To wonder how people afford to travel the world?

[chatterbug22]

I’m 20, partner is 23. No DC yet but a consideration within the next several years, as a personal choice I would rather be done in 20s if at all possible.

We both have good jobs and our first home together, we’ve chosen to rent under one of the government schemes with the idea of buying our house at the end of a time period. We get a hefty discount to enable us to save for a deposit on the house however we won’t necessarily buy it as it’s a 2 bed and in time we’ll need more space. Redeeming quality is that it’s way cheaper than extortionate private rent, does not tie us in and enables us to save for a house deposit - whichever house that we choose.

I only just turned 18 when COVID started kicking off hence haven’t had the chance to experience youth and travel, etc. It is something me and my partner both want to do but despite our good, full time jobs, I can’t foresee how we will manage to do this yet also save for a house? I am on a healthy salary for my age and so is my OH with overtime. We are in the north so not having London prices. I don’t know how others get on. I made the mistake of joining a Facebook group for people who travel and seriously can’t comprehend how people leave or quit their jobs for 3-6 months and just go round the world? Where does the money come from? How do you sustain yourself out there? I do appreciate the people in those kinds of groups probably represent an extremely small margin of society but all the same, it leaves me wondering if I’m boring or if they’re out of touch with reality

It’s so hard to know whether to put savings for a house first, or trust that income will go up once we have fully progressed in careers and not to worry about that right now.

I would love to just spontaneously book Bali but also, responsibilities!

Thoughts?

I’m 31. Travel doesn’t have to be so expensive! I used to book £20 Ryanair flights to more off-beat locations during the shoulder-season which cost next to nothing. Places like Romania, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Turkey, Armenia, Ukraine (not now, sadly) and Georgia were cheaper day-to-day than being at home. I ate local food, took public transport and stayed in smaller, boutique hotels. Of course, if you want to party, go to festivals, stay in 5* accommodation, travel in peak times and take taxis/private tours, it will quickly become expensive.

Now I have a dedicated savings pot for travel and put about £200/month in there, with my spends rounded up too. I spend more on my trips these days, but I still have a preference for cheap destinations.

It’s also worth looking on Skyscanner on the ‘search everywhere’ function and then by ‘cheapest month’. I also like to see which countries have a weak currency to choose a bargain. Right now, places like Argentina, Turkey, Lebanon and Egypt are really good value for money.

If you want to quit your job and travel, it probably does require saving up first, and then it’s a choice between a house and travel. Personally, I always prefer shorter but more trips than long-term travel, as I get travel burn out fast.

I saved some of my student loan, worked 3 jobs, across 7 days a week. I did that for 7 months. Moved back to my parents. Meant I had £10k (which went a long way in the late 90s/early 00s).
I also got a working holiday visa for Australia, and then for NZ. Headed off, aged 21, with my mate, and a backpack each. I came home 3 years later. Some of it was tough, I had a terrible haircut (self given) and fatty clothes - but overall, I had so many incredible life experiences.
Did a good bit of side trips whilst in that part of the world, and went /came home via parts of Asia.

I became disabled in my late 30s, and I know i couldn’t do some of those trips now. I have a home with a mortgage, good job, did further study, etc. But, you will never take those memories and experiences from me. Do it now, if that’s what the passion you have.

A lot of people work on the go, like volunteering at a hostel for a free bed in a shared staff bedroom, or doing workaday where you help out on living projects in return for food and accomodation. Once you start travelling in hostels and the such, you generally meet people who tell you where you can find these kinds of opportunities. For example I found a legal squat whilst hitchhiking in Europe and stayed there for a month, with no rent and all the food was from a farm someone worked at or dumpster dived. All housemates had to help out with cooking, housework, etc and it was very chilled out. Or some people save up for a camper van and find work on the go to pay for petrol and food and camping spots.
But if you're doing well, my advice would be to stick at it and get your home bought because you will want some security to come back to if you ever decide to travel. You can always save for travels once you've saved for your deposit and then rent the house out for a year or two.

Save up, often living with parents so lower rent. Do it, there's time to be a grown up later

Become a youth minister or pastor, they seem to get jobs all over the world at the drop of a hat, an instant community of people wherever they go giving them free stuff on hand and if you get a gig in a really wealthy mega church you will be loaded into the bargain - just like jesus intended 🙄

Like PPs I worked three jobs: main Mon-Fri, evening bar work, weekends 12 hour shifts in care homes. Lived in shared accommodation and saved. Then I travelled to Australia through Asia and worked there for 6 months to pay for further travel and the cheapest air fare home.

