How do you PAY FOR an overland expedition AROUND THE WORLD?
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- How do you PAY FOR an overland expedition AROUND THE WORLD?
How do ordinary people pay for an extended overland expedition around the world?
Are they simply rich? Did they win the lottery?
I dive into all the details so you can make it happen yourself!
Keep the wheels turning on Patreon from $2/month:
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999 Days Around Africa: The Road Chose Me
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The Road Chose Me Volume 1: Two years and 40,000 miles from Alaska to Argentina
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Overland Travel Essentials: West Africa: Myths, Misconceptions and Misnomers
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Work Less to Live Your Dreams: A practical guide to saving money and living your dreams
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#Overland #money #saving
Thanks for putting dreamers back in reality, Dan! As a sponsor, I've met many travellers thinking that YT and affiliation and promotion and sponsors will pay for it all, but as a sponsor, I also think that if I have to pay someone to travel, I'd rather do it myself!
Absolutely!
Obi wan kanobi is definitely a international superstar!!
My recommendation is to save, buy a property .Try and it pay it off as soon as possible and then start saving for your adventures. That way when you retire you have a house and your expenses are low . Plus you can always rent out your place while you go on your epic adventures and that'll help generate income as well .
Certainly a very good option!
I love putting it on saving, and doing a smaller trip so you can catch the travel bug. This is exactly what happened to me this year. I was in Wyoming for 11 days, and camped in a tent the entire time. I drove out there from the DC area, and I paid for everything in cash that I had saved up. During my drive home all I could think about is “what’s the next expedition?” Love this channel!
Careful, it's seriously addicting!
Another very good, simple, honest and down-to-earth video. As an overlander myself, I was waiting for some mentions of glamorous instagrams and blogs, judging by how many others seem to cover their vehicles in stickers with links to all sorts of social media. I must be one of the very few that have zero stickers on the car, and for a moment I was wondering if I was missing out. :D
Glad it was helpful!
It would be great to see list of your favorite overlanders here on CZcams. (don't worry I keep watching yours too).
Thanks Dan. I think the idea for a video about saving money, largely based on your approach, is great. Also, let us know the overlanders you like to follow please!
First I try to win in the lottery, than I´ll try it with hard work;)
From my experience traveling in the states, people taking extended trips are most often working remote. With the availability of internet now it is quite accessible. Sure, there is some logicical compromise to accommodate, but they have all talked very highly of that sort of working/traveling situation.
The major issue with remote-work is, you have to have a mailing address still. Now, that CAN be a PO box (I know a few long-haul truckers who do it that way, and when they finish a run, they go to their parents house or a friend's house for their days off, and don't have a permanent residence). That is also one of the things that holds some people back until retirement. Sell the house and move into the RV permanently, because then you aren't paying a mortgage for a building you aren't using.
Though with AirBnB and stuff like that, it may not be as bad. If you can get someone else to pay all the costs of the house PLUS a little extra for the convenience of not having to shop around, there's a trickle income to supplement your savings. (One of my guests actually is doing that. They have 4 AirBnB houses they rent out, and they just live out of their car and AirBnBs as they travel the country)
Passive incomes are nice.
I am just a common tradesman. I save money for trips/gas/time bye doing side work after hours and weekends ...each time is an investment in my adventures ...attics/crawls spaces are not very glamorous avenues to adventure travel but they get me there :)
Do a video on sponsorship, then also on hygiene on the road, how do you keep clean and bathroom situation :) Like don't want to get killed by animals going for a poo:)
Attempting to plan on 20hrs a week remote work to make this possible for me!
Great advice on not being too ambitious to start with. Why not just do a two month trip round a country or area that you find interesting. Very achievable and a good way to get into the swing of it and gain experience.
Another great video Dan. Interested to know what job you were doing before you headed off on your adventures and did you have to return to work between the America’s and Africa?
Thanks! Absolutely, I can go into more detail in the future about all of that! I'll do one on HOW I save money, and also how to earn money on the road.
Hi! I am 51 years old. I do all the things you talk about NOT wanting to do when you are older. Bro, you can do all those things.
I'm 47 I think and my body feels as good as when I was 20, maybe better. Hard to say for sure though since change is gradual.
