Guest Post: Traveling The World Frugally

Special note from Dividend Mantra: Today, we have a guest post from Jeremy and Winnie – the bloggers behind Go Curry Cracker. I’ve heard from readers that have specifically wanted to hear from people who have already saved and invested their way to complete freedom. Many of you want to hear from individuals out there that have already found the “promised land” and willing to share their vision of it with the rest of us. Well, today we’re going to hear from two people who long ago decided to change their life for the better. They started saving large portions of their income, invested the difference and are now reaping the rewards – spending their long, leisurely days traveling to beautiful locales, eating wonderful cuisine and keeping a record of it via their blog and photography. 
Over there, just down that open road, beyond those mountains, and across the sea is a place many people long for.
Where will you go…? Paris, Tuscany, a tropical island with a refreshing breeze? Maybe you will know it when you see it; you just have to find it.
Whatever the place, there is a name for it that everybody with a sense of adventure can relate to. It’s called somewhere else.
A need to explore the unknown is a fundamental part of human nature. It’s what made us climb down from the trees, conquer the seas and the plains, and put a man on the moon and a robot on Mars. The urge for adventure drives us.

My wife and I have felt that urge, and followed it. We are in the midst of a grand adventure, a journey with no destination and unknown duration. It’s a lot like life in that way. We have been to many “somewhere elses” and there will be many more. With all of our worldly possessions tucked in our backpacks, we have no plans to settle down or to return to a traditional life.

We are on the go. We are Go Curry Cracker!
The idea that one could retire early and travel around the world first took a foothold in my brain a short 10 years ago, before I met my wife. During my first real vacation as a workaholic adult, it was hard to let go. My mind was consumed by thoughts of the office throughout the first week. A week later, I had started to relax and enjoy myself. And before I stepped on the plane to go back home, I asked myself, “How can I do this everyday for the rest of my life?!”
There were fewer resources available on the Internet, and we learned by trial and error. What I wouldn’t have given for a Dividend Mantra back then. While many things were unknown, the heart of the plan was to increase our savings rate substantially. I figured if we could save a lot, then all of the things we didn’t know about would be less important. It turns out that was true.
While friends were buying new cars, I started taking the bus and riding my bike. While coworkers were remodeling the kitchens in their suburban palaces, we were moving into a small apartment in a walkable neighborhood. When everybody was watching the latest sitcom about people living way beyond their means, we sold our television and used the extra time to learn how to invest. These changes brought untold blessings into our lives as well as to our pocketbook.
As we approached our savings target, we tried to answer more of the unknowns, such as “How much does it really cost to travel permanently?” There is an abundance of travel information on the Internet, but we didn’t need advice on how to get cheap hotel rooms in Vegas or how to get last minute discounts on weekends in NYC. While some round-the-world backpackers and other permanent travelers do share some of their costs, without detailed information it was hard to compare to our own plans. To help fill that void, we share details on every dollar of our expenditures from the day we started our travels.
It turns out that permanent travel is a wallet friendly way to see the world. Without even trying to control costs, we are living like the royalty of yesteryear for a fraction of our modest life in the US. In contrast to mainstream vacation travelers, for the price of 3 nights in a hotel in New York City, we stayed for a month in a luxury condo in one of the most expensive cities in Mexico. For the price of lunch at Applebee’s or Chili’s, we have had amazing 5-star dinners. For less than minimum wage, we’ve hired skilled instructors in Spanish, jewelry making, and guitar. And since we don’t have a house or car “back home” we don’t have any of the typical recurring expenses.
We started our travels in Latin America rather than Rome or Tokyo, partially because we had never been, but also because of the lower cost of living. By targeting a location that would allow us to spend less than our dividend income, we could retire as early as possible while allowing for substantial future growth opportunity based solely on future dividend growth. A similar tactic could allow others to hop off the treadmill sooner.
Travel in foreign lands also brings great personal growth. The ability to think on your feet and deal with adversity grows, as does confidence and self-reliance. Assumptions we make, about our cultures and ourselves, are challenged as we witness others living differently, and in turn live differently ourselves.
We’ve met people from all walks of life, backgrounds, and business and personal interests. The road has a way of bringing people together that is uncommon in most home and work environments. Diversity of thought brings new ideas. If and when the time comes, the new skills, ideas, and contacts will all help with bringing in new income.
Because of a high savings rate, we are living the life we dreamed about, learning new skills and meeting interesting people, while sharing our stories, photos, and adventures with the world. Everything we are doing is repeatable. Whether you want a 5-star travel life, you intend to slum it, or you just want to participate in the popular sport of fiscal voyeurism, our spending data is on full display.
Is permanent travel in your future? Have questions? Feel free to contact us.
Hopefully our example can help you get to your somewhere else.
Jeremy and Winnie, Go Curry Cracker.
Dividend Mantra: Did you guys enjoy the post? Please comment below, and hopefully Jeremy or Winnie will stop by and respond. 
 
