You can travel the world for less money than you spend each month to fill up your gas tank.
Photo by Gina
World travel is cheap and easy. In fact, with a little practice and effort, you can travel the world for free.
The idea that travel is expensive and difficult is bullshit peddled by tour companies, hotel chains and corporate media.
The tourism industry wants you to buy cruise packages and stay at all-inclusive resorts.
They want you to choose a travel experience the same way you would choose a new jacket at the mall. They want your Credit Card number.
The tourism industry doesn’t want me to reveal the simple secrets of free travel, but I’m going to share them with you anyway.
It can be scary to venture into the world with nothing more than optimism and good-will, but personal freedom begins with a leap of faith.
1. Embrace the Simple Joy of Travel
The joy of new experience is the most wonderful thing about travel – and new experiences are free.
Travel frees you from the grind of daily routine. You will explore new places, meet new people, try new foods and learn things about the world – and yourself – that you never imagined were possible.
The joy of new experience is the most wonderful thing about travel – and new experiences are free. Walk the streets of a city. Stop and chat with a local. People watch in a public park. Climb to the top of a hill and watch the sun set over the ocean.
The simple joy of being in a new place is just a matter of…wait for it…going someplace new. No tour package required.
2. Keep Your Needs To A Minimum
The modern American economy is built on the false premise that people need to buy new goods and services all the time. Again, I call bullshit.
People need fresh air, healthy food, clean water, exercise, creative stimulation, companionship, self-esteem and a safe place to sleep.
All of these things are simple to obtain. Most of them are free.
For fresh air, go outside. For exercise, take a walk. For creative stimulation, go somewhere new. For companionship, make a friend. For self esteem, turn off your TV, breathe deep and open your spirit to the basic goodness of the world.
Things like food and shelter are much cheaper once you get outside the United States. See # 5 below for ways to obtain food and shelter for free.
3. Go Slow
Cambodian Coast . photo by Ryan Libre
If you live in New York and want to take a 2 week vacation to Africa, it will be very difficult (though not impossible, see number eight) to travel for free.
Indeed, as long as you believe that time is money, you will spend money all the time.
Time is not money. Time is free. You have all the time in the world.
Instead of buying a plane ticket, catch a ride out West, or remodel an old sailboat, or just hop on your bike and ride away from town. The slower you travel, the less money you will spend.
4. Leave Your Possessions and Obsessions Behind
When you travel, you don’t need to pay rent. You don’t need a car. You don’t need an oven, a washer-dryer, electricity, Cable TV, a gym membership, a sofa and loveseat or a closet full of clothes.
You don’t need a suit and tie to wear to your job because you don’t need a job. You don’t need to worry about paying the bills, because there are no bills to pay.
You are free.
5. Trust People and you will Receive Free Food and Lodging
Many people are willing to open their homes to travelers. Chip in with a few chores, and they will give you a free meal, too.
CouchSurfing and WWOOF are two phenomenal online networks that help travelers connect with local hosts. CouchSurfing members are willing to give travelers a place to sleep for a night or two. WWOOF connects travelers with organic farmers who want to trade room and board for an extra hand.
Many members of both CouchSurfing and WWOOF are seeking an alternative to high-impact consumer culture.
6. Learn a Useful Craft or Skill
If you have a skill, such as cooking, animal husbandry, massage, musical ability or basic carpentry, you can barter for free food and accommodation as you travel.
The slower you travel, the easier it will be to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement with a local community or host.
Universally appreciated skills like cooking are best, though niche skills that are in high demand, like website design, are also useful. Native English speakers can often travel the world for free by teaching language classes in each destination they visit.
The slower you travel, the easier it will be to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement with a local community or host.
7. Get Out of the City
Although it’s possible to travel for free in a big city, it’s damn difficult. Cities are built on money, and necessities like fresh air, clean water and a safe place to sleep are difficult to come by in cities.
Go to the country, where people are more relaxed, food is plentiful and there’s ample room for one traveler to lay out her sleeping bag under the stars.
8. Find A Job You Love That Entails Travel
If you need an income in order to pay off loans or support a child, find a job that calls for extensive travel. There are millions of jobs available in the global economy that demand travel.
Of course, some jobs are easier to love than others, and much work that involves travel also involves the destruction of local ecosystems and traditional ways of life. Avoid unethical work if at all possible – it is bad for your health and worse for your soul.
For job ideas, check out the Travel and Adventure jobs section here at the Traveler’s Notebook.
9. Embrace Serendipity
Traveling the world for free requires a blend of advance planning and the willingness to seize opportunities and go with the flow.