Good info Dan. I took the route in life of getting a good education, getting a good job, meeting a pretty girl, starting a family, buying a house, etc. No regrets, I've had a good life. But the big job and the big house do hold you back from big trips. The shorter trips that I take are still epic, but I long for something bigger. So I am going the retirement route, but with a focus still on saving like crazy so that I can retire early. I'm 50 now and think that I should be good to go at 55. Like you said, you don't want to wait too long because age does have a way of slowing you down. I hope to be one of these guys that keeps going strong into my 70's though! The positive side for me is that I will be traveling with a significant savings, so paying $500 to get into an African wildlife park or $600 for a gorilla trek will be less of a dilemma for me.
Thank you for your brutal honesty. Was surprised how insignificant the role of sponsorship was in your epic journeys.
My pleasure!
HI Dan, thanks for sharing, When I was in high school ( around 1968) a man came to our high school, John Goddard, he was sponsed by National Geographic and had articles in there mag. He wrote down 40 things he wanted to do when he was young, like go down the Nile River, Fly in some super sonic jet, all kinds of amazing things and he set off to do them. So he came to the high school to help us kids. Thanks so much for all you share and looks forward to your videos.
Great info am planning to overland from canada to Europe, for now am just saving every dollar
Another great video Dan! Really loving this series with your down to earth and straightforward advice. Sounds like we are both fans of Your Money or Your Life, an eye opening resource for sure.
Awesome, thank you!
Great video - I’m inspired to start my overland journey - at 55 I can afford it with my reduced pension, and will value the extra years rather than waiting longer and getting a larger pension, but maybe with mobility issues to hinder progress
That's certainly how I feel about it!
This is some wisdom that I got from my father: in life when you have a choice between time or money, always chose time.
Your father was very smart!
Well said. If you live in the US may I recommend researching IULs as a sort of savings vehicle. (Indexed Universal Life insurance policies) we are using them to help fund our future documentaries. Found out about them doing research for our present film.
Very important do your research get only a properly structured policy for maximum cash value. Any questions hit me up. I'll be glad to point you in the right direction. But I'm not an agent it's just something we are using. Safe journeys.
I love your videos. Great to get some inspiration from someone who knows from experience how things work. Always good advice and positivity from you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with the rest of us.
Thanks for watching!
keep it up my man, your videos are super helpful, no fancy graphic or Hollywood movie shots, but full of useful techniques and knowledge. Loving it!
Awesome, thank you!
Practical real world advice from a man that has lived it. Another wonderful video Dan. Keep them coming.
Thanks 👍
Great video! Thanks again. A follow-up video with more details and real examples would definitely help.
You got it!
Fantastic and realistic message!
The only overlander I watch in CZcams is You man and. Andrew St Pierre White Thank You for this inspiring video
Cheers!
Once again, real-life common sense and to the point! Read and recommend your books for the same reasons. Thanks for sharing. (Incidentally, next week going to Alaska for a potential job specifically to save enough to set out afterwards. Thanks again!)
Thanks for sharing! Go for it!
Lot's of really great information here, but coming from an off road racing background, I've had good success with sponsorships. Don't think for a minute that it's free money, though. Consider it another job and another way to potentially supplement (probably not cover) your expenses.
Thanks for sharing, great point!
Great suggestions! This is such an important topic to be discussing right now. I really enjoyed the video!
Good advice for freedom in the near future.
Haha! Is that a subtle reference to the tv series "Long Way Round" where Ewan McGregor (who plays Obi) goes overlanding on his bike?
It sure is!
Great video, good advice, my slogan is; “Travel slow and eat one meal a day (intermitted fasting)!”
What an awesome video Dan, love your mentality and it certainly helps me look at things with a better lense!
Great to hear!
Thanks for the informative video.... I have always wondered what side of the road different counties drive on. is it safer to buy a LHD ......?
Yes, that way you can go everywhere. With RHD you can't
I would definitely like to see a video about how you save.
Noted!
hi. love your vids.. .hmmm I'm 61 and i still do pretty much everything i used to do when i was young,,scuba diving spear fishing long hikes .tennis, swimming...lol so don't kill us oldies off before our time..lol, and when i do retire at 65 my wife and i will overland all over funded by our pensions,,,,,, and not a thing to worry about...pleasant journeys young man...
