Want to hit the road and travel overland to explore new places and experience extraordinary cultures? I’ve been there too and looked into the options of how to afford this lifestyle. Let me share my findings with you.
How to Afford Overlanding?
There are a 9 tried and tested methods for affording overland travel.
- Save and go
- Travel in stages
- Retire and travel
- Work and travel
- Become a digital nomad
- Get sponsored
- Find an online following and become a social media influencer
- Become a travel journalist
- Build up a passive income stream and travel
In this article we talk about overlanding as a multiple continent, long term travel style. We will dive into each strategy, how to mix and match and a basic indication of how much money you should be thinking about.
Read this before continuing
The 9 methods mentioned above are used by many people on the road today. Not all of them will apply to your ambitions and desires. Some of them are hard work and you have to be really honest with yourself with what your goals of overlanding are. Do you want to enjoy the moment? Or have to think about charging your cameras and clicking a button when that one magical moment is happening. Do you want to worry about money all the time traveling from job to job or have a big enough pile of cash to keep you on the road for 3 years. It is up to you how you want to travel and what is going to make you happy. It is possible to mix and match different strategies to afford an overlanding lifestyle.
9 strategies to pay for overlanding
1. Save and go
As much as we would like to think that all overlanders are just rich kids with a trust fund, most people I’ve met chose this method. It is by far the most straightforward and easy to understand. You save up money working your normal job while at home and planning your big trip for years before heading out and fulfilling a dream.
How much you save and how long it takes to get to that amount depends on so many factors that it is impossible to give you a straight forward answer. I did it in about two years, starting from absolutely zero. I also know families who built a custom truck and stayed on the road for 3 years who took 10 years to save and prepare.
Try to save as much as you can while working to increase your income as well. I highly recommend this book to look for strategies. Although investing your money for travel is probably not the best idea so keep it on the side in a savings account.
How much should I save per month? That depends on your income, but I would aim at 50%. It can be hard to know much you need to save. Check out this article to start putting some numbers together for your trip.
Feeling demotivated halfway through saving up? Make a calculation how much you will spend per kilometer (mile). This might be $2 per mile. So every two dollars you save, will get you one mile further on your trip. This way you can even make the small stuff count.
2. Travel in stages
Another popular approach is to chop a big trip into sections. Work for 9 months, travel for 3. Leaving your vehicle at the destination in a safe parking spot and coming back after saving enough for the next leg.
This approach has many advantages. You don’t have to quit your job, as long as you make arrangements with your team you can come back to a steady income after your adventure time.
You can travel in the best time of the year. Long distance trips are notoriously hard to plan around all the different seasons you will encounter and you can’t be in the best season on every part of the trip. By breaking it up you can. Great for when you hate rain and don’t want to travel in the rainy season.
Another great benefit is that you can start much faster. No need to save up a big amount, when you live frugally the rest of the year it should be possible to make enough for a 2-3 month trip.
Also great for when you have kids that need to go to school. The 2 month summer break is perfect to escape to your overland vehicle and give them stories to tell to their friends.
Rent out your house in the period you are not there for some extra income. Expats are always looking for a furnished short time rental so that should be a perfect match.
3. Retire and travel
I’ve met plenty of older couples who spent their retirement money on an overland trip. They are never in a hurry and seem to be the ones enjoying the most. If you are, like me, a bit too impatient for retirement to come around there are plenty of other options.
But for those who are near retirement age it can be a great solution. Traveling full time is cheaper than you think. Especially overlanding. We tend to spend a lot of time in nature and enjoy cooking for ourselves. Create a realistic budget for yourself and see when retiring is possible for you.
With a fixed income you can start traveling straight away. Leave from your doorstep and travel locally to get the hang of it. Slowly move in the direction you want to visit first and make your way across the world at your own pace. You now have all the time in the world and no deadlines anymore. None of the other strategies can say that.
4. Work and travel
When you are too impatient to save or just don’t have a decent enough job and matching salary the internet is here to help. There are websites such as workaway, woofing and others that will help you find a job locally. Making it free to stay somewhere and work.
It is incredibly popular in Australia, but also possible in other places around the world. You could travel from job to job. Getting to know the local culture and people in a completely different way you would as a tourist. This is unique to working locally and cannot be experienced with any of the other strategies.
5. Become a digital nomad
A what? A person who exclusively works online and can therefor work from anywhere. It was on the rise before covid but now that the world has embraced online collaboration tools en masse its popularity has skyrocketed. Websites such as fiverr and upwork are a good place to start at what you might offer as a service and looking for clients.
If you have a skill that easily translates to digital nomadism then stick with that, like a developer or social media marketing. But as a nurse, it is hard to do the physical part of your work online. You have tow options, think creatively about which aspects of your work you would be able to translate to a remote setting. Is is giving advice about how to best take care of a sick parent or be a gentle reminder to taking your pills. Browse fiver and you’ll find some unique skills on there. Try out yours.
The other option is to reskill yourself to something that is easier to do online. Virtual assistants, coding, marketing, video editing or photo editing. These are just a few examples of type of work people do over the internet. Again, take a look at the mentioned websites if there is something you would like to do and start learning.
However long you are taking to prepare, including to learn a new skill is going to be a perfect fit because overlanding requires you to get out of your comfort zone. This is going to be great practice.
