Another Chase Credit Card Offer To Get You Flying For Free Faster!

I’m always on the lookout for new credit card offers that can help me more quickly accumulate points to fly for free. I can’t remember the last time I paid for an international flight, and I’d like to keep it that way. I keep a running tally of points that I have with each airline to know where I stand for upcoming trips. And given that I tend to fly to Asia so often, I especially try to keep my United points replenished. Sure, United is only a so-so airline, but given that UA is part of the Star Alliance that means I also get to fly on some great airlines like Thai Airways, Lufthansa, Swiss Air, Singapore Airlines, and many others.

I love flying to Southeast Asia for free!

Well I came across this Chase credit card offer that I think I’ll be hitting up next. It’s for a Chase Ink Plus card where the first year $95 fee is waived and you get 50,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months from opening the account. So after spending $5,000 I’d end up with a total of 55,000 points which is only 10,000 points shy of a free roundtrip ticket to Thailand, Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia or several other countries that I like to visit. So basically to me those 55,000 points transfer into like $1300 of free travel!

This card is a business credit card, but in reality anyone can have a ‘business’ in the credit card world. So don’t worry if you don’t already run some full-time business yourself, although that would be perfectly fine as well. If you don’t already have a business in mind that you can claim, then just know that you can easily claim something as simple as selling things on eBay or etsy as a business. Seriously, something as simple as this will work.

And if you think you might have a hard time meeting the $5,000 spend requirements to get the bonus then you might try sending and receiving up to $1,000 per month on Amazon Payments. Maxing that out would leave you with only needing to actually spend $2,000 in the first three months which should be easy for most people, especially with Christmas coming up.

Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 in the first 3 monthsNo $95 annual fee the first yearNo foreign transaction feesTransfer points you’ve earned to participating frequent flyer programs like United Airlines at a 1:1 valueEarn 5x points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at office supply stores, and on cellular phone, landline, internet and cable TV servicesEarn 2x points per $1 on the first $50,000 spent annually at gas stations and for hotel accommodations when purchased directly with the hotel

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National Car Rental Travel Truth Contest – Free Car Rentals And A $500 Prize!

Here’s another contest for winning some great travel items. One lucky person will receive two pieces of luggage from Swiss Army and a $100 American Express gift card, altogether worth $500! You can also guarantee yourself some free car rental days just by participating.

First, National Car Rental is running a ONETWOFREE offer whereby you become eligible for getting a free rental day for every two days your rent a car. Just go to the website and enroll into the Emerald Club. If you are already enrolled into the Emerald Club you can still register for the ONETWOFREE special offer that ends January 2013.

On top of that, we’ll also be selecting one person for a prize package worth $500! To participate all you have to do is post your favorite Traveler Truth in the comments of this blog piece or in the comments of our Facebook page where we will share this blog piece. A Travel Truth is your number one rule for the road – something like ‘pack light and bring only what you need’, ‘cook your meals instead of going to restaurants’, or even something more philosophical like ‘One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.’

Swiss Army WT Wheeled Tote

We will accept Travel Truth entries until Monday, November 5, 2012 at 10am CST. At that time we will choose our favorite one for the The National Car Rental Travel Prize Pack valued at $500. This prize consists of 3 things: 1) a Swiss Army WT Wheeled Tote bag, 2) a Swiss Army WT Deluxe Garment Sleeve, and 3) a $100 American Express gift card. How cool is that?!

You can also guarantee yourself some additional free car rentals with National by doing the following things. First, if you email a screenshot of your Travel Truth comment on our blog or Facebook page and also include the name of our blog (How To Travel For Free) and your Emerald Club number to OneTwoFree@ehi.com, you will receive one free rental credit that goes towards the ONETWOFREE program. So instead of getting one free rental after paying for two rentals, you get one free rental after paying for only one rental.