Thanks for reading.

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40 Comments

  1. That sounds great Go Curry Cracker. I documented my wife and my wanderlust building up in my 11/9 post. We’re setting up a 15 month plan and planning to take at least 6 months. I don’t know that we would want to travel in perpetuity with a toddler, but a nice long trip to get our head on straight sounds awesome. The reason I’m really happy you share your journey, is that WAY too few people realize that flexibility and financial independence could be within their grasp…….is they just work at it. Keep up the great posts and happy trails.
    -Bryan

  2. Thanks for the guest post, Jeremy and Winnie! I’ve been following your adventures for almost a year now. What you guys enjoy right now is what my wife and I have been aiming for. We are hoping to pull the trigger in about a year with a dividend income of about 16-18K/year.

    I have some of questions for you:

    1) Do you think it’s possible to have a similar lifestyle with about 18K/year in dividends? (I would think it’s possible, especially if we watch our rent expenses, but I want to hear your opinion)

    2) Is it hard to find places that come furnished? Does that requirement significantly increase the rent?

    3) When you were approaching your dividend income goal, how did you deal with the temptation to continue investing in order to secure a bit more dividend income? (I’m currently wrestling with that right now and haven’t come up with good answer yet).

    thanks!

    P.S. I recently asked you about your experience with the rollout of the ACA in your website, thanks again for the feedback.

  3. Hey Spoonman! Yeah, I remember your ACA questions, glad I was able to help out with that

    I think you could travel on $18k a year with the exception of places like London, Tokyo, etc… Even then you could probably make it work with couch surfing and house sitting options

    Where we are now, we are spending $1k a month on rent.
    http://www.gocurrycracker.com/our-1000-a-month-home-in-san-miguel-de-allende-mexico/

    A friend in Winnie’s jewelry making class rented a place less than 5 minutes away for less than $300/month. It is doable

    By staying in lower cost places (e.g. Guatemala) you can do better. You may have seen the place we rented there for $195/month
    http://www.gocurrycracker.com/our-195-per-month-guatemala-apartment/

    There are a lot of places for rent with furnishings. It doesn’t seem to affect the price significantly, and it is always negotiable

    It is really common to think about investing more and getting more income. I’ve heard it referred to as “One more year syndrome.” “If I only work 1 more year, I’ll have so much more $!” It is a huge psychological hurdle and takes time to work through. In hindsight, I personally dealt with that problem by working longer than we needed to. After a year of not working though, we realized more won’t make us any happier
    http://www.gocurrycracker.com/twice-as-much-money-wont-make-us-twice-as-happy/

    Plus, the very concept of Dividend Growth Investing is that your dividend income will grow faster than inflation, allowing you to increase your lifestyle over time if you choose

    Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you have or if I wasn’t clear enough

    Cheers

    Jeremy

  4. Hi Bryan,

    I’m not sure if we would want to travel full time with kids, although some people do it. I suppose you could always try it and see what it is like. If it doesn’t work out the way you hoped, you can always grow some roots somewhere

    Enjoy your 6 months. Those 15 months will fly past in no time!

    Cheers

    Jeremy

  5. Those pictures are beautiful and made me dream, daydream about places I would like to visit once I retire (with my wife). I also would say what “what I would have given for knowing Dividend Mantra” 20 years ago. My life would have been totally different. 🙂
    But nevertheless I am grateful even for what I have now and do not regret anything. All bad in the past was actually good for me because I could learn from it.
    So thanks for posting this. People like you keep me motivated to work harder towards my retirement goal.

  6. Sometimes when people ask, “How is it going?” or “What do you do?”, I’ll respond with “Livin’ the dream” 🙂

    Good luck with your plan. 20 years isn’t really that long away in the grand scheme

    Cheers

    Jeremy

  7. Hi Martin

    Thank you. Winnie is a semi-pro photographer. It’s a good thing too, because I can’t seem to take a good picture to save my life ;p

    I totally agree about lessons from the past, we learn from it and grow. It all works out in the end if we can keep that gratitude

    All the best

    Jeremy

  8. Awesome story, and an inspiration to all those who would love to travel after an early retirement!

    What sort of investments/means of income were you guys focused on prior to retirement, then how has that changed (if at all) after retirement and a year of traveling?

