Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with non-ERE minded people

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TopHatFox
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Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with non-ERE minded people

Post by TopHatFox »

Bus ride from airport :$16
Eating out cheapest meal: $5
Hostel: at least $25 a night
Ferry to explore islands: $45
Any museums, zoo's, etc. entry.: $20
Drinking at bars: $5 at least for a beer, $10(!) for a shot

I've solved almost all of these costs by trying my best to only buy from grocery stores, couch surfing, and walking around talking to interested people with my back pack on. Still, when friends I'm travelling with are eating lunch out or drinking at a bar, I'm trying to figure out how to not feel pressured to buy anything (these costs can add up). Transportation costs I am the most likelhy to justify, because seeing a new place is one of the primary reasons why I'm in NZ to begin with!

I think travelling while FI will eliminate the sting of most if not all small expenditures like these; and if I choose not to partake in them anyway, then compounding will give me even more $. Waiting to travel abroad 'till closer to FI is likely a lot more relaxing than travelling while in the early accumulation phase; maybe the early accumulation phase is better catered to immediate local travel near home.

-----------------------------------

How do you like to travel, if at all? I think my favorite at the moment is travelling on foot--walking from interesting thing to the next--with a day pack with some groceries, first aid, some clothes, and utilities. In particular, travelling when I'm home is best, because I already have a home in the area and that keeps A LOT of the costs down. (Plus no plane ticket, and the area I'm walking through is likely a place I've yet to explore too)
Last edited by TopHatFox on Fri Nov 13, 2015 3:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Dave
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by Dave »

Agreed - it is extremely difficult to not incur those sorts of expenses when travelling.

One solution, as you suggested, is to simply not travel during your accumulation phase. Quoting Jacob in the post How to retire in 5 years, "You should allow about $5 a month for transportation. This will easily be enough to resole shoes or get new tires for your bicycle. I’m not joking."

I have always liked that post a lot, because it cuts directly to the core of what it takes to retire in 5 years. Globetrotting is largely incompatible with ERE (as in, on a 5-8 year schedule) unless it is being paid for by someone else. With that in mind, we get back to deciding what is most important, to us.

I have adjusted my "travelling" or vacationing to only going on trips with my family or DF's family. This is beneficial due to sharing transportation and accommodation expenses. Other than that, I travel on foot. This is still especially fun as I only moved to Chicago in July, so there is much left to explore.

susswein
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by susswein »

Spending more time camping and backpacking (aka trekking aka tramping in NZ) can cut down signigicantly on your expenses. When I was in NZ hitchhiking was a viable way to get to/from the trailheads.

Did
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by Did »

We use housesitting to facilitate slow travel. We move to the new area then spend the time exploring local sites, typically old things ATM since we are in Ireland, and nature. Trick for us is to cook cook cook. We bring our spices, knife, chopping board etc and shop at Aldi before we head off.

Prior to this we travelled in a van around Oz for 8 months, with much free camping.

IlliniDave
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by IlliniDave »

My favorite mode of travel is by auto, fairly cheap and I can fold down my back seats and have plenty of room to lay down comfortably and sleep in a pinch. In the winter I carry a 0*F sleeping bag (or maybe it's -10*F). I do not have wanderlust. The type of travel I foresee in my retirement time is more in-depth regional exploration than skimming across vast areas. So a vehicle, a tent, maybe a canoe, hiking shoes, and an outdoor outfitted Duluth pack will about cover my travel needs. While I'm accumulating I do essentially no travel except to visit my family, and travel with some of them up to my place in the Northwoods. My annual travel "budget" is $1,000, and I've never spent it all.

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

The list of example costs don't seem so bad to me. If I'm only going to be in a place for a couple of days I usually buy whatever I need to experience the place and have fun. If I'm out for a week I become more money conscious. More than that and I try to live like I'm at home.

This is a bit anti ERE but you'll only be in college for a short time and may never make it back to nz. Don't miss out on fun and memories to save $100.

