r/longtermtravel

I’ve been traveling longer recently instead of just short vacations, and one thing I didn’t expect to become annoying was constantly dealing with SIM cards every time I moved somewhere new.

At first I kept buying local SIMs because it seemed cheaper, but after switching countries a few times it started feeling like a chore. On my last stretch through Europe I tried using esim home instead and it was honestly more convenient than I expected for day-to-day stuff like maps, messaging and booking transport.

Not saying it’s the perfect solution or anything, but it definitely made moving around easier without having to think about mobile data every few weeks.

Curious what other long-term travelers are doing now since there seem to be way more eSIM options than before.

I will most likely not travel much anymore. I'm basically a digital nomad and have traveled to pretty much the same country for many years. I take a trip back to the US and then go back abroad. I do that because I don't have residency in the country I travel to so I have to travel back to the US.

I know for some people, it might be fast but for others it would be longer. Are there a lot of people here who has traveled for at least 15 years or longer and still like it? I got to assume if so, it's because it's those certain countries you travel to and that is why right? Like if it was 1 or 2 countries only besides your home country, probably not? I'm really curious if there are people who still enjoy traveling and been doing it for years and are older... by that I mean 50+. What I did notice is lot of older people who travel abroad seem to like it a lot but I am talking about people that probably just started traveling for extended periods of time and they probably only done it for a few years. Do most of those people eventually get tired of it and want to go back home?

Me (41F, USA/CAN dual citizen) and my partner (38F, USA) are looking to begin some long-term travel near the end of this year, and I'm just looking for any sort of general advice, pitfalls to avoid, things we may not consider that could be helpful, etc. If it's something you wish you'd known when you started, I'd love to hear it!

Our big-picture plan (for the moment) is being nomads around LatAm for ~6 months, followed by a "home base and travel from there" period in Europe for maybe a year. We're also considering spending some time in SE Asia/Oceania, but that's far down the line and we'll worry about those specifics when we get closer.

We've both done some light solo travel, and we're both avid hikers/nature backpackers so we're used to roughing it now and then. We're fine staying in hotels, hostels, airbnb, or camping now and then; whatever fits our budget and plans.

I have a handful of maintenance meds that I'll need to keep up on, nothing that is rare, restricted, or controlled.

Financially, we're secure enough that we don't have to worry about a 2-3 year sabbatical, but not so much that we're looking to FIRE. I may do some remote consulting while traveling.

Like I said before; anything you wish you'd known before you started, I would love to hear. We're tentatively excited but just want to be sure we aren't getting off on the wrong foot without realizing it.

Thank you!

I built an app called Concier, I thought about it when I went traveling with my husband to Europe or the past three months.

Let me do a back story so you understand where this stemmed from lol. We had so many bags and it was a lot hopping an off trains, busses, and planes with big bags, plus I had way too many outfits that I didn't use. To be fair I thought I would wear them all traveling for a 3 months. IDK whats up with me packing unnecessary stuff, but I really tried not to over do it. But lo and behold I had too much. even got those bags that vacuum suck the air out of your clothes to create more space which actually worked well but dealing with it was a lot and they were still heavy as hell.

Anyways, with that all said, I thought wouldn't it be cool to have an app that you open up on your phone, choose your hotel and in the same session there is an array of clothes from that city (style wise) that you can choose from. You'd leave them at the hotel when you are done and if you liked something you'd take the item and just be charged a small fee. Kind of like a rent the runway but for people like us who travel a lot and don't want to take a bunch of bags.

These clothes would be from a brand or a business that cant move their pieces so instead of landing in landfill they could have second life in these places. I was wondering what you all think about the idea. Would you use it?

Guys is there any way just to travel without worrying about money like is there any job which is not that difficult but is enough to make you travel worldwide.

So I have a long distance relationship with my girlfriend, she lives in Dublin (Ireland) and I live in Mexico, I want to visit her in the summer vacations, the problem is that I dont have much money, my family said they could afford the plane tickets and nothing more, the problem is that hotels are expensive and I wanted to be there as much as possible (two weeks in July), but since she lives with a host family I so need a hotel, but I dont want to shorten my stay because its the last time that im going to see her in a while. So help me get ideas to make money quickly, im currently an engineering student at a very demanding university so time is not something I have for spare. Please help me people of reddit! Thanks! 🙏🏽

so i have about 5k saved up and i wanted to travel and i make about 3k a month. Wanted to know if that's enough to start. I plan on staijng in hostels. I have only left my country once (a 4 day cruise to the bahamas) and now i want to branch out and actually fly places. i have a passport and i am over it. Ever since i got back for. my cruise i felt depressed. I knew i was already feeling low before i left but those 4 days i spent not doing anything made me feel so much better and i am officially burnt out. i just wanna know if it's possible to live off 3k a month. Thinking of starting in mexico, and then going to colombia, then maybe south east asia like thailand and vietnam and staying maybe a month in each of these countries before dipping. I only plan on staying out for 6 months maybe idk. I was wondering i should save more before doing so like maybe 10k or 20k or if it was possible with just 5.

I’m planning a trip across a few countries in Europe soon and trying to figure out the easiest option for internet access. I used to buy local SIM cards whenever I landed somewhere, but constantly switching them started getting annoying.

On my last trip I tried esim-home instead and it was honestly more convenient than I expected. I set it up before flying and had data working pretty quickly after arriving, which helped a lot with maps and train apps.

Just wondering what most people here prefer now for Europe travel local SIMs, roaming, or eSIMs?

