Life At Home VS Life On The Road
I get these questions more often than probably anything else.
How do you travel so often?
How can you stay out for so long?
How do you afford this?
I’m here to tell my story about how I juggle my life at home and life on the road. It’s not an easy road, it comes with a lot of hard work and sacrifice. You can also check out my blog ‘How I Afford To Travel’, to learn more on how you can save and afford to travel like me. Prepare yourself, this is one of my longer blogs and it’s going to show some real personal emotions y’all! This post will dive deep into my thoughts of why I travel and how it has impacted my life. So if you’re not into that sort of thing, check out one of my other blog post.
When I refer to travel in this blog, I’m not just talking about the occasional trip here or there, I’m talking about life changing trips where I’m gone for months at a time, then come home and re-acclimate to life back home. To me, it’s not just about the money that allows me to go on these trips, it’s a mentality. It’s the idea of the moment that I get home, it’s already time for me to plan my next trip and what I’ll need to do to make this happen. But it’s not as easy as people think to just come home and try to feel normal again. Truth be told there are plenty of negative side affects and a very real sort of depression that sets in as soon as you get home. If you are a traveler and can relate or just someone who wants to understand what I mean by that, please check out this incredible article. It encompasses perfectly, all the negative feelings a nomad deals with that no one talks about after coming home.
Life In Houston
Honestly, Houston has been the perfect homebase for me between my travels. My family lives just a city away, all of my friends are here and of course, my jobs are all here. I usually work 5-7 days a week between 2 different bars/nightclubs, as well as work on developing my non-profit organization The Hearts Company. The non-profit is a passion project and the bars are my main source of income which luckily in Houston, you can make a very decent living being a bartender here. Shocking I know, no one pays for my trips besides myself… Unless I’m hired by a company for promotional purposes.
The upside to working so much though, is I don’t have much time to spend and waste money, besides on one of my favorite things… Food! I’ve recently gotten a lot better about not eating out. Maybe that’s due to the quarantine or maybe I have more time on my hands now that the bars are closed, who knows! But none the less, I do my best to save as much money as possible.
Besides work I really just try to spend time with family and friends when I can in between work. It’s funny because I also get asked about my dating life a lot as well. But to be completely honest, I barely have time for myself, let alone another person. On top of that, it’s not easy to find a person that would be okay with the nomadic lifestyle that I live. Like I said, the travel lifestyle comes with a price.
One big change I did make was my living situation. I had been so comfortable living alone but it came at a cost. Once I did a breakdown of my finances, I realized that having my own place and traveling 5+ months out of the year was an absolute waste of money. I ended up finding a home on airbnb that was willing to do a long term rental as long as we got on well. Turns out they were travel lovers as well!
Things turned out better than I ever could have imagined and we’re like a little family now. Also, to top it all off, while I’m on the road traveling I don’t have to pay rent! This is a brand new thing for me going from paying $1,650 a month on rent alone (not including bills), to not having to worry about rent at all while traveling. I throw my belongings in my storage unit that I have here in Houston that cost $150/month and they rent the room out as an airbnb again when I leave. If the travel lifestyle is something you’re looking to get in to, I highly suggest taking this route. Use sites like Airbnb like I did and find people that are willing to work with your situation. Use your resources because whats the point in wasting tens of thousands of dollars on an apartment you only live in for half the year?
Life On The Road
I usually buy my one way ticket to whatever destination I’m planning to start in about 6 weeks before departure date. Three months to six weeks is usually the sweet spot to buy cheap flights. Check out my blog on tips and tricks on finding the cheapest flights possible here.
The destinations I’m usually heading to tend to be 15+ hours away so to keep myself busy, I do tons of research on the countries I’ll be heading to. For some reason, something about airports and long flights gets my creative juices flowing. I’ve had many 15-20 hour flights where I was so inspired to actually start this travel blog but had enough time to talk myself out of it, due to my insecurities! But if you’re reading this, it means I overcame those fears!!
It usually takes a few days to acclimatize to the time difference and regain energy after a long couple of days of travel but half the time, I’m too excited to relax so I’ll get to my hotel, quickly shower and head out to explore the town!
When solo traveling, I find the easiest way to meet people and socialize is either at a hostel, bar or combination of both haha. These are usually my go-to’s when I land. One, because I love meeting new people and want to get the scoop on the city and two, because sometimes you just need an ice cold beer after a long day of travel!
The weeks and months to come are full of nothing but excitement and adventure. I usually don’t plan to far ahead, I’m talking no more than a few days in advance or even just live day by day. I’ll usually meet people wherever I’m staying and travel with them to a few different cities, sometimes a whole country if we really get along, then split off to a new destination by myself. The beauty in solo travel is that you are on nobody else’s schedule but your own! You can travel with people for however long you want, then go your separate ways when you’re ready for some alone time. If you don’t like a city you’re currently in, move on to the next or if you’ve fallen in love with it, stay as long as you want!
Besides the incredibly selfish features I tend to love about solo travel, it’s all about balance. I try to stay mindful during my travels, to spend it with a healthy mixture of adventure, exploring new places and cultures, meeting new people and having the time of my life. I try my hardest to be open to all new experiences and to get out of my comfort zone whether that be with new foods, cultures or crazy insane hikes that make me face one of my fears, HEIGHTS…
But most importantly, when traveling, I aim to bring something new home with me. I don’t mean physically, I mean besides a great tan of course… But I’m talking mentally. I want to grow from every trip I take and use that not only to better myself, but to help people around me. To use my new knowledge and experiences to maybe inspire people to do the same or to help them find their own passions.
I’ve become addicted to the liberating feeling of buying a one way ticket and hopping on a plane to a destination unfamiliar to me. I get excited about putting myself in situations that push me outside of my comfort zone to make me grow as a human. I’ve found peace in the chaos of having no set plans and not knowing where my next destination will be. I’ve come to the realization that vulnerability in humans is something everyone should be open to feeling to build relationships throughout life. I’ve fallen in love with meeting new people from around the world and hearing everyones unique life story. I’ve met life long friends through my years of traveling and plan to make many more.
Travel has already taught me so much and has helped me grow in so many ways that I could’ve never imagined. Honestly as much as I am in love with traveling, I’m more in love with the person traveling has molded me in to and how its changed me for the better. My aim in life is to live the best one possible while also becoming a better human, THIS is why I have made travel a priority in my life, because it has done just that.