Give Me Back My Five Bucks a quest for financial independence

Okay, I get how full-time travellers support themselves. They get sponsorships, volunteer in exchange for accommodation, they teach English, work odd jobs, travel slowly, they sell photography and ebooks, make a bit of money freelancing or from their blog… but for those that have been doing it for years – I’m talking about at least 2 or 3 years, I’m wondering… how are they saving for the future?

Clearly this is me being nosy. But don’t you wish they would talk about their finances? In fact, not only do I wish travel bloggers would talk about money, but I wish full-time travel fashion/style bloggers would as well. Seriously. I just love reading budgets and financial reports – which is why I do monthly goals and weekly spending recaps. :)

I’m sure that some travellers out there are making it work because their careers are location independent. But what about the majority of the full-time travellers? The ones who pick up the odd job working on a farm or serving at a bar – saving enough money to get through the next few months of travel, before they have to get a job again.

Most full-time travel bloggers talk about money in the now – how much it cost them to do something, how to find work while travelling, or how much income they need each year to keep on travelling. But very few (I haven’t found any) full-time travel bloggers talks about money in the future. Especially the ones who have plans to travel the world “forever.” I want to know how sustainable full-time travel really is. Because sure, you can likely scrimp and get by for quite a while, but I don’t consider that “sustainable” because you’re essentially living hand to mouth.

Because, eventually most travellers will have to stop moving, settle down, and resume a somewhat normal life at a certain point, right? I mean, they can’t keep moving and backpacking until they’re 90, can they? How will their children go to school? What about an emergency fund in case they injure themselves, or can’t make enough money to support themselves? How will they fund their forever travelling lifestyle when they can no longer work and are essentially “retired” from the workforce?

This is something I’ve been thinking about over the past few months, and I’m genuinely curious. After spending the last year in Europe, I liked having a “home base” to look forward to coming back to after each getaway. I don’t think I could ever be a full-time traveller. While I think I made a decent living, my priorities lean too far in the other direction. I truly admire those that can make a life out of travelling, and I’m intrigued by the financial aspect behind their everyday lives, as well as their plans for the future. But the PF blogger in me wants to see numbers! Is traveling “forever” actually possible, while also saving for retirement?

Do you ever find yourself wishing travel (or fashion) bloggers would post real budgets/numbers/plans? Or am I the only nosy one around here… :)

Iceland is one of those places that you always dream about going to, but usually never get there. At least it is for me. I personally have been fascinated with Iceland for years, but honestly I would never go on vacation there. The flights are just too expensive, and there are so many other places to visit in the world.

So, I was so thrilled to find out that on my way home from Germany last month, I was able to schedule a 3-day stopover in Reykjavik for no additional cost. And this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity I just couldn’t pass up. A free flight and sponsored accommodation? Yes, please. :)

And you know what? It was one of the highlights of 2012. Not only did I love my visit there, but I would absolutely go there again as a stand-alone trip. There’s so much more I want to see of the country. That being said, here are the highlights of my short visit.

Accommodation

I landed around 5pm on a Friday evening, and it was already pitch black. At this time of the year in Iceland, the sun rises at 11am and sets around 3:30pm. The international airpot is about an hour away from Reykjavik, but there are plenty of shuttle companies that can take you into the city at a reasonable price (there is no public transportation, and a taxi would be costly). I took Grayline, and it ended up costing me $16.93 (2.200 ISK) to get to my hotel.

Speaking of my hotel, the wonderful owners at the Grettir Guesthouse made my stay pleasant and comfortable. During the winter months when tourist season is a little slow, they take long-term boarders as well as short-term guests. This is great because the people there treat the home with respect, and nobody is up partying late at night. There is someone who lives in the basement suite who looks after the house, so if you ever need anything, somebody is just steps away to help out.

I also thought that the Grettir Guesthouse had a great location. Right in the heart of the city, and just steps from the main shopping street. I liked that it was set back from the street because it was nice and quiet at night. :)

Northern Lights

I was prepared for the Northern Lights. I booked myself into a tour, bought myself a super light travel tripod, and even gave myself a refresher on how to shoot long exposures on my Canon G10. Unfortunately, my tour got cancelled due to poor visibility. I was pretty upset… and that’s one of the big reasons why I want to go back to Iceland one day. Or at least a place where I’ll have a good shot at capturing the Northern Lights. One day. :)

Þingvallavatn

We caught a glimpse of the largest natural lake in Iceland. So beautiful!