I've been working at an online travel agency for the last 3 years and these are the 5 things I've learnt that I was truely surprised about and I think can help people save especially if they are travelling for a long period of time. Would love to hear if anyone knows more:

1. Always book on mobile: Price parity is a huge thing in the OTA landscape and so often hotels will allow cheaper deals on mobile devices as it is harder to price scrape these. Often see 5-10% discounts
2. Over a busy season search day by day: Lets say you want to spend 4 nights in Tokyo and most places seem soldout. Instead search 1 day at a time, often cheaper rooms at the same hotel will become available and then at checkin usually the hotel will be accomodating. For longer
3. Book with Free Cancellation and then rebook when the price drops: Hotels and OTA's are constantly changing the prices, and you can often save hundreds by checking regularly or using a free service like watchmybooking or pruvo to get alerts when you should rebook. This has been the most effective for me
4. Use a VPN: OTA's price differently in different countries and switching to a different region can often allow you to save.
5. Create a new account via incognito: Create a new account via incognito and abandon a cart. Often this will trigger a promo code to be sent after a day or so.

My husband and I are looking to stay in one European city per month for a while (we’ll be traveling for 6-12 months). We’ll be renting through Airbnb, eating out at affordable restaurants 1-2 times per day and going to the grocery store for the rest, free activities, and will be walking everywhere. We have a very chill baby, as well.

We don’t party, love museums and the like, and love love love walking, but are totally willing to take local transport, too. We’d like to stay in one country per month, and would love to know some country/city suggestions! We’re also aware of the 90-day rule, and will move to non-schengen countries after it.

Our budget we’d like to be able to make work is around $3,000usd per month.

Countries we’d love to make work:

-Italy
-Greece
-Romania
-Albania
-Montenegro
-Croatia

We’re totally open to suggestions, too!

Side note: We’ve already traveled much of SEA, which is why we’re not just going there with that budget. We haven’t seen much of Europe at all!

We’re trying to slow travel to cut down on costs overall. Is our budget unrealistic? Would love to hear your thoughts and personal travel experiences. TIA!

Every trip has that one random story, hidden place, chaotic moment or picture that deserves to be shared

So we started r/gjexperiences for exactly that.
A small community where people can share-
• travel stories
• hidden spots
• aesthetic pictures
• travel recommendations
• solo trip moments
• random travel chaos
• literally anything travel related 🌴
Would honestly love seeing people share their experiences here and build a fun travel community together 👀

Smaller post for this smaller sub. Founder of Pulled here.

If you've been on the road 6+ months you know cafes aren't optional. They're your office, your social outlet, your decompression chamber. You're spending real money there every week. For some of you it's more than you spend on actual food.

Built an app that pays real PayPal cash when you check in at any cafe, tea house, boba spot, matcha bar. Subscription model with tiered payouts. Hypothesis: nomads visit more cafes than almost any persona on earth and the spend should at least partially recoup itself.

Direct ask for this community: does the cafe as office crowd actually want to monetize that surface, or is it the one part of the day you don't want to optimize because it's the part where you stop optimizing?

Genuine question. Some of you are 5 plus years in and have a sharper read than I do on what actually fits long haul life vs what feels like another to do item.

Also curious what you'd want from a nomad targeted cafe app beyond cashback. Workspace metadata (wifi quality, outlet count, seating type) has been the biggest ask so far from comments on other posts. What else?

I feel like this would be good for me, and I dont have much to loose. I need a city that has good employment.

I’m trying to decide where to spend 3-4 months (Nov-Feb) and would love advice from people who’ve actually spent proper time in these places — especially people into slower travel and more relaxed lifestyles rather than partying.

Right now I’m mainly deciding between Thailand and Brazil, but I’m also considering the Philippines.

About me / what I’m looking for:

* Solo male traveller
* Vegan
* Prefer private rooms over hostel dorms
* Accommodation budget ideally around £25/night max
* Usually stay around 2 weeks per place rather than constantly moving
* Prefer coastal/beach areas over huge cities
* Like relaxed, personable places more than hectic tourist traps
* Don’t really enjoy influencer-heavy scenes
* Don’t drink or party much
* Like cafés, gyms, sports, beaches, wildlife, nature walks/trails, snorkelling trips etc.
* Mostly looking for a healthy/simple routine:
gym + healthy food + nature + occasional dating/socialising + filming videos + staying mostly sober
* I only speak English
* Safety matters because I like filming and using a camera while travelling
* I only really enjoy tropical weather

I’ve already been to Thailand 4 times, so the advantages there are obvious:
easy vegan food, affordable accommodation and gyms, muay thai everywhere, easy with English, and generally comfortable/safe for the lifestyle I like. (Ticks most boxes)

But the downside is that it may not feel as new or exciting anymore.

Brazil has always fascinated me, especially the idea of starting in Rio and heading up the coast toward the northeast. But I’m unsure about:

* safety with cameras/phones
* costs over several months
* language barrier
* vegan food outside major cities
* whether it’s stressful or manageable for a slower relaxed lifestyle, transport etc

The Philippines also interests me because it seems beautiful and is also new, but I have heard mixed reviews and I don’t know if it beats Thailand.

One important thing:
I don’t need somewhere completely remote, but I do enjoy places slightly outside the main tourist centres where things feel a bit more authentic, calm, and personable. One or two short visits to a major city for history, culture etc

For people who’ve spent serious time in these countries:

* Which do you think best suits this kind of lifestyle?
* Which feels easiest vs most rewarding?
* Which gives the best mix of affordability, safety, routine, nature, and adventure?
* Any specific towns/regions you’d recommend for Nov–Feb?

Thank you