I need to vent.
Everyone all the time asks me how can I afford traveling all the time. I work remotely and have a corporate 10 years long career, I don’t have kids and don’t have a car or an apartment. I speak 2 languages and used to be the most hardworking person ever to make my career. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still from a poor country and I don’t make big money, I travel on budget, but in my country I would be consider above average in terms of money. I’m great in managing money, I provide for myself and am independent for 10 years and I used to live for only $275 a month.
Also as a digital nomad I travel to live in a country, I’m not a tourist that spends much money every day.
How do you deal with it? People tell me all the time that I’ll get broke or that I should work more or that I have a sugar daddy. They ask me if this lifestyle isn’t expensive. Obviously it is, but having kids also is super expensive.
The most funny thing is that I meet people that makes literally 10 TIMES MORE than me and they are jealous and ask me of I could advise them to make more and how much they should make to afford being a digital nomad.
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If you are tired take a break. Have a rest.
I don’t get asked this. But I also don’t brag about traveling all the time. So maybe just cut down on the bragging. Usually I just say I’m a nomad and what my job is and that’s about the end of discussion.
And if I weren’t a nomad people would probably ask me what my job is so it feels the same
So don’t talk about money. My answers to those kinds of questions is a smile. People question what you tell them. Simply don’t discuss it.
It’s the jealousy …
- They are stuck in 9-5 while you are not
- They have 10,20 year loans which you don’t
- They have to compromise their partner’s lifestyle which you don’t
- They want what you have but they can’t have it even though they followed all the “rules” in life ---- married, job, kids,mortgage — and it makes them mad, they can’t comprehend it — basically entitlement.
I suspect that it has to do with two things:
- You not having kids
- Your ‘refusal’ to settle down and develop ties to a specific place
People who don’t procreate and who wander around rather than staying put solely identifying with one group identity are always going to be shamed. Wrongfully so, but still, it happens. It’s a sad fact of life
You’re so right! I feel so shamed that I don’t want to buy an apartment and get stuck in one place.
Stay strong OP!
Absolutely no shame in your choice! Don’t listen to them, we totally understand! Finding some like minded people might help?
Who buys an apartment tho?!
In my country it’s like a must and a success. People take 30 years mortgage just to have 40 m2.
If i would buy something it would be a house but never an apartment, it is just throwing your money away. Yeah you can rent it out when it is paid but too much trouble for it
I’m in the US and real estate is super expensive - a lot of people start by buying a condo and either rent it out later or sell for profit to buy a house.
No, in my country actually renting apartments is a good business. Many of my friends have 2 apartments and they rent out one. We don’t have buildings that are owned by one company and they rent it out. Every apartment is owned by a person. It’s much different than in different countries.
I can answer this from the perspective of having a SIL that is a failed DN.
It’s because she shows up expecting to stay at my place for free disrupting our schedule and eating all our food while she figures out who she can mooch off of next.
She is homeless because she doesn’t want to pay for a place while traveling but she always wants to crash at our place when she needs to or she’s deciding where to go next. So, she wants it both ways which is bullshit.
By all means, live your life however you what but when it affects my life you can fuck off.
I don’t go to work to provide a crash pad for someone else.
Man that sucks. Had a couple of places (one after the other) where I didn’t need to pay rent when I was gone, because either the apartment was small with the roommate owner or they weren’t using their apartment and were just waiting to sell it once they got settled into their new place well enough. I’d never just crash indefinitely at someone’s place without discussion or payment.
Why though? It really triggers people for some reason.
I personally don’t care what people do with their own lives, it’s none of my business. But damn, people have really nasty things to say about how I live mine.
I can only speculate. My best guess would be that people have some innate fear of anything that endangers continuity, i.e. the continued existence of the tribe. People who go their own way are subsconsciously seen as a threat because they demonstrate that cliches about belonging and procreation are just that, cliches, concepts that bear little relation to reality.
People don’t understand that traveling is not holiday. And that long term travel is not a 7 week stay in a hotel.
This. When a lot of people go on their one yearly 5 day vacation they’re dropping 5 grand on first class flights, nice resorts, high end activities, fancy dining, etc. Which makes sense if that’s your only holiday.
