6 ms·

You can't spend 8 years traveling the world without quite a bit of money. The author should look at his own life before telling others that they don't need mone

by lhnz 15y ago

You can't spend 8 years traveling the world without quite a bit of money. The author should look at his own life before telling others that they don't need money; it sounds like luxury to me.

aik 15y ago
The author addresses that exact point in his article. Take a look -- apparently he has no money.
sanswork 15y ago
Sure you can. Travel needs not be expensive. If you don't stay in expensive hotels and eat out all the time, don't go drinking/partying every night its not difficult to travel on very little money. Move to a new country with a work permit, get a short term job, maybe working in your hostel, or at a bar, or even as general labour and save up enough to make your next hop.
- eyko 15y ago
  I think you'll find it's not that easy to move to a new country with a work permit, unless you have a lot of money in your bank account (which is one of the first checks the embassies do), or you're of the wrong nationality (try entering europe being african). Yeah, try telling a starving child labourer in Honduras or South Africa that money will not solve any of their problems. Maybe you can travel hitch-hiking and getting to stay in people's places… I've done that in some parts of europe, but there's nothing like a pillow of cash to help you through the day.
  - sanswork 15y ago
    If you're young and from the right countries it's very simple. It's called a working holiday visa. Usually gives you around a year to work and live in the destination country.
- lhnz 15y ago
  I am being downvoted above but isn't travel expensive? It has to be simply because of the fuel costs involved. In my eyes, 8 years of constant travel would be expensive. Compare that to 8 years of working on the same spot.
  - sanswork 15y ago
    Travel can be very expensive. It can also be very cheap. It might be nicer to fly from point A to B but odds are there is a cheaper bus ticket available. A 4 star hotel is very nice to stay at but a 0 star hostel will often cost you less than $15 a day. Working in a bar will easily cover that, your food(buying cheap from local sources and cooking for yourself), and allow you to save for your next bus/boat ticket or where absolutely needed a short haul flight.
    - lhnz 15y ago
      You see, that's my point, as soon as you have to cut the costs of other parts of your life you've clearly started doing something which requires large amount of money...
      - matthewlyle 15y ago
        What costs are you cutting? No, vacationing in 5-star hotels for 8 years would not be cheap but that's not a necessity for travelling. You probably don't rent a 5-star apartment at home.
        lhnz 15y ago
        People are talking about buying less stuff, and going out for drinks and nice food less often. These are costs that would be decreased. My thought was that: you have to make concessions beyond what you would normally have in your life and that, to me, is proof that you are undertaking in a luxury which you can not easily afford. Which brings me to my original point: when it's clear that the ability to travel requires money can somebody then genuinely advise others that more money doesn't solve a problem?
jasonkester 15y ago
Simply not true. When I first started traveling for long durations, I quickly realized that my biggest expense was keeping my life in the USA alive. Once I ditched the apartment/car payment, I found that I could live substantially cheaper on the road than I could back home. As an example, living and climbing on the beach in Thailand, I could pay for my monthly rent/food/beer expenses with a single day of billable work. I had a laptop along for exactly that purpose, and as a result I ended up padding out the savings quite a bit by living in a tin shack on the beach. You think travel is expensive because vacations are expensive and that's your only experience with travelling. A week in Hawaii costs about $10k for your family all in, so naturally it must cost me ~$500k a year on the road, right? I'll leave it to you to do the math on what you actually end up spending when you're paying local rates for accommodation and travel in 3rd world countries, but the answer you're working toward is $500-$1000/month.
- rodh 15y ago
  I do see your point, and agree to a certain extent. Having spent some time in south-east asia, I have experienced first hand how cheap life can be compared to what I'm used to (a factor of 10, for a comparable lifestyle). In fact at one point I would consider that I pretty much ran out of money but still managed to get by. However, I still see this type of travelling as a luxury. I would not fly off to another country for 6 months or longer, without a significant amount of savings. Not everyone can necessarily do a bit of freelance work when they are abroad. As a former freelancer who who's spent several years now working full-time in an office, I have lost a lot of my freelance network of clients and contacts. Furthermore, if we're looking outside of the Hacker News community, not everyone has a skill that can be as easily marketable from a distance. Trying to establish a freelance network back in your native country, once you're abroad could be an option for me, although not one I would rely on for my survival. I would also not rely on acquiring work visas, either. Especially if I couldn't prove to the relevant authorities that I had enough existing savings to not be a burden. So unless you're a person in a particular situation in life, with a specific skill set, you will still be spending a reasonable amount of money during your months or years abroad. Add to that flights, insurance (maybe you're not too keen on cheap surgery in a third world country), vaccinations, the loss of maybe a few years contributions to your retirement savings, the cost of reintegrating yourself into your country when you return. Things get expensive. Although I previously did not think so, I would now definitely consider long-term travelling (with the intent of returning) a luxury. Edit: That's not to say it's not a good idea. Or that it's impossible. As far as luxuries go, it's a very good one to go for.

