How do I travel so much?

Recently I was sent a message from a friend in line with “How can I travel so much?” Here is the question:

Glad to see you making the most out of life, unlike some of us stuck in the corporate world.I’ve always wondered, where do you find the time and money to do all these? I wanna be able to do the things you’ve done whilst I’m still young and relatively mobile.

I decided to share this response as I get this question often and it got me thinking, how can I do it… and others don’t seem to be able to? Well for starters… I want to! I want to travel more than anything. It’s my love, it’s my passion – so I make it happen.

I guess I also budget, work hard and stay with friends and family overseas and in Australia which helps. But here is my response to him:

Hey Mate

Hahahha you are very young! plenty of time. But as I’ve just lost a dear friend who I climbed machu picchu with and was only our age (24) – I say make the most of every day and don’t “save for a rainy day” it may never come.

It’s a matter of prioritising. I love travel, it’s my passion! It’s what I want to do in my life. It drives me to work harder!

It’s as simple as setting a date- then you have a goal to work towards. Then saving is much easier. Think of things in your life you can cut out – 3 coffees a day, dinner out twice a week, new clothes – what can you cut out?
I think of things in terms of travel. I could buy a new dress but that’s also the same price as a flight from Cancun to Mexico City. It’s about value- what do you value? and where do you want your money to go?

It takes dedication of course- but it’s not that hard! If you want to go – you can do it!

I’m most certainly not rich! I just work hard and play hard. I set the goal, i.e. Sri Lanka in April. I need $1000 for flights and $500- $1000 spending money. I’ll go for 10 days. So I need to ensure not only I have enough work to get the money to go but also that I plan for work before and after it.

I hope I have helped you.