Cost of Nomadic Life?

[Random Poster]

Some of the more recent threads on the nomadic lifestyle have piqued my interest (although I have always had trouble with settling down and commitment); however, I haven’t seen much in the way of what such a lifestyle really costs.

I’m sure that there is (or can be) an extremely wide variation in various nomad’s budgets, but could anyone who has such a life (or one similar to it) provide some general annual cost ranges?

As in, what are your baseline costs (mail forwarding service costs, travel or domestic/international health insurance costs, etc), and what are your actual average daily travel costs ($250? $300?)—and, in this regard, do you drive around in an RV, or drive in a car and hotel it nightly, or cruise around on ships, or fly around SE Asia, etc, and do you “slow travel” or go quickly from place to place?

Any budgetary advice or insight or comments would be appreciated as I try to explore whether this is something that I could swing financially.

Thanks.

[sailaway]

How long is a piece of string?

Most people don't see a huge difference in costs when they go nomadic, unless they make concerted effort to make a change. Some of our travel is staying with family, so mostly gas and the occasional hotel to take a break. On our sailboat, it is free to anchor, guest dock prices are similar to cheap hotels. The cruise we are on right now is our monthly budget for each of us, and it is only a week long!!

[truenorth418]

I’ve been nomadic for going on five years- solo. It’s been great overall but I follow a well constructed budget.

There are a lot of variables. My biggest expense is housing. I’ve been dividing my time between decent hotels, airbnbs, and cruise ships. And a hotel in the US or Europe costs way more than a similar quality hotel in say South America or SE Asia. I budget about $200/nt average for overall housing. But for every cruise night or London hotel stay, I need to find a reasonable accommodation in Bangkok or Sao Paolo to balance it back to the average. This is probably the biggest factor in geo-arbitrage.

Also factor in daily meals and sundries. I budget myself a per diem of $60/ day for this. Again NA and Europe are much more than some other places.

Then there’s health insurance. $1,000 per month? Air travel? $200-$1300 per flight depending.

Rental cars? Clothing? YMMV

So just starting with all of that based on my figures we’re a little over $100k per year. Of course you could do it for much less but my philosophy is if I can’t afford a very comfortable experience in my travels then I’ll buy a nice house somewhere and live well in situ.

[manuvns]

My friend built his mini RV on Mercedes metris cargo van and says he can live on 45-50k a year the RV cost him 60-65k when he built it with his hands

[firebirdparts]

I noticed RC is advertising an "ultimate world cruise" 274 nights for about $60,000 per person double occupancy. So not terribly more expensive than living at home, maybe. Depending on your home. Much more than $200 a day for lodging mentioned above, though. In hotel rooms, two really can live as cheaply as one.

You'd sure need a lot of self control, though.

I met a guy this year that's lived in a motorhome with his wife and 2 dogs for 14 years. I didn't ask him what it cost, but you can kinda guess, right? They have groceries and health care and a campground fee and whatever entertainment they pay for. To me that would be just too limiting. Not as bad as a cruise, but still bad.

[neilpilot]

We are not nomadic, but we frequently vacation using a website that lists house-and-pet sits. There are listings in dozens of countries, with the largest number of listings in the UK, USA and Australia. It cost ~$100/yr to access the website, and there's typically no money exchanged between you and the host.

We typically limit our sits to 1-2 weeks at a time. However, I often see listings for sits that run well in excess of 2 weeks, some as long as several months. I know of a few couples that have sold their homes and use this website full time, only occasionally arranging alternate stays for the few days between assignments.

[AnnetteLouisan]

I was never “nomadic” but I used to travel a lot for work and vacation and ultimately it can become mentally taxing having to manage the many logistics involved in frequent or long term travel. I’m sure it can be great too but it’s nice to have a permanent home, family, friends, neighbors and your local scenery to come back to.

Giving up your sense of “place” in exchange for endlessly deciding anew where to stay, where to eat, where to go, how long to stay, where to do laundry, and never forging longer term connections, never having a local routine or community. It’s not as stress free as it can sound, plus you lose a lot of days in transit whether by plane, driving or however. Especially driving can be a real strain if you are just looking at highways all day - they can start to show up in your dreams. There are actually studies that show that routine is much easier on the brain.