Swiss Army WT Deluxe Garment Bag

Additionally, if you take part in the Travel Truth conversation, enroll in the ONWTWOFREE program, and refer your Facebook friends or Twitter followers (there will be an option to share once you sign up), you will automatically receive another free rental credit for ONETWOFREE. Again, these credits give you one free rental after paying for only one rental.

So free car rentals and a chance to win some great travel luggage from Swiss Army and a $100 American Express gift card! We look forward to seeing your Travel Truths in our blog and on our Facebook page!

Travel well!

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“Pretty Woman” to Travel? A Controversial Way to Travel for Free

Last week in USA Today, I ran across a method of traveling for free that I’ve never heard of before, and that quite frankly was perturbing to me. I wanted to investigate this further, and find out what others thought about this:

Eros2810 is a 39-year-old, 6-foot-tall entrepreneur with no kids, an annual income of more than $1 million and a yen for exotic travel.

Lemonhoney3 is a 22-year-old student nurse/bartender/model who wants to “have fun, laugh, love” and believes she deserves “to date someone who will pamper me.”

He has money but apparently no one to travel with him. She is attractive but lacks the funds to travel. The website MissTravel.com puts the two of them together — with Eros2810 paying for exotic, high-end vacations and Lemonhoney3 along for the ride. In fact, the MissTravel tagline is “Who needs money, beautiful people travel free!”

MissTravel, which claims to be the “first online dating website to combine travel and romance,” is either a stroke of genius or really, really offensive, depending on your perspective. I wasted no time contacting this company, and even talked to a person who’s traveled with them (keep reading!).

I did a little more investigating, and not surprisingly, came across a lot of controversial articles and posts about it. One of my favorite websites, Jezebel, ran a really funny story by Lindy West called The Dating Website Where Rich People Take Pretty People on Fancy Vacations, Which Is 100% Definitely Not Prostitutey at All. In this story, West writes:

Attractive people. Why should they have to “pay for stuff” and “get jobs”? And rich people! Why should rich people have to “develop social skills” or “think of their partners as human beings instead of just collections of measurements and 1990s birthdays”?

So…the big incentive at MissTravel is that by going on enough creepy trips with enough rich dudes (and/or ladies, I guess), you can eventually “earn” enough “points” to be able to go on a real trip all by yourself? That’s the prize? Getting the f**k away from these dudes? (And/or ladies? I guess?) That’s reeeeeeeeeally taking the long way around, you guys. You could just, you know, get a regular job.

I contacted MissTravel.com immediately, and was responded to within two hours by Jennifer Gwynn, their public relations manager. She put me in touch with Christelle, a woman who has been on a trip with a “Generous” member and has several more lined up, to Cancun and Bali. I asked Christelle some questions and here are her responses:

Have you ever done this kind of thing before?

Before signing up for miss travel, I had never done anything like this! I didn’t even realize that the concept existed! The only trips that I had been on were with friends or significant others, and I had a much more limited budget for those trips.

What made you sign up for Miss Travel?

I signed up for a sister site, which led to the link for Miss Travel. It seemed like an awesome concept. The fact that someone like me, who loves to travel and see new places in her spare time, could get trips completely paid for, was really, really cool.

How long before you were invited on a trip?

I started getting trip suggestions, winks, and messages right away (within the first couple of days).

Did it feel weird to you? What do you think about the “sugar daddy” aspect?

A few of the trip suggestions from the guys did feel weird…I didn’t feel comfortable accepting from (most) of the guys, simply because I am a single mom with a lot to protect! I love the sugar daddy aspect. If you would have asked me a month ago…I would have said that is ridiculous!! Now, after shopping sprees, trips, dinners, etc. only my first month in, just for hanging out with guys that are (mostly) actually cool…I really feel that it is awesome…especially for a girl like me who has never had really nice things before. It is such a treat to be spoiled.

Photo from the MissTravel blog

Do you feel that you compromised yourself to travel in this manner? Did you feel pressured to perform favors (such as sexually) or feel that was expected as “part of the deal”?

