To ask how she's doing it? *lighthearted*

[Justaonetimeting]

Ok I know I'm jealous before anyone says anything!
A work colleague of mine left nearly two years ago to go travelling in South America. I follow her on SM and her obscenely beautiful photographs of cascading waterfalls, hidden beaches, sunsets, party's, beautiful children and cute stray dogs genuinely cheer me up, especially during dreary lockdown.
We spoke a bit before she left and I know that she rented a house and had saved a bit but not that much as she had only been back for a year since travelling extensively before.
My question is how do people maintain this life for a year plus? She never mentions teaching English or doing any sort of job, in fact she's very detailed in her descriptions of her daily routine of yoga, bike ride, surfing, dancing and writing poetry! But even youth hostels in third world countries cost money! Food costs money. Bikini tops and bike repairs cost money. Is she living in a commune? I know people who go travelling for six months or so and I know people who relocate for longer periods of time for paid employment. I must admit I don't know anyone else who has managed to stay for a year plus in another country without working. How is she doing it?

Inheritance? That’s just the sort of thing it should be spent on (in my opinion!)

Sold her house? Inheritance? Credit cards? Could be a few things! Lots of South American countries are cheap once you’re there, so she might not need a large bank account if she’s living frugally etc.

Also, these things often aren’t what they seem - she may be sharing photos of the glamorous bohemian side on Instagram and keeping quiet the waitressing or pot washing she’s doing to fund it.

She could be working in hostels to make her money go further, do a few shifts on the front desk or cleaning etc each week and you get to stay for free - still plenty of time for yoga. Suprised she's stayed through covid though, everyone I know doing that sort of thing came home as movement and job opportunities were limited

@CloudFormations I know a lot of things aren't what they seem.
@Parkandride yes she's stayed in the same district of the same country and has mentioned not being able to travel out of the area. Lockdown in paradise though, would be nice!

It can be very cheap to travel if you stick to budget food, transport and accommodation and don't drink. I worked out that my travelling in S.E. Asia cost about £350 a month once I'd got the flights out there. That was ten years ago and meant it was cheaper than the rent for my single room when I returned.

I also met a fair few people who were working small IT freelance jobs for UK firms to keep themselves topped up with cash and had been out for years that way, could she be doing that? Definitely harder to make the sums work doing local jobs because of lower pay but that's all part of the experience for many people.

I did a few years of living like this.
What you see on SM is a few moments of each day, I can almost guarantee that’s not the daily reality.

I worked remotely, either teaching English online or being a virtual assistant, I would do that for half the day and spend the other half of the day having an adventure, if I was planing a trip or a travel day I would spend several days just working all day to earn enough for it.

It was an amazing experience and I loved all of it.
But the amazing photos you see aren’t the whole story.

@ElementalIllusions that's brilliant, good on you for getting out there! Where did you go? I'd love to do it but I'm a terrible English teacher. I taught kids in Madrid for a bit but it didn't go well! They all had a cracking West Country accent by the end of it

My friend doing this received a sizeable inheritance, she's never held a job down over a year since

@Sciurus83 sounds lovely! I suppose, if it came down to it, would we look back and regret buying a house and not going on more adventures?

I'm glad she's had a great time and some adventures, because this last year can't have been much fun, whatever the images suggest.

@Justaonetimeting
They all had a cracking West Country accent by the end of it grin
That would suggest you did a good job!

She might have inherited some money, or saved more than you thought. She might be working on the side but just not mentioning it in her posts. She could have taken out a loan. She could be living very frugally. There are lots of ways.

Everyone I know who did this apparently without working at the same time had wealthy and generous parents. Had I the money, I'd do the same. I'd love to travel again. It's one of my biggest passions. But it costs.

@Justaonetimeting
They all had a cracking West Country accent by the end of it grin
That would suggest you did a good job!