Plus it can be very expensive for all the transportation costs including gas, toll roads, maintenance and parking if driving, and of course the career cost unless your job can be done while traveling. Employers traditionally have looked askance at longer stints out of the workforce, and often draw very negative inferences. Plus you potentially lose those SS and 401k contribution years.

I always suggest people do a four month trip before going nomadic. For many folks, four months cures the travel bug, or at least the urge to travel for years on end.

[stocknoob4111]

Nomadic US or International? Big difference, if International it can be quite cheap. Health insurance is the biggest expense you can avoid internationally as a CIGNA Global $1 million policy costs around $150/month for all countries except the US. There are many international nomad vlogs that document their expenses and they are around $2500/month or so for 2 people or $30K/yr for a great lifestyle traveling everywhere.

Some channels documenting expenses:

https://www.youtube.com/c/BrianandCarrie

https://www.youtube.com/c/OurFreedomYears

In the US forget it, VERY VERY expensive. Health insurance itself will be a bomb and then cost of hotels or even AirBnBs are absurd now even in places that are in the boon docks.

I found several Oceanfront AirBnBs in Portimao (Algarve region of Portugal) in shoulder seasons (still great weather) for around $1000-1400/month. By contrast OceanFront in Newport Beach, CA or Corona Del Mar (which would be an equivalent area) it would be around $6000-7000/month. As I said housing in the US has become simply ridiculous.

I plan to switch to a Nomadic lifestyle starting 2024 and plan to stick to that lifestyle for at least 5 years or more.

[z06ray]

I don't have numbers to give you. But my brother and his family have been full time rv since may of 2020. Just recently they purchased a campground. I may be wrong but I believe he said that even if he had no guests, he'd still come out financially ahead every month since he's living on the property and not on the road. We will see what happens next but I am sure this staying put will wear on them.

[billthecat]

I’ve been nomadic for going on five years- solo. It’s been great overall but I follow a well constructed budget.

There are a lot of variables. My biggest expense is housing. I’ve been dividing my time between decent hotels, airbnbs, and cruise ships. And a hotel in the US or Europe costs way more than a similar quality hotel in say South America or SE Asia. I budget about $200/nt average for overall housing. But for every cruise night or London hotel stay, I need to find a reasonable accommodation in Bangkok or Sao Paolo to balance it back to the average. This is probably the biggest factor in geo-arbitrage.

Also factor in daily meals and sundries. I budget myself a per diem of $60/ day for this. Again NA and Europe are much more than some other places.

Then there’s health insurance. $1,000 per month? Air travel? $200-$1300 per flight depending.

Rental cars? Clothing? YMMV

So just starting with all of that based on my figures we’re a little over $100k per year. Of course you could do it for much less but my philosophy is if I can’t afford a very comfortable experience in my travels then I’ll buy a nice house somewhere and live well in situ.

Who do you use for health insurance? Cigna Global seems like the big dog, but there's also Integra Global, Aetna International, IMG Global, GeoBlue, SafetyWing, etc. Besides coverage scope, and rates, I'm also concerned about reliability (will they actually cover what they're supposed to, will they actually reimburse, etc.).

[stoptothink]

One of my childhood friends closed the doors on his business (concert and events promotion) early summer of '20 and his family (4, with two kids <10) has been sailing around the world on his boat for the last 2+ years. It's fun following their adventures on social media and they haven't really given any indication as to when or if they plan to stop. I have no clue what it is costing, but I doubt it is a significant concern for them (he was making well into 7-figures a year and have some SoCal beach real estate they rent out).

[PeninsulaPerson]

I always suggest people do a four month trip before going nomadic. For many folks, four months cures the travel bug, or at least the urge to travel for years on end.

Wise counsel! Plus a good way to test the costs!

And this - "Especially driving can be a real strain if you are just looking at highways all day - they can start to show up in your dreams." - could be a new horror flick ... Night of The Living Highways ... !

[truenorth418]

I’ve been nomadic for going on five years- solo. It’s been great overall but I follow a well constructed budget.

