Latest / bit of a Rambler / 011 Exactly How Much?
Transcript
- 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,680 Hello, my name is Kai and I am a bit of a rambler. 2 00:00:04,680 --> 00:00:11,960 I like to travel, learn and tell stories, and today I want to talk about the money that 3 00:00:11,960 --> 00:00:21,200 people need to gather before they start traveling, and why it is way less than you think it is. 4 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,880 First of all, the cost of living is less in other countries. 5 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:29,960 If you're from the US or any wealthier country, you're going to be paying up to 90% less 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,240 just by landing in the other country. 7 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,920 And that's a pretty important reason that you just don't have to pay the same costs 8 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,600 that you're paying in your country. 9 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,680 On the flip side of that though is a little more subtle. 10 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,400 Why are you traveling? 11 00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:53,040 If you are traveling so that you can learn things and have new experiences and get out into 12 00:00:53,040 --> 00:01:01,360 the world and broaden your mind and connect with the people of the world. 13 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,920 If you're doing that stuff, you need very little money. 14 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:09,320 If you're having actual experiences, if you want to travel for new experiences, if you 15 00:01:09,320 --> 00:01:14,080 are new learning opportunities, you need a few hundred dollars a month because hostels 16 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:19,040 are about a hundred dollars a month to stay in, three to four dollars. 17 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:24,640 The most expensive ones will be ten dollars a month, so still three hundred dollars a month. 18 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:30,360 And food is up to ten dollars a day. 19 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:31,760 But it can be very cheap. 20 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:37,280 Sandwiches are usually less than a dollar in many countries. 21 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:44,920 So if you want to travel so that you can stay at an expensive hotel, you can stay at an 22 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:46,960 expensive hotel at home. 23 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:49,200 You can spend that money on that. 24 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:56,240 But if you want to travel for the new experiences, then you don't need much money at all. 25 00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,640 There are hostels in almost every country. 26 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:03,800 I mean, there are hostels in every country, but they're available and cheap hostels in almost 27 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:05,960 every country. 28 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:11,760 And like I said, there are a hundred dollars for a dorm bed in there and then there are 29 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:17,880 seven dollars for a private room to ten dollars for a private room if you like need your own 30 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:18,880 space. 31 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:24,200 But I would suggest not getting your own space when you're starting to travel especially. 32 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:33,560 I made so many connections and relationships because I was in a dorm style or more social 33 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,320 setting like a communal hostel. 34 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,760 In fact, I would, yeah, it's not a guest to hazard. 35 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:47,240 I definitely made most of my friends traveling because I was just in a hostel when you're next 36 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,040 to someone else and they're eating a snack. 