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I can’t believe, 365 days have passed since we started our nomadic life! Love and Road is celebrating 1 year of life, 1 year of traveling around the world. The biggest life decision we have ever made, and we never imagined we would be so happy with it! So raise your glass and have a drink with us! Now it’s time to look back and realize how far we have gone!
In October 2014 I wrote our first Love and Road review, six months traveling around the world. The post was written during a bus trip from Pamukkale to Cappadocia in Turkey. This time I’m putting my ideas together on a train trip from Amsterdam to Berlin, and from Berlin to Barcelona [you can include some awesome parties between my work]. Not sure why, but long trips make me more thoughtful and the stunning landscape passing by my window makes me realize how lucky I am.
I believe you already know how this story started, our wake-up call, how we sold everything, packed our bags and left Brazil. So now let’s go to the point: our travel costs and secrets of 1 year traveling around the world. How we did, how much we have spent, best moments, curiosities and misadventures. Laughs, tears, fears, and achievements. A true roller coaster of emotions with breathtaking views from different corners of the world. Now I can proudly say that Rob and I are professional travelers, digital nomads, travel writers, and happy people!
1 year traveling around the world – Love and Road in Figures
A world map, many dreams, and some money in the bank account. That’s how Love and Road started. To celebrate our first anniversary we gonna share with you our best and worst travel moments, and at the end of the post, you are going to find our travel bill. I´m sure you will be surprised by the amazing things we have done and the amount of money we have spent.
Continents – 3 – Africa, Asia, and Europe
Countries – 15 – Cambodia, Croatian Islands, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, Mônaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand and Turkey.
Cities – 83
Different Languages – 13 [Arabic and Thai were damn difficult]
How to travel around the world? Always searching for the cheapest and smartest way!
To cross all the 15 countries, we traveled by different methods. Our backpacking trip around the world can be split in:
By Bus – 28 trips
By Car – 2 trips
By Flight – 17 trips
By Train – 11 trips
Hitchhiking – 8 trips
Boat – 7 trips
To search for the best prices for flights we use Skyscanner, it´s perfect to compare routes and fares. Most of our train trips were done in Europe with Eurail Pass, super easy, flexible and we could travel everywhere with just one ticket. Bus and boats are usually run by local companies, so the best way is to check with travel agents or at bus/boat terminals. For car rentals have a look at Discover Cars. What we like about them is that they don’t have hidden fees, so you can book without surprises.
BUY YOUR EURAIL PASS HERE!
Where to stay while traveling around the world? Our home far away from home!
We are big fans of comfy + clean + well located & cheap accommodation. Following these features we stayed in:
Airport – 2 nights [Marseille and Kuala Lumpur]
Apartment – 76 nights
Boat – 1 night
Bus – 4 nights
Campervan – 2 nights
Car – 1 night
Friend’s house – 16 nights
Hotel – 101 nights (We always use AGODA and BOOKING.COM to book our hotels)
Hostels – 25 nights
House Sitting – 50 nights [Best way to travel and get free accommodation. We wrote a comprehensive guide to introduce you to the secrets of House and Pet Sitting]
Shared House/Apt – 78 nights
Tent – 9 nights [Moroccan Desert and SONUS Festival]
Most of our accommodation is booked through Airbnb [be smart and get 20% off on your first booking] and two of our favorite websites for hotels and hostels: AGODA and BOOKING.COM. They definitely have the best offers, good properties and you can trust in their service.
JOIN TRUSTED HOUSESITTERS TODAY!
Long term travel X Shopping X Packing
The world is our address, but our house is tiny, tiny. Everything needs to fit in two 50L backpacks and two 5L small front bags. That’s it, nothing more!! Clothes, shoes, toiletries and electronic stuff. Talking about shoes, our friend Sarah put together great tips on how to choose the best travel shoes. Said that you already assumed that we can´t buy souvenirs or new clothes everywhere we go. All our purchases need to be done wisely, and every time we buy something new, an old one needs to go away. That´s what I call a minimalist style. 😉
We can’t accumulate stuff, nor carry an extra backpack. Our backpacks can only weigh 15 kg [the weight allowed on most of the low-cost airline companies]. So what did we do with our used stuff? We donated. We put everything in plastic bags and give it to people on the streets. A simple way to help and say thanks for all the blessings we received during the year.
