As we plan our trips to Southeast Asia, Africa and Europe I continue to find the same things, and I am frustrated! Almost all of the blog posts, videos and Instagrams are of young backpackers traveling the world and how you can travel like a backpacker too, or about how to take a week or two vacation somewhere.
What if you want to be different? What if you want to live by your own rules when you are in your 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond? I have grown past the backpackers lifestyle, I don’t want to sleep in hostiles however, I want to travel the world and live on my terms, not by what society tells me I am supposed to do. I am going to continue my freelance career and hubby will be doing some consulting while we are on the go.
Because of this I am spending hours digging through information that doesn’t apply to us because we are doing things different than most people. So I have decided to write about our trip & lifestyle from the perspective of people like us who may just want to break the societal rules.
Here is what I know so far. It is very easy to find amazing hotels in Thailand and not spend more than 100.00 per night including breakfast. It is possible to travel through the country cheaply without jumping on a songtaew or mini-van. We have booked VIP buses for 12.00 per person, flights for 33.00 each and ferrys for about 24.00 per person.
Let’s start at the beginning. We decided we wanted to travel for 4-6 months and we knew we wanted to do it as cost effectively as possible because, to be honest, we would like to keep traveling as long as possible. The first thing we did was cash in our miles on our credit card to book our business class tickets. We use two different credit cards that give us mileage and use those for our monthly expenses instead of a debit card. This means every month we are earning points to book trips for free. So, this saved us about 2,000.00 before we even leave the country. And we get to travel in comfort. (I can’t believe how excited I am about these comfy accommodations and perks even though I hate to fly.) We also get passes to the airline clubs once a year so we saved those to use for our long layover in Europe. This way we can relax in comfort, eat for free, and save more money.
Next thing we have done is establish a budget for hotels, food, travel and activities. We know some of the places we are staying are cheaper than others so we will work on saving money in expectation of Europe being expensive. In Thailand we are staying in so many great places that are under 100.00 including breakfast!
I can’t wait to share pics of our hotels and adventures! We are diving, going to elephant sanctuaries, hiking, and hopefully a cooking class. Not to mention touring my absolute favorite toy company-Plan Toys!
Here is our first stop in Bangkok to spend the night and get acclimated before we hit the road. I will share more of our itinerary in my next post.
There are plenty people like you who do this. Maybe I’m just lucky to know quite few and hope to return to this lifestyle one day too. If you haven’t read nomadicmatt.com yet check them out and you might find some useful info. My friends use vrbo/homeaway frequently to have a more authentic experience and have a direct link to locals. Enjoy your travels and stay safe!!! I look forward to following your adventures.
Thank you for your reply. I have read nomadicmatt.com and just completely forgot about it. I am excited to read it again. We are thinking about doing Housecaring as well as we travel. Thank you for the input on vrbo and homeaway!