37 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:51,040 Oh, what's that? 38 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:52,680 And boom, you guys are talking. 39 00:02:52,680 --> 00:02:55,600 If you guys click your friends, if you don't, you don't. 40 00:02:55,600 --> 00:03:01,320 If you have any kind of remote work now and it's supporting your life in any capacity 41 00:03:01,320 --> 00:03:06,120 in the states or Western Europe or one of the more expensive countries, then you are 42 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:12,000 already making more than enough money to travel perpetually in most other countries of the 43 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:13,320 world. 44 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,120 All of Southeast Asia is that cheap. 45 00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:19,640 A lot of parts of Western Europe are actually very cheap. 46 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:23,960 Actually even like France and Germany, if you just get places that are out of the way, 47 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:27,200 it's still only five hundred bucks a month for a private house and stuff. 48 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:34,640 It's very surprising how cheap the actual necessities are because when you're traveling, 49 00:03:34,640 --> 00:03:40,960 you don't have all the other, oh, maybe there's $10 here or like $20 there. 50 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,720 We have to tip this weight or so whatever the heck because most countries don't have tipping. 51 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:50,200 It's a weird American thing. 52 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:54,240 But what you need is a place to sleep. 53 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:58,400 You need food and then fun. 54 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:10,920 The place to sleep, like I said, dorms, hundred, 150 maybe per month, food, maybe $10 a day, 55 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:16,000 so say 400 to 500 a month. 56 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:18,360 And then you need the plane ticket there. 57 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:24,160 And if you're flying from like Portugal to Morocco, it's like $20 plane ticket. 58 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:28,620 If you're flying from any country to another adjoining country, it's never going to be 59 00:04:28,620 --> 00:04:32,120 more than $50 to get there. 60 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:40,640 If you want to fly all the way across the world, it's still only LA to Hong Kong is about 61 00:04:40,640 --> 00:04:42,800 $270. 62 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:48,260 So you're not exactly breaking the bank, especially if you end up staying in Hong Kong or in 63 00:04:48,260 --> 00:04:49,260 adjacent country. 64 00:04:49,260 --> 00:04:54,620 If you end up staying in East Asia for two months, then that transportation cost to get over 65 00:04:54,620 --> 00:04:58,500 there is cut in half and you only paid 135 for each country. 66 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:02,940 If you stay there three months, then you've only paid $80 to get to each country. 67 00:05:02,940 --> 00:05:08,900 And the actual cost of living there is so cheap that even if you paid $300 a month, which 68 00:05:08,900 --> 00:05:15,460 you never would to travel every month, that's $300 added on to maybe 500 if you're trying 69 00:05:15,460 --> 00:05:16,460 to be frugal. 70 00:05:16,460 --> 00:05:21,680 So $800 a month for everything included is obviously much less than you would pay for an apartment 71 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:23,940 in food in the States. 72 00:05:23,940 --> 00:05:26,700 And I stayed there for a year. 73 00:05:26,700 --> 00:05:31,780 So my transportation costs were one ticket over there, spread out among 12 months. 