I don’t feel that I compromised myself to travel in this manner, because I have used my discretion in full. I have taken the time to get to know these guys a little through phone/e-mail/etc., and googled their names to make sure they match up with who they say they are. I did not feel pressure to perform favors. The process for me has been so natural. It’s like having a boyfriend without the drama, strings, and time constraints to name a few. I definitely did not and do not feel that favors are expected as “part of the deal” at all.

What is the best thing about Miss Travel, from your experience?

The opportunity to go out and see amazing places, meet amazing, successful people, and be spoiled with gifts and luxury…things that have never, ever been options in my life!

Any negatives?

So far, I have not experienced any negatives from the site. Everyone I have talked to has been respectful. Because I go through the pre-cautions of making sure I am talking to the right person and getting to know the guys, this weeds out any negatives, for me.

Christelle seemed to have no clue that what she was really doing was acting as nothing more than a paid escort, though of course that’s just my opinion. Just how is this different from Julia Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman, exactly? In a follow-up email, Christelle wrote:

I’m not doing anything wrong for ME. What I do care about are my two babies who deserve the best education, clothes, etc even while their mommy is in graduate school. Their dad walked out so it’s up to me to provide.

That last sentence is perhaps most telling of all. In fact, she also wrote this to me via email:

Someone called me a gold-digger because of it and that doesn’t bother me…these guys want to blow their money it seems, and they usually want more of a relationship (even if non-traditional) than just casual…in my experience so far. What really sucks are the girls out there (like I once was) meeting guys at the bar n getting played or screwed over n get absolutely nothing out of it.

Perhaps Christelle, and other women like her (and maybe men, too) on the site, have just had such bad experiences with dating and previous relationships, and maybe made such really bad choices in that arena, that this seems like a better option. Is it a solution for people with limited options, outside their money or their looks?

Of course, that’s just my opinion. What’s yours? Weigh in, please!

jQuery( window ).load( function() { if ( jQuery(".wpadvert script[src*='shareth.ru']").length > 0 || jQuery(".wpadvert .sharethrough-placement").length > 0 ) { jQuery( '.wpadvert' ).css( 'width', '400px' ); }setTimeout(function(){if(typeof GS_googleAddAdSenseService !== 'function'){new Image().src=document.location.protocol+"//stats.wordpress.com/g.gif?v=wpcom-no-pv&x_noads=adblock&baba="+Math.random()}},100);} ); I'm Shelley, a journeyer and learner of the world, freelance journalist and author, yoga chick and dog lover. I pound the keyboard from home barefoot every day, and while my boss is demanding she also occasionally lets me have the early afternoon cocktail. I think not going into an office or collecting corporate paychecks are very good ideas, though not always profitable. I have written for National Geographic, USA Today, Globe Pequot Press, Andrew Harper Traveler and CNN, among others. Neither the New York Times nor Johnny Depp have answered my letters yet. I love yoga, wine, and books, though not necessarily in that order. I believe in karma. Mean people suck. If I could have any dream job I would like to be a superhero. I don't know how to whistle. I was once robbed by a monkey in Nepal. My mantra is "travel with a purpose."

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The $100 Startup – Travel More And Live The Life You Want!

Chris Guillebeau is a successful serial micro-entrepreneur and the inspirational blogger on his awesome website, The Art Of Non-Conformity. For years now he has been providing unconventional strategies for life, work and travel. He’s a huge traveler himself having already visited 188 countries. He now has only 5 more countries to go to reach his goal of visiting all 193 by the ripe old age of 35! And he recently came out with a new book titled The $100 Startup that shows you how to lead a life of adventure, meaning and purpose while still earning a good living.

So given that I am co-hosting the Austin event this year for Meet Plan Go which is dedicated to encouraging and teaching others how to travel the world and given likewise that my partner and I are dedicated to the same with our website and book, How To Travel For Free, I was very excited to get to read Chris’s new book and tell our readers about it. Also, I’m personally right in the midst of starting a couple of new small businesses with the goal of obtaining additional financial freedom to travel even more than I already do, and without a doubt reading this book has already helped me in many ways.