So far, in this 1 year of traveling around the world we bought:
» New clothes:
Rob – 4 T-Shirts + 2 pair of jeans + underwear + socks + 2 jumper + more jackets [He lost two jackets this year] + gloves + 2 pair of runners.
Nat – 4 tops + 2 pair of flat sandals + 1 skirt + 1 pair of jeans + 2 legging + 1 jacket + gloves + woolen hat + 1 pair of a fashion Converse + 1 pair of flip-flops.
When we left Asia at the beginning of April, we bought some warm clothes to face the springtime in Europe. Thank God we got more jackets and gloves because in April the weather was pretty chilly on the old continent. For the first time on this trip around the world, we got temperatures below 5ºC. To travel light you always need to think about the weather of the places you will travel to, spring and summer are definitely the best seasons for backpackers.
» Electronics:
1 MacBook Air [Rob´s old notebook stopped working while we were in Bangkok 🙁 ]
1 Power Strip [one of the most clever and useful purchases. We became heroes at airports and stations]
1 Mouse
1 Computer charger
» Toiletries:
I’m a nomad but never a dirty and smelly traveler [keep this in mind when you travel]. During 1 year of traveling around the world, I managed to keep some of my everyday beauty routines – body moisturizer, facial cream, and my black/grey nail polish… Not just me, Rob is also looking after himself… Age is coming!
» Travel Gear:
1 Small Backpack
2 Dry Fast Kingcham Towels
» Books:
This past year was dedicated to learning about travel and blogging, so all our energy was focused on exploring the world and write about it. Among the many online books and articles we read, three of them have a special place in our bags [these are the only printed books we bought. Sometimes we are old school]
– Travel Writing (Lonely Planet) by Don George
– Travellers French by Elizabeth Smith
– The Greatness Guide by Robin Sharma
Medical issues in a nomadic lifestyle
After 1 year of traveling the world, I’m the one who got sick more times. On our journey, we had some
scary moments.
» Sickness Scores:
Rob – 6 (3 times flu, cold sore crises, diarrhea and a twisted ankle)
Nat – 9 (I won!!! Back pain, mosquito bites allergy, urinary infection, keen injury, 2 times flu, diarrhea and migraine crises)
Most of the problems were sorted out with medicines we bought at the local pharmacy. We have travel insurance but didn’t need to use it. Although when I got really sick in Boracay, Philippines, we contacted our travel insurance to ask how we should proceed in case I needed to be removed from the island. World Nomads assisted us with everything. Luck me, the doctor solved my problem at the local clinic. More about international travel insurance here.
Impressions from the Road
» Food – As much as we love Italian food, the title of best food goes to the mouth-watering Papaya Salad we ate in Thailand.
» City – Barcelona is still on the top of our favorite cities. It has everything we love!
» Beach – Boracay Island. My favorite is Puka Shell and Rob’s is the White Beach. One word can describe the Philippines: Paradise!
» Best Party – Hard to choose, but the unpretentious Best Bar at Khao San Road stole our hearts and feet. Many nights dancing with good music, cheap drinks and awesome people. I´d say Berlin comes in second place!
Long-term travel is made of people, not places!
This is definitely not a travel resource, it´s more our impression from the people we met. In 1 year of traveling around the world we made many friends, some just for a few days others for a lifetime. Each one has made a special contribution to our story, helped us to be better people, to travel wisely or blog with more professionalism. I don’t have words to say how thankful we are for meeting you, new and old friends. I’m sure we’ll catch up soon, somewhere in this beautiful world, because friendship is stronger than distance and time!
» Most Handsome Men – Dutch [OMG!!!!]
» Most Beautiful Women – Dutch [I think there are no ugly people there]
» Friendly People – Pinoy. Filipinos are the most friendly and helpful people we ever met. SALAMAT!!!!
» People with strange behavior – In Porto [Portugal] people talk to themselves all the time.
» Party Animal People – Spanish and Berliner. Different styles of parting but both of them know how to have fun!
