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Whenever I tell people I don’t live anywhere and am just traveling, they often get surprised. And it’s true that when working a regular 9 to 5 (or to 5:30 – 6 which is more likely), traveling the world for months or years seems a dream more than a possibility. It’s not though. It might seem scary to quit your job to travel, and it is at first. But here I will break down the steps and explain exactly how to do it. You’ll see it’s not as hard or scary as it may seem at first. 🙂
Step 1: Specify your dream: Where would you go (first) if you quit your job to travel
What's on your bucket list
If you want to quit your job to travel for an unlimited time, you probably have some ideas of where you want to go. Sites, countries, continents, surely you have a travel bucket list. Maybe you already know exactly where you want to go, or where you want to start at least.
If not, let’s make things a bit more concrete. Mark all those places you want to visit on a map. Do you want to see kangaroos in Australia, wander around ancient Machu Picchu, navigate through the Amazon rainforest, linger on a gorgeous beach in South East Asia or interrail through Europe? You name it and you mark it!
Plan a route
If you’ve marked a clear country or region, easy! That’s where you’re off to! If your marks are all over the place, it depends on what you want to do. Do you want to do a trip around the world visiting a few places everywhere or focus on a specific country/continent to begin with and take it from there? If you want to focus on one part first, do you have a preference or there is a part where you’ve got more places marked than others? Or maybe your budget will decide what will be the best place to start.
If you’re like me and you like to have at least some sort of a plan to hold on to, start reading about the countries/regions you want to visit. Read about the countries/regions your interested in and mark down any interesting place you come across. This will help you visualize a route as well as give you an idea of how long you will want to spend in each country/region.
Step 2: Budgetting
Where you want to travel to will greatly determine the budget you need. A month in Australia will require a completely different budget than a month in Thailand. For example.
In order to estimate how long you can travel for, you need to know with how much money you can leave and how much you will be spending (net.).
Below I’ve mentioned the things to think about and I’ve created a handy spreadsheet for an overview of estimated spendings and earnings making calculating your estimated budget super easy!
First, add the number of months until the date you would ideally want to leave. Next, add the amount of money you have already saved up which you can spend on your travels. Now lets start the calculations.
How much can you realistically save up before leaving?
In order to calculate this, add your monthly earnings and expenses to column B and E. Make sure to add everything so that the sum of your monthly earnings minus your monthly expenses adds up to what you generally are able to save up per month.
Next, add any one-time incomes and one-time expected expenses as well. I’ve added some examples to give you ideas.
How much do you expect to be spending during your travels?
Firstly think about how do want to travel? As cheap as possible, sleeping in dorm rooms/cheap hotels, taking night busses, cheap local transport and hitchhiking where possible, or do you want to stay at nice hotels, fly and take tourist busses. Do you want to take a lot of tours, or do you prefer to venture out on your own where possible? Next research some estimated costs. The main expenses you’ll be having are:
- – Accommodation: Have a look at Agoda or Booking to have a look at average prices for your preferred type of accommodation in your destinations.
- – Transport: Google a couple of routes in your destinations to check the prices of busses in your destinations and make an estimation. For flights, check Skyscanner
- – Tours/day trips: This is a little harder to research, but check some entry fees to musea, archeological sites temples etc., and look up tours to places you want to take. In some countries (e.g. Peru) tours are a lot cheaper when booked on the spot rather than online, but when in doubt, it’s always good to budget for a little more rather than less!
- Other than that set a budget aside for food, a couple of beers, and some souvenirs.
Now add your estimations to the spreadsheet in rows 32 and below.
Protip: Be aware that generally cheap countries don’t always work out the cheapest! When things are generally cheap, it’s easy to spend a little more here and there. It’s easier to spend 10x a dollar (it’s only a dollar, why not) rather than 10 dollars at once. So budget a little more for beers, eating out and souvenirs in cheaper countries than you might originally think!
Will you have a passive income
Maybe you own your accommodation and you can rent it out for example. Add any passive income during your travels in column H in the spreadsheet to discount it from the net. spendings per month.
Are you going to be working/volunteering
Next, are you going to work? Some countries have WHV exchange programs for people up to 30 years (35 in some cases). This is an awesome opportunity to stretch your budget when traveling somewhere more expensive (think Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Europe). Check the immigration site of your government or the government of your destination to see if there are any programs available. (For NL, click here.) If you want to make use of this, search for jobs on local job boards to get an idea of how much you could be making. Don’t add it to the sheet just yet (as you haven’t actually gotten a visa or a job yet), but it’s good to know with how much you might be able to stretch your budget.
Are you going to work remotely? Full-time/part-time or just the odd project when low on money or when staying put somewhere for a longer time? If you’ve already landed a remote job, go ahead and add it to the spreadsheet.
If you’re not going to work, a volunteer position working for food and board can still be a great way to save some money and to be able to travel just that little bit longer. A week of volunteering will save you at least a week of accommodation. Depending on the host, you might get your meals as well. I wouldn’t discount any weeks yet in the spreadsheet, but just see them as weeks of stretching your travels if things work out. If you’re planning 2 months in Colombia to see everything you want to see, you’ll need these 2 months ‘on the road’. Use volunteer positions to spend extra time in places you really love or learning things you really want to learn, in addition to your planned travel time.
Pro tip: Have a look at pages like Workaway, Worldpackers, WWOOF and HelpX. On these platforms you can find volunteer positions where the host will provide you with accommodation and often with (some) meals as well. They are a great way to not only interact with locals but also to learn something new and save a bit of money at the same time!