A church and some houses in Þingvellir National Park – which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in southwest Iceland. It was really in the middle of nowhere.

The Golden Falls

This waterfall is located in the Hvítá River Canyon. It was so cold that I could only take a few pictures!

I hiked a little farther down the canyon than everyone else in the tour group, and when I looked behind me (to make sure the bus hadn’t left without me), this is what I saw! The best thing about Iceland is how pretty all my photos turned out -without any editing or colour correction. :)

Strokkur Geyser

This was so incredible to see in person, because I’ve never seen a geyser before. The eruptions from the Strokkur Geyser (which happen every 5-8 minutes) can blast boiling water up to 70 metres in the air.

Now here it is, in between eruptions.

Walking back from the Strokkur Geyser, there were many smaller geysers along the way. Oh, and if you’re wondering, this picture was taken around 4pm.

The Blue Lagoon

This excursion was one I debated about for a really long time. Was it worth it to pay €33 for the entrance fee? It seemed pretty expensive, but I knew I would regret it if I didn’t go. Having the Northern Lights tour cancelled meant I could spend that money on the entrance fee, which made me feel a little bit better. :)

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa, and the water temperature is about 40C – so it was super comfortable as long as you stayed in the water. There were even people in toques in the lagoon!

Oh, and I froze my butt off taking these photos! That’s why they’re not the nicest quality – my iPhone was more easily accessible.

Well, there you have it! My visit to Iceland in photos. Going through all these photos really makes me wish I were back in Iceland right now. But I guess I’ll just have to add it to the list. :)

In the summer, I posted my mid-year travel expense total. It was a really good snapshot of how much I’ve spent, broken down by category… and it made me realize that I couldn’t keep spending at the pace that I was going.

Changes needed to be made, and I had to cross some trips off my list. If you click through to the old expense total, you will see that upcoming trips included Ireland, Scotland, and Bulgaria. Well those got scrapped in favour of spending more time in Turkey, an additional trip to France, and a trip to Oktoberfest in Munich (both relatively cheap b/c they’re close to Stuttgart). My Iceland trip got put on hold, but that will be happening in about 3 weeks because I was able to get a free stopover on my way home to Vancouver, and my accommodation is being sponsored.

Here is my updated travel expense total (click to make bigger):

So you’ll see that I will have traveled a total of 78 days in 2012, for a rolling total cost of €7,127.13 or $9,071.41.

Of course, I still have to factor in the cost of Cologne and Reyjavik. Cologne will be relatively inexpensive as we are only there to check out the Christmas market – and any presents that I buy aren’t reflected in my travel expenses. Reyjavik will likely be costly, but I haven’t booked anything yet, so it’s all up to me.

$9,000 is a lot of money, and I certainly would have loved to see that amount added to my RRSP or in a TFSA. But, this year my net worth has actually risen +$8,876, so I feel like even though my financial progress has significantly slowed down since quitting my full-time job (my net worth rose +$22,813 in 2011), I’m still doing well. I was able to take an entire year to travel and write in Europe – without incurring debt, and saving a little bit in the process.

Anyway, here is the cost break-down per trip, and per day:

Obviously I can’t talk about travel expenses without mentioning my partnership with Hostelbookers.com. It has saved us well over $3,500 combined this year, so it’s quite a significant chunk of money I’m saving.

However, for those who think the numbers above might be unrealistic for someone without an accommodation sponsor, it’s worth mentioning that almost all of my trips include round-trip travel expenses – whereas someone on vacation or extended travel likely wouldn’t have to spend round-trip costs because they’ll be continually traveling, not based out of one city like I am.

Also, even though I saved a lot on accommodation, I still had to spend almost €1,000 on accommodation myself, with an average price per night of €20.56 or $26.18. A few times, we stayed in hostel dorm rooms to save money, but 90% of the time we had private accommodations.

Here are a few other bullet points that are worth mentioning:

• My 6-day trip to Toronto is not listed in the above spreadsheet because it was a business trip.

• Some of my travel expenses will end up being tax deductible because I was writing stories about the trip for publications, or reviewing services for publication.

• Day trips are also not listed b/c they didn’t include an accommodation component. I would estimate we went on 6 or 7 day trips.

I’ll do a final recap of my travel expenses at the end of December. :)

Let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to answer them!