The dark side of a nomad life
Some people think that being a full-time traveler is just fun, parties and beach time. Actually, our travel adventure goes much further than just joy and happiness. Doubts, fears, sadness, and homesickness are feelings that haunt us from time to time.
During this year we lost one of our cats and the other one is battling cancer. She is with Rob´s parents and I´m sure they are giving her lots of love and cuddles. The feeling of being far away hurts, and it makes me think that if something bad happens with our beloved family we’ll be too far to help them.
Money issues are always on our way too. As our long-term travel is funded by our savings, our money is running out. Every day we try to find ways of earning some cash and make the blog our main income. [So please, help us keep the blog running by booking your hotels, flights, tours and insurance here on the blog].
Worst Moment of Traveling
The worst moment in 1-year backpacking around the world was when we crossed the border from Thailand to Cambodia. It was our second trip to Cambodia and after 7 hours on the bus we refused to pay a bribe to the Cambodian Immigration Officer. We knew he was charging everybody more than the correct amount of money and we said “No”. As a consequence they held our passport for 1 hour, we couldn’t leave the border or go back to Thailand. We felt threatened and unsafe. In the end, after a lot of discussions, they let us go.
It’s not about money. It is about principles, about right and wrong. We had money to pay the bribe but we refuse to do it.
Best moments of traveling around the world
It´s not easy to choose the best moment, during this 1 year of traveling around the world so many things happen, so many dreams came true, adventures of a lifetime and experiences that transformed us deeply. After a long talk, we figured out that our Best Moment was the day we started traveling, the day we left our comfort zone and faced the nomadic life. Our best moment is the day Love and Road was born, the beginning of our adventure.
We are not ashamed to say: we have regrets
It was our first week in Thailand, we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the culture and style of life in Chiang Mai. As silly tourists we booked a day tour including rafting, hiking to waterfalls and Elephant ride. That was an awful decision! I regret we booked the riding elephant tour. At the moment was fun, but after I discovered what they do with the animals and how they are horribly treated.
Lesson learned, now I always try to check the background of the tour company we choose. Elephants Farms in Thailand are a big issue and many animals are in danger. If you want to be in contact with these beautiful giants you can visit rehabilitation centers, help and learn. Nomad is Beautiful wrote an amazing article about Elephants and Tourism in Thailand.
What makes us proud:
We have done so many things in this 1 year of traveling that I´m happy with who we are and what we have achieved. One thing that makes us really proud is that every place we came back, like Bangkok, Istanbul, Reggio Emilia, and many others, we had an open door from a friend. People we met during this journey that keep helping us, treating us as family and friends. No words to express how happy and blessed we feel… This is what travel and friends are all about. Thanks so much for believing in us and on our dreams… Grazie, Merci, Gracias, Salamat, Tesekkurler….
Lessons from a long travel journey
Travel changes you! No doubt about it! During this past year, Rob and I learned to be more tolerant and respectful. When you get in touch with different cultures, religions and people, you discover that we are all the same, a person full of dreams, fears and seeking happiness. Our nationality, our color, sexual choices… Nothing matters. We are the same and we need to love and respect each other! When you let the prejudice go you discover that life can be easier, lighter and happier. This is the second lesson: Try your best to be happy and simple. I´m sure you won’t regret it. Simple things can make a big change in our daily life!
Something called relationship – Traveling the world with a partner
After 1 year of traveling around the world together, we are still alive and in love!! So I must say our recipe is working!! What is our love secret? Nothing special, just respect, share the same dreams and support each other. We had bad moments, sadness, crying crises [that was me 🙁 ] and joy… All the time we were together sharing the feelings and looking for the bright side. Not easy to live 24 hours together for 365 days… But with love and fun everything is possible!!! [I don’t want to be cheeky, but I also think that together we are awesome!! 😀 ]
The Bill! How much does it cost to travel around the world?
Now we come to the truth, the figures of 1 year traveling around the world. Since the beginning, we tried to respect our travel budget: $ 50 USD per day – per person. Inspired by Nomadic Matt`s book [How to Travel the World with $50 Dollars per Day] we found cheap ways to travel. We never gave up of fun and good moments, and we discovered a bunch of interesting and smart ways to save money. Another way to save money is to travel slow, there are countries where you can live for more than 3 months on a Tourist Visa.