In a nutshell, The $100 Startup lays out concrete ideas and instructions on how to create and market a unique offering of goods and/or services that provide real value to customers who are willing to pay you for them. And throughout all these insights Chris weaves in 50 interesting, real-life, case studies on how people like you and me were able to find their niche and restructure their lives to be able to do the things they want to do.

As you can imagine Chris is a very busy man, but last week I was lucky enough to get to ask him a few questions about The $100 Startup which I think is going to change the lives of many people all over the world for the better.

Me: What do you think makes your book different from other similar books on starting a business?

Chris: Well, hopefully it’s not a business book—at least not a traditional one. It’s a manifesto for freedom, combined with a specific plan of action based on a comprehensive study. The key words are specific and actionable.

Me: Do you think a certain innate personality is required to become a successful entrepreneur?

Chris: No, but I do think a couple things help. First of all, it’s good to be curious—to be willing to ask questions and pursue different lines of inquiry. Then it’s important to take action. Almost everyone has a business idea of some kind, but most people don’t do anything with their idea. Our research found that success was much more likely with those who took action within 30 days instead of planning for months without actually doing anything.

Me: The $100 Startup seems to be really focused on starting a small business doing something you are passionate about which is a wonderful thing. But what about the people whose number one passion is to have the freedom to travel long-term? In other words, their main focus is to find some way to earn money from a business while on the road for an extended amount of time, even if the potential business doesn’t necessarily involve work that they are passionate about. Do you think this book can still help them?

Chris: Well, that’s still an example of a classic lifestyle business: a business that supports your life instead of the other way around. There is more than one way to pursue freedom, but most people don’t want to lay around on the beach all the time. They want to do something meaningful and fulfilling. So I’d say The $100 Startup will be most helpful to everyone who wants to find their own freedom by creating something valuable for other people.

Me: For people who are looking to start a business that can eventually be run while on the road traveling is it a prerequisite for them to be pretty computer literate?

Chris: It depends on the business. We talked with all kinds of people, including those who run offline or retail businesses. It certainly does help in many cases to be familiar with the online world, but I don’t think you need any highly specialized, technical skills.

Me: I know you are a huge traveler and that you’ve been a very successful entrepreneur even though you constantly take great trips. What’s been the biggest challenge for you as far as running your business affairs while on the road, and how do you work through that?

Chris: Good question. I’ve found that I’m fairly good at maintaining my different businesses while on the road, but I’m not so good at starting new projects or creating long-form content such as book manuscripts. For that reason, I travel half the time and stay at home the other half of the time. When I’m home, I’m working on the big things. When I’m on the road, I’m still working, but not as strategically—and that’s OK, since I love travel.

Me: What single piece of advice would you give to someone who really wants to be a mobile entrepreneur so that they can travel the world, but they are hesitant to take the plunge because they’ve never started a business of any kind before in their life?

Chris: I’d encourage them to look at all their skills and life experience, evaluating those things to see where a viable business model might be found. Sure, they haven’t started a business, but that doesn’t mean they are unskilled. Chances are, the skills or experience they’ve developed in one area may help them to create a business model in another. For example, Sarah Young had never ran a retail business before she opened her yarn shop, but she was an experienced knitter. She noticed there was no yarn shop in her hometown that provided a friendly, welcoming environment, so she decided to open Happy Knits. There are lots of examples of people who have followed a similar model for online, location independent businesses as well.

Therefore, start with what you’re good at, and then work relentlessly at figuring out how that thing (or those things) can be transformed into something valuable for others. That’s how many successful, $50,000/year or six-figure micro businesses are built.

* * *

So there you have it. Chances are that if you are reading this article you are the kind of person who wants the financial freedom to travel more and live a life that doesn’t include continuously working 9-5 for someone else. Starting you own business is certainly one of the ways that can help you accomplish this. And if you’re looking for inspiration and details on how to get started with very little money, this book is for you.

