Post-Covid travel musing

Item: World traveler

If you have an interest in traveling and seeing the world, such as I do, you likely have already done some travel and have likely read, watched, researched others who have done more than you. The writing is on the wall: You can travel and you can do it on very little budget.

A complaint I have about sources on the internet: Why don't people like to share their numbers?

As a techncial/engineer brained person I want to know if I am in the same ball-park as other adventurers. I don't need amounts to the nearest penny, but the nearest $100 would be fine. Even to the nearest $1000.

I equate this issue with people not wanting to share their wages/salary. What do you gain by keeping that number secret? You think people will hate you because the number is so large; maybe you should consider the implications of that.

My youtube example would probably be SLV. Now I don't know Riley and Elayna, have never met them. But in all of their videos and website I know little to nothing about their background. Their first yacht was a used charter boat bought in Eastern Europe so Riley likely spent $80k USD on purchase of that boat. maybe less. I don't know.

So why does that matter? Because most people such as myself don't have that kind of cash sitting around. What did they do before becoming internet celebrities? How did they save money? how much money did they leave home with?

Don't get me wrong, it is not unique to SLV. I will say most of the sailing youtubes seem to operate this way. they have a tag line to the effect of "we started with nothing and didn't know how to sail and we traveled around the world!" Which might be technically accurate but is definitely not a complete story. They mostly have yachts that should cost in the several 100k USD range, some have large businesses that they run remotely, some are independently wealthy, etc. The common denominator, that I see at least, is that they never talk about where the money comes from or how much is going out.

Seriously the Sailing Loot podcast is about the best (besides Teddy's irritating deameanor) because he asks people for numbers. THANK YOU TEDDY! Also MJ Sailing does a monthly expense recap and Tula's Endless Summer have talked about money in a few episodes.

Okay /rant. Sorry.

What are options I have considered?

The usual millennial options. :D

The world by motorcycle.

I have been riding motorcycle for over a decade. I enjoy it and I believe it holds some unique opportunities. It is a highly minimalist option, which I am okay with. That means I get to explore some neat space saving gadgets while being an effective traveler. yay!

The costs are relatively low:

• Purchase cost of moto: Low. A new or newish adventure bike can be had for $10k USD here in the US. And I am seeing an increasing trend of people buying bikes in other countries for even lower investment cost. (Itchy Boots did just that: she bought an Indian Royal enfield for "half" of the Euro price)
• Operating costs of moto: Low. Motorcycles get good fuel economy compared to an automobile or truck. They have very few moving parts to break. Insurance is less than that of a car (in the US) in my case my motorcycle insurance is 1/3-1/4 of the cost of my car insurance.
• Modification cost: Low. Adding bits and bobs to your moto is relatively cheap. It is likely also an option while on the road: most Adv-Touring motorcycles have following all around the world and parts can be sourced or found in most major locals.

The world by car.

I have been driving cars and trucks since before I had a driving license. I used to enjoy it more before my spine decided to not always work right, but I still enjoy it in smaller amounts.

• Purchase cost of car: Medium. This can vary hugely from market to market and person to person. There are people who have driven from London to Peking or across Africa in cars that were purchased for less than $5k USD. But those folks should not be considered the "average!" I currently own a Jeep that I would feel comfortable driving most places in North America and I purchased it for $14k USD. If I were to undertake a long overland trip in said truck I would need to make large investments in maintenance and modifications. People also have spent several hundreds of thousands of dollars on custom built overland trucks with bespoke bathroom linens and 8 wheel drive...so this is a wide open point.
• Operating costs of car: Medium. Again this should probably be considered as a function of purchase cost: Higher purchase cost = higher operating and maintenance costs. For my particular case fuel would likely be the highest line item with maintenance being a close second. Far Out Ride has some numbers listed for their van life expenses, which I feel are a good indicator, at least for North America.
• Modification cost: Low. I put this as low, relative to the investment in the vehicle. This could be completely the opposite depending on the particulars. I am not interested in building out a live-in van therefore my changes would be much smaller costs. (suspensions, racks, trailers, etc)

The world by yacht.

This is an interesting one. Also many people have done it before, and are doing it today. I have lots of sailing experience but not on oceans and not in foreign waters. This lifestyle of "cruising" has a lot of appeal: no deadlines, go with the flow, etc. It also has the highest risk in terms of affordability, reliability, and longevity. 

• Purchase cost of yacht: Very High. Again this can vary hugely from case to case but I feel that for my situation investing in a ready-to-go yacht is the best option and that means a very large investment, possibly over $100k USD. Folks have sailed the world in boats that they got for free, and celebrities cruise the world in multi-million dollar megayachts. again: this is so hard to narrow down here. Perhaps I will talk more on this in a later post.
• Operating costs of yacht: Medium. This is dependent on the yacht being used and there are two aspects to consider 1)The operating costs are lower for a newer boat; systems are more efficient and it will take longer for them to reach a replacement or repair status. 2)The operating costs increase with the size of the boat. I don't have much for reference yet on this one, and it is a hotly debated topic on message boards around the internet! If we average things out the moral of the story is likely just: Big boat=big costs. Small boat=smaller costs.
• Modification cost: High. This rating is based on my own mechanical ability. I can do fiberglass and basic carpentry, as well as mechanical work. If you cannot do those your costs will be huge as you will have to pay labor rates at boat yards, extra haul-out and splash fees, etc.

So now I have written a rambling novel of a blog post. Congratulations are in order if you are still reading this! Go crack a cold beer to celebrate. :)