Our cost of 1 year traveling around the world: [all the figures are in US dollars and it´s for two persons]
Transport – $ 9,172 [intercity and local transportation]
Accommodation – $ 6,882
Eating out – $ 6,280
Party – $ 3,542
Groceries – $ 2,611
Attractions – $ 2,117
Insurance – $ 2,200 [one year worldwide coverage]
Purchases – $ 1,222
Pharmacy – $ 660
Doctor – $ 223
Souvenirs \ Post – $ 194
WC – $ 20
Others – $ 3,526 [internet, lockers, books, beauty, visas…]
The total cost of 1 year traveling around the world = $ 36,532 or $ 18,268 per person. The average per person / per day was $ 50!
During this 1 year of backpacking, we stayed longer in Europe, Turkey, and Thailand. In all of them for more than 2 months. Here is how much we spent on each one:
» Europe, 151 days: $ 13,369 [average per day = $ 88 or $ 44 per day/person]
» Turkey, 78 days: $4,904 [average per day = $ 62 or $ 31 per day/person]
» Thailand, 90 days: $ 5,492 [average per day = $ 61 or $30.5 per day/person]
We traveled a lot and managed to keep our money under control! Congratulations to us!! On the blog you can find the breakdown of our costs by countries, so far our series “How much Does it Cost to Travel to” shows the costs of travel in Portugal and the Philippines. During the next months, we’ll be publishing more posts about our expenses around the world. Stay tuned 😉
Time flies when we are having fun! It doesn’t feel like one year has gone by, but when I look back I´m proud to see how many things we have done! How many places we visited, people we met, the cultures we experienced and how we became better persons and travelers. I dreamed of this life, but I never imagined it could be so amazing and full of surprises. We finished 1 year traveling around the world, our first year as digital nomads, 365 days of a nomadic marriage, and we have never been so happy!
I can say out and loud: We are Love and Road, we are long-term travelers, bloggers, party and sun-seekers. We are Rob and Nat and we want to inspire you to travel more and better because discovering the world is one of the most rewarding things you can do in your life!
I hope you enjoyed our story of 1 year of traveling around the world, and hope we could help you to plan your dream trip… Would love to hear your opinion about our story and how we can make it better for you! We started Love & Road as our own life project, but now it includes you and all our readers! Thanks for being part of this amazing journey!
You two are such an inspiration!!!Please keep travelling and sharing your experiences! I love a good budget breakdown, (seeing real numbers!). I especially like the House Sitting option!
Thanks again!
LP
Hi LP!
Thanks for you comment! And don’t worry, we are not planning to stop travelling anytime soon! 🙂
On April, we´ll celebrate 2 years on the road, and we are planning a big post with all the figures and details for our journey! Stay tuned for it!
All the best,
Nat
Hi, this is such an inspiring read! My girlfriend and I are also planning to travel the world for 1 year to Southeast Asia for 4.5 months, Oz and New Zealand for 5 or 6 weeks overall and then Central America for 2.5 months and South America for 3.5 months. We are still in the very early stages of planning and researching though so none of it is set in stone. But did your 50 US$ per person per day also include air fares and accommodation aswell or was that separate? I’ve read this blog a few times and I’m sure it does say it’s all included but I’m just making sure because it seems impossible. I really hope it’s possible because we are going to have pretty much the same budget as yourselves. Once again, brilliant read! It looks like you are having a fantastic time 🙂
Hey David!!
So nice to read your comment!
Welcome to Love and Road!
And Yes, it´s possible to travel under 50 bucks per day. It seems to be impossible, but it´s real! We do manage to travel around the world including everything (air tickets, insurance, water…) on a 50 usd per day per person! The secret is the balance, some days you spend more, other less, and at the end of the week you do your balance and keep your estimated budget. Southeast Asia is very cheap, you can live well with half of the money. However, places like Europe, Australia, New Zealand are not cheap, so you will have to be more conscious about your spends. The trick is, save money in Asia to have some extra cash for the other destinations. South America is not as cheap as SEAsia but you can live well on a tight budget, and have fun. The best advise is to research a lot before booking and buying stuff. And keep record of all your expenses.
