HOW MUCH IT REALLY COSTS TO TRAVEL FULL TIME

Even though the digital nomad lifestyle is becoming more mainstream, there are certain things I hear all the time. I guess, to many people, it’s still a kind of strange concept. And I mean, I can totally see choosing to be house-less could seem odd.

But, without doubt, the question I get asked most is the one Brits usually shy away from: money!

When people find out about my nomadic lifestyle, they usually want to know,

a – how I make money

b – how I afford to travel all the time, or

c – how much it costs to live a location independent life

Today, I’m going to answer that last one. Ready to talk money? Let’s do this!

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IS TRAVELLING FULL TIME EXPENSIVE?

When most people think of travel, they think of an expensive hobby they enjoy a few times a year. And when they think of long term travel, they imagine cutting back on coffees and saving every last penny for months or years to enjoy the trip of a lifetime. Or maybe you think of your retirement fund.

Whatever comes to mind, it’s hard to separate thoughts of travel from thoughts of your bank balance. And usually it’s with the idea that the former’s going to eat into a good chunk of the latter.

Spoiler alert: I spend less money travelling full time than I did when I lived in one place.

Most people are pretty shocked when I tell them that. Given how often we associate travel with hefty credit card bills, I guess it’s no surprise. But a travel lifestyle really isn’t the same as a one-off trip. Here’s why:

HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO TRAVEL FULL TIME

Here are all the expenses I have living as a digital compared to the expenses I had living in London. I do appreciate that London is a very expensive city to live in – it’s one of the reasons I left! But since it’s where my whole life was based before, it’s what I have to compare things to.

ACCOMMODATION

Probably the biggest change in my expenses is accommodation. Rent in London is EXPENSIVE. Before I left, I was paying £800 per month for a room in a three-bedroom flat. The living room and kitchen was a single, small room. There was only one bathroom. And that was considered a good deal.

I often get asked about where I stay when I’m spending time somewhere and the answer is usually an Airbnb apartment. Of course, it helps that Brendan and I usually travel together, but we’ve spent anywhere from £200 to £800 on a one bedroom apartment. No shared bathrooms, lots of living space and usually a very central location. Given that the most we’ve spent is the amount I paid without bills in London, going back to London seems like a pretty silly idea.

I probably stay in a hotel no more than 4 nights per month, and even then it rarely costs a lot. We’ll usually splash a little when we’re somewhere affordable, like in Koh Samui or Kuala Lumpur, and even then it’s way better value for money than London.

It’s hard to put an average price on accommodation because it varies so much from country to country, but I would say it averages out to around £500 per month each including hotels and Airbnbs. If you’re interested in any particular country, I’m adding all my digital nomad homes – and the cost of living there – to this post.

TRANSPORT

Okay, so here’s one that can cost a LOT more than living in London. On months when I’m flying – which, to be fair, is most of them – my flights can set me back a fair bit.

In 2018, I spent between £50 and £1100 per month on flights, and on at least a few months I spent nothing. I didn’t take a single flight between September 30 and December 15, meaning my transport costs were low. In the early summer, a lot of my flights were paid for by tourism boards I partnered with, and again I spent nothing for a good two months.

The only other transport costs I have are the occasional airport transfer (usually around £20), taxis or rental cars. In Namibia, the rental car was for the workshop, which was a business expense for Brendan. The other cars we hired cost around £350 per month and around £700 respectively (4WD’s are around twice the price in South Africa).

Given that I used to spend about £220 per month on getting to the office, it’s really not a lot – especially on the months I don’t fly. Plus, if I wanted to, it would be easy to cut this figure down by staying in places for longer or taking public transport.

FOOD

Now, I’m going to start by saying this is an area where I’m nowhere near as frugal as I could be.

Again, it depends on the destination, but I would say my daily food and drink intake comes to around £20. That’s much more than I would spend in London, but I’m sure it’s not far from the average Londoner’s spend.

The big difference between now and then is that I rarely cook. In many places, it’s simply cheaper and easier to order in or buy ready to eat food instead of cooking. Not only that but it saves time on cooking and cleaning up – time that I can instead put into my business.

It’s something I’ve thought about long and hard, but I ultimately decided that my time is worth more than the saving I’d make by cooking more regularly. That and I really enjoy trying the local food – it’s one of my favourite parts of travelling!