74 00:05:31,780 --> 00:05:41,300 I paid like $30 a month for a year of very low cost of living a beautiful country, nice 75 00:05:41,300 --> 00:05:44,180 people, and learning new things every day. 76 00:05:44,180 --> 00:05:49,940 Oh, and great food like great food every country you go to, the food is new and great every 77 00:05:49,940 --> 00:05:50,940 time. 78 00:05:50,940 --> 00:05:55,100 The basics are not as expensive as people tell you. 79 00:05:55,100 --> 00:05:59,380 Speaking of the low cost, there are many, many countries that you don't need to visa for 80 00:05:59,380 --> 00:06:00,900 at all. 81 00:06:00,900 --> 00:06:06,060 And then there are about a hundred and 80 countries where you do need to visa, but you can 82 00:06:06,060 --> 00:06:12,620 just get it on arrival for 20 bucks and then go right into the country for three months, 83 00:06:12,620 --> 00:06:16,940 six months, it just depends on the country. 84 00:06:16,940 --> 00:06:20,500 And if you want to get the visa beforehand, it is even easier. 85 00:06:20,500 --> 00:06:24,380 I usually get mine beforehand because it's so convenient. 86 00:06:24,380 --> 00:06:30,460 I don't have to wait in line at the airport, but visas are a 15 minute process that costs 87 00:06:30,460 --> 00:06:33,380 20 to 30 bucks usually. 88 00:06:33,380 --> 00:06:39,980 You fill out a form online, pay the fee, they email you a visa, you're good to go. 89 00:06:39,980 --> 00:06:44,180 It's not an expensive or onerous process. 90 00:06:44,180 --> 00:06:50,100 And like I said, if you have any kind of remote work and it's supporting you in a country 91 00:06:50,100 --> 00:06:55,540 that's a little more expensive, then you can support yourself very easily. 92 00:06:55,540 --> 00:07:00,100 Like if you're making more than a thousand dollars per month, you're sad. 93 00:07:00,100 --> 00:07:05,740 I lived very frequently on a few hundred dollars for years, on like 300 dollars a month. 94 00:07:05,740 --> 00:07:08,700 I taught English online. 95 00:07:08,700 --> 00:07:15,060 I just had conversations with people and I'd get $220 into my bank account or whatever 96 00:07:15,060 --> 00:07:16,660 every month. 97 00:07:16,660 --> 00:07:19,140 And I was just casual conversations. 98 00:07:19,140 --> 00:07:22,360 I did that and I had traveled for a few years by that point. 99 00:07:22,360 --> 00:07:28,220 So I knew these costs and I had enough money for years. 100 00:07:28,220 --> 00:07:32,540 I did that for two years straight about just traveling to different countries, talking 101 00:07:32,540 --> 00:07:38,460 on the phone to random people and getting a few dollars each conversation. 102 00:07:38,460 --> 00:07:45,100 And that was more than enough to get a train, a plane or a bus to a different country. 103 00:07:45,100 --> 00:07:49,420 Sometimes I would meet people and I drove over in their car to another country. 104 00:07:49,420 --> 00:07:56,220 It was enough money to buy all the food I needed and to pay for my bed at night. 105 00:07:56,220 --> 00:07:58,540 Now I know everybody doesn't want to live like that. 106 00:07:58,540 --> 00:08:03,460 That's definitely just how I like that rock, ready, sand between my toes kind of feeling 107 00:08:03,460 --> 00:08:06,980 of, I don't know. 108 00:08:06,980 --> 00:08:10,060 What would you call bear bones traveling? 109 00:08:10,060 --> 00:08:13,300 Like bear bones backpacking, BBB. 110 00:08:13,300 --> 00:08:16,100 And I like that triple V lifestyle. 111 00:08:16,100 --> 00:08:20,660 But if you make twice that much, if you make 600 a month instead of the 300 a month I was 112 00:08:20,660 --> 00:08:26,020 making, then you can have a private room, twice the amount of food. 113 00:08:26,020 --> 00:08:32,740 And you know your own kitchen and you can get a nicer bus between places. 114 00:08:32,740 --> 00:08:38,460 So by the time you're at a thousand, you basically have all the conveniences and comforts you 115 00:08:38,460 --> 00:08:40,260 could want. 116 00:08:40,260 --> 00:08:46,620 So if you have a remote job that is paying you close to a thousand, you're well over your 117 00:08:46,620 --> 00:08:47,620 limit. 118 00:08:47,620 --> 00:08:51,660 If you have a remote work that could pay you $500 a month, you're totally set. 119 00:08:51,660 --> 00:08:53,220 You should go. 120 00:08:53,220 --> 00:08:55,220 If traveling is the most important thing. 121 00:08:55,220 --> 00:09:00,460 Obviously, if your value is aligned more with saving up a nest egg or something like 122 00:09:00,460 --> 00:09:05,460 that or if you're in dire need of money for some emergency fund, then you can't do this 123 00:09:05,460 --> 00:09:07,060 immediately. 124 00:09:07,060 --> 00:09:11,940 But if you're just thinking, boy, I have to save money before I start traveling, I only 125 00:09:11,940 --> 00:09:14,060 have a thousand dollars. 