  9. Very inspiring stuff. I found myself in a similar situation… on vacation, laying on a beach… and wondering why I couldn’t make this my life everyday?

    Hoping to get there in another year or so. Just want to travel, see the world, explore. Basically do everything my job doesn’t allow me to do. To permanent travel! Can’t wait!

  10. Thanks for answering my questions, Jeremy. I do have one more question: How exactly do you go about renting an apartment when you decide to move to a new city? Do you just use some sort of online service?

  11. No kids, huh? 🙂 I think we’ll have to wait till ours go to college in 18-20 years before we can even think about anything like this. Good for you though and I mean it!

  12. We look online, walk around and look at For Rent signs, and ask people. Once in Guatemala we asked all the Taxi drivers standing at a corner, and they all got on their phones and 10 minutes later we were negotiating with the owner

  13. We have a portfolio of index funds, individual dividend stocks, some bonds, and a private bond from a small rental property I sold with owner financing. I don’t expect this to ever change except that the private bond balloons out in 2 years

  14. I like how you phrased that your job doesn’t allow you do do a lot of things

    As an American, I was always confused by the cultural view of vacation days. As kids, why do we have 3 months of summer vacation, a few multi-week holidays around Christmas and Easter, and numerous long weekends, but then suddenly as adults, BAM! 2 weeks off. Jobs really get in the way of living.

  15. No kids, although we are talking about that possibility often these days 🙂 So perhaps it is better phrased as, No kids, yet. We are still in our 30’s so we have time to figure it out

    A lot of people travel with kids. We’ve met many. My sister, for example, has 3 boys (5 years, 3 years, 1 year) and travels around the US in an RV. Her philosophy is that the boys benefit more from her spending time with them then they would from her being in an office 60 hours a week.

    Wired magazine published a list of the 5 best toys of all time. They are also the cheapest :p
    http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/01/the-5-best-toys-of-all-time/all/1

    Lots of personal choices with lifestyle and cost of raising children. As in most things, there is no 1 right way

    All the best

    Jeremy

  16. Hi D-S

    Funny thing, I never did (and still don’t) think of anything we did as deprivation. A car for example… dirty, nasty things. You have to deal with traffic, fill it up with gas, maintain it, find parking… horrible. Where we were living, there was no place that I couldn’t get to faster and with more fun on my bike.

    Resistance to change is a natural part of the human condition, though. Once we are used to a certain lifestyle seldom do people want to change it, unless it is for something “better.” Better is totally subjective though.

    I completely agree that having a partner 100% with the same values helps. We are a team, so neither one of us is “behind” the other. We discuss everything and figure out the best solution. If we weren’t on the same page, I would have tried to lead by example, for example by starting to ride a bike instead of driving, making a few meals at home instead of eating out, etc… With mutual respect and conversation, most people can see the others point of view

    All the best

    Jeremy

  17. This have been very strong deprivation at the beginning!!
    I think that’s only possible, if you are alone or if your wife stand 100% behind you!

    In my case, my wife would not participate.
    For example bigger savings, a smaller apartment or renounce the “great” car!

    Great, what did you do there!
    Incredible! Super!

    regards
    D-S

  18. Jason, thank you for the opportunity to share this guest post

    We found a way of living that works for us and we’ve heard from a lot of people that they have similar goals. If our example can help, we are glad to share it!

    Thank you

    Jeremy

  19. Totally agree. Life should be about living! Of course, you should have to put in some work, but the majority of life cannot be about working.

    I could never comprehend that either… felt the exact same way in regards to the differences between being a kid in school and adult in the workplace. If we still had summer breaks (2 months off!), I probably wouldn’t be in such a rush to reach early FI.

  20. I think kids change the variables but don’t change the equation. Your permatravel life would be “different” but not necessarily worse (or better!).

    Popping off somewhere for a night or two from your home base probably won’t be a fun experience with very young children for example. But your style of setting up a home base for 1+ month at a time seems like the best way to travel and see the world with kids.

    We are slowly branching out with ours. So far we did trips that involved a 13 hour car trip (each way) and a 2 hr flight (each way) and lots of walking and public transit. Each time the kids exceeded our expectations (just set the threshold low).