Ongoing monthly expenses
If you’ve currently got any expenses that will be ongoing throughout your travels, add them to column K of the spreadsheet, to make sure you reserve the funds needed for this.
The outcome
So, now that everything has been filled in, let’s have a look at what this means for you! You’ve calculated how much you can realisticly save up before you quit your job to travel in cel B26. In cel J44, you have your estimated total cost of the countries you want to visit.
If the outcome is a bit disappointing, fear not.
Maybe you can depart a little later, giving yourself some more time to save up. Or if you’ve chosen a very comfortable way to travel, see if you’re willing to trade in some of that comfort. Try a dorm bed here and there, hostels are a great place to meet people. And take a couple of night busses to save both time and money. They’re honestly not that bad!
Or maybe you’re willing to trade in a rather expensive country on the list for a cheaper alternative. Chilean Patagonia is amazing, but very expensive… Argentinian Patagonia is already a lot cheaper, and the Peruvian Andes even more so.
Step 3: Quit your job to travel!
Now that you’ve picked your destination(s) and calculated what is realistically possible for you, it’s time to take action! You’ve calculated by when you will have saved up enough for your trip of a lifetime, so you know when it’s time to quit your job to travel as well!
So now it’s time for the big step: schedule the meeting with your boss and do it: quit your job to travel!
Now that you’ve taken the first big step, it’s time to make it even more real and buy your ticket. Plane tickets are generally cheapest when bought about 2 months in advance, so you don’t want to postpone this! If you’re bussing/training to your first destination there is no rush and you can do this later as well.
Step 4. Paperwork and official stuff
Unregister
In my case, I unregistered from The Netherlands, as I didn’t know how long I’d be traveling for and it just made things easier for me. If you’re from the Netherlands, you’ll need to unregister if you’re planning on being away for 8 months or more. Check if your country has a similar thing.
Insurance
Look into a good health/travel/overall insurance. Lots of travelers are covered by Safety wings, but I decided to go with the Dutch insurance Special Isis which gives a good overall coverage for a competitive price. It also covers pandemics, which is an important inclusion now. It’s up to you how much or how little you want to cover.
Vaccines + how far in advance
Depending on where you’re traveling to, you might need to get some vaccinations. Don’t wait till the last moment checking this, as some vaccines require multiple shots and you might need to start 1 month+ before your date of departure.
Check the page of your local health institution and if applicable schedule an appointment with a doctor for personal advice regarding vaccinations. (If you’re Dutch, click here.)
Visa
The official government page should have an overview of all countries you need a visa for and if you can get it on arrival or if you’d need to apply for it beforehand. If you’re planning to apply for a Work and Holiday Visa, you will definitely need to apply beforehand. Some agreements allow you to apply whenever and offer unlimited visas, others give out visas on a first come first serve base and others offer a specific date on which you need to apply. So do make sure you’re aware of this and apply accordingly.
Banks and cards
I highly recommend opening an international bank account. Most banks charge quite a lot for foreign transactions, so this will save you some $$, especially in the long run. I’m personally very happy with Wise, but Revolut is a popular choice as well.
I recommend always having at least 2 cards from at least 2 different banks. So either go with 2 international banks or keep your home bank in addition to an international account. If you keep your home bank, advise them you’re going abroad to avoid them blocking your card. Sometimes banks block cards as a precaution when they see suspicious transactions, like a foreign one.
Also, make sure the expiry date is far enough in the future. You don’t want to find yourself on the other side of the world with an expired bank card. It’s generally not that easy to receive a new bank card abroad.
5. Generating an income/savings
Rent/sell things
In step 2 you’ve already thought about what you’d want to sell and if you’re going to rent out your appartment. So now it’s time to take action on these.
If you’ve decided to you want to work remotely, start looking and applying for jobs and/or projects. One of the easiest places to start is with platforms like Upwork and Fiverr. Here people will post all kinds of jobs, from long-term jobs with fixed hours to short-term, one-time projects. You might need to start taking jobs for very little pay, but once you’ve got some jobs and comments on your profile you can start charging a bit more.
These jobs are especially handy when traveling in cheaper places.
If you’ve got a WHV, I’d recommend waiting till you’re there so you can either hand in your resume in person (hospitality) or start a week or so before if applying online, so you’re available for an interview if they get back to quickly.
6. Go shopping and pack
Now last but not least, it’s time to prepare your backpack/suitcase. Start laying out the thing you want to bring and note down the things you’re lacking. What you’re gonna need is going depend on your destination, but below is a list of some things you might want to consider. When backpacking, be really careful with how much you are taking with you! A heavy backpack is a burden. Just take the minimum you know you’ll need and leave extra things out. You don’t need 20 outfits, you’ll generally just end up wearing whatever is on top of your bag anyway. Leave those high heels at home, you can go out in sneakers as well.
A good backpack
A drybag
Travel towel
Swiss army knife
Charger pack
Hiking boots
Waterproof jacket
Padlocks
Filter bottle
Headlamp
Medication
Camping gear
Hydration salt
Probiotics
Camera (I personally love my Canon 80D with Tamron 18-400 lens)
6. Board the plane/bus/train/hop in the car!
And off you go on your amazing adventure of a lifetime!
Want more concrete ideas or examples? In this article, I explained exactly how I quit my job to travel in December 2018.