Perpetual Travelling

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
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Barefootgirl
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Perpetual Travelling

Post by Barefootgirl »

I'm hoping and planning to retire early and prior to establishing a new home base in an area with a lower cost of living, one thing I'd like to do is stash my belongings somewhere in the US (not a big deal for me) and head out for a year, likely 2 years. I am interested in visiting parts of Europe, South America and beyond. I've got experience travelling at all class levels - free (eg hiking, camping), frugally (hostels, airline and hotel deals) and first class (you name it! LOL) and I easily adapt and can move between them and my budget will allow for some flexibility.

What I'd like to know is if anyone here is familiar with a blogger who writes about this or a book author who has written about their tips for doing this and leading this kind of temporary lifestyle.

If anyone here has done it, would appreciate your tips as well.

Thanks, BFG
How many retired people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only one, but he takes all day.
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Rob5TCP
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Rob5TCP »

This blog is a by a woman who quit her job at 26, started a solo travel blog and turned it into her current vocation.
http://www.adventurouskate.com/
EthelT
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by EthelT »

I have this list bookmarked but haven't looked at them yet. Maybe one of them has what you need? If so, let us know!

https://www.flipkey.com/blog/2014/11/03 ... w-in-2015/
dgdevil
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by dgdevil »

Not sure if 1-2 years counts as "perpetual." More like a sabbatical. This couple has a fascinating blog:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/garde ... nture.html

And this couple is evidently monetizing its nomadic lifestyle:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100008723 ... 1575356160
&
http://homefreeadventures.com/
halfnine
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by halfnine »

A couple of quick notes:

Many of the travel blogs that were out there have disappeared, sold out, or seldom post (I think the monetizing model has shifted)

Travel blogs are quite poor sources of unbiased information anyway relative to travel forums. (just as Bogleheads in itself a quite superior resource relative to the financial bloggers out there)

And, unfortunately, on that note all the good travel forums all dried up about 5 years ago or so.

Anyway, the only two travel blogs I have much respect for

http://uncorneredmarket.com/
http://www.wanderingearl.com/

A lot of people do like Nomadic Matt. But to be honest his experiences are rather limited to where a 20 year old would want to travel.

Some blogs you may enjoy (based on some of your other posts) could include

Legal Nomads
Almost Fearless (although more family travel)

As far as books:

Vagabonding. It is the popular one, but I found it rather remedial when skimming through it years ago at the book store (which is actually genius when you think about it...wish I had)

The Practical Nomad. It's the most thorough book I've seen. I read the first edition back in the 90s which launched me on my journey which I haven't really looked much back from.
tj
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by tj »

[...]
Last edited by tj on Sun May 31, 2015 2:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
elfoolio999
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by elfoolio999 »

halfnine wrote:Travel blogs are quite poor sources of unbiased information anyway relative to travel forums. (just as Bogleheads in itself a quite superior resource relative to the financial bloggers out there)
A good and Interesting point, since the travel and finance bloggers have some kind of angle. Better off going to forums...
letsgobobby
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by letsgobobby »

halfnine wrote:
The Practical Nomad. It's the most thorough book I've seen. I read the first edition back in the 90s which launched me on my journey which I haven't really looked much back from.
Perhaps you can share something about your journey?
hoopy
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by hoopy »

PoppyA
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by PoppyA »

We met these people on the road, and over the years met up with them a few more times by following their travel blog. They have done some European travel also. I think they turned their blog into a travel writing business.

They post their expenses too.

http://www.fulltimetimeshare.com/

We did the 48 CONUS in a corvette over 4 years.
Last edited by PoppyA on Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
fund
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by fund »

halfnine wrote:A couple of quick notes:

....

And, unfortunately, on that note all the good travel forums all dried up about 5 years ago or so.

....
I'm curious: what's your opinion of Lonely Planet's online travel forum? I've been extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to have traveled a lot when I was younger, and LP's online forum was, at times, very useful. A good deal of my travel predated that forum, but a lot also took place after it came about. I haven't looked at it in several years, so perhaps it's changed. But I do recall it being a pretty solid source of info, and they did have a sub-forum dedicated to long-term travel. Perhaps the OP would find it helpful.
fund
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by fund »

letsgobobby wrote:
halfnine wrote:
The Practical Nomad. It's the most thorough book I've seen. I read the first edition back in the 90s which launched me on my journey which I haven't really looked much back from.
Perhaps you can share something about your journey?
I'd also be really interested in hearing more, if you're willing to share. Thanks.
texasdiver
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by texasdiver »

My advice?