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible. This I did.
Who said that?
@@j.h.9410 T.E. Lawrence
@@firebir11 cool, thanks man. I like it 👍
Foreign employment can be difficult and also can be risky in the underdeveloped world, given Govt. labor laws designed to preserve the limited jobs which do exist for local citizens. OTOH I've seen many world cruising sailors stop off for a year or two to replenish their kitty...but then, they aren't sailing to a new destination. I've met these folks in disparate places like London, Grand Canary Is., Dominican Republic, numerous South Pacific island nations and Malta. But almost all of them got work permits and were working legally. Work while traveling: Very difficult. Settling in for an extended stay to earn fresh freedom chips: Definitely do'able with some research.
There is one other option that we have done we found a job that is one month on one month off and we find a place to park for the month and go back to work. It's not ideal, we currently have a motorcycle stuck on a little island off the coast of Borneo and can't get out of Australia but it worked okay till Covid-19 came along
So you mean you fly back to Aus to work for a month then fly back to travel again for month and repeat this process, or do work for a month at specific spots abroad while traveling?
How about CZcams? I guess won’t be enough for covering all but it might be some great help for that
Very inspiring content Dan, keep it up !
Thanks, will do!
People who are rich don't become rich by winning a lottery. Only poor people think and play lottery. There are lot of rich people who could easily overland for their rest of their lives. The reason they don't do it is maybe because they like to travel with comfort, or maybe they just haven't told you that they are rich, because telling a stranger that you are rich especially while being in 3rd world country could be dangerous.
Great video as usual. Do you get any sponsorship in the way of parts like tires, oil etc? Considering your experience with these two long trips companies are likely to part with equipment instead of money. At least that is what I found when organizing off road rallies here in the States.
And don't count us old people out. At 70 I am planning a solo trip to the Artic Ocean next May assuming Canada opens up by then. Still debating whether to live out of the Jeep with some type of roof top living quarters or tow a small camping trailer. Got to be safe from the bears and the monster mosquitoes in Alaska. What are your thoughts on small towables pros and cons?
Age can be a tricky thing. Some people age well while others do not. It's more of a sure bet to travel when young. My father aged well. He retired at 65 and was enjoying quite a bit of travel to Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Then a car took him out on his motorcycle and almost ended him. He recovered, but you just don't bounce back at that age like you do when you're younger. He has never been physically the same and now in his late 70's can barely walk. His travels are behind him and I can see how much it saddens him that the great retirement he dreamed of never really happened. His advice to me has been to not wait, go and travel while you are young just because you never know what time will bring....
Superb video that gives me hope👌🏻
Happy to hear that!
I am sharing this video with my teen boys. You articulate the principle of saving very well and the why. I would like too see a future video on your money saving strategies. Thank You for the great video from fellow Dan.......PS careful on the editing the quick zoom in and out was a bit distracting. But I still watched it for the message till the end.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate that!
Bro your making me want to go on the roam
So all you need is an obi wan Kanobi cosplay costume and you can travel forever! Thanks for the advice im heading to Ali express right now!
Please do!
What was your living situation before leaving for your trips? Were you renting an apartment which is easy to leave behind? Were you perhaps still paying a mortgage while on the road through extra saved up money?
I was renting beforehand.
Plenty of people rent out their houses while they are away, which will at least cover the mortgage and hopefully bring a (small) income.
How you save money would be a very interesting topic. I currently do the same as you, but only in Australia. I've long thought about travelling the world by road. So I think a video on how to find like minded world overlanders would also be good.
I'll do one on saving money for sure - and on shipping your vehicle so you can explore other countries!
@@TheRoadChoseMe. Thanx. That would be really cool 👍
On the "working on the road" part, one point I'm not too sure you included and I'm curious about.