by lhnz 15y ago

You can't spend 8 years traveling the world without quite a bit of money. The author should look at his own life before telling others that they don't need money; it sounds like luxury to me.

aik 15y ago

The author addresses that exact point in his article. Take a look -- apparently he has no money.

sanswork 15y ago

Sure you can. Travel needs not be expensive. If you don't stay in expensive hotels and eat out all the time, don't go drinking/partying every night its not difficult to travel on very little money. Move to a new country with a work permit, get a short term job, maybe working in your hostel, or at a bar, or even as general labour and save up enough to make your next hop.

eyko 15y ago
I think you'll find it's not that easy to move to a new country with a work permit, unless you have a lot of money in your bank account (which is one of the first checks the embassies do), or you're of the wrong nationality (try entering europe being african). Yeah, try telling a starving child labourer in Honduras or South Africa that money will not solve any of their problems. Maybe you can travel hitch-hiking and getting to stay in people's places… I've done that in some parts of europe, but there's nothing like a pillow of cash to help you through the day.
- sanswork 15y ago
  If you're young and from the right countries it's very simple. It's called a working holiday visa. Usually gives you around a year to work and live in the destination country.
lhnz 15y ago
I am being downvoted above but isn't travel expensive? It has to be simply because of the fuel costs involved. In my eyes, 8 years of constant travel would be expensive. Compare that to 8 years of working on the same spot.
- sanswork 15y ago
  Travel can be very expensive. It can also be very cheap. It might be nicer to fly from point A to B but odds are there is a cheaper bus ticket available. A 4 star hotel is very nice to stay at but a 0 star hostel will often cost you less than $15 a day. Working in a bar will easily cover that, your food(buying cheap from local sources and cooking for yourself), and allow you to save for your next bus/boat ticket or where absolutely needed a short haul flight.
  - lhnz 15y ago
    You see, that's my point, as soon as you have to cut the costs of other parts of your life you've clearly started doing something which requires large amount of money...
    - matthewlyle 15y ago
      What costs are you cutting? No, vacationing in 5-star hotels for 8 years would not be cheap but that's not a necessity for travelling. You probably don't rent a 5-star apartment at home.
      - lhnz 15y ago
        People are talking about buying less stuff, and going out for drinks and nice food less often. These are costs that would be decreased. My thought was that: you have to make concessions beyond what you would normally have in your life and that, to me, is proof that you are undertaking in a luxury which you can not easily afford. Which brings me to my original point: when it's clear that the ability to travel requires money can somebody then genuinely advise others that more money doesn't solve a problem?

jasonkester 15y ago

Simply not true. When I first started traveling for long durations, I quickly realized that my biggest expense was keeping my life in the USA alive. Once I ditched the apartment/car payment, I found that I could live substantially cheaper on the road than I could back home. As an example, living and climbing on the beach in Thailand, I could pay for my monthly rent/food/beer expenses with a single day of billable work. I had a laptop along for exactly that purpose, and as a result I ended up padding out the savings quite a bit by living in a tin shack on the beach. You think travel is expensive because vacations are expensive and that's your only experience with travelling. A week in Hawaii costs about $10k for your family all in, so naturally it must cost me ~$500k a year on the road, right? I'll leave it to you to do the math on what you actually end up spending when you're paying local rates for accommodation and travel in 3rd world countries, but the answer you're working toward is $500-$1000/month.

rodh 15y ago
I do see your point, and agree to a certain extent. Having spent some time in south-east asia, I have experienced first hand how cheap life can be compared to what I'm used to (a factor of 10, for a comparable lifestyle). In fact at one point I would consider that I pretty much ran out of money but still managed to get by. However, I still see this type of travelling as a luxury. I would not fly off to another country for 6 months or longer, without a significant amount of savings. Not everyone can necessarily do a bit of freelance work when they are abroad. As a former freelancer who who's spent several years now working full-time in an office, I have lost a lot of my freelance network of clients and contacts. Furthermore, if we're looking outside of the Hacker News community, not everyone has a skill that can be as easily marketable from a distance. Trying to establish a freelance network back in your native country, once you're abroad could be an option for me, although not one I would rely on for my survival. I would also not rely on acquiring work visas, either. Especially if I couldn't prove to the relevant authorities that I had enough existing savings to not be a burden. So unless you're a person in a particular situation in life, with a specific skill set, you will still be spending a reasonable amount of money during your months or years abroad. Add to that flights, insurance (maybe you're not too keen on cheap surgery in a third world country), vaccinations, the loss of maybe a few years contributions to your retirement savings, the cost of reintegrating yourself into your country when you return. Things get expensive. Although I previously did not think so, I would now definitely consider long-term travelling (with the intent of returning) a luxury. Edit: That's not to say it's not a good idea. Or that it's impossible. As far as luxuries go, it's a very good one to go for.