Don't waste too much time trying to figure what other people are doing now. You can get lost in an infinitely large stream of material about where to go, where to stay, which hotel has 1/10th higher star rating than another on tripadvisor and so forth. Blaze your own path. With an iPhone and a local data plan you can pretty much find out anything you want to know about any place wherever you are.

If you want inspiration turn to some of the classic travel writers of the past. It is an amazingly rich literary vein. Since you are headed south of the border I can recommend my favorite travel author for traveling through Mexico, Central America, and points south all the way to Chile. David Dodge. He is pretty forgotten now and I think all his books are out of print but you can easily find used copies on Amazon through all the network of used booksellers that pop up with amazon searches. David Dodge was a Naval Officer during WW2 and when he returned to the US after the war he packed is wife and child up in their beat up old car and set off for Central America writing along the way about their adventures to pay for the trip. Amazingly good stuff. David Dodge was also a novelist and later wrote travel guides. He's probably most famous for writing "To Catch a Thief" which became the famous movie with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. He also wrote a lot of mystery novels set in San Francisco some of which also became films.

Here's web site devoted to his work with the titles of his travel books. http://www.david-dodge.com/ Pick up "How Green was my Father" and "How Lost was my Weekend" used of amazon to start.

Of course there are lots and lots of other great travel books. Search out the classics for inspiration about travel during a time before instant internet answers to every travel question.
Last edited by texasdiver on Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
LeeMKE
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by LeeMKE »

I'm underway planning the same: 1 - 3 years perpetual travel as soon as DH retires. We'll put everything in storage and travel for as long as we can stand it (or each other). Once we come home, we'll settle down and maybe buy a home again.

At the moment, I'm taking an online class on travel hacking: Creativelive.com https://www.creativelive.com/courses/ma ... hanie-zito Make your Dream Trip a Reality by a blogger I started following, Chris Guillebeau of ChrisGuillebeau.com

Other sites I've bookmarked:

http://www.trustedhousesitters.com/us/ -- housesitting/petsitting

https://travelhacking.org/users/sign_in -- travel hacking blog (working on the free trial now. Don't yet know if I'll subscribe)

http://www.vrbo.com/ -- rentals

http://airbnb.com -- rentals

http://chrisguillebeau.com/round-the-wo ... ne-ticket/ -- round world airfare, fascinating and inexpensive when perpetually traveling

http://homefreeadventures.com/ -- home rentals

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1212 -- repositioning cruises

Our plan is to avoid having home base expenses so we have our entire monthly budget available for travel. Ideally I'll plan our itinerary to match the recent market performance of the portfolio -- if the market is down, we'll stay longer in Asia and Latin America, and Paris for a week or two. If the market is up, maybe we stay in Paris for a month or two, etc.

What are the rest of you planning to do the same, using as resources?
Last edited by LeeMKE on Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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reggiesimpson
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by reggiesimpson »

Check out Audre and Dimitris traveling love affair. Very detailed and extensive coverage of their world travels (incl the U.S.A) over decades.
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Pajamas
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Pajamas »

I have been checking in on this perpetual traveller every few months for years now. He is not very polished or slick, but he has a lot of personality and gives very practical insight and observations, especially in his videos. He tends to stay in one country for a few months and knows how to do it inexpensively.

http://www.hobotraveler.com/videos/
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Barefootgirl »

Perhaps you can share something about your journey?

I've been inspired many times to do this. Once by a couple I met while surf casting on the beach in Cape Hatteras who were retired school teachers in Phoenix. Each year in May, they dragged their RV out of storage and travelled the U.S., without a schedule, staying only until they felt it was time to move on.
Politics aside, I was deeply inspired by the movie Motorcycle Diaries.

It's not so much the mode of transport, but rather the ability to lose track of time, to not be held to a place or schedule.

I've travelled extensively in my life and the worst part for me has always been leaving when it was time to come home and go back to work. I love new cultures - eg. visiting with a group of jazz musicians in New Orleans as much as mariachis in Mexico.

