Comments on: Travel the World By Not Paying Rent

By: ujas2134

ujas2134 — Wed, 29 May 2013 21:49:34 +0000

I lived in New York for a lot of years and decided to move in a smaller town in Texas, I get bored and decided to travel in US with my car. It is not impossible to travel without spending much money, the ideas you gave us are very interesting and I think I am going to try this.

By: keaton

keaton — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 19:11:53 +0000

Hmmm, what I can’t help thinking is that there’s an opportunity cost to this kind of lifestyle. At 30ish, it sounds like the author doesn’t have very much professional work experience or the ability to pursue a career of any kind. I imagine that it might even be difficult to find a regular job, given the economy and the (presumably) significant gaps on the author’s CV. On the one hand, this sounds pretty fun – I’ve lived in several countries, so I do understand the impulse. On the other, one can’t keep doing this forever and what then? Gotta think about tomorrow sometime …

By: eemusings@twitter

eemusings@twitter — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:09:06 +0000

@josefinastrummer Yeah. I’ve been living on my own for years now and still don’t have a lot of stuff (and all my furniture is crappy and worth next to nothing). If we were to go travelling, I’d put a couple of important things in storage or with family and quite honestly, all the rest could be sold or donated/Freecycled. Our fridge and washing machine are pieces of crap worth about $50 each, for example.

By: eemusings@twitter

eemusings@twitter — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:07:21 +0000

I just read ‘Delaying the Real World’ by Colleen Kinder and another method she mentions is getting research grants to go overseas and work on your own projects.

Also, a lot of RTW travelers cut out expenses by housesitting wherever possible (and in fact I know someone local who does this on a permanent basis to save on rent: http://nzmuse.com/2012/10/22/house-sitting-as-a-lifestyle-choice/).

By: eemusings@twitter

eemusings@twitter — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 23:06:14 +0000

@josefinastrummer I’d agree with that. Choosing to live this kind of lifestyle when you’re younger does mean acknowledging you’re going to be behind on things like house buying and retirement.

By: WaityKatie

WaityKatie — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:32:39 +0000

@josefinastrummer Well, there’s always the chance I will go RENEGADE and default on my loans, in which case I would need places to stay/hide from the law. Sigh, I wish that had a chance of actually happening in reality.

By: ennaenirehtac

ennaenirehtac — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:13:03 +0000

“If a flight attendant asks for volunteers to be bumped onto the next flight in exchange for a voucher, for God’s sake, volunteer.”

UNLESS that flight is JFK-LAX three days before Christmas. Then you are a damn fool and will end up spending 48 hours in the airport on standby.

Love,
A Damn Fool.

By: josefinastrummer

josefinastrummer — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:46:35 +0000

@Runawaytwin I think a lot of people, traveling or working or whatever, aren’t planning for retirement because we need to live our lives now. I have an office job that pays so poorly, I can’t plan for retirement because I need to eat and pay my bills now. Just because you appear “stable” doesn’t mean you have the luxury of planning for retirement. Honestly, I don’t think I will ever be able to retire, or at least I don’t plan to. Luckily, I have met plenty of 70 year olds doing the job I would like to mainly do, so I should be okay.
Also, there is no guarantee all the savings you have retirement will actually be there when you retire. Look at how much people have lost on their 401ks already. That is scary. So I say live it up now while the money is still yours.

By: josefinastrummer

josefinastrummer — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:42:26 +0000

@WaityKatie You and I have argued about this one before over on the Hairpin, Katie, and I’ve since thought more about your point of view. I agree that people who say “paying rent is for CHUMPS” (love that word!) are the actual chumps, but I still believe that a lot of people living this lifestyle don’t have this attitude and are just trying to figure things out. I think this because that was me two years ago, really trying to figure things out and so grateful for the people who had a place for me to stay. And I do think if you help a good one of these “drifters” out, it will come back to you if you decide to adopt this lifestyle or even just want to visit. Once you pay off those law school loans! ;)

By: WaityKatie

WaityKatie — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 20:34:39 +0000

@sintaxis Also, are there a bunch of industries willing to hire 50 year old entry level people, because I’m not seeing a lot of those around. Maybe “old” is “30″?