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Most of the time, the expensive part of travel is the actual transportation - especially as Americans. In my mind, there's two ways to overcome this: 1 - Move

Most of the time, the expensive part of travel is the actual transportation - especially as Americans. In my mind, there's two ways to overcome this: 1 - Move somewhere closer to your desired destinations. 2 - Travel to destinations for longer periods. The first solution is maybe not doable for everyone, but if you can, it makes travelling so much easier. Consider that OP now lives in Germany. He can hop on a train and get to hundreds of destinations for relatively cheap and in a short amount of time. The second one reduces the percentage of money spent while travelling on transportation. It doesn't really matter if you stay 2 days or 2 weeks at a destination, it's probably going to cost you the same amount. By extending your stay, you're getting more enjoyment/experiences for the same up front cost.

peterjmag 11y ago
You took the words right out of my mouth. =) Just a couple points to add: - Move somewhere with sane and/or regulated PTO policies[1]. This is a huge plus in the EU. In Germany, I get about 34 days paid vacation days per year (including federal holidays), and that's even considered a bit low by German standards. It's enough for me to seriously consider never working full-time in the US again. And don't get me started on so-called "unlimited" vacation policies in the US. (As a corollary, if I ever do work as a normal employee in the US again, a proper vacation policy will be on my list of must-haves.) - As much as I love trains, flying is usually quite a bit cheaper for most of the places that I want to travel to in and around Europe. Long-distance bus lines (think Greyhound) are also extremely cheap now that the market's been deregulated. - The main disadvantage (and one that people should take into serious consideration before moving overseas) of course is that I'm so far away from family. Even with so much vacation time, it's pretty difficult both financially and logistically to make it home more than once per year. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_empl...

peterjmag 11y ago

You took the words right out of my mouth. =) Just a couple points to add: - Move somewhere with sane and/or regulated PTO policies[1]. This is a huge plus in the EU. In Germany, I get about 34 days paid vacation days per year (including federal holidays), and that's even considered a bit low by German standards. It's enough for me to seriously consider never working full-time in the US again. And don't get me started on so-called "unlimited" vacation policies in the US. (As a corollary, if I ever do work as a normal employee in the US again, a proper vacation policy will be on my list of must-haves.) - As much as I love trains, flying is usually quite a bit cheaper for most of the places that I want to travel to in and around Europe. Long-distance bus lines (think Greyhound) are also extremely cheap now that the market's been deregulated. - The main disadvantage (and one that people should take into serious consideration before moving overseas) of course is that I'm so far away from family. Even with so much vacation time, it's pretty difficult both financially and logistically to make it home more than once per year. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_employment_leave_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_statutory_minimum_empl...