In another life, I should have been a photographer for National Geographic.

More specifically, I will roughly schedule my itinerary by season, by cost and of course, level of interest. I am open to travelling by foot, by car, by boat, plane, train and whatever.

I would like to keep a journal.

BFG
How many retired people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only one, but he takes all day.
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Barefootgirl »

This thread includes a wealth of information, thank you.

BFG
How many retired people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only one, but he takes all day.
TravelerMSY
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by TravelerMSY »

A lot of this hinges on what resources you have at your disposal, and your skills for finding short-term furnished rentals at prices you can afford. AirBnB helps a lot.
dgdevil
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by dgdevil »

Another resource: Albert Brooks' Lost in America. And the Hostel films.
Last edited by dgdevil on Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
Rajsx
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Rajsx »

Recently retired at 58 & DW 54 and we are planning to travel. Looking at RVs to buy one, but the above ways to travel also look interesting.

Best
jane1
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by jane1 »

Also check out this woman's blog. Iirc, she spends a couple of months in each location and then moves on to another.
https://carolkiecker.wordpress.com/about/

I will dig up a few more blogs that I used to follow a few years back when we wanted to do something like this. We did live without a home base (put stuff in storage) for 3 years and live/travel in a lot of places. If I had to do it over, I would have an inexpensive home base to make logistics easier and to come back to once in a while and also not have to spend the time to get rid of lot of stuff, only to spend time and money again to buy stuff afterwards. Explaining to others including tax authorities, health insurance and others concerned, about this type to lifestyle makes this unnecessarily complex.
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Barefootgirl »


Explaining to others including tax authorities, health insurance and others concerned, about this type to lifestyle makes this unnecessarily complex.


This is something I've been wondering about - the lack of a fixed address. I've just begun to discover that there are places that will sell you a street address and forward your mail.

BFG
How many retired people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only one, but he takes all day.
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ResearchMed
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by ResearchMed »

Barefootgirl wrote:
Explaining to others including tax authorities, health insurance and others concerned, about this type to lifestyle makes this unnecessarily complex.


This is something I've been wondering about - the lack of a fixed address. I've just begun to discover that there are places that will sell you a street address and forward your mail.

BFG
There are (or used to be; I haven't looked recently) quite a few types of places that do this, and without needing to use a "PO Box" address, which is unacceptable for a variety of purposes.

However, for purposes such as insurance or taxes - and probably others - make sure that you are not somehow violating an explicit (or perhaps implicit??) statement (assumption?) that the address is, in fact, your residence, or perhaps your "primary" residence.

RM
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jane1
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by jane1 »

Barefootgirl wrote:
Explaining to others including tax authorities, health insurance and others concerned, about this type to lifestyle makes this unnecessarily complex.


This is something I've been wondering about - the lack of a fixed address. I've just begun to discover that there are places that will sell you a street address and forward your mail.

BFG
There are numerous places that will scan/forward your mail for a price. That isn't an issue. There are other challenges that ResearchMed alluded to.
In our case we used a sibling's address (another state from ours and they moved to yet another state during our transition period!). We sold our cars since we were planning to be out of the country for undefined periods and we lived in a cold/snow climate. At some point in my international travel, my wallet was stolen. After more than a year outside, we wanted to spend time back in US (starting from our old location X where we had stuff in storage) and do an open ended US road trip. Registering and insuring a car when you don't have a proper garaging address is tricky. Getting a replacement driver's license from our old state X when our mailing address was now another state Y also was a challenge. Same thing with state taxes. We had lived in State X for more than a decade, had driver's license, car stuff, voter registration, library card, state tax, storage in this state. We gave our mailing address as State Y (sibling's). More than a year later sibling moves to State Z and our address changes too. All our bills are on autopay, all bank/CC statements are electronic. But which address should we use with IRS and which state taxes should we file? We continued filing taxes with state X since we never stepped into Y or Z but that didn't stop those states from coming after us for their share! They agreed with us eventually but it was a hassle. Health insurance was next since policies don't often go across state borders. Every change of address was associated with new premiums! Always higher. Note this was pre-Obamacare days, where pre-existing conditions were not covered and you needed to go through underwriting and had different policies when you moved across states. I think this is easier now with ACA.
Eventually, savings from not having a good home base were small since our health insurance premiums were higher (due to multiple moves X->Y, Y->Z, Z->Current), auto insurance was higher (since we didn't own a car for a while making us ineligible for certain discounts), some stuff in storage was damaged, hassle with discarding/purchasing stuff, multiple moves, staying in hotels when we wanted to be home temporarily, etc.
Lesson for us - decide on your state of residence, rent a small apartment (or even room in a house) and deal with one state only for everything auto, taxes, insurance.