… That’s very different then what I’m doing when I’m in a place for 2 months and people can’t seem to wrap their head around that. No really Linda, I’m mostly cooking at home. But to them they’re like “well then what’s the point?”.
I was talking to a neighbor who couldn’t believe how much I traveled. Then she mentioned her trips to Disneyland in Orlando which cost her $6k and she drives! I don’t even spend half of that in 3 months. Vacations are alot more expensive.
Yeah, I get a lot of “how do you afford a hotel every night? Last time we were in Cancun it was $700 per night!”.
Ok but you don’t have to spend $700 in Cancun either.
So true. Im literally on vacation in Cancun right now LOL. We paid $60 a night for a 2 room suite with breakfast every morning (hot breakfast with a grill, etc). Huge room, 2 balconies, etc.
TBH if someone told me they spent $700/night in Cancun I’d immediately discount their travel advice lol
To be fair there are places that are worth $700 a night. Resorts including golf courses and fine dining options. Most people I meet spending that usually are first timers staying at the grand oasis though, but they had to book the same high demand nights that everybody else with a job and kids has to book.
Then I check in two weeks later, and pay a fraction a night for the same. Half priced airfare too, since they have to come on a Thursday or Friday and then leave on a Sunday nonstop to get home for work.
It sounds to me, as though you are doing it wrong :-)
People don’t understand we live in third world countries and we have no friends 😩
Its a holiday where Im from lol
I don’t have an answer, I just wanted to say that I can empathize, since I had the exact same experience when I talk about my bike touring.
“Hey, I’m cycling a year across Africa, wild camping” (spending ~$10 a day) - Me, on a bike.
“wow, must be nice to be rich, love I could live like that” - grumbling person with more comfort and money than I’d ever have on tour.
damn that bike tour sounds hella cool & inspiring. i gotta really work on moving from thought to action and your post is helping, thanks.
Sounds more like an issue with the people in your social circle than anything else.
It’s not my social circle. I travel, so I meet new people all the time.
Yeah but like, how do you make money?
I have a job.
If you don’t know their birthday, they probably don’t know yours. And you can safely ignore the opinions of people who don’t know you well enough to know your birthday.
ie, their words carry no weight. You can ignore the question altogether if you like; it will have no impact.
I’d be willing to die for someone before I’d remember their birthday tbh
Perhaps, but die for someone who would not take care to remember yours?
I couldn’t care less about if someone remembers my birthday. In fact, I’d prefer it.
What I value in others is their commitment towards taking action that’s helpful to me and can enrich my life. Not some arbitrary day.
You’re missing the point. It could be anything about you that a stranger would not bother remembering or doing for you, nor you for them.
Pets name, favorite food. Whether you put your toilet paper on the holder the right way or the wrong way ;)
Or consistently supporting you and you them.
Anyone who doesn’t pass such a test doesn’t carry the weight of a friend or loved one and can generally have their opinions ignored
Oh, I like this!
Do this in life, and you will be more in control of your destiny than with any other principle I can think of.
I don’t have kids
That line right there seems to explain it most of the time for me.
I remember when it looked like kids weren’t going to happen for us (we eventually got lucky, she starts school next year). And my beautiful wife and I sat down and had the heart-to-heart conversation about what life would look like in this scenario.
I said, “I guess we’ll just have to be rich and happy travelling the world and sleeping in all the time.” That softened the blow somewhat…
No kids + decent paying job = perceived smashing success
It’s not even needing a decent paying job, it’s just needing one you can do remotely over the internet. I was making ~$16K USD a year less than ten years ago and was still able to travel around half the time.
Look at this from different perspective, Who cares what they say, you are living Your life, while they are too narrow minded to understand that they are wasting their time… You will not save the world…
“How do you afford to travel all the time?”
“I work hard and my job is remote.”
Pretty simple.
I did the digital nomad thing last year and now settling down to rent a place for a year I immediately regret how much more expensive it is compared to travel.
The “problem” with other people questioning this experience isn’t with them. It’s with your reaction to them.
Who cares what anyone thinks? I sure the fuck don’t…
Let it go. Be kind. Explain how it has worked for you.
I think the problem is I hate when people ask me about my salary, spendings and savings. It’s too private for me.
There’s a popular saying “when you change the way you look at things. The things you look at change”.
Stop hating it and the problem no long exists.