It's having a regular work that you can do 100% in remote/from home and you leave keeping that job in part time (let say a software developer 3 days a week for Canadian or European company). As of quantity of money I think it's easy to earn in this kind of part time job well enough money to cover the cost of traveling (particularly if traveling in couple) but the question is more how manageable it is on the road. It probably means finding each week a peaceful camp where you can stay at least 3 days with a good cellular coverage, preferably being able to work your time when you want, you will probably need more comfort to work (like having a camper with something to act as a desk), it will also mean traveling a lot slower, not visiting as much, a lot more planning....
It's clearly a lot of constrains but it avoids the "gap in life" effect.
Anyway curious of people doing this choice and how they manage it...
Absolutely right. I plan to do a "how to earn money on the road" video, and what you describe is certainly one of those options!
yes! how does one break the cycle as a consumer to earn freedom?
Ok but... now address how us “regular joes” take multi-month to years off work, and with mortgages that we cant skip out on. That’s the part I wanna know.
I love the channel btw, amped after watching your Africa expedition.
Will do. For the mortgage, rent out your place while you're gone. TONS of people on the road do that.
Yes, yes, do a video on how you save!
Will do!!
Have you met many people from 3rd world countries on epic adventures?
Because if you are German, you can wait for retirement and travel, but in most other countries when you retire, you can barely pay your medical bills.
The same goes for younger people - putting aside savings from your salary when you make $40k per year in the US is one thing, but if your salary is $4k per year, you will never be able to save enough.
In this regard, I feel like it's a lost cause for me...
Would be very interested in how you handle healthcare when traveling the world? Do you have national healthcare? Does it cover you globally? It can be ridiculously expensive to get a private plan hear in the States, and they often don’t cover you while traveling out of the country.
WorldNomads travel insurance. I talk a bit about the details in this one - czcams.com/video/wPgKW0F3jFA/video.html
I've been looking at your journey in Africa (at your website: theroadchoseme.com/africa-expedition-overview) and on the map there is a blue line and red dots markings but I didn't spot any legend explaining the difference between these two kinds of markings. Could you pls clarify? Tnx in advance. Carry on creating and sharing.
The red dotted line was my planned route, then the blue line is my actual route. I made changes based on weather, visas, safety and simply my personal preferences of where I wanted to go once I learned more!
@@TheRoadChoseMe Tnx
Why is retirement restricted to 65?! Work hard, save money, retire early.
Certainly a nice idea, though I always ask - How many people have you met face to face that actually did it? The answer is usually zero.
Once in the system, it's extremely hard to get out.
@@TheRoadChoseMe I do agree. Well, i'm pretty close to being the first then! Overlanding in 1991 on my first trip did not necessarily equate to having to have a vehicle, though always looked with envy from a bus window with my 35ltr rucksack. To all out there. It can be done. Work hard, save hard.
Good luck to you too, & happy overlanding mate.
Wait...100k in retirement per year in Germany? No way. Avg. annual currently below 15k (all figures in €uro).
I met a ton of people that worked for Audi or BMW as Engineers or whatever. Their retirement income was apparently linked to how much they had been earning.. so they earned a lot and got a lot in retirement.
@@TheRoadChoseMe wikipedia says the (2012) government/state pension in Germany averages 1300 Euro per month. If you earned double the average salary it is 2,500 euro/mo. It is variable determined by how many years you worked and how much you made during that time but I can't imagine the very top state pension is any more than 3,500/mo or 42,000 euro/year. Half the companies/employers in Germany have a pension for it's employees so this is another source of pension money and there is also a Private Pension one can contribute to while working. In addition to those three pensions there are private investments that one can cash in on a monthly basis. I don't know what the typical Employer pension is but for a higher end job with Audi over a long period of time I can imagine the combination of a higher State Pension plus a higher Employer Pension could get close to 8K euro/mo or 100K/yr. But again, I am speculating on the amount of the Employer Pension. In the USA, monthly employer pensions are generally less than the government/state social security pension and fewer than 20% of the working population work for a company that offers any kind of pension.
I met people doing it.. so I know it works. I'm really not sure on the details, maybe they also invested well or have real estate. The basis is they worked their entire lives for very good companies making very good salaries, and now their retirement provides more money than they could ever need while driving around the world.
What kind of career let's you go on vacation for a year or two every couple of years?
I've never found one, so I just quit and get a new job when I come back.
@@TheRoadChoseMe What sorts of industries have employers that are generally ok with hiring new people who haven't worked in the last couple years?