I have only focused on the challenges. But it was an awesome experience and we would do it again in a heartbeat, but with a home base.
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Barefootgirl »

I have only focused on the challenges. But it was an awesome experience and we would do it again in a heartbeat, but with a home base

Seems that all "systems" are predicated upon the concept of a person sleeping in the same place continuously, lol.
How many retired people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only one, but he takes all day.
TechNomads
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by TechNomads »

The wife and I gave up on a rental a couple years ago... I'm 33 and she is 29 now and we both work online. We started with a Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel and a 27 foot 5th wheel with a slide.

That was fun, but a lot of work and a ton of fuel... Passport America camping club was a great way to save some $$ on RV parks and we found a boondocking guide through the Escapees club that helped us find some great free places, too.

After several months of roaming, we settled in a park in Arizona and decided to fly to Costa Rica for a few months... That changed everything and we promptly came back to our RV with plans to head to Mexico 8 days later, sold EVERYTHING we hadn't already gotten rid of when we condensed down to the rig.

Then we did about 8 months in Mexico and have been to Hawaii a couple times, New Zealand, Australia and are back in the states roaming for spring and summer. We each have a big roller bag and a laptop backpack and that is it. No storage, no attachments to things... Just out seeking experiences.

We used to look at many blogs when we were getting started, but so many of them are self promoting, promoting info products or classes on 'how to do it' and none of them really 'give the goods'. They were inspiring before we started, but now it is all hands on/experiential learning.

We try to stay at places for at least a month, often booking an AirBnB in a nice area for the first couple weeks to month and then pounding the pavement for a furnished rental to live in for however long our visas will allow us.... Or until the weather turns too hot or too cold.

In some ways, earning dollars living in a beach town of Mexico, spending pesos was the best experience yet... We could eat out and have a couple drinks for under $15 for the two of us and had an amazing beach house for $900/mo. And we felt totally safe 100% of the time in this particular town.

Right now is their rainy/hurricane season so the weather is intolerably hot in the tropics until November, when we will probably return. Until then, we are scouring the mountain towns in the US looking for ski rentals that are furnished and vacant for the summer so we can enjoy some pine trees and mountain air while we continue to grow our internet based businesses.

Seems like costs all over the world are increasing quickly... Costa Rica is priced about like the US is in many areas. But there are new, emerging hot spots that are cheap, like Ecuador or Panama. New Zealand, Hawaii and Australia are super expensive.

We are wanting to head to Asia for a few months because rumor has it that once you get there (flights are expensive) everything is cheap... But we have heard Bali has exploded in price since 'Eat, Pray, Love' came out and is no longer inexpensive.

In some senses, the bloggers are absolutely ruining any 'quaint beach towns' or 'cheap expat havens' that are left, because they visit and then hype it up and the demand side spikes, the supply side stays the same and prices skyrocket.

So if you want cheap, you have to get ahead of the curve... If you follow where all the blogs say is great and cheap, by the time you get there they may just be over run by tourists and gringo-priced.

Lastly, be patient and courteous everywhere you go... Remember as you travel, you are a guest in their home country so respecting their culture, using their currency, practicing their language and allowing their (sometimes crazy seeming) traditions and habits be what they are is important.

There are enough Americans around the world demanding things happen on a US pace with US style and that just gives us all a bad rap.
texasdiver
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by texasdiver »