Then I repeated the working, saving, living in shared accommodation to save for the deposit on a teeny flat in an obscure part of London.

I didn't own a home until my 30s, but I made plenty of really good friends through travelling and flat/house sharing, who have been a joy and support through those child-rearing years.

DH travelled through work, but tended to go to 'interesting' places that wouldn't be on most people's bucket list. Now we are retired we are beginning to set out again; having always had the saving habit we can afford a bit more comfort. We can catch up with those old friends in far-flung places.

Honestly?
They’ve either got a nice, fat deposit from the Bank of Mum and Dad, or can live at home rent-free indefinitely.

You’ll see a lot of nonsense about ‘enjoying your youth’ However:

The issue with buying a house isn’t salary. It’s the deposit. If you’re also paying cutthroat private rent you’ll be in an endless cycle of saving and saving, only to see house prices rocket out of reach just when you think you’ve got a chance.

If you’re in one of the groups listed above, great. If not, then get your house etc sorted. You don’t have to go on epic trips, or take a long time off, 2 weeks etc a year of holiday is enough. But stability first.

Also don’t listen those privileged enough to be born at the right time and buy when prices weren’t crazy. We live in very different times now. Prices are rocketing, there’ll be lots of instability and ‘travel’ is the last thing you want to be bothered about.

I could easily do it now. I'm 38 and my DH is 40. No kids. We've got £70k saved between us. Our mortgage payments are £650 a month, but if we rented it out we'd get £1200 a month. So we could easily cover ourselves for a couple of years of round the world travel.
But when we were younger we didn't go away at all - not even for one night in a bnb - for the first 7 years that we were together. Through this time we saved a house deposit while other friends traveled and enjoyed holidays.
You can't always have everything at once and have to prioritise what's more important to you.

I lived with my parents for half of my 20’s and was able to save up to travel. I also paid off my student loans . A lot of my friends were buying houses or cars and I received some criticism by a few people for my choices but travel was important to me . I had a few seasonal jobs so I would work for 6 months solid ( lots of over time) and save save save and then go travelling . I would move back home and repeat. I did that for about 4-5 years and I don’t feel that I wasted money .

I’m now 37 and bought a house several years ago. If I hadn’t travelled I might have bought a house sooner and/or had more career progression. There’s no right or wrong way to live life and travel was something I wanted to experience before I settled.

Opposite to me , my parents didn’t travel until they were in their 50’s. They focused on their careers first and have no regrets with that.

There is no age limit to travel & you have time on your side

The Internet has made travel much easier

You can get great bargains if you avoid all school holidays, Xmas, Easter & other local festivals, out of season deals

I graduated from uni, got a decent job that paid pretty good for a new graduate and saved for just under 16 months. I was renting in the town I'd been to uni in and was used to living like a student. I carried on living like this, in a house share with other students, cheap nights out etc (was a great time!) and managed to save loads. I was away for 16 months in the end and worked for 6 months in Australia to save up a bit more to continue my travels. I was 24 when I went away. I met my husband at uni but we broke up before I went travelling, settling down was a million miles from my thoughts. We got back together when I got back from travelling and we bought our house aged 32, we were seriously saving for around 3 years, also got married and had our first child at 32 too.

You can't go travelling and save for a house (unless you are very rich or have a trust fund). Anyone I know who settled down in their 20s didn't go travelling, most didn't go to uni either. My uni friends mostly did what I did, graduated, worked a while, travelled, moved in late 20's, bought houses, marriage and kids early 30s.

I'm so glad I did what I did, I had an amazing 20s. Was quite funny my parents thought I was throwing my life away going travelling (I turned a PhD down before I went away). My aunty was stressing I wasn't going to get married and have children (I was 24 🤣). My brother stressed that I needed to be paying into my pension and thought i was a fool to go. I did eventually return, my life wasn't in tatters and I did the PhD, got married and had 3 kids. I'll be working until I die but hey so will most people, I dont think 16 months not paying into a pension made much difference. My 20s were fab, if you can do it, see the world whilst you are young and without financial ties.

My old rule used to be work in high-paying countries, spend in the cheap ones.

It used to be possible to base say 18 months of travel around a 1 year working holiday visa in Australia (UAE or wherever), and use earnings from there to cover Asia or wherever.