Travel well!

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FREE Nights At Hotels All Over The World With These Great Credit Card Offers!

Because Shelley and I often stay for free at someone’s house, condo or apartment via a home exchange or at an inexpensive guesthouse when we travel, I usually don’t pay that much attention to credit card offers that offer bonus points for free stays at hotels. But I came across a few recent hotel-related credit card offers that are so good that I may take advantage of them.  It’s nice to have a bunch of airline points saved up for free flights for future trips, so why not have some points saved up for free hotel stays for those times when a home exchange or an inexpensive guest house just isn’t available? Plus, I know that at least some of you out there already do play the points game with hotels.

With very little effort you could easily rack up enough points and certificates for several nights of free stays at these major hotel chains which have properties located all over the world.

THIS OFFER NO LONGER VALID

$85 annual fee waived for first yearEarn 50,000 Bonus Points after your first purchase spending $1,000 in first 3 months from account opening – enough points for up to 6 free nightsIf redeem for four nights in a row then get 5th night freeReceive 1 free night stay e-certificate after account approval and each year upon account anniversaryRedeem Marriott Rewards® points at Marriott properties, including Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, and Fairfield Inn & SuitesNo foreign transaction feesApply Now: Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card

$75 annual fee2 Free Nights at Hyatt properties worldwide after spending $1000 in first 3 monthsReceive 1 Free Night each year on your anniversary in any Category 1-4 propertyNo foreign transaction fees and Smart Chip protection on international purchasesApply Now: Hyatt Credit Card

Travel well!

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Contest To Win A Trip For Four To Disney World!

Photo by mfkathika via Flickr.com

We are ALL ABOUT traveling for free whenever possible, and here’s yet another great opportunity to possibly win a free trip. And this one is especially good for families with kids, since the Grand Prize winner will receive a 3-day, 2-night stay at any moderate or deluxe Disney sponsored hotel. There will also be five additional winners who will win a $100 Visa gift card.

This contest runs through September 28, 2012, and the winners will be announced October 5, 1012. You can easily put your name in the hat multiple times too via different social media activities like tweeting, liking a Facebook page and even blogging.

First of all, go to the Who Says You Have To Act Your Age contest page and scroll towards the bottom to see where you can sign up via Facebook or email. You need to do this in order to make sure your social media activity is recorded for entries under your name. Once you’ve signed in you will see the various ways you can enter multiple times.

When you sign in you will also notice that you can see how many total entries there are in real time. As I am writing this there are only 199 total entries which really isn’t that many. In other words, there aren’t millions of entries, so the odds are not all that bad, certainly better than a lottery ticket which you have to pay for just to play.

And again you can enter many, many times. First, just become a fan of BodyLogicMd on Facebook and follow them on Twitter – that’s two entries right there. Then you can make one tweet mention and one tweet hash tag per day for one entry each. If you were to do this every day, then that of course would be several more entries. And for you bloggers out there, you can even post about all things Disney one per week for five entries per blog post. Again, that could be a lot of entries!

If you are looking for a solid chance to win a free trip to Disney World this is probably about as good as it gets!

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MegaBus: Cheaper than Driving

Here at How to Travel for Free, we’re all about traveling for free or as close to it as possible, as much of the time as possible. When you’re going on relatively short road trips, most of us (myself included) just hop in the car. But recently I discovered the MegaBus, and it was a great find!

I was going to San Antonio overnight for a work-related event, which is about an hour and twenty minute drive from my house. As I said, normally I would just jump in my car and drive—but I found out that overnight parking at the hotel I was being put up in was $26 (and not covered by the client). With sky-high gas prices, I did a quick calculation and started looking up trains and buses for the short trip.

That’s when I found MegaBus. They don’t go nearly everywhere, like Greyhound does; here in Texas, their main routes are between Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. But the great thing about them is they offer express, non-stop service. The cost of the fare when I looked it up the day before my trip, from Austin to San Antonio? $3 each way.