There are some big RV parks north of Houston that basically do the permanent address thing for lots of RVers who are always on the road. Texas is a popular place to establish residency because there is no income tax. They will even provide service like scanning all of your mail and opening and scanning contents to send you your mail electronically as .pdf files. Here is a good article about maintaining permanent residence while traveling, oriented more towards the RV crowd but the issues are basically the same

http://www.technomadia.com/2012/07/chap ... nd-voting/
halfnine
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by halfnine »

fund wrote:
letsgobobby wrote:
halfnine wrote:
The Practical Nomad. It's the most thorough book I've seen. I read the first edition back in the 90s which launched me on my journey which I haven't really looked much back from.
Perhaps you can share something about your journey?
I'd also be really interested in hearing more, if you're willing to share. Thanks.
The short version is that it all started with a career break in which I went on an extended period of solo travel. Since then I've spent a majority of my adult life abroad in various formats. For quite a few years, I would work 3-4 months and then would take 1-2 months off and travel. Eventually, I took off again on a second extended travel trip with my wife. Interspersed between all that, we also spent quite a bit of time as expats living and working abroad on four continents. Sometimes it was in countries where we had family, sometimes as part of an expat package, and sometimes just arriving with a work visa but otherwise blind.

Anyway, that is the story up until now. I am not sure what the future holds. Although, it is unlikely that I'll ever be returning to my home country.
halfnine
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by halfnine »

fund wrote:
halfnine wrote:A couple of quick notes:

....

And, unfortunately, on that note all the good travel forums all dried up about 5 years ago or so.

....
I'm curious: what's your opinion of Lonely Planet's online travel forum? I've been extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to have traveled a lot when I was younger, and LP's online forum was, at times, very useful. A good deal of my travel predated that forum, but a lot also took place after it came about. I haven't looked at it in several years, so perhaps it's changed. But I do recall it being a pretty solid source of info, and they did have a sub-forum dedicated to long-term travel. Perhaps the OP would find it helpful.
The Lonely Planet forum was a great source (probably the best) of information but unfortunately the signal to noise ratio wasn't very good. But, then it got even worse probably around 5 years ago or so when they went from a lack of moderation to overzealous moderation and lost a lot of the valuable long time posters. I don't know the current state of the forum or whether some of the good posters have returned.

It does bring up a good point, though. The best way I found to use travel forums even for longterm travel across many countries/regions is to focus on the relevant subforum (ideally on a country by country basis) and not the round-the-world subforum. Then find posters who know what they are talking about (often takes quite a bit of research) and PM them directly. You can either continue to PM them or see if they are willing to Skype with you. If I haved used Skype to talk to quite a few people over the years and the information has always been invaluable.

The is a good use for the round-the-world subforum, though. Simply to find out who that you respect has been where, it case you ever decide to go there. Then, like I mentioned, PM them directly. Don't worry if they haven't posted in years. Posters come and go, but their love to share what they know generally remains.
halfnine
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by halfnine »

Barefootgirl wrote:
Explaining to others including tax authorities, health insurance and others concerned, about this type to lifestyle makes this unnecessarily complex.


This is something I've been wondering about - the lack of a fixed address. I've just begun to discover that there are places that will sell you a street address and forward your mail.

BFG
There are quite a few mail services. This topic has come up before so a search on Bogleheads will get you a few results. The mail service companies tend to be located in the no income tax states.

The best write-up I've seen about going through the typical process of re-locating your domicile and your mail follows. It's for an RVer but is largely relevant to anyone abroad as well

http://www.technomadia.com/2013/02/sett ... time-rver/
halfnine
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by halfnine »

I don't like the name perpetual traveler because it really isn't true for most people. Most people don't travel perpetually. It just doesn't work like that. That said there are a few ways to go about long term travel:

1. Travel across the globe in a RTW style. Typically this involves travel to many countries and lots of flights. Most people won't do this for more than 1-2 years.
2. Regional travel. Spending large chunks of a year or even years traveling in an entire region/continent before moving on to the next region. Most people can do this for a few years.
3. Spend time in 3-4 countries each year staying between 3-6 months (visa limits) in each. Returning to the same countries again and again but substituting 1 maybe 2 new countries each year. Time frame: 5 years maybe up to 10 years
4. Live in one (base) country for the majority the year with some travel spread around in between. Base country may stay the same or change every few years. Time frame: indefinitely

Ok, the above list really isn't exhaustive of all the ways there are to travel. I highlight these different methods simply because people do get burned out traveling. I'll postulate that a lot of time its because they didn't choose the option above that best fits who they are and what they want out of the experience. And, sometimes, its simply because they have traveled one of the options above for longer than most people are really cut out to do.