  21. great to hear such an inspiring story! I couldn’t quite tell from your post above–are you guys traveling on a permanent basis, or will you need to return “home” at some point to replenish your bank accounts in order to travel some more?

  22. Jeremy,

    No problem!

    Your story is very interesting, and I think a lot of people can identify with what you’re doing. Your vision resonates. 🙂

    Keep up the great work, and have fun out there on the road!

    Best wishes.

  23. Wow, that’s pretty amazing. So, if I understand you correctly, you basically decide which place to get the day of! I suppose having a list of places from online sources narrows down the search and helps you make a decision quickly. I always pictured myself getting a hotel for a few days while I take my time looking around.

    Thanks for the feedback!

  24. Jeremy,

    Great article. Cool blog.

    How long have you been retired?
    How much $ did you need to save so that you are confident it will last?

    Thanks,
    Roger H

  25. How about a little more financial info? How much would you really need to travel permanently?
    This lifestyle would have been really attractive to me when I was younger, but it doesn’t sound fun anymore.
    Our goal is to live about 1/2 time in cheap exotic locations when we are both fully retired.

  26. Hi Roger

    Thank you, I’m glad you liked it

    I left work a little over a year ago and my wife stopped working about 4 years ago

    We are spending about $3k a month on average for our current lifestyle. This requires about $850k to support but we have some margin. Based on 4% rule and our ability to be flexible, we are not worried about the longevity of the portfolio.

    Cheers

    Jeremy

  27. Hey Joe

    What kind of financial info are you interested in? I’ve written many posts about our finances on our blog that you can check out, but I’m also happy to answer any specific questions you might have. We try to share our expenses in great detail so people can analyze and modify to fit there own needs and wants since there are many choices and options

    Here is a rough summary though:

    We are living a pretty luxurious lifestyle for about $3k a month. For example, we are renting a 3 bedroom home with a roof-top terrace with a great view for $1k/month while a friend of ours is renting a 2 bedroom place a couple blocks from here for about $350. (We are still experimenting… the extra rooms were meant to entice friends to visit)

    Last nights dinner cost $33. The night before it cost $3.

    We went out to a jazz club last weekend and had a few glasses of wine: ~$20

    Of course our lifestyle isn’t desirable to everybody. We like it though

    All the best

    Jeremy

  28. We usually don’t make a long term commitment until we know if we like an area. Sometimes that means getting a hotel for a day or two

    When we went to Acapulco we had a hotel reserved in advance. But in smaller places that are easy to walk around, like Caye Caulker, Belize or Isla Mujeres, Mexico, we just use our feet and talk with people

    For example, we took the night bus from Belize City to Cancun and arrived in Isla Mujeres around 7 am one morning on a ferry. We asked for directions to the main street, stopped for coffee at a cafe, and then checked with 4 different hotels about rooms. One of them offered a great rate and immediate check-in. Once we confirmed we liked the room, we took it (and a much needed nap.)

    A few days later, they told us they couldn’t offer us that rate anymore and massively increased their asking price. No worries, after a little breakfast at a nearby cafe and a conversation with the owner, we had several recommendations (the owner was from Arizona, but had lived in Isla Mujeres for 20 years.) One of the places turned out to be a huge upgrade from our previous place at the same price we had been paying, plus we now had access to a pool with great ocean view

    Being flexible is key

  29. Hi Jeremy (and Winne),

    I’ve been ERed for 9 years and spend about 6 months of each year traveling, but the only thing keeping me from traveling full-time is finding an SO who also wants this lifestyle.Any suggestions on how/where to find a woman who’s also interested in the far horizons?

    Steve

    PS: …and if you know of any women in the same boat feel free to set us up 🙂

  30. Oh man, whoever figures out a dating sight for frugal traveling early retirees is going to make a kadjillion dollars

    Most traveling couples that we have met personally, they met while traveling.

    Good luck Steve!

  31. Hi,

    Specific questions (although I can understand if you don’t want to answer)
    – What is your net worth?
    – how is it invested?
    – What was it when you retired?

    Thanks!

  32. Your post has excited me once again after a long time to go for travel, to see the world, to enjoy once again. I fully enjoyed reading your experience, picture are looking beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

  33. How are you going to combine that with RB40 jr growing up? Maybe you could write a post about that and different scenarios? Would be very interesting.

    BR,
    Frihetsfonden

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