YOU DIDN’T SAVE MONEY TO TRAVEL<\/em>” – HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\nLet me rephrase that. I essentially didn’t “save money” with the intention of using it for the purpose of travel. Even though I always knew backpacking was something I wanted to try, the actual decision to start backpacking happened so spontaneously that there was no time to plan for it!<\/strong> I left shortly after graduating from college with whatever money I happened to have.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAt that time, I had maybe<\/em> $1,500 in my bank account and $2,500 or so in savings.<\/strong> Honestly, $4,000 total was not a lot of money to work with at all. Especially when you consider how so many people save upwards of 20K before taking trips of the same magnitude. I’m pretty sure my parents were convinced I was going to end up homeless.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDID TRAVELING LEAVE YOU IN DEBT?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\nNope! Quite the opposite. I was able to fully fund my travels without creating any type of debt whatsoever. It was all thanks to blogging and working as a digital nomad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I charged things to credit cards, but not because I didn’t have the funds. I just wanted the points and the rewards. My credit cards were always paid in full at the end of each month. Actually, I found that traveling almost anywhere<\/em> was less expensive than living in New Jersey – where I’m from.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWith that being said, I even managed to pay down my student loans while traveling. I didn’t pause them or do anything to defer them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thanks to my blog, my students loans are paid off now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WEREN’T YOU AFRAID TO TRAVEL WITHOUT HAVING A LOT OF SAVINGS?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\nActually, I wasn’t. If fear was going to stop me for that reason, I never would have traveled as much I did. The fact of the matter is that I didn’t have a lot of money saved.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nI could have worked for a year or so and tried to save up for the trip I wanted to take, but who’s to say what might have happened during that time. I could have gotten discouraged… distracted… or stuck spiraling with anxiety and depression thinking about what could have been<\/em> if I had just gone for it anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt felt like the universe was telling me to do it… so I listened. I trusted my gut and decided to believe in myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Money? Eh, I could always figure that out later. If a job is what I needed, I’d get one. You can