Pre-Ukraine, you could get to China on the trans-Siberian for

Travel was a priority for me when younger, so I saved money to go on trips.

Funnily enough I have very little desire to travel now, it all seems so exhausting!!

Glad I did it when I was young. Doesn't seem as much fun as you get older!!

Work when you are are away.

Get a second job now.

Realise you’ll start with the house stuff later than everyone else and just go for it.

Tbh you and your boyfriend may not still be together once you’ve been travelling….you might.

I was 28. I got a 3 month period of leave from my job as a ward sister. I rented out a room in my house. I bought a ticket and left. It's harder now though. My first house cost 35k!

At your age a lot of them will still be living at home and paying less than market rate, so save up that way.

I did my traveling in short bursts. One month or two/three month bursts and I would usually do one trip per year. I also used my student loans a couple of times to for trips. When I began working, I would do maternity covers, so job has an end date then I would travel.

I would save for trips. I had a part time job for a couple of them. I had a good social life but I have never really been a pub person. Didn't bother with take-aways and don't drink tea or coffee (no Starbucks etc). I lived in London and had cheap rental flat - I was lucky enough to sublet my flat to friends for a couple of trips.

I was 39 when bought (mortgaged) my first flat.

At 20 the very, very last thing on my mind would be getting a mortgage and ‘settling down’. There’s time enough for that later. Like most, I was still at university at 20.

I got a PhD (chemistry) and then took various international jobs that allowed me travel regionally during weekends and holidays. I’m 40 now and have seen around half the world’s countries like this; and lived in 5 of them. I’ve been in Switzerland for the past decade.

Didn’t buy my first house until age 34, but I bought with cash (in France) earned entirely from working in pharma in Switzerland. We’ve now got a house in Switzerland and a flat too. My DC are 5 and 3.

If I’d have bought a house and had kids with my BF of age 20, my world now would be far smaller and poorer (I’d be divorced, for a start). So my advice OP is don’t be in such a rush to ‘obtain’ the trappings of adulthood - houses and children sap a lot of cash and time over long periods and once you have them, you can’t just disappear into a Bali sunset if you feel like you’ve made a mistake.

If you can’t do ‘travelling’ because of your priorities, then do holidays. I did a long break in a far country and a short one in a nearer country every year. Cheap flights and self catering air bnb. 20 countries in 10 yrs is fun too.

I travelled the world after finishing uni, having worked part time during term (throughout) and full time in the holidays.

I think that’s the trick - when I left I had zero ongoing expenses (rent, bills, pets, insurances etc).

I literally moved out of halls, dropped my stuff at my mum’s, packed a case and went!

I don’t think I even had a phone contract back then!

To do it now I have a job, 2 mortgages, 2 sets of tenants, a car, bills and taxes to pay is a logistical nightmare

Completely depends on circumstances and responsibilities as well as how you travel.
Happy to work and travel, do odd jobs and stay in hostels?
Or are you looking at luxury trips?
I know people who saved for a year, dropped everything and did a year's travel, doing some odd jobs along the way. They then came home and started saving up from scratch - they were around your age.
I also know people who saved up. For a house worked hard at their careers and were sorted by 25, and now regularly go on luxury trips every year and multiple city breaks
I also know people that had children young and have never been abroad, but are saving for a villa for a getaway.
Entirely depends on your restrictions, choices and what is more important to you.

I travelled before university and worked abroad and travelled afterwards. Didn't buy first house till I was 27. Took long holidays after that - 5 or 6 weeks away. Arranged in my job to do that.

Mostly got it out of my system, though now planning to retire at 57 so can do some more travelling.

I adjusted my lifestyle to fit the travelling.

DH and I were together in our early twenties, in reasonably good jobs and renting in house shares with friends rather than own house, so we were able to save up for a year or two and then went travelling. We traveled in reasonably cheap countries like south east Asia on an extremely low budget. Traveled from October to April then straight back to jobs and saving for our first flat. This was early 2000s though.

I'm 35 and did the travelling thing in my 20s and have no regrets - you could also considering a working holiday visa so you get to travel and live abroad while earning. That's what I did and ended up staying there for years and loved it.

I returned to the UK a few years ago to find pretty much everyone I know owned homes, were having kids etc and it was quite sobering how far off those things are for me, financially. But everyone I know who had kids early and settled down wish they'd had more of a life before they did that, so swings and roundabouts