I quickly did the math: gas alone to drive my own car the 82 miles (each way) would cost at least $23, not to mention wear-and-tear on my car. Using the IRS method of car travel costs of 50 cents per mile, driving would cost me $108 (including the parking). Versus $7 on the MegaBus (including the $1 online booking fee). It was a no-brainer.

Also, the total trip time was only one hour and 40 minutes—just slightly longer than my own estimated driving time, and I hate driving anyway. A bus (or train) allows me to sit back and read, work or play on my laptop, etc.

Click for the mobile app!

The MegaBus had a convenient pick-up location in Central Austin, and when it pulled up it was a very clean, very nice double-decker bus. Seats were comfortable, there were A/C plugs at each one (I charged my mobile phone) and free Wi-Fi. The drop-off location in downtown San Antonio was only blocks from my hotel.

I would highly recommend that travelers looking to save money—and the environment, as any time we take public transportation such as buses and trains it is much better environmentally—take a look at MegaBus. It’s basically like Southwest Airlines for the road; and I’ve heard that if you book further in advance, fares are as low as $1. Travel on!

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Meet Plan Go: Stop Living in the World of “Should”

Are you blackburried? Tired of looking at your cube walls, and wondering why you put yourself through endless corporate politics, meetings, and paperwork? Are you too focused on living life the way you think it “should” be, instead of on what you really want?

Time for travel — perhaps extended travel, or even a career break. That’s where a nationwide initiative called Meet, Plan, Go! comes in.

Meet, Plan, Go! (MPG) is an organization that is dedicated to helping people fulfill their dreams of really traveling to experience the world, well beyond the two-week vacation. There are MPG groups active in ten cities around North America, and on October 16, 2012 these ten cities will host events that will provide attendees with inspirational speakers, discussion panels, breakaway sessions, resources and giveaways to help people connect and plan their own extended travel or career break. Many of the resources, and ways that MPG folks travel, are much like the methods that we use and detail in our book — meant to drastically save money, in many cases making world travel far less expensive than remaining at home.

Keith and I attended the Austin MPG event last year, and then early this year we were flattered to be asked to become the co-hosts of this year’s event.  For my part, I was motivated to accept hosting because of my passion for travel as a part of life, and even a part of work. If you are really passionate about seeing the world, there is hardly a better way to do so than to craft your life, and work, to make travel a part of it.

Keith says that when we received the opportunity to co-host the Austin 2012 event, it seemed like a  natural fit.

“Travel has been an extremely positive part of my life for a very long time, and I genuinely believe it has made me a better and happier person. Because of this I’ve always encouraged other people to get out and see the world as much as possible too, and whenever others have asked me for travel advice I’ve always gladly offered to help them as much as I can. We get to help others learn how to travel longer and more deeply and have fun while doing it. What could be better than that?”

The Austin event will be held at Abel’s on the Lake on October 16, beginning at 6:30 pm for mingling, with the program starting at 7 pm. Tickets are only $20 each, and include an e-goody bag with all kinds of giveaways and discounts — including a discount code for 50% off our book, How to Travel for Free (or pretty damn near it!).

Our featured keynote speaker is our friend Jefre Outlaw, who has been traveling the world nonstop for the past three years, visiting 96 countries and 250 cities on six continents. After Jefre’s opening talk about his travels, we will introduce four additional panelists and open the panel to questions and discussion. Our travel experts include:

Jefre OutlawTiffany and Billy Toomey, who spent a year in Costa Rica, with their four children!Greg Davis, who quit the tech business to travel the world — and subsequently launched a new career as a travel photographer.Jean Warneke and Barbara Baggett, who run JB Journeys and are dedicated to sustainable travel around the world.Sofia Martinez, who as a college student has taken advantage of study abroad opportunities.Jade Whitman, who works for AirBnB.com and is a consummate backpacker.