I've never met anyone that had a problem getting back into it - obviously there will be a gap in your resume, but you can highlight that you learned another language, developed problem solving skills and the ability to deal with complex logistics.
The big thing is you have to accept you won't be "climbing the ladder" - when you come back you'll be on the bottom rung again (or at best where you left).
We live in British Columbia, Canada, and many employers let you take a leave of absence. 6 months off every 3 years, seems to be the norm. If you have great references it should be no problem getting another job.
I am a sophomore in college, and I will have student loans to pay off. I have a similar dream of driving around America (eventually the world) with a camper and/or van with 3 of my friends and film it for CZcams. Do you have any suggestions on how I could tackle this? My best guess is that I should pay off college first, however I know that it would take a handful of years to pay everything off.
One way to tackle it would be by dumping college now and starting to work instead..
The real advice is work hard and save harder. Save, save and then save more. It will take years. It will be very hard. It might be the hardest thing you've ever done. It will be worth it!
Finish your studies first. Do small trips. I know you're bored with studying and college is not what you see in movies but! Think about yourself in the future. Maybe in 2-3 years, you find a good job and a girlfriend and these thoughts of Overlanding disappear. What would you do without a college degree? Always have plan A, plan B and plan C. And always finish what you started no matter how. If you start dropping so young you will do it again and again in other aspects of life.
Dan's approach of working hard and saving hard by spending less will help you to not only save for a big trip, but also to get your school debt paid off quicker. That would be my focus. But don't get distracted. Falling in love, getting married, starting a family, buying a house - those are all part of the "American Dream" and can bog you down from travel a LOT more than student loans.
"Save Harder" and learn some techniques for living small that will help you with your overland travels. Check out these guys who have youtube channels and live full time in vehicles they bought for $5,000
Foresty Forest - very low budget solo Mt. Biker, hiker/scrambler/Mt. Climber, who eats well with fresh ingredients, spices and meats frequently using a $5.00, 1980’s slow cooker from a garage sale. Slow cooks his masterpieces for 6 hours while he does a climb and comes back to an awesome meal. Full timer in Canada living in $5k mini-van for last 3 years. Has a thick Canadian accent and good sense of humor. Excellent videographer and youtube vid producer. This guy grew super fast over the last year and half. He now has 178K subscribers and just over 1000 Patreon subscribers. With these numbers and his low costs I’m guessing he is bringing in between $2K - $3K per month and spending less than half of it but this is just a guess. He has never mentioned anything about the money other than he can live on it now without going back to the factory to work.
Adventure Van Man - Brian is another down to earth guy you could trust to leave your girl friend and bank account with and know neither of them would be touched while you were away. Brian has dealt with PTSD and has found he is happiest in nature (like most of us) and lives a very simple life in a vintage van. He has learned to play an Indian flute, some guitar and also does whittling or wood carving making kitchen spoons etc… He has a vintage Honda 90 Trail or Postie bike on the back of his van for exploring from his campsite. He needs to work about 3 or 4 months per year to sustain his lifestyle. His gigs are 2 months of the year working the Alaska Salmon business operating a small crane on a barge making about $13K and then working for a farmer for 6 - 8 weeks in the fall during the sugar beet harvest in North or South Dakota adding some more to the bank account. Those two jobs keeping him going for the other 8 months of the year. Last year he met a gal named Kelly who lives the same lifestyle so they travel together at times (in separate vehicles) but she has a very minor if any role in his videos. Brian has a subscriber base of 80K and continues to slowly grow.
DAN Let's say you save 35000 dollars in 5 years. You go with your vehicle and have 2 years trip doing the PanAm. Then you come back to your country and you have let's say 1736 dollars in your bank account. What do you do? That's what normally happens? I thought like... Ok, ill do that and the money I try to make with youtube channel, blog, merch during my trip is the money that I am going to start again later. You think that's a good way to approach Overlanding?
That is what most people do, yes. When you get back you basically get a new job, and start the cycle all over again. I'll do a video on how to earn money on the road, but I'd say don't rely on earning money from your blog and YT - it's HARD to do, and I've never met anyone actually doing it to pay for their trip.