In brief. If at any point you begin to be unhappy with your travel experience re-think your approach.
midmoder
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by midmoder »

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Hayden
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Hayden »

Great thread. I'm planning to do this starting next winter. I've already booked an apartment in Spain for two months. I've been worried about banking, doing my taxes, running my business, while I'm out of the country. Has anyone had any issues with this?
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Will do good
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Will do good »

Hayden wrote:Great thread. I'm planning to do this starting next winter. I've already booked an apartment in Spain for two months. I've been worried about banking, doing my taxes, running my business, while I'm out of the country. Has anyone had any issues with this?
DW and I plans to do what you are doing, please do a update once in a while. Like to learn from your adventure. :beer
opus360
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by opus360 »

Great topic here. Are there any "perpetual traveler" with small kids? If so, how did they do it?
tj
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by tj »

opus360 wrote:Great topic here. Are there any "perpetual traveler" with small kids? If so, how did they do it?
Please don't do this do a child....unless you have great faith in your ability to homeschool and build a social circle so that they can interact with other kids.
WhyNotUs
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by WhyNotUs »

Banking and taxes are pretty easy as long as you have a permanent residence, online bill pay, turbotax, national bank. Business is tough unless you are already hands off and have manager in place.

For info on nomads with children, see cruisersforum.com. Lots of topics on sailboat cruising with kids.

Health insurance has been the obstacle keeping me from a month or two at a time. We would be looking at $12-15k for insurance annually. We can get a month or two now depending on the year but a good long trip is still out of reach without changing our overall financial plan.
I own the next hot stock- VTSAX
Skiffy
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Skiffy »

My sister, who is a nurse, would quite frequently would have a "perpetual traveler" admitted to the hospital. They faced a lot of difficulty after they were discharged-couldn't drive their RV, couldn't fly, where to recuperate ? What doctor? Just something to think about
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kramer
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by kramer »

I perpetual traveled for about 5 years in my early 40's after retiring. My style was to travel through a region and then later go back and try living in a place that I really liked and I ended up trying living in 4 different countries. This ended when I decided to stay in the Philippines. I really had some great experiences along the way and learned a lot.

The timing was good as I had sold everything after retiring and had a pent up desire to do some serious traveling. However, I would not do it again without a home base, especially a less expensive one like I have now. It's still a great feeling to come "home".
halfnine
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by halfnine »

opus360 wrote:Great topic here. Are there any "perpetual traveler" with small kids? If so, how did they do it?
For quite a robust list of families that are out there traveling have a look here:

http://www.vagabondfamily.org/family-profiles/

There is one family of note that is always entertaining that isn't on that list :
http://www.bumfuzzle.com/

As far as whether you should or shouldn't "perpetual travel" with your kids I'll let each family be the own judge of that. But I will highlight a few things. A perpetual traveller lifestyle with kids guarantees that you will be raising a third culture kid. This has its advantages and disadvantages. See link below for an overview that I believe is a fairly honest assessment. Or at least as honest as you are likely to find.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_culture_kid

There are also a couple of general trends I notice with families who live or have lived the perpetual traveller lifestyle.
1. Those with either one very malleable child or those that have four or more children seem to have the easiest go at it.
2. When kids hit their teenage years they prefer to have a more permanent base. And, often the parents aren't ready for this or have the harder time making the adjustment.
3. Most families eventually end up with a lifestyle more typical of an expat than a perpetual traveller whether they are willing to admit it or not. Many do eventually return to their home countries if they can afford it.
4. Those that have an online presence tend to overstate the advantages and diminish or completely ignore of the disadvantages the lifestyle has upon their children.

Now, if perpetual travel isn't really what you are interested in after all and you are just looking to go for a year or two on a RTW trip, these trips are now finished but I always enjoyed:

https://itsasmallworldafterallfamily.wordpress.com/
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwifamily/
http://www.sixintheworld.com/

(For the record, we are a raising third culture kids as my wife and I are each from different countries and we are living in a third. It's not the perfect solution but then again with our kids starting out life into a multinational, tricultural, biracial and bilingual family there was never really going to be one.)
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VictoriaF
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by VictoriaF »

jane1 wrote:If I had to do it over, I would have an inexpensive home base to make logistics easier and to come back to once in a while and also not have to spend the time to get rid of lot of stuff, only to spend time and money again to buy stuff afterwards. Explaining to others including tax authorities, health insurance and others concerned, about this type to lifestyle makes this unnecessarily complex.
Thank you, Jane,

I was considering having a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle in retirement, the latter by living in Florida half-year and traveling the other half, but gave up the idea for the reasons you mention. Retirement is about enjoying life, and dealing with bureacracy is not enjoyable. Nomadic life saves money on maintaining a permanent home, but if one has money to maintain a permanent home it´s a good use of money. Living abroad, nomadically or having a base, helps to those who can´t get an affordable health insurance in the U.S. For me that´s not an issue.