Does your new CouchSurfing friend want company for a drive across the country? Grab your pack and ride along! Does an organic farm in Thailand need a farm sitter for the rainy season? Get in touch with Christian Shearer!
As Kurt Vonnegut wrote, “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”
Go Dancing.
UPDATE: How does $1,200 per month to travel in summer 2009 sound? There’s no catch – check out The Roads Scholarship, which Matador is co-sponsoring with The Digital Vagabond.
UPDATE: Read a response to this article at Brave New Traveler – The Tao of Vagabond Travel
What are your tips for cheap or free round the world travel? Share in the comments!
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251 Comments... join the discussion!
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Scholarships to attend seminars on topics like development and peace usually provide free airfare and other travel perks, and replica swiss watches make great “just came from Europe” gifts. =)
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It is a good tips for word traveller, i would love too travelling around the world, but still can not 100% free, except we have sponsor….
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I like traveling very much. i m in search of a job that includes traveling. I m of 30 years. If any body have ajob like that plz inform me.
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Muhammad, you know, I also love traveling even I have 2 kids.
I have small business. It gives me some possibility. see my profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimirkoval
And I also looking for other partnership possibility or job to travel.So let’s be in contact. If anyone have any ideas how to do it please let us know.
By the way, I live in Vancouver, Canada. We host Olympic Games this February.
Please you are welcome! I could be helpful here and anyway we could meet and have a cup of coffee
Vladimir
Vancouver, Canada↵ -
If you have watched the long way down by ewan mcgregor and charlie boorman, then you know what i want to do with all my heart. i dont want to travel for free because i know petrol isnt free, i want to go on a two wheeler around the world and try and follow out the route of what charlie and ewan did. but working for a shear 800£ per month isnt going to cut it when am paying rent and food and car so just how do i go about doing it? i dont want to backpack around the world, i want to be able to travel with my own direction and on a motorcycle. i just cant seem to find anysort of funding, what winds me up is that ewan mcgregor a long time famous film actor whom is making a bomb of money every day gets funding, sponsors, free bikes ect. and yet people like us or me get laughed at.,
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i’m only 19 but my dream is to travel the world. the only problem is money and how to get started??where to go first or how to get there, then where do i go from there?
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Hey Megs, I think the best way to go about traveling is not to plan out where to go first and how to get there, but to go with what happens. Of course SOME planning couldn’t hurt, maybe save up some money in case times get hard out there and you are running low. Also try to obtain your food by not buying it. Fish,plants,berries all that good stuff.
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Thank you cody!
I recently got a job so I’m gonna be saving my money for traveling. Also, I like the idea of just going for it and seeing where the world takes me.thanks,
Megs
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I also love traveling even I have 2 kids.
I have small business. It gives me some possibility. see my profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/vladimirkoval
And I also looking for other partnership possibility or job to travel.So let’s be in contact. If anyone have any ideas how to do it please let us know.
By the way, I live in Vancouver, Canada. We host Olympic Games this February.
Please you are welcome! I could be helpful here and anyway we could meet and have a cup of coffee Vladimir
Vancouver, Canada↵ -
What a fantastic post. I found it useful to make a visual representation of all the factors affecting my move towards digital nomadery.
Stating my outcome clearly and simply in the centre of a large sheet of paper (e.g. ‘Live well on the move’), I used labelled arrows to describe all the things stopping me reaching this outcome, arranged around the lower half of the page and all the things that support or could support me reaching my goal around the top of the page. I then had a way of visually reminding myself what i needed to do more of and what i needed to do less of and other things i needed to do in order to be living my dream.
Some of these things were practical and some things more about my beliefs, habits and ways of thinking.
It’s fun to do too, use lots of colours, go creative!
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You can never ever travel the world for free. It just doesn’t work like that. Just take transportation for example. There are countries where you’ll wait for weeks to hitchhike, just because people won’t know what you mean when you stick out your thumb.
You can slow down your spendings by travelling even slower but you’ll be spending money none the less.
You can travel the world for less money than you spend each month to fill up your gas tank.
The problem with the above statement is that while you fill up your gas tank, you more than likely have a job that pays for these gas bills. When you travel longterm (as you would when you travel the world) there’s no job to fill up your bank account.
Bottom line is that you have to spend money to see the world. In some cases not a lot, but in my experience EUR 250/month is the minimum…
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Travel the world is my dreams..
and I want my dreams come true..
but the problems..I don’t have much money because our currency is so cheap…
I’d love to be a tour guide..so I also can travel with the tourist but the problem…
It’s also difficult to find the tourist..that want it..
hee…..
yeah\\\///↵ -
three nancy, where are you from?