There are a lot of variables. My biggest expense is housing. I’ve been dividing my time between decent hotels, airbnbs, and cruise ships. And a hotel in the US or Europe costs way more than a similar quality hotel in say South America or SE Asia. I budget about $200/nt average for overall housing. But for every cruise night or London hotel stay, I need to find a reasonable accommodation in Bangkok or Sao Paolo to balance it back to the average. This is probably the biggest factor in geo-arbitrage.

Also factor in daily meals and sundries. I budget myself a per diem of $60/ day for this. Again NA and Europe are much more than some other places.

Then there’s health insurance. $1,000 per month? Air travel? $200-$1300 per flight depending.

Rental cars? Clothing? YMMV

So just starting with all of that based on my figures we’re a little over $100k per year. Of course you could do it for much less but my philosophy is if I can’t afford a very comfortable experience in my travels then I’ll buy a nice house somewhere and live well in situ.

Who do you use for health insurance? Cigna Global seems like the big dog, but there's also Integra Global, Aetna International, IMG Global, GeoBlue, SafetyWing, etc. Besides coverage scope, and rates, I'm also concerned about reliability (will they actually cover what they're supposed to, will they actually reimburse, etc.).

For a few years I used Aetna International. Like some other international options they offered discounted policies for less time spent in the USA and I did that. But again like other international options there were annual caps on coverage and did not cover pre-existing conditions. It worked fine for the years I had it.

Currently I have an ACA high deductible policy for the state of Florida my legal domicile. No limits on coverage and pre-existing conditions are covered. That suits me fine since I swing through Florida a few times a year anyway and see my doctors then, would go there for longer stays in the event any health issues require it, am covered for emergencies elsewhere in the US. Then when I am outside the US for extended periods I purchase a short term travel health insurance policy from Geo Blue which covers any emergencies that may come up. Also, I purchase insurance for when I am on cruise ships.

Since I stagger my annual income to qualify for ACA subsidies most years, this approach is more economical than the Aetna policy I bought in years past.

I should add that I often purchase health care in foreign countries and pay cash out of pocket. For wellness checks and the odd doctor’s appointment or prescription it’s usually pretty affordable.

[billthecat]

I’ve been nomadic for going on five years- solo. It’s been great overall but I follow a well constructed budget.

There are a lot of variables. My biggest expense is housing. I’ve been dividing my time between decent hotels, airbnbs, and cruise ships. And a hotel in the US or Europe costs way more than a similar quality hotel in say South America or SE Asia. I budget about $200/nt average for overall housing. But for every cruise night or London hotel stay, I need to find a reasonable accommodation in Bangkok or Sao Paolo to balance it back to the average. This is probably the biggest factor in geo-arbitrage.

Also factor in daily meals and sundries. I budget myself a per diem of $60/ day for this. Again NA and Europe are much more than some other places.

Then there’s health insurance. $1,000 per month? Air travel? $200-$1300 per flight depending.

Rental cars? Clothing? YMMV

So just starting with all of that based on my figures we’re a little over $100k per year. Of course you could do it for much less but my philosophy is if I can’t afford a very comfortable experience in my travels then I’ll buy a nice house somewhere and live well in situ.

Who do you use for health insurance? Cigna Global seems like the big dog, but there's also Integra Global, Aetna International, IMG Global, GeoBlue, SafetyWing, etc. Besides coverage scope, and rates, I'm also concerned about reliability (will they actually cover what they're supposed to, will they actually reimburse, etc.).

For a few years I used Aetna International. Like some other international options they offered discounted policies for less time spent in the USA and I did that. But again like other international options there were annual caps on coverage and did not cover pre-existing conditions. It worked fine for the years I had it.

Currently I have an ACA high deductible policy for the state of Florida my legal domicile. No limits on coverage and pre-existing conditions are covered. That suits me fine since I swing through Florida a few times a year anyway and see my doctors then, would go there for longer stays in the event any health issues require it, am covered for emergencies elsewhere in the US. Then when I am outside the US for extended periods I purchase a short term travel health insurance policy from Geo Blue which covers any emergencies that may come up. Also, I purchase insurance for when I am on cruise ships.

Since I stagger my annual income to qualify for ACA subsidies most years, this approach is more economical than the Aetna policy I bought in years past.

I should add that I often purchase health care in foreign countries and pay cash out of pocket. For wellness checks and the odd doctor’s appointment or prescription it’s usually pretty affordable.