Victoria
Last edited by VictoriaF on Thu Jun 04, 2015 11:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
mikep
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by mikep »

gocurrycracker.com looks interesting .. and some tips about lowering taxes while abroad as well
opus360
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by opus360 »

halfnine wrote:
opus360 wrote:Great topic here. Are there any "perpetual traveler" with small kids? If so, how did they do it?
For quite a robust list of families that are out there traveling have a look here:

http://www.vagabondfamily.org/family-profiles/

There is one family of note that is always entertaining that isn't on that list :
http://www.bumfuzzle.com/

As far as whether you should or shouldn't "perpetual travel" with your kids I'll let each family be the own judge of that. But I will highlight a few things. A perpetual traveller lifestyle with kids guarantees that you will be raising a third culture kid. This has its advantages and disadvantages. See link below for an overview that I believe is a fairly honest assessment. Or at least as honest as you are likely to find.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_culture_kid

There are also a couple of general trends I notice with families who live or have lived the perpetual traveller lifestyle.
1. Those with either one very malleable child or those that have four or more children seem to have the easiest go at it.
2. When kids hit their teenage years they prefer to have a more permanent base. And, often the parents aren't ready for this or have the harder time making the adjustment.
3. Most families eventually end up with a lifestyle more typical of an expat than a perpetual traveller whether they are willing to admit it or not. Many do eventually return to their home countries if they can afford it.
4. Those that have an online presence tend to overstate the advantages and diminish or completely ignore of the disadvantages the lifestyle has upon their children.

Now, if perpetual travel isn't really what you are interested in after all and you are just looking to go for a year or two on a RTW trip, these trips are now finished but I always enjoyed:

https://itsasmallworldafterallfamily.wordpress.com/
http://blogs.bootsnall.com/kiwifamily/
http://www.sixintheworld.com/

(For the record, we are a raising third culture kids as my wife and I are each from different countries and we are living in a third. It's not the perfect solution but then again with our kids starting out life into a multinational, tricultural, biracial and bilingual family there was never really going to be one.)
Thanks. I'll go check out those links. For us, if we do it, it will be more like what you said...a year or two of traveling then back to permanent home.
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Barefootgirl
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by Barefootgirl »

There's one guy I know who was able to make it all work quite economically. He sold his home, downsized his possessions, packed up the remaining ones, stored the boxes in a guest bedroom of his daughter's house, uses her address for mailing and legal purposes and kicks her back some funds for the effort. He plans to return to the US from Ecuador in a couple years.
How many retired people does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Only one, but he takes all day.
btenny
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by btenny »

My wife and I live a semi-traveler lifestyle. We have two "permanent locations" and then travel a lot to other places as well. We have been doing this for 10 years or so. We spend time in the deserts of Arizona during the nice weather times and use that as our permanent "home". We own a house there that has a big garage and storage etc.. We own a car registered there as well. But we also rent a second place in the mountains for use during winter ski season and to cool off during the summer. In our case we travel between these places by car and take our clothes back and forth as necessary.

Lots of our friends in Phoenix also own second homes or cabins in the mountains of Arizona as a place to cool off in the summer. Others have a condo at the beach in Rocky Point Mexico or San Diego to enjoy the beach things. All those places are pretty close so weekends are doable for those still working. Tons of retirees "snowbirds" also make Arizona home during the winter to escape the cold Midwest or Canadians winters.

But we also travel around the country and off shore on "big vacations" that last 6 weeks or so at least once a year. We mostly travel by car and rent motels by the day or week as we travel. We find this much more satisfying than driving and dealing with a RV and a lot cheaper. We tend to visit a lot of city centers so RVs just don't do well there. The object is to see the country in some depth and visit family and friends as we go. We have made 3 complete cross country trips and visited 40 or so states in the last 4 years. We have been to all four corners of the country, north, east, south and west. This year we added a Bahamas cruise and tour as well. Next year we are thinking about Alaska or Australia. No decision as yet.