Here is some other article we wrote about travel budget and how to save money on the road:
How we´ll survive» http://buff.ly/1YLJSO9
6 Months Travelling – Costs and Secrets» http://buff.ly/1QVMqKl
How Much does it cost to travel Spain» http://buff.ly/1QVMx8D
How Much does it cost to travel to Portugal » http://buff.ly/1mJI7oY
Also, on our “Travel Resource Page” you can find all the websites we use and recommend to book hotels and find the cheapest air fares. I´m sure using them you can find nice deals and save money 😉
Hope this will help you too plan your travels! Wish tons of fun and amazing places! Go and explore the world!!!
All the best,
Nat
Very inspirational — you two will have a long and happy life together no doubt after such an indescribable experience together!
Can you imagine this trip on your own? Would it be dangerous? Did you meet nomads traveling alone?
Are you planning another trip?
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Hi Nora!!!
Thanks for the lovely words!
Answering your questions, I can imagine doing this trip on my own, I have met a huge amount of people (especially women) that travel solo and they enjoy a lot. I don´t think it would be dangerous, actually this is a misconception, the world is safe, and there awesome people out there, you only need to look after yourself and learn how to behave in different cultures. Most of the solo travellers we met are super happy, healthy and safe.
We are still on the road, 1 year and a half of non stop travelling. Now we are in Chiang Mai Thailand, next stop Vietnam. No plans to stop travelling.! 🙂
All the best and thanks for stopping buy.
Nat
What an awesome post! Looking forward to your next year on the road! Oh, and I lived in Holland for 5 months, and definitely agree. Everyone is so amazingly good looking! : )
Hi Dave!!
Stay tuned, we are almost celebrating 2 years on the road and the post will be huge, full of information and details! However some things never change, and I still think that the Dutch people are the most good looking one 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Nat
Nice post! I haven’t seen one that was put together quite like this! I found it extremely helpful! Did you guys do the marathon through Angkor Wat?! You’re photo looked like it near the top of the post! We did that last year! I’m sorry to hear about the frustrating experience at the Thai/Cambodian border. We were able to SE Asia as a couple for an average of $50/ day as well! We are planning a European backpacking trip so to see you guys were able to maintain that budget is promising for us! We are very excited! Thanks for sharing your experiences and finances from your amazing year!
HI Megan!!
Thanks for stopping by!!
Yes, we did the Angkor Wat Half Marathon and it was a very special experience, made us forget the bad situation at the Thai/Cambodian border. About the budget, it´s not easy to keep in under 50 usd in Europe, but it is possible. Places like Paris, Amsterdam, Rome are very expensive and you end up spending more money, but then you move to small cities or even to Berlin, Barcelona, towns where your money stretches a lot more. In the end you try to keep the balance, this is the secret!
Wish you a wonderful journey through Europe!!
🙂
All the best,
Nat
Hi ,
Such an awesome post. Really inspiring one. But 1 thing I would like to ask you, Y haven’t you traveled to India?
Thanks Hemali!!
India is on our plans, we didn´t have the chance to travel around there yet, but I´m sure go soon! 🙂
This was fabulous. You have provided me with a lot of ideas and a lot of inspiration.
Hi Dawn!!
So happy to read your comment!! Hope your ideas work perfectly and you have tons of fun travelling around the world!
All the best!
Nat
Hi
We are a 50+ couple who have the same dream to travel the world to experience all the different cultures before we are too old to enjoy it all. Would you suggest taking on this type of adventure in the mid 50’s knowing that parts of your body are not as young and fit as when you are in your thirties?
Hi Kerryn!!
My answer is: Go for it!!
It´s never too late to travel! Maybe the pace of travelling on your 50´s won´t be the same as our pace of travelling in our 30`s, but it doesn’t matter. We were inspired to travel to world by a Canadian couple we met in Istanbul, during our honeymoon, and they were on their 60´s. They decided to sell the house, quite their jobs and have one year travelling… After spending a few days with them, we decided that we should do the same… 🙂
All the best!