Thanks. I'm actually surprised the ACA high deductible policy costs less than an international plan that only covered up to, say, 30 days in the US, but I guess that's only because of the subsidies due to staggering your income. I wouldn't be able to do that (too many taxable total market dividends).

[dboeger1]

I always suggest people do a four month trip before going nomadic. For many folks, four months cures the travel bug, or at least the urge to travel for years on end.

Wise counsel! Plus a good way to test the costs!

And this - "Especially driving can be a real strain if you are just looking at highways all day - they can start to show up in your dreams." - could be a new horror flick ... Night of The Living Highways ... !

Oh my gosh, this times a million.

My dad used to take us on road trips to visit family when we were kids. We would drive all the way from coastal NJ to Kansas City to visit family there, and then continue on to the Rockies in Colorado to visit more family there, before making the whole return trip. We did it enough times that I started to recognize individual trees, mile markers, etc. along the way, so as a kid, I got to where I could tell how much longer we had to drive through Pennsylvania to get to Ohio by a particular house or farm, for example. It was many years after we stopped making that trip before I started to forget a lot of those things, and I'm not sure I wouldn't suddenly remember them if I made the trip again today. Since then, I've moved out West, and driven from the Bay Area to places like Las Vegas and Phoenix enough to pretty much get to that same level of memory for those trips. In some ways, it's kind of cool having such familiarity with the land routes in your country... but let's be clear, most of those journeys is extremely boring. There are many things I'd rather be doing with my life than memorizing exits on I-5. Frequent driving would the single biggest deterrent for me living something like an RV lifestyle. I'd rather take just about any other mode of transportation.

Speaking of other modes of transportation, I've actually been tempted by the whole bike touring lifestyle in the past. To be clear, I am absolutely not in good enough shape to do really long bike tours across continents, for example. But part of getting in shape would be taking shorter bike tours to nearby cities. I could see that being a really cool activity for early retirees to stay in shape and keep occupied. Unfortunately, our bikes were stolen from our apartment a few years ago just before we bought our house, which really kind of soured us on riding bikes for the time being. We've yet to replace them. It's not even so much the cost as it is the feeling of having been violated that way. It really is frustrating to invest in an eco- and health- conscious mode of transportation only to have it stolen by petty criminals. If I lived in a safer country with better bike infrastructure, I'd probably be more committed to bike touring, but I just don't know if I'm willing to explore that option again in the US.

[Shackleton]

We put our house on the market mid-June and had no interest is being there during the showings, so started checking out potential places to move to by traveling and staying in hotels. (We actually got an over list price offer the first day the house was listed, but we needed to move out of the house anyway because the elevation was causing health issues for my DH.) We’ve now been on the road for 6 weeks, and have finally gotten a rental house in the city of our choice (which is incredibly hard to do in this city…). We can’t move in until mid-September so we will have been on the road (in hotels and a few VRBOs) for 3 months once we ultimately move into our house. It’s hard and very expensive. Hotels average $300/night and we tend to buy food in grocery stores to minimize food costs and control what we eat. We are averaging $10k/ month. That also includes fuel. And it’s exhausting — the driving, finding the next location, making sure we have a good place to exercise our young dogs, learning about the ins and outs of each city. We are looking forward to our rental house now more than ever! We had briefly contemplated getting an RV and being nomadic, but life in hotel rooms (and we actually always get suites so that we have a little more room) has convinced us that we, personally, could never live the nomadic life.

It works for many people but you really need to try it for yourself and understand your personal lifestyle choices. Best of luck!

[halfnine]

...do you “slow travel” or go quickly from place to place?...

The longer you want to do it for the slower you will end up traveling. For those who do it internationally on a long term basis it is quite typical to spend 3-6 months (visa restrictions) in a city in one country before heading off to the next. Typically following the seasons. Once one realizes they don't have to squeeze everything into a 2-3 week vacation and adjusts their mindset costs and frustrations diminish.

Any budgetary advice or insight or comments would be appreciated as I try to explore whether this is something that I could swing financially

It never cost me any more or less when I was nomadic. My costs were always about the same. If one wants the same budget one just adjusts the duration spent on more expensive activites or locations. A lot of long term international nomads simply spend a lot of time in cheaper countries and then travel quickly through more expensive countries.