@@TheRoadChoseMe well... unless you're super popular on YT. Look at all of the cool swag that Expedition Overland gets. They must get sponsorship goods and money out the rear! They've got a freaking HANGER man where they store their half dozen rigs!!! Still, that is the exception more than the norm!
@@TheRoadChoseMe you have to followe this two channels "Ridemefive" and "Itchy Boots". They both make 1000 dollars while they are travelling due to CZcams. But i just found this 2 cases.
Certainly it CAN be done, but it takes years of hard work and dedication. It's not something anyone can just spin up in 6 months.
@@miguelrosalesllano A thousand dollars a day/month/year?
I discovered your channel recently and watched all of your Africa series yesterday in a few hours. Even though I enjoyed your content a lot, if I can be honest with you, I believe you could have done so much better and produce so much more content over the course of that three year trip. You could easily have made much more money from CZcams than what you are making. Each county could have been a few episodes and make it blog style. People are interested to see real life as it unfolds, more of you addressing the people and not just narrating over a 5 minute timelapse a whole country. And some of the largest countries in the world, may I add. In my opinion, you compressed your footage too much and didn't really connect with the audience on an emotional level. Look at the GrizzlyNBear channel for example, I think that style of video vlogs draws a bigger audience. And I understand that it's hard work by yourself setting up cameras and producing footage but if you really wanted to make money on CZcams with this, you could have done it. I hope you don't take this as criticism, like I said, I enjoyed your videos, but I think you left money on the table. PS: Your photos are really nice, you coult try to sell some of them, that's another small revenue stream. And if you have decent video footage, that sells even better. Good luck on your future adventures! Can't wait to see you do a Atlantic to Pacific trip through central Asia. 😁
Thanks for the feedback!
To be honest, I agree with you 100% - when I set out for Africa I was blogging twice a week, and still photography and writing were my focuses. I sold many, many magazine articles and photos, I wrote two books on the road and published a photography book.
CZcams and video was a side thing, and it was far from my focus. Editing and good enough internet were a challenge, and I did the best I could at the time given everything I was juggling.
I'm happy with how it turned out, and now that I'm focusing more on CZcams I vow to do better on the next big expedition!
From Alaska to Argentina I only took one single video, so the Africa trip was a big improvement and can only get better from here!
@@TheRoadChoseMe then maybe you need to redo Alaska to Argentina 😁. I'm currently looking for my first vehicle to do first an overland trip around Eastern Europe and then hopefully Portugal to Vladivostok. The plan is for 2022. Best wishes for the future! Maybe our paths will cross one day! 😁
Haha! There are so many parts of the world I'm excited to explore!
With any luck we'll cross paths at some point!
Sure you can work at some mediocre job like you're probably doing - save $ - quit - travel a few years & repeat. I know people who have done that - now they will have to work till they are 70 to make ends meet & R miserable as F. Go to the CZcams channel "invisible people" - give you a taste of what could happen when you are old - broke & can't work - But sure go ahead - Live the Dream...
That's one way to look at it. The other way is to realize I'm also putting away a little each time I work n save for the long-long term, and I'm teaching myself and learning that I'm perfectly happy living off a fraction of what the "experts" so I need to live off. So when I'm 70 I'll have enough there!
@@TheRoadChoseMe Sure -U do U - My comment was directed to the viewer who figures they might consider the content of this video as a slam dunk - where in fact it is simply a hope or dream. There are a plethora of #vanlife man bun videos in the wild proposing the same airhead, 1st world anecdotes! & this here B nuder way t' look @ er...
Forgot to mention the #vanlife lady on a yoga mat with dredlocks- living the dream son Livin the fn dream...
I would rather be 70 years old, broke and look back and say "look at all the places we went", rather than being 70, crippled or have some debilitating disease, and say "man I wish we would have lived". To each his own I guess.
We work then travel, then work then travel. Not to the extent that Dan has yet. Our house will be paid off in a couple years (before I turn 50), then it can be sold and we'll have all we will ever need. It's not that hard. We don't have TV, don't buy new phones every year, our newest vehicle is 10 years old. It's very doable once you get the whole keeping up with the Jones' mentality out of your head.