Nat
It was very enjoyable and inspiring to read about all your adventures and lessons learned. As fellow full time travelers (in our 60’s ), we can relate to so much of what you shared. It occurred to me that even folks who never venture away from home have experiences that are sometimes sad, sometimes happy and occasionally terrifying. Life is all those things, whatever you do. But the rewards of traveling are so rich. There is so much to experience in this world that we just can’t stay at home! There is always a new adventure just around the corner and it is clear from this post that you both are still thirsty for that.
Hi Neil!!
What a lovely message! 🙂
As you said both of us are addicted to travel and I´m almost sure there is cure for that! But I´m not worried, as long as we have energy we will keep going!
Wish you all the best!
Nat
Just finished reading your blog. You really did a great job!! So many of us dream to travel and discover new places, get acquainted with new culture and new people, but few dare, fewer are able to take the step forward and really do it…you did it!! Congratulations. I particularly liked the part where you said “Travel changes you! No doubt about it! During this past year Rob and I learnt to be more tolerant and respectful. When you get in touch with different cultures, religion and people you discover that we are all the same, a person full of dreams, fears and seeking happiness. Our nationality, our colour, sexual choices… Nothing matters. We are the same and we need to love and respect each other! When you let the prejudice go you discover that life can be easier, lighter and happier. This is the second lesson: Try your best to be happy and simple. I´m sure you won’t regret. Simple things can make a big change in our daily life!
” – touched me to the core…respect!
– A fellow blogger
Cheers!!
Now that we celebrate two years on the road these lessons are still true. Be happy, live simple and respect the people around you, three little things that make life easier and happier!
All the best,
Nat
Inspiring post and am really happy to see you both enjoying the world and places, as it should be done. Great tips and love the house sitting options. Smart way to earn some bucks (and the free acco 😉 ). When are you visiting India ?
– A travel Blogger
Glad you enjoyed!
India is in our travel list but not sure when we gonna visit it.
Cheers!
Very inspiring post. 🙂 But I want to ask are these countries, you visited safe enough to travel alone?
Hi Harshita,
I have never felt unsafe or in danger while traveling through this countries. Of course, if you travel alone you need to be more careful, but I’m pretty sure you will be fine. There are more good people than bad people in the world.
My recommendation is always to have a good travel insurance, research about the place you are traveling to, and keep contact with family and friends.
Cheers,
Nat
I love to read this I hope I can also travel for 1 year.
Very interesting and insightful post, love the detail in here! Wish you many years of successful travel 🙂
Tks Bruno!
A lot of travels to you too!
Cheers,
Amazing blog. Really inspiring to read.
Wish you two the best.
Thanks Jay!
Wishing you all the best too!
Cheers,
Nat
So I am looking into doing this with my husband but my biggest thing is the cost and how much we’ll need to save to do it. my question is, my husband is a big ol’ whiner and does not want to stay in Hostels. I know he’s okay with camping and cheaper hotels but he does not want to share with other people like in Hostels. what were your prices including accommodation wise?
Was there any specific reason you stayed in a few placed for longer or was it just personal preference? I am interested in visiting a lot if different places in Europe especially but also Asia, Africa/the middle east, and south America. when it comes to north America, my personal opinion is that we can do that later on when we start a family because we live in north America. (I also wanted to spend a few days down in Antarctica with the researchers!)
also did you always eat places or did you buy groceries? So many questions!
Hi Jennifer!
The costs on the blog post are including everything, from accommodation, groceries, and all the bottles of water in drank in one year, we kept track of everything.
If your husband doesn’t like hostel, no problem, you can find good deals on hotels, specially in Europe and Asia. Sometimes it’s cheaper to pay for a double room in a simple hotel, than for two beds in a hostel. Your choice of accommodation will impact into other costs as food and transportation. If you stay in Airbnb apartment you can cook, so you save by doing your groceries in a local market, but if you stay in a cheaper hotel you might need to eat out every day. It’s all about finding the right balance. There is no right or wrong, it will be your trip, you have to enjoy it.
We stay longer in a few places because we need to stop and catch up with blogging work. Also because after a while we couldn’t handle the pace of changing places every 3 or 4 days. We got tired of packing, unpacking and not having enough time to discover the city we were visiting. Again, you two will find the right balance, you’ll probably start the trip with one pace, but in the middle of the road things can change. That’s the beauty of long term travelling.