When you finally hit the road you will travel slower than other overlanders, because you have to work. Maybe a few days a week or every other week. Don’t be fooled that this is only going to be pearl white beaches and cocktails. Overlanding is also having to traverse long liaison sections where there is not much to do or see. You might be stuck in a hot van in the middle of the desert trying to work.
You’ll also be more limited in places you will visit because you need a reliable internet connection and power to crank up your laptop and other electronics. Working in remote Tajikistan? Forget it! So make a plan before you go. Do you want to visit those places? If yes, how will you schedule work around offline times? Those are some important things to think about before choosing to go down this road.
6. Get sponsored
The holy grail in some eyes, get sponsored and you’ll be able to travel for free around the world. I hate to break it to you but as a newbie on the scene your chances are slim. Especially the “free around the world” part.
If you are good at marketing, you might be able to pull off a deal with some local or international brands to sponsor you some gear. That is how far they will go for someone without a reputation or a platform. So the going around the world part you will still have to pay for yourself.
Don’t forget that sponsors don’t give away stuff for free. They want exposure in return. This requires you to share regularly on social media or in other forms your experience with their product. As well as having to make some good photos of you having an amazing adventure with that piece of gear. So you have to be a great photographer too.
This is all work. That you are doing for free. So it’s not for free. Do you get it?
7. Find an online following and become a social media influencer
All these teenagers with millions of followers. If they can do it, it is probably not that hard to do, right?
Wrong.
Nor is it for free. Think about the hours they spend perfecting a selfie or going places just to take a picture. More hours editing, writing a winning caption, posting, sharing, commenting and liking. It is hard work and just having a following doesn’t generate you any money on any platform.
It is a business and a skill to be able to generate an income from a small online following. Not to mention it is hard work.
I wasn’t planning on writing a discouraging piece. If this is something you enjoy doing, then I highly recommend you going down this route. Start a youtube channel, a facebook page and an instagram profile! Have fun sharing your experience. I enjoyed it more when I was traveling solo then when we were traveling as a couple.
It can be a incredibly fun experience too. Learning new skills like photograph and videography. Or maybe you just wanted to share some pictures with your mother and it turnes out you are really good at storytelling. Who knew?
8. Become a travel journalist
Do you love writing? Then this traditional take on traveling and making a living can be worth investigating for you. You travel to (remote) destinations and write an article. This article you send in to one or more magazines and ask if they are interested in publishing it for a fee.
As an intermediate writer you can ask for US$10 cents per word. So writing a 1000 word article would earn you US$100,-
The problem is that usually you have to travel first and then you can write one or multiple articles about it. So for the first months you might not have anything to write about. Also, magazines or websites that you think of publishing in might not be so keen on working with a new writer.
But I know people who make it work, who love writing stories and turned this passion of travel and writing into a career. So if this path appeals to you, go for it!
9. Build up a passive income stream and travel
A what you might ask? A quick google and you will discover a whole world of people who believe that you can have an income you don’t have to work for every single hour of the day.
The way I see it that it is a postponed energy vs reward kind of thing. Because creating or setting up a passive income stream is hard work and not guaranteed.
Also, some forms of passive income are going to be more “passive” than others. Think about a weekly podcast. It is still going to require you to come up with topics, invite guests or do research, record edit and publish. Work with advertisers to start making some income etc. Before you know it, it has become a full time job besides traveling.
Same goes for YouTube in my opinion. To make some decent travel videos your brain will be always on to think about new videos, topics or suddenly see a shot you need for the next episode. This also means, charging your cameras diligently every day and having them close by and ready to get that shot. Suddenly it is not so passive anymore.
I do know some people who bought property and manage to make enough income to be able to afford traveling indefinitely. It is a great strategy for those who have built up some wealth over the years.
Go through the list of business ideas that you will find online in the passive income community and see if there is something for you. If you find something that you can do in your own time and at your own pace, I think that could be a great opportunity to do on the side of an overland adventure.
In conclusion
We have discussed 9 different ways to affording an overland travel journey. For some, an overland trip will be the adventure of a lifetime. For others it is a lifestyle they wish to continue with for decades.
You don't have to stick to one strategy, you can mix and match whichever way you see possible. Getting sponsored works better with a social media following. Working online is great if you have some backup cash and working locally can be great if you can combine it with sharing that story in magazines.
Whatever your goal is, find a strategy that works for you. Freedom and time cannot be bought. Things are temporary, memories will last you a lifetime.
Related questions that might interest you
How can I make money with Overlanding?
There are a few different methods to make money with overlanding. Find a local job and work to fund your trip, become a digital nomad and work from your computer anywhere, become a social media influencer and get sponsored, be a travel journalist or set up a passive income business.
All these strategies are described in detail in this article. Scroll up to find out which fits best with your talents and ambitions.
Is Overlanding expensive?
Preparing for a trip is one of the most expensive parts of overlanding. A small truck or SUV will cost at least US$5,000. You will need to get some safety and camping equipment before you can hit the road. Expect to spend between US$50 and US$100 per person per day while on the road doing a big trip.
I actually wrote an entire article about this topic.
How do I get started in Overlanding?
There are a 5 easy steps to take to get started with overlanding.
- Get familiar with the topic, read books or watch YouTube videos.
- Buy a vehicle
- Get the necessary equipment for your vehicle, safety and camping.
- Plan your first route
- Get out there
Here are some articles that will help you get started
