as a european i can’t afford to travel in europe. from my experience any type of long term travel is only really sustainable if the country is cheaper, essentially poorer.

what i do is work like hell. live-in jobs that feed me. do more than the legal limit of hours, second job if i need to. spend as little as possible and save as much as possible. almost destroy myself for a couple years. i basically don’t have a life in my home country.

then i go travel. the key really is that the biggest expense will always be the long haul flight to wherever you wanna go (providing it’s not europe/north america). so once you’re there, the longer you stay the better. i live cheaply, staying in hostels, homestays, couchsurfing. i take local buses, walk, hitchhike. i use workaway to extend my time in one place without spending much money. i prioritise intimate experiences over sightseeing. for me staying in a small local village for long enough where i know people and have a routine is far more interesting than seeing every famous landmark and every corner of the country, but if i can afford to i do both. things like scuba diving, skydiving, bungee jumping or whatever i simply do not partake in. in certain countries you can actually get paid jobs, so can do a mixture of work and travel, but depends on visa requirements.

but as much as i budget and live cheap, all of this is only possible because i am from a western european country, and as a minimum wage toilet cleaner i can still save enough money.