(Just so you know, there may be some affiliate links in this post, but we only recommend items that we believe in and think will benefit you on your travels.)
1. Tell us about yourself and sum up your travels for us.
We are The Budgeteers and we are three travelers who all met on the road and decided to create the best travel show we could, and with over 1million views on just two series we must be doing something right!
We are Paddy (a British primary school teacher), Thijs (a Belgian digital artist), and Lina (a Colombian fitness instructor). We have all traveled all over the world – but our two series have taken us to Southeast Asia, USA, Mexico, Central America, and most recently, Myanmar (Burma).
2. How have you funded your travels?
We all live pretty minimal life styles, work hard, and put a set amount of our paychecks aside for travel. We tend to save anywhere from $500 – $750 a month for travel doing this. Travel is our passion and our hobby, so instead of spending money on stuff we don’t need, like fancy new clothes, or eating at overpriced restaurants, we put that money into our love of travel.
3. Tell us about your budget.
For the show, we each take $1000 and once the money is gone, the trip and the series finishes. We want to show people out there that traveling on even a super tight budget can not only be possible, but in fact almost always creates an even bigger adventure, more incredible memories and of course FANTASTIC content for our viewers.
To stretch our budget, we hitchhike everywhere, stay with locals as much as possible, and cut back on things we don’t need, like silly souvenirs, for example. We have fun with it, we get creative with it, and we honestly have the most amount of fun you can imagine doing it.
During Series 1 we lasted 7 weeks across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia, and in Series 2 we lasted 9 weeks traveling south from Los Angeles through Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. Not too shabby, huh?
4. What have you learned about money since hitting the road?
You can easily spend all your money on beers and tequila. Money translates into time when you travel, so the more money you have = the longer you can travel.
5. What’s your top tip for someone trying to figure out how to make long-term travel financially possible?
If you want to travel long term, then you need to just get out there and stop stalling. There are plenty of ways to make money abroad. The city Paddy lives in (Chiang Mai, Thailand) has over 30,000 expats living there and most of them work remotely online. If you have skills that you can use on the road like photography, teaching, and anything online-based, then save up some cash, start traveling, and start hustling!!!
6. If someone wanted to follow in your footsteps, are there any online resources you’d recommend?
We all learnt how to live and travel full time by getting out there and giving it a go. You can read all the ebooks or take all the courses in the world, but nothing will prepare you better than getting out there and making mistakes. Stick to your passions and interests, stick to cheaper countries, and don’t be afraid to fail.
7. What’s some of your favorite travel gear that enables you to do what you do?
We keep it simple and our camera is amazing and so cheap! – Canon 700D
8. Where can people follow your travels?
Watch our favourite episode to get a taste our style here.
Check out our photography skills on our Instagram – @thebudgeteers
And here’s the rest of our YouTube channel!
Garyn Price says
I can’t wait to sell my house sorted and get travelling! It’s going to be next year sometime, and i will be budgeting to get a longer travel and hopefully live in Thailand for a while.