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Affording Travel Interview With Jo: English Teacher and Copywriter

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Jo of The Blond Travels grew up in Poland and lived in the UK for 10 years. Then, without having done much planning, Jo quit her job in London and moved to Thailand. Find out how she fell in love with travel and created her new lifestyle in this interview!

 

You caught the travel bug the first time you went to Thailand. What was it about this trip that made you want to travel more?

The sights, smells and tastes of Thailand stole my heart, but I was also taken away by the freedom I felt while travelling. We didn’t really have a schedule. We went to Bangkok first and then decided where to go next on a whim. I didn’t know that you could travel like that.

Some of my friends in the UK did backpacking and I had no idea how they could afford travelling so much. During that trip I realized that countries like Thailand are really cheap. Plus, you could stay in hostels and dorms and still have a wonderful holiday.

I finally felt like doing something else rather than being stuck behind a desk. At 30, I understood that in my 20s I should have lived my life in a completely different way, that I took life too seriously when I really should have done more travelling, have fun more.

Click here to read the rest of the interview.

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Affording Travel Interview With Yeison and Samantha: Bloggers and Freelancers

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Just as working full time sucks the life out of people who are more suited to a life of travel, traveling full time exhausts those who prefer to have a place to call home. Fortunately, there are lots of different alternatives in between.

For example, you can choose to live as an expat in another country and work there, using your days off to explore the surrounding areas. Once you feel like it’s time to move on, you can live in another country. Rinse and repeat as much as you like.

That’s what Yeison and Samantha of Mytanfeet are doing.

Yeison and Samantha met during a volunteer trip in Central America. After 2 years of being in a long-distance relationship, Samantha moved from the U.S. to Costa Rica to be with Yeison.

Samantha started out living as an expat who worked at local establishments and they’ve now managed to build location-independent income sources.

Click here to check out how they did it in this interview!

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Affording Travel Interview With Nick and Dariece: English Teachers and Digital Nomads

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Traveling full time usually also means quitting conventional, secure jobs.

That’s a scary thing to do, especially if you’ve always had conventional, secure jobs all your adult life. So there’s a big puzzle you feel you have to solve before you jump: How can you not run out of money when you always travel and don’t have a “real” job?

Over the years, Nick and Dariece of Goats on the Road have been RTW-ers, full-time travelers, expats and digital nomads. But it seems to me like they’ve maintained the same approach when it comes to their finances: plan for about a year or two into the future and see what happens.

If you want to travel full time, there’s a temptation to figure out every single thing before you start. I hope this interview can show that it’s okay to take it one step at a time.

To read the interview, click here.

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Affording Travel Interview With Mar: Business Travel to 80+ Countries

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Imagine flying business class and staying at high-end hotels all over the world. Pretty awesome, right? Now imagine getting paid to do it.

My interviewee today, Mar of Once in a Lifetime Journey, used to travel for work every week. She has visited 80 countries and has lived as an expat in London, Montreal, Dubai Johannesburg, Tegucigalpa and Singapore. This kind of lifestyle can get tiring, of course, but Mar’s wanderlust made it a great arrangement for her.

Besides getting to slip off to explore exotic destinations during her free time, she also had a lot of opportunities to rack up airline and hotel loyalty points to use for vacations. (She shares some of her best travel hacking tips at the end of the interview.)

To read the interview, click here.

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Affording Travel: Gunther Holtorf’s 26-Year RTW Road Trip

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The words “epic” and “amazing” are thrown around these days. (What this amazing cat does in this epic video will blow your mind!) But this story is truly extraordinary.

TL;DR summary: A German couple and their beloved car went on a super-extended road trip around the world. It was such a massive trip that various powerful people intervened to help them along. Gunther Holtorf will probably earn the Guinness record for the highest number of countries visited in a single vehicle. (Christine died before the end of the trip; Gunther and Otto went on to visit a total of 179-215 countries in 23-26 years, depending on your news source.)

The story has a lot of heart. It’s about adventure, human connections, love and all that good stuff.

But as I was reading the article, what I paid extra close attention to was the practical stuff. I was intrigued by how they managed to transport the car all over the world, including to North Korea.

I also tried to figure out how they paid for their travel expenses. This is what I automatically do now. I try to reverse-engineer how other travelers support themselves financially to see if there are any travel tricks I can learn.

To read my findings, click here.

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Affording Travel Interview With Trisha: Volunteering / Work Exchange Gigs

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If you want to travel but you’re broke and all you have is your body, what do you do? Work that body, that’s what.

Free travel accommodation with work exchangeI’m talking about work exchange, of course. (What did you have in mind?)

Work exchange is an arrangement whereby a traveler provides labor to get a free bed and some free food. It’s a great way to minimize your travel expenses and meet new people. (“Work exchange” and “volunteering” are pretty much interchangeable when we’re talking about this kind of arrangement, although “volunteering” always makes me think of charities.)

I interviewed Trisha Velarmino from P.S. I’m on My Way to find out more about work exchange / volunteering as a way to afford extended travel. Originally from the Philippines, Trisha is currently making her way across Latin America by volunteering.

To read the interview, click here.

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Affording Travel Interview With Yara: Confessions of a Former Au Pair

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I initially approached Yara to ask her to take part in my group interview on au pairs. But she has such an extensive experience as an au pair that I decided to feature her in a separate interview instead. This way, we can get into the nitty-gritty.

Yara has had seven au pair gigs over the years. While she encourages other travelers to try it, she personally will never work as an au pair ever again. Why? Let’s find out in the interview. :D

To read the interview, click here.

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Affording Travel Interview: What Real Au Pairs Say

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If you’re single and penniless, working as an au pair may just be the best way for you to travel the world. Even though you’ll be thousands of miles away from home, you’ll ideally have a new home and a new “family” abroad.

What’s an au pair?

An au pair looks after the kids — it’s sort of like babysitting, except you’ll do it abroad and you’ll most likely live with the family.

To read what five real au pairs say about their experience, click here.

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Affording Travel Interview With Agness and Cez: Tramps and Budget Travelers

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Meet Agness and Cez — a couple of friends (really, they’re just friends!) from Poland who have been traveling the world together for a few years.

They travel the world on a bare-bones budget of $25 per day and feature their cheap travel tips on their website, eTramping. For them, budget travel isn’t just a necessity, but a choice. “For us traveling isn’t that addictive, unpredictable and fun when you feel financially secure,” they said.

These two aren’t just travelers; they’re tramps — which, they say, “is about being temporarily homeless with perspectives”.

To read the interview, click here.

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Affording Travel Interview With Alexis and Carol: Saving Up for a 2-Year RTW Trip

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Alexis Radoux, my guest today, recorded himself singing one song in 45 countries. After watching the video, I just had to talk to him.

Alexis hails from France and did some hitchhiking in Europe when he was a teenager. After working for a while in France, he quit his job and lived as an expat in a few countries. He met Carol in Brazil, where they’re now based, and they’ve been traveling together ever since.

Recently, Alexis and Carol completed a 2-year round-the-world trip. They’re taking a break now, but it looks like they’ll get moving again soon. They just signed a deal with a production company, so if you see them on TV, remember that you first saw them here! ;)

To read the interview, click here.

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