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Ego
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by Ego »

Traveling with others can be challenging with regard to budget. Different people have different minimum/maximum needs with regard to food, accommodation, levels of transport, access to their own toilet, ability to walk, and the abilities to cope with differences, with frustrations and with mishaps when things don't work out as planned. What often ends up happening is the person with the extreme need insists on the airport pickup or the hotel room with the private bath, forcing everyone else to go along or spoiling the trip for everyone. The highest common denominator can be shockingly high.

We just stopped traveling with others.

SimpleLife
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by SimpleLife »

Bring a flask and do shots in the bathroom. I have shots for .30 cents a pop. At home and such anyway. I don't like or frequent bars.

bradley
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by bradley »

Like you said, I think traveling locally or closer to home is the best bet during the accumulation phase. There's dozens of places within a train or bus ride from me—in the NYC metro area—that I've never seen. These could be day trips (to cut down on having to find accommodations) or some kind of area where I can camp out.

Traveling has lost its glow for me, for the most part, simply because I've been doing it in the tourist way too frequently recently (i.e. going somewhere for about a week just to walk around and see "the sights"). Sightseeing is incredibly boring to me, especially when it's monument or some other structure that really is the same everywhere you go.

I prefer spending several weeks or months in a place and getting to know the people, local-style. I went to Spain for about 3 weeks to visit some friends there and that was really all about making connections with people and just living. I preferred that. (Of course, that was international travel with a pricey plane ticket, but I was able to save somewhat by using frequent flyer miles from a promotion and splitting the cost with DH).

I'm looking forward to just staying local for a few years though.

jacob
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by jacob »

For short distance tourism, the kind that can be reached within a day by driving, I go by car (two people) or greyhound (one person).

For longer distance tourism, I've historically gotten someone else (employer) to pay for it. However, such travel holds few attractions for me and is a "negative good" (the hassle factor) much like a dental check-up or eating out. Actually, this is the kind of traveling that pays you money (as long as you're not a "normal" person) since the normal per diems are spectacular for almost all budgets on this forum.

For medium distance tourism (the rarest kind), we car-camp.

In general, I just relocate instead of visiting.

My travel philosophy is that the form of travel should match the aims of the travel. E.g. if you want to learn about distance (like how huge the US really is), you drive or bike. If you want to meet strange(r) people, you fly in, and then hang out in cafes. If you want to get deep knowledge of a culture or a process or a skill that can only be acquired in a certain place, you relocate (obviously my favorite mode of travel).

PS: When it comes to money, "normal people" ruin everything. Everybody knows that.

thrifty++
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by thrifty++ »

Remember that you are buying stuff with the Kiwi dollar. At the moment the NZ dollar is at a 30 year low against USD. So you are exchanging your US dollars at 65 US cents to $1nz. It was only around 6 months ago that $NZ was around something likes 80 cents US. So you are travelling at an absolutely ideal time to get bang for your buck.

Last few times I went travelling I realised that I had to try and stay away from the mainstream backpacking crowd. I found most people staying at hostels were constantly obsessed with getting drunk and wasting lots of money rather than having more life enriching experiences. I found that exhausting and boring and felt like a reality TV show. I tried to avoid hostels afterwards so that I could enjoy my time more which I certainly did.

I think the best way to travel NZ is to buy a cheap car for $1500 and and a tent and drive around all the nooks and crannies and see some of the more beautiful remote beaches, forests, lakes, rivers, mountains etc. Then sell the car when you leave. It will end up costing you no more than gas, cheap insurance if you want, and some low camping fees. Many people explore NZ that way and see the most gorgeous spots and spend little money.

RealPerson
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with "normal" people

Post by RealPerson »

A little off topic, but I think the term "normal" people has sort of an elitist ring to it. Most people are normal. Just because we make a genuine effort to spend money with purpose and restraint, does not make us "superior". Even within this community, you will find a wide variety of spending levels. That doesn't make someone superior or inferior. Granted, you did not say that this community consists of "the chosen ones", but the term "normal" in this context implies something like that in my mind. That just doesn't feel right. End of hijack.

enigmaT120
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Re: Travelling without money can be difficult, especially with non-ERE minded people

Post by enigmaT120 »

It doesn't make us superior but it makes us weird. Not normal.

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