take a few clothes and a backpack to put them in (you can find several backpacks suitable for full-time travel here).
Having more funds before your trip shows that you understand how to become a full-time traveler. You can increase your funds when you are doing many jobs to save up a large amount of money before you begin to travel full-time. You can also take up jobs such as freelancing or running a travel blog.
9. Sell your car and house
This is one tip to pay attention to in knowing how to become a full-time traveler. Some people are too attached to their cars and want to keep them. However, if you will be traveling long-term, you will not need your vehicle. Besides, the cost of maintaining the car will increase stress and expenses.
Selling your house will also benefit you if you want to make a career as a full-time traveler. If you don’t have a house, paying for rent will be no point. If you want to keep the properties in your house, you can keep them in storage. If you own the house, you can as well rent it out. This is a really helpful tip on how to travel full-time.
10. Stretch your money
Another important tip on how to become a full-time traveler is stretching your money or, in a word, practicing “frugality.” What this means is being prudent in your spending.
Here are a few frugal things you can do:
- Stay in hostels
- Avoiding unnecessary expenses
Disregarding your “wants” and catering to your “needs” will keep you from spending unnecessarily and, thus, having enough money saved up to travel for an extended period. So if you’re wondering, “What do we need for full-time travel,” this is one answer.
11. Hack your full-time travel
Another helpful tip on traveling full-time is to hack your travel. With travel hacking, you can travel cheaply or even for free. Travel hacking is one way a lot of full-time travelers get by. However, it has to be followed through responsibly as there is an ongoing controversy on whether it is a scam or not.
12. To learn how to travel full-time, travel slowly
The only reason you might be driven to travel quickly – not staying at a place for too long – is if you intend to visit many places over a short period or you are just location independent. Traveling slowly will help you better experience what a particular location offers (tourist sites, culture, etc.).
Besides that, traveling slowly also means you get to travel long-term. Transportation costs take up a large chunk of travel funds, so not traveling too often means you get to spend less. Furthermore, staying at a place for a few months allows you to find a job, thereby increasing your travel funds.
How to become a traveler?
Some people can travel more than us, not because they have more money, but because they learn more about travel and life.
Some just don’t want to go to places; they want to feel like they can go home whenever they want. They want to feel like they’re at home.
Some can’t go home, ever.
Some don’t want to see things the way they look; they’d rather see them how they’d remember them.
Some like to see the worst of places and know how lucky they are to be in a safe place.
If you want to be a traveler, there are three main aspects to take into account:
- The more you travel, the more you learn; the more you learn, the better you become. You’re able to adapt to different situations.
- Don’t settle for a destination. Enjoy the journey too.
- If you’re going somewhere, make sure you have a guide. You may not go anywhere at all if you don’t have directions. Another option is to follow the crowd. They make excellent guides. If you want to travel on your own, don’t let yourself get intimidated. Ask, ask, ask.
FAQ
There is no one answer to this question, as becoming a full-time traveler involves different things for different people. However, check the 12 tips that might help you on your way.
In brief, you need to research the places you want to travel to, estimate what it will cost you, make a plan, and save money.
There are a variety of ways full-time travelers make money. Some work online, some teach English, some do odd jobs, and some sell items they’ve made or collected on their travels. The most important thing is to be creative and flexible in making money. There are many opportunities; you just need to be open to them.
You can travel full-time on a budget if you want to live like a local and get off the beaten path. However, most people find that they need at least $1000 per month to travel comfortably.
Traveling with no money includes Couch Surfing, researching free places in the areas you’re visiting, traveling to less expensive locations, choosing the least expensive time to travel, volunteering, and hitchhiking.
Yes, it is possible to become a full-time traveler. However, it takes a lot of preparation to achieve this goal. Before switching from your regular life to traveling full-time, you need to consider many things.
This guide will give you all the information you need to jump and become a full-time traveler.
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Conclusion
Traveling full-time is a fantastic goal, and it’s achievable with proper planning and preparations. Many people have already made this their lifestyle, and you can too. We hope this article has helped you understand how to become a full-time traveler and how to get started on your journey.
Start planning your next trip and take the first step towards becoming a full-time traveler today!