“Because we live in a society that doesn’t find value in taking time off, we wanted to create a community for people who want to break out of the norm and travel for an extended period of time,” says MPG co-founder Sherry Ott. “This is the only seminar out there designed for people who are looking to do long term independent travel.”

At these events you will meet and learn from individuals who have fulfilled their own dreams of traveling around the world. Their real-life career break stories include the unique challenges that all long-term travelers must overcome in order to claim their freedom on the road. They will not only provide you with inspiration, but also tips on how they did it, travel planning resources, and answers to your questions.

“We want career breaks to be more acceptable in America,” says Ott. “In fact, it is our goal to see a career break on every resume. And with the support of our 10 inspiring hosts, their panelists, and our sponsors, including Intrepid Travel, Insure My Trip, BootsnAll, and International TEFL Academy we are making great inroads to achieving that goal.”

If you are in Central Texas, Keith and I would love to see you in Austin on October 16 - you can buy tickets here. Or, attend one of the other Meet, Plan, Go! events in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, South Florida and Toronto.

In the meantime, check out some incredibly awesome resources that MPG provides:

Regular, informal happy hours to connect with other travelers; we had our last one on September 6, at the Firehouse Hostel & Lounge in downtown Austin.Planning resources including airline tickets, product reviews, insurance and more.An entire “Briefcase to Backpack” section with stories from people who have been there before, and done it, on a wide variety of subjects.Myth-busters about career breaks and long-term travel.

Travel well!

Shelley & Keith

New York Times nor Johnny Depp have answered my letters yet. I love yoga, wine, and books, though not necessarily in that order. I believe in karma. Mean people suck. If I could have any dream job I would like to be a superhero. I don't know how to whistle. I was once robbed by a monkey in Nepal. My mantra is "travel with a purpose."

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Making Money While On The Road

One of the biggest potential obstacles to long-term travel is being able to sustain yourself financially while no longer having a ‘regular’ job. We hear this from people who work for someone else as well as from people who work for themselves. But there really are so many ways to generate income while not living at a fixed address, especially now given how wired the world is with the internet.

Wand’rly Magazine’s How To Make A Living On The Road

About a month ago, the online (of course) Wand’rly Magazine came out with a terrific article on How To Make A Living On The Road that we both highly recommend reading if you are serious about wanting to work and generate income while hitting the road for a long stretch of time. The article goes into the philosophical reasons for working while on the road while debunking many of the myths about it, statistics on the people who actually do it, and some basic planning steps to get you started. It likewise gives real life stories of people from different walks of life who have made the big jump and are working from the road right now.

It’s all very inspiring, but here’s a condensed breakdown of what I got out of the article:

Usually the biggest obstacle to making a living while on the road is not a lack of opportunity, rather it is some unsubstantiated fear of what other people might think of us if we do so.You do not have to be young to do this. People of all ages are working and making money while on the road, even people with families. In other words, being older or having kids is no excuse.It doesn’t matter whether you have blue collar or white collar skills or both. What matters is being able to creatively find ways to use those skills to earn money.Unless you travel lavishly, you very likely will not need to make as much money as you do at home in order to live well and have fun while on the road. By living a more simplified life you just don’t need as much money to pay the bills, a concept that is incredibly liberating.Yes, it’s important to plan out to some degree what you are going to do to make money, but it’s even MORE important to actually start taking the steps necessary to make it happen.The more you have your personal finances under control the less pressured you will feel and the more likely you will succeed.Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Chris Guillebeau’s blog, The Art Of Non-Conformity

Reading this article also reminded me of a blog that I follow called The Art Of Non-Conformity that is written by Chris Guillebeau. Just like Chris describes it, the blog is a home for unconventional people doing remarkable things. And he is a big traveler himself, so he knows a thing or two about making money while on the road. Although he has written and continues to write many useful and inspiring blog pieces, I found The Instant Consultant and The Six-Step Plan To Establish A New Income especially helpful.