We’ve traveled a lot even with my family (2 kids)
I’m sure its possible!
Please let me know and we can think it over
Regards
Vlad
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A good and informative article. One downside is that I don’t like being presumed American. One thing I would especially expect a traveller to know is that not everyone is American.
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Hey.
Can you give me advise how to travel to Mongolia?
My interest is visit Khovsgol lake for horseback
thanks,↵ -
BEWARE – Global Work & Travel Company!!!!! Ripping young travellers off!!!! STAY AWAY!
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Hi,
Ive notice alot of people on this forum say money is what stopping them from traveling. Well I think I can Help.
Im 24 and love to travel, have fun, and make money along the way. Every since I was 15
I started to travel the U.S. Well along the way Ive learned alot about actually making the survival money to travel. Here are some things I do to make money along the way, and Im talking about decent money $300 to $500 a day for as many days as Id like. This is US money Im talking about.
Address numbers on curbs, This is simple and nets you some decent money in urban areas. Ok, so what is this. Well its simple if your in the U.S or can get on the internet in other countries. You get whats known as a address number kit. You can get these from Micheals Craft store in the U.S. You can even make them if your crafty. Anyway there number stencils. You know the address numbers you see on peoples curbs, well they get there because someone knocks on there door and says theyll paint there address on there curb for a small fee like $10 to $25. You simply buy this kit and spray paint white for the backround and black for the numbers. You go around door to door and look for houses that have address’s on the curbs that are old and need repainted. Usually about 1 out of every 3 houses. Then you just go to the door and tell them your painting address numbers to earn money on your trip. Do this for about 5 hours a day and youll be making about $200 a day easy. I use to make more but I got pretty good at it.Ok,
Magic Wiggle. I sell these things and make an easy $3 to $500 a day. Its like a kids toy you can just walk around and play with in your hand I have the training video. It takes about an hour to learn. Ive lived off this hustle along for years. You can take this to any country with you and they will sell great. And I can ship overseas so you can sell them along your travels. 99% of people have never seen or heard of this thing and it looks amazing. They sell like no other product youve ever seen. I can stand in a walmart parking lot for an hour and make $100 like its nothing. No matter what country your in these things sell like crazy.
I do wholesale these and you will know what Im talking about if you watch a video I have of them. Please email with questions. yourownfate@yahoo.comLast but not least. Magazines. They have great profits and sell door to door or to business’s anywhere in the U.S.
I can also make about $500 a day from magazines. And yes I do wholesale these to. Along with all the materials you need to sell them. Everything Ive mentioned fits in a backpack and gives you crazy travel money. Trust me. Ive never had to get a job my entire life. I just sell my products whenever I fill like it. And make over $100,000 a year while I travel the country with my wife and 2 year old son.Again you can email me if you are interested in selling these products. yourownfate@yahoo.com
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I’m from Peru, I can be an english teacher, but where in the world could I start my big trip? I’ve got 2000 usd to go anywhere, I’m not at the university yet, I am starting planning a big trip but… where would you recommend me to start? Is there any problem if I try thailand first, but then?
Thanks
Hugo
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hello! you’re article is very interesting. I’m 19 yrs old and live in athens, greece. I’m attending a university which i’m not really sure i like and i’ve always wanted to see the world. I love photography(actually thinkng to attend an afternoon class next year) and it would be amazing if i could somehow travel the globe and take photos. Of course money IS an issue, since i have no income(yet). If you think there’s any way I could…just travel and pay my dues i’d really apreciate it.
thanks
Margarita↵ -
i wanna travel all around the world
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My dream is to be able to travel the world. I’m only 23 but my biggest set back has been being able to find the money to even get started. So I have been searching the internet for a really long time to find a way to make money from my computer. Of course this has ended up costing me money instead of me making money. But I think that I finally found something that is not a scam.
It doesn’t cost a cent to join and there isn’t any hidden fees once you get it. It is really simple and I think it has the potential to make a decent living just from about an hour a day on the computer. Most of the work is stuff you do on the internet anyways. I just thought this would help some of you earn that extra little bit of money to be able to travel, sence I too am working towards the same goal. I have spent a LOT of time on the internet looking for a scam free way to make money online without spending a ton of time online and without spending any money. Just check it out real quick or don’t but I just thought I would save you the time. Thx for listening. If you are interested at all let me know kdferrell2705@yahoo.com . Any questions let me know
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nice post.
i liked it. it’s…convincing. but it seems to me that you need plenty of time to travel that way. as soon as I can, i’ll do it!it’s really, really usefull. thanks for the help.
regards from Chile. Ricardo Puebla.
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