Hope I could answer your doubts and wishing you two all the best!
Cheers,
Nat
PS: next month we’ll publish our article with the costs of 2 years travelling, stay tuned. 😉
Guys, you’re awesome and the only thing I would say is that your trip will start when you let go of your money and zero all savings and sources of money that you have available. You will love it!
Sorry Tisho… But that’s not my thing…
I always have to have my savings… hahahaha
Cheers,
Nat
Great post, and very informative. Definitely gave me some ideas for the coming year. I love that you spend a significant amount of time in each country instead of just rushing through to say you’d been there. I never really bought into the travel-on-$50-a-day, and didn’t think it was really possible. But when I see your numbers, I think it is! Thanks for posting those.
You are welcome Mary!
50 is our budget, but you can do it with more or less, it depends on your taste and way of travelling. The secret is to keep note of all expenses and use your money wisely, that’s how we manage to travel for so long. We just published the 2 years travelling the world round up, check it out!
Happy Travels
Nat
This is an amazing story that is so honest. I’m glad you kept the story of travelling realistic, Natalie.
Hi Agness,
Thanks for stopping by. It was an amazing year, with ups and downs as real life is.
Cheers,
Nat
Amazing blog . thank you for sharing it
wish you all the best
Thanks Hanna!
All the best to you too!
Nat
Hi Nat
How did you carry your money? did you split the money in-between? We are going to Vietnam, Thailand and couple of other countries and will take cash and cards but worried what is the best way to carry them.
Do you leave cash in the accommodation when out and about or always carry with you?
Thank you – you two are an inspiration.
Hi Babu,
We have a money belt where we carry our money and passports when we are traveling (buses, trains, flights…). At the hotels we split the money between us and hide in our bags, we always leave the bags locked in the room. While sightseeing the biggest problem is to loose your money and cards, so prefer to have them on your front pocket or inside a bag. In a few places you might encounter some pickpocketing problem, but in general, we found Southeast Asia a safe place to travel, safer than South America and some countries in Europe.
Thanks for stopping by,
Nat
Such a Wonderful Travel Description!!
Congrats for it and for the choice!!
One of my passions is to travel – And you are just “feeding” this passion with this Blog!!
!!!Bóra pegar umas dicas por aqui!!
Glad you liked Marcos!
E bora viajar 😉
My wife and I are retiring early at 59 1/2 years old, we are about 9 years away and will have to live off our next egg for 7 years until social security kicks in. We plan to travel around the world just like you have because it really takes us less money per year to slowly travel around the world than it is to live in the states according to my research. Your “Love and Road” is excellent and right up our alley. Hopefully I will see you guys around the world somewhere in 9 years. lol.
Hi Gerald,
So you still have a couple of years for planning your journey 😉
Not sure if you read this book, very helpful for budgeting.
Hope to see you on the road!
Cheers!
Hey Natalie Woww !! very nice images thanks for sharing with us your 1 Year Travelling life …such a nice blog. Great !!
Glad you liked Nitin!
This breakdown is awesome. It’s cool to see all the ways you traveled and places you stayed.
Hi Kirsten,
Glad you liked the post.
Cheers!
Thanks for that information, it is actually quite pretty!
Glad you liked!
Nice information. Thanks for this!
You are welcome!!
All the best!
Nat
Fantastic post, very much enjoyed the details.
Glad you enjoyed!
Safe travels!
It is such an inspiration reading this! I am 25 planning my FIRST time traveling for a year! It’s very overwhelming but your blogs have made it much easier! I will be traveling with a then 4 year old which I’m very nervous about! Any tips?
Hi Felisha,
We’ve never traveled with kids… but I would say to be smart on your packing. A couple of times we saw mums at the airport struggling with too many bags and the kid.
All the best on your journey!
Cheers,
I’ve never been more inspired!!!
I’m 38 and want nothing more than to quit my job and travel the world with my girlfriend(36).
We have no kids and no reason to continue working so hard to get by in our hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. We want to cash in our chips and travel the globe (SE Asia, Central America, Mediterranean, Caribbean,Philippines, Japan, Africa, NZ, Aussie).