So if you are dreaming of earning an income while traveling long-term or even just living a freer, less conventional life-style, it’s really up to you to make it happen. The opportunities are out there. You just have to rid yourself of the self-imposed doubts, think creatively, and work hard to reach your goals. Getting to live the life that YOU want to live is the reward.

Travel well!

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Meet Plan Go and Andrew McCarthy: You can travel more, better and cheaper!

One week ago, on October 16 2012, ten cities across North America were holding Meet, Plan, Go events—designed to give inspiration and resources to help people make their travel dreams a reality. Speakers, panelists and other experts who have already fulfilled their own dreams of traveling the world shared their stories.

One of these events was hosted by yours truly, Shelley Seale and Keith Hajovsky, in their hometown of Austin, Texas. The real-life career break stories told included the unique challenges that all long-term travelers must overcome in order to claim their freedom on the road. Our speakers provided inspiration, and also tips on how they did it, travel planning resources, and answers to your questions.

The evening was started with an introductory video from Meet, Plan, Go national; in which founder Sherry Ott chatted with actor & travel writer Andrew McCarthy about his travel philosophy—which resonates incredibly with our own, here at How To Travel for Free!

Sherry asked Andrew what his response is, when people use money as their excuse for not traveling. “It costs too much, I don’t have the resources; You must be rich, I could never do that.” Here is Andrew’s response:

Jefre Outlaw speaks at Meet Plan Go, Austin

Our keynote speaker Jefre Outlaw reiterated this. Jefre has traveled almost non-stop for the past 3 years, traveling in and through 96 countries, 250 cities and 500 sacred sites on 6 continents. After a health crisis caused him to re-evaluate his life priorities in 2009, Jefre decided to follow many others into the adventure of downsizing his U.S. life and up-sizing his world view by backpacking the planet.

Jefre shared his experiences and why he hit the road. He also shared that during the years he has been traveling, he has not dipped into his savings at all, hasn’t spent one penny of them. He cited two books that helped him generate some location-independent income: The Four Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss (a book that Keith and I have both used and learned from); and The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley. You might also look at a new book by Chris Guillebeau and recently reviewed by Keith: The $100 Start Up.

Jefre also traveled extremely close-to-the-ground, staying for free using methods like couch surfing and hospitality exchanges; or extremely cheaply in hostels. With the combination of an extremely low-cost travel method, and generating a small bit of income from the road, Jefre was able to fulfill his dreams of circumnavigating the globe — he’s done it three times now!

Panelists Greg Davis, Tiffany Toomey & Billy Toomey

And Jefre (as well as our other panelists Greg Davis, Sofia Martinez and Tiffany & Billy Toomey) reiterated what Andrew McCarthy says: It’s much cheaper for them to travel than to stay at home. Greg happily shared that he spent $17,500 on his one year trip around the world (much less than a year’s lifestyle at home in Austin costs him). The Toomeys, who took their four children and lived in Costa Rica for a year, spent a little over $26,000 total in that year. For six people. Try that at home!

The moral of the story? If you really want to travel, money should never be your obstacle. In How To Travel for Free (or pretty darn near it!), we share in detail all these types of methods in which you can travel for far less than you spend at home, and how you can finance your travels or make money from the road.

Travel Well!

Shelley and Keith

I'm Shelley, a journeyer and learner of the world, freelance journalist and author, yoga chick and dog lover. I pound the keyboard from home barefoot every day, and while my boss is demanding she also occasionally lets me have the early afternoon cocktail. I think not going into an office or collecting corporate paychecks are very good ideas, though not always profitable. I have written for National Geographic, USA Today, Globe Pequot Press, Andrew Harper Traveler and CNN, among others. Neither the New York Times nor Johnny Depp have answered my letters yet. I love yoga, wine, and books, though not necessarily in that order. I believe in karma. Mean people suck. If I could have any dream job I would like to be a superhero. I don't know how to whistle. I was once robbed by a monkey in Nepal. My mantra is "travel with a purpose."

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