126 00:09:14,060 --> 00:09:15,060 Nope. 127 00:09:15,060 --> 00:09:22,740 You can start traveling because again, it's priorities traveling, learning new experiences, 128 00:09:22,740 --> 00:09:25,820 connecting with people, learning all that stuff. 129 00:09:25,820 --> 00:09:26,940 You just got to get out there. 130 00:09:26,940 --> 00:09:28,980 That's the main thing. 131 00:09:28,980 --> 00:09:33,780 You need to get a passport, then you need to buy a ticket. 132 00:09:33,780 --> 00:09:40,780 If your main point is traveling and having these new experiences, then you can get a job 133 00:09:40,780 --> 00:09:49,300 teaching overseas very easily and start traveling and have money for as long as you want, 134 00:09:49,300 --> 00:09:50,820 as long as you're traveling. 135 00:09:50,820 --> 00:09:51,820 All right. 136 00:09:51,820 --> 00:09:54,620 So that's how much money you actually need. 137 00:09:54,620 --> 00:10:00,700 You need a few hundred, like two or three hundred, to have a roof over your head and having 138 00:10:00,700 --> 00:10:02,900 a food per month. 139 00:10:02,900 --> 00:10:08,780 Five hundred, six hundred, you can usually get a private room and obviously better food. 140 00:10:08,780 --> 00:10:14,260 And you know, more experiences you can pay for the taxi to the volcano or whatever if 141 00:10:14,260 --> 00:10:15,260 you're in Guatemala. 142 00:10:15,260 --> 00:10:18,020 A thousand? 143 00:10:18,020 --> 00:10:19,020 You're good. 144 00:10:19,020 --> 00:10:20,860 You will definitely have a private house. 145 00:10:20,860 --> 00:10:25,780 You'll have all the food you want and you can go do whatever you want every day. 146 00:10:25,780 --> 00:10:29,980 The thing is like hanging out and not doing anything is also a big part of traveling. 147 00:10:29,980 --> 00:10:30,980 Like relax. 148 00:10:30,980 --> 00:10:32,620 You got out of the rat race. 149 00:10:32,620 --> 00:10:37,380 So you can spend a few days just to eat your favorite sandwich in the neighborhood and watch 150 00:10:37,380 --> 00:10:38,580 movies or whatever. 151 00:10:38,580 --> 00:10:45,940 Read books or comics on your phone or your laptop and then you every day you're not doing 152 00:10:45,940 --> 00:10:46,940 something. 153 00:10:46,940 --> 00:10:49,500 You're also saving money for your budget. 154 00:10:49,500 --> 00:10:56,940 So if getting those experiences in is the main thing, then you can provide for achieving 155 00:10:56,940 --> 00:11:00,860 those experiences with minimal effort. 156 00:11:00,860 --> 00:11:06,840 Now if you don't have a remote job, most countries you can go to will hire you on as an English 157 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:08,300 teacher. 158 00:11:08,300 --> 00:11:14,020 You can get the Tuffle certification for $40 international lifetime certification and 159 00:11:14,020 --> 00:11:20,260 then you can teach as much or as little as you want literally five hours a week. 160 00:11:20,260 --> 00:11:32,860 But five hours for 20 bucks an hour, which is what you'll get with zero experience is $400 161 00:11:32,860 --> 00:11:34,380 a month. 162 00:11:34,380 --> 00:11:35,860 And that's enough. 163 00:11:35,860 --> 00:11:40,780 And if you're like, oh, work 10 hours a week, then you have 800 and now you're having fun. 164 00:11:40,780 --> 00:11:45,300 If you want to work like a full time job, you can and yeah, just save money. 165 00:11:45,300 --> 00:11:46,380 That's what I did in the beginning. 166 00:11:46,380 --> 00:11:50,580 I worked closer to 40 hours per week and but I just saved all that money. 167 00:11:50,580 --> 00:11:56,580 And because I saved and invested that money, I'm living off the dividends from that investment 168 00:11:56,580 --> 00:11:57,740 now. 169 00:11:57,740 --> 00:12:07,940 You don't have to wait for someone to give you the privilege of traveling. 170 00:12:07,940 --> 00:12:13,740 You get the document, you get your passport, you find a job that will pay you a few hundred 171 00:12:13,740 --> 00:12:15,420 per month, find a remote work. 172 00:12:15,420 --> 00:12:21,180 There are 3000 listings right now and any one of those will give you a few hundred dollars 173 00:12:21,180 --> 00:12:26,820 per month in exchange for probably much less time than you're spending at your job now in 174 00:12:26,820 --> 00:12:34,380 the States and barely making ends meet or in a city in Germany in Hamburg or Lisbon and 175 00:12:34,380 --> 00:12:36,660 Portugal or whatever. 