We don’t know where to start. There are many details that we’re having trouble prioritizing(vaccines?, visas?, health care?, how to protect our money while traveling).
Any advice or guidance would be incredible. The fear of making a mistake before we even begin is sometimes paralyzing, but the world still awaits us.
Thank you for sharing your journey and for the inspiration.
Wishing you continued good fortune.
Ben
Hi Ben,
I suggest to have a “master plan” to begin with. An itinerary of the places you want to visit and from there you can research about vaccines, visas & other stuff.
If I’m not wrong Charles Schwab Bank doesn’t charge fees to withdraw money abroad. Have a budget and stick to it, some days you will spend more, in others a bit less. The most important thing is to find a balance.
Regarding insurance we use World Nomads and are happy about it, fair price, good coverage and when needed they were great.
Cheers!
This is nice. My wife and I are excited for the vacation we’ve booked in Europe to Spain and definitely we will go to the Canary. Tenerife is one of our eyeing place for our 1st stop 🙂 There so many thing we want to do from a page we’ve read
Canary is still on our travel list!
Hi
I am Ibrahim
I am also planning to travel around the world
Do you have an article that covers the documents you need to travel anywhere, how you carry your money, what to do in case arrested, how to exchange your money and such thigs
Thank you
Hi Ibrahim,
Regulations change from country to country. It’s easier to decide wich countries do you want to visit and check all the information with their embassies.
Exchange money is easy, you can do it in banks or airports.
And please, avoid troubles so you wont be arrested 😉
Cheers,
Reading your blog inspired me so much that my gF and I have decided to travel the world in 2019. We have a rough itinerary and are starting to put things into motion. I’m sure I’ll have tons of questions but for now I just want to say thanks.
Thanks for the kind words Nicholas!
Wish you guys all the best on your journey!
You share the traveling tips are very useful for me. Your blog is beneficial for tourist. I am glad to find it. There are so many developers working on this part but this is one of the best innovative post ever. Thanks for such post.
Happy to help Jeremy!
Nice travelling experience sharing of this blog stories are very impressive and World travel costs of travel tips.
Tks!
You have rounded up your 1 one year travel experience in such a beautiful way. Loved reading each part of your blog and yes pictures are amazing. Great write up!
Thanks Leni!
Super happy you liked the post.
Cheers,
Nat
Truly Amazing post, you guys summarized it fantastically. Loved the statistics !
Glad you enjoyed!
Give thanks to you for your details that you’ve distributed. It’s really ideal for me.
great work!
wonderful blog thanks for sharing
You are welcome!
Nice post. I love the way you explained
Glad you liked!
It’s a great post. Your idea and skilled management during travel are amazing. You did great guys! Thanks
Tks!
I never found such a good post. Seems your all trips were very interesting. Trip management by teams is awesome. I learned more from this post. Thanks a lot!
Glad you liked!
Galera! Aproveitando a quarentena pra ler quase todos, senão todos os vossos artigos! Bocês são f*das! ??
Vocês*
Valeu!!!!!
Hello Guys! We are a family of 4 people who decided to go on a yearly trip starting summer 2021, just now we started planning the trip. Your blog is just great, very inspiring , thanks for the information and data, really fun to read about your experiences as well as the difficulties you experienced. Do you have any recommendations for a one-year trip with children (15-year-old and 7-year-old). Thank you and keep enjoining your life.
Hi Beny,
During our trips we met many families traveling with kids. One thing we noticed is that involving the kids in travel planning is a great way to spark their interest in the journey.
Happy travels!
Hi guys
Great post, thank you for sharing, so inspiring
We are also wanting to travel for a year all over the world, we are wondering how you managed different climates, how to avoid extreme weather, and to create your best logistics pursuing best weather per place. Also helps with the packaging of course.
Thank you!!! please continue writing like this!
Hello Ana,
Tks for the kind words!
We kept following the summer, mainly traveling between South East Asia and Europe. In 2017 we decided to spend the winter in Europe then we bought bigger luggage and winter gear.
If you want to travel light I suggest South East Asia, you will always find warm weather.
Nat recorded this video giving packing tips.
Cheers,