So there are lots of ways to see the world and vacation when you are retired. Enjoy....
hoopy
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by hoopy »

I traveled solo for about two years, in 2008-2010.

My partner is going to quit her job next year, and we're going to travel as a couple for 12-18 months then.

I second the suggestion that many people have made: You can't plan too much in advance, and just have to go, and figure it out.
Some of the best experiences I have had, and best recommendations I have received have been from other travelers in hostels and on buses. Having been wherever I am going, they are able to suggest good places to go, things to do etc. I discovered great off-the-beaten-track places through just talking to people on the road.

One of the things I learned on my travels is that you don't actually need all the stuff you thought you needed when you start out. It can be a hassle to carry that much around. I got rid of a lot of things on the road, and did most of my traveling with just about 8 kilos of things (plus the guidebooks / books I was reading at the time).

It helps to start living a more minimalist existence now, downsizing, with fewer non-essential items around the house. I'm also trying to go as paperless as possible, with documents digitized, encrypted, and on the cloud.

I think what I will do on my next long trip is minimize the number of devices I carry around. Currently, I have:
- Phone
- Camera
- Tablet
- Laptop
- Kindle

I might consolidate into a laptop / tablet hybrid, such as the Surface, so that I get full computing power on the road (for taxes etc). I will also get my first smartphone, and use that as a phone and camera. The kindle is useful, I read a lot, I'm hoping I won't have to buy/carry around as many books as last time.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by VictoriaF »

hoopy wrote:It can be a hassle to carry that much around. I got rid of a lot of things on the road, and did most of my traveling with just about 8 kilos of things (plus the guidebooks / books I was reading at the time).
I agree with your comments, they are well made and relevant to me. But I´d like to add a few fine points.

Downsizing is good, but the devil of downsizing is in the details. ¨Plus books¨ is a huge plus, because books weigh a lot ... except that it´s not a ¨plus¨ for downsizing. The general issue is a tradeoff among the carried weight, expenditures, and time. If you carry an item, you don´t need to spend money to replace it or to spend time to find an appropriate version and learn to use it. Buying is more taxing when you are in a new country or traveling from country to country, don´t have a good command of the local language and are not familiar with the local brands. For example, on the Camino you can carry your own anti-blister treatments or buy local. Band-aids, moleskin, tape, anti-blister creams, etc., don´t cost much, and it would make sense to buy them as needed. But if you are not familiar with the local brands, don´t understand differences between dozens of similarly looking packages, and cannot carry a conversation in Spanish, you will get whatever other pilgrims or pharmacists will recommend to you. Normally, slight variations in brands are not significant, but if you are walking 5 to 8 hours per day with a pack, you want to prevent or treat blisters as efficiently as possible.
hoopy wrote:I might consolidate into a laptop / tablet hybrid, such as the Surface, so that I get full computing power on the road (for taxes etc). I will also get my first smartphone, and use that as a phone and camera. The kindle is useful, I read a lot, I'm hoping I won't have to buy/carry around as many books as last time.
You also have to carry various power adopters that may weigh more than devices themselves.

Again thank you for good comments,

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
bonaire27
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by bonaire27 »

VictoriaF wrote:
You also have to carry various power adopters that may weigh more than devices themselves.

Victoria
Actually nowadays it isn't too bad. Kendles and mobile phones have very small chargers. If you have a smallish laptop, the "bricks" aren't too heavy. For example the Mac power source is light enough. And most importantly, you can get a single universal power adapter with USB port such as below (works in over 150 countries):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/UNIVERSAL-TRA ... 1784946714

We travel several times a year and have used something similar in many countries spanning Asia, Europe, North America, and Central America and it works great.
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VictoriaF
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Re: Perpetual Travelling

Post by VictoriaF »

Thank you, bonaire27,

I will check it out. One change I´ll made in future travels is that I will be carrying a smartphone.

Victoria
Inventor of the Bogleheads Secret Handshake | Winner of the 2015 Boglehead Contest. | Every joke has a bit of a joke. ... The rest is the truth. (Marat F)
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