[gips]

when the kids were growing up we took them to a club med. playing tennis, i met someone who spent 2-3 months at one club med and then moved to the next. his food, drinks, lodging and entertainment were included in the cost of the resort. he said his costs averaged $200 per day or less. i thought it an interesting idea.

[Random Poster]

So it sounds like being an international nomad might be easier, and quite likely much cheaper, than being a US-based nomad.

At this point, I think I’d like to live in such a way that involves the least amount of responsibility (in terms of being responsible for house maintenance, car maintenance, general societal obligations, etc), and the idea of perpetual travel appeals in that respect, but I’m sure that everything gets old and exhausting after a while.

About 20 years ago I backpacked around the world for around 9 months, at a total cost around $20k, but that was a solo endeavor and I kinda doubt I’d be up for the same style of traveling today.

Could I do that general sort of traveling again? Sure—but to do so would involve convincing the wife to do so, and likely selling the house and car and all sorts of other stuff, that sometimes I wonder if it is all just a unrealistic dream.

[ThankYouJack]

So it sounds like being an international nomad might be easier, and quite likely much cheaper, than being a US-based nomad.

At this point, I think I’d like to live in such a way that involves the least amount of responsibility (in terms of being responsible for house maintenance, car maintenance, general societal obligations, etc), and the idea of perpetual travel appeals in that respect, but I’m sure that everything gets old and exhausting after a while.

About 20 years ago I backpacked around the world for around 9 months, at a total cost around $20k, but that was a solo endeavor and I kinda doubt I’d be up for the same style of traveling today.

Could I do that general sort of traveling again? Sure—but to do so would involve convincing the wife to do so, and likely selling the house and car and all sorts of other stuff, that sometimes I wonder if it is all just a unrealistic dream.

Don't give up! You and I have the same dream I've been talking to my wife about going nomad but need to think things through more (we have a couple of young kids so that makes things more challenging - home schooling, more stuff, etc). I'd like to sell the house and most of our stuff too, but we'd probably rent it out or just let it sit for the first few months. That way if we get tired of life on the road after a few months, we just move back.

My plan is to circle the US in about 9 months, mostly staying with friends and family but also camping, hotels and AirBnBs. I'm estimating that lodging, plane tickets and gas would cost around $20k. If we rented our house, it should cover that. Obviously we'd have a lot of other expenses including food, but staying with loved ones would really cut down on lodging and spending quality time with them would be the main driver for the trip.

Vehicle is one challenge and big expense. The largest I'd want to go is a mini or full size van (I'm not into RVing), but I don't think that would be big enough.

Also, logistics is a challenge since we'd want to visit a lot of National and State Parks but some of them can fill up very fast, way in advance.

Even with the challenges, I hope to make it happen...just need to sit on the idea for a couple months and think through things more (and convince my spouse) before giving it a go.

[flyingaway]

I think the cost of travel, slow travel, or nomadic life, depends on what kind of life you want to have on travel. Someone mentioned average hotel cost of $200, which is high in my opinion, if you are not living a luxury life on the road. I had around $150 hotel rooms in Zurich and Interlaken (Switzerland) in May 2022, which are not fancy but functional (with private bathrooms). Better rooms can be found in Bangkok (Thailand) for around $50~70. Foods can cost $20~$50 a day in Thailand.

For long-term travel, you can rent a furnished apartment in Bangkok for $500~$1,000 a month. Many retirees live there with social security only. I would suggest to try slow travel for a few months first in SE Asia. Those places are safe, warm, and inexpensive. You can also try South or Latin America, but many places there are not considered very safe.

I have been dreaming of a nomadic life for many years, but I may end up with a home base in the U.S. and doing frequent travels overseas. As someone mentioned above, travel could get old some day. When you wake up in a foreign hotel room in the morning and don't know what to do, that may be fine for a day or two, but for a week, a month? At that moment, you may really wish you had a home to go back, at least for a while.

[quadog]

We are not nomadic, but we frequently vacation using a website that lists house-and-pet sits.

Umm. Care to advertise the site? Or DM me per chance?