176 00:12:36,660 --> 00:12:40,740 That job that you're killing yourself for, if you're killing yourself so that you can 177 00:12:40,740 --> 00:12:44,900 eventually travel, you're using way too much effort. 178 00:12:44,900 --> 00:12:50,140 You can skip this aside a line and start traveling. 179 00:12:50,140 --> 00:12:55,100 If traveling is what you do, then you support your traveling. 180 00:12:55,100 --> 00:13:01,780 Don't keep planning to live, start living the way you want to live and then fund that. 181 00:13:01,780 --> 00:13:10,140 If you're pointed that you don't have $500 for the air ticket and the first month of rent 182 00:13:10,140 --> 00:13:14,100 and food, one, you can teach English online. 183 00:13:14,100 --> 00:13:20,660 There are a thousand positions available literally and you can just start doing that like tomorrow. 184 00:13:20,660 --> 00:13:24,540 If you get the Tefl certification, you'll definitely teaching English to the foreign language. 185 00:13:24,540 --> 00:13:26,700 They'll hire you right on. 186 00:13:26,700 --> 00:13:31,180 Alaska has tons of salmon canning jobs. 187 00:13:31,180 --> 00:13:36,820 Go on Craigslist anything, like literally any job, any job that will get you $500, you can 188 00:13:36,820 --> 00:13:38,540 start traveling on that. 189 00:13:38,540 --> 00:13:43,660 If you're traveling too travel, then you can fund that with the jobs that are abroad. 190 00:13:43,660 --> 00:13:49,140 I always recommend teaching because it's so easy to get into a native English speaker and 191 00:13:49,140 --> 00:13:53,220 it pays well and you don't have to work very much. 192 00:13:53,220 --> 00:13:58,740 You can choose exactly how much you want to work and how much money you want to earn. 193 00:13:58,740 --> 00:14:05,500 I'm sure there is some terrible circumstance that is preventing some people from doing 194 00:14:05,500 --> 00:14:12,220 this but none of the people who ask me in real life. 195 00:14:12,220 --> 00:14:13,580 Can I travel? 196 00:14:13,580 --> 00:14:15,180 Have I had to say no to? 197 00:14:15,180 --> 00:14:19,980 I've never been like, "Oh no, you don't have enough money or like you don't have the will 198 00:14:19,980 --> 00:14:20,980 power. 199 00:14:20,980 --> 00:14:24,860 You don't have the huts but you're not brave enough to get out there." 200 00:14:24,860 --> 00:14:28,660 I've been asked that question, "Well, can I travel?" 201 00:14:28,660 --> 00:14:30,660 Hundreds of times? 202 00:14:30,660 --> 00:14:33,660 I don't know so many times. 203 00:14:33,660 --> 00:14:35,980 And well, I don't know how I could do that. 204 00:14:35,980 --> 00:14:37,340 How could I do that? 205 00:14:37,340 --> 00:14:39,740 I've never had to tell someone like, "Oh, you can't. 206 00:14:39,740 --> 00:14:40,740 I'm sorry. 207 00:14:40,740 --> 00:14:42,660 You only have one leg." 208 00:14:42,660 --> 00:14:46,380 No, there are plenty of physically disabled people traveling. 209 00:14:46,380 --> 00:14:48,380 Oh, you have a chronic illness? 210 00:14:48,380 --> 00:14:53,020 Well, you can get the equivalent medication to whatever you're using now in another country 211 00:14:53,020 --> 00:14:57,500 and you'll get quality medical care for a much cheaper price. 212 00:14:57,500 --> 00:15:02,260 Save money, get a passport, get a ticket out there. 213 00:15:02,260 --> 00:15:05,100 Let's look at a couple of these costs real quick. 214 00:15:05,100 --> 00:15:14,740 So if we pull up sky scanner right now, if you're leaving from the states, then Canada's 215 00:15:14,740 --> 00:15:22,860 20 bucks, Mexico 20 bucks, pretty much all of Central South America, I mean, all of Central 216 00:15:22,860 --> 00:15:26,580 America's 50 bucks. 217 00:15:26,580 --> 00:15:29,660 South America, let's see, once we're out of there. 218 00:15:29,660 --> 00:15:32,340 Iceland is $120 right now. 219 00:15:32,340 --> 00:15:34,340 England is $120. 220 00:15:34,340 --> 00:15:42,940 Yeah, so you can take 100 bucks, go to one of 50 countries tomorrow if you want to. 221 00:15:42,940 --> 00:15:46,540 If traveling is what is the most important thing to you, if learning more about the world 222 00:15:46,540 --> 00:15:53,460 and making these connections with new people, new loves, new relationships overall, just 223 00:15:53,460 --> 00:16:02,140 learning new things, just living in a new place is a startlingly beautiful experience. 224 00:16:02,140 --> 00:16:08,220 And I think if that is what you want, you should do it. 225 00:16:08,220 --> 00:16:09,380 And I know you can. 226 00:16:09,380 --> 00:16:19,380 [MUSIC]