Hey there my Steemit friends. In this part seven of my Travel Pro Tip Series of How to Live Travel Pro. I share my last thoughts on Maximizing Your Purchasing Power Through International Living. This topic has three parts! That is because it is one of the key strategies on how I have been able to live how I do for over eleven years and counting!
In the last post, I went into examples of how small an amount of money you need to live in places like Chiang Mai Thailand. I explain how it can be done for as little as $250 a month! Then I compare that to vacationing in Paris costing one almost $4,000 month.
When I tell people from the west nearly half the world's population lives on less than three dollars a day. Often they don't believe it, or at least can't even imagine it! That's 90 dollars a month! So in many places on the planet living on $250 a month you are still on the top of the economic scale!
I've met many people living on far less than $250 a month. I've hung out with and even became good friends with them. Let's take my friend Santiago from Argentina. He makes and sells jewelry in the park in Vilcabamba Ecuador. He, his wife, their two children, his friend, his wife, and their one child rent a simple two bedroom rustic house for 60 dollars a month! It's just a fifteen minute walk outside of town.
So they pay 15 dollars a month in rent per adult! When he told me how much their rent was, I asked "So you guys, a family of four live on what $200 a month?" He laughed at me! He said "Are you crazy! we don't have that!" He explained that they live on more like $125!
They have no hot water, they have electricity. They have a beautiful patio, looking out over the river, where they wash their clothes and bath. They have a small gas burner, sink, bathroom, outdoor clay homemade wood fired oven and grill. Cement floors and a big mattress inside of big tents inside of their rooms. For them, they are happy and comfortable. They have some of the healthiest happiest children I've ever seen!
I wouldn't want to live like that. I'm fortunate I don't have to; but my point is that we in the west really don't understand how incredibly wealthy we are. That's a matter of fact and I say it in a humble way. It's just true. As I've mentioned there is about 3 billion people on the planet living on less than three dollars a day and the key word is "living". Let's not forget in Ecuador the average income is about $10 dollars a day, they are rich compared to many countries!
So why in the world would I need to spend the US norm of over $2,000 dollars a month to live a comfortable life in Ecuador?..... and yes I was very comfortable on $300 dollars a month! I probably spent a little more but certainly didn't have to.
There are great destinations all over the planet that offer a great quality of life for very little and are excellent countries to visit and to even practice Living Travel Pro. Literally practice seeing how far your money goes. To learn that you have the ability to live comfortably in many parts of the world for as little at $250 month is empowering.
It's almost like if times get tough and you're down to your last $5,000 dollars, well you can live in X, Y, Z location on the planet for over a year until you figure out your next move. Like I've mentioned, living life Travel Pro is not about vacationing; it's about living.
One person on Steemit who I've recently had the pleasure of meeting and understands this principle incredibly well is @intrepidsurfer. He's been living on and off in the beach town of Lobitos Peru for the past six years. He house sits a place with an ocean view so his rent is zero instead of maybe $200 a month and he cooks his own meals. He surely does not need to spend more than $100 dollars a month. So he can live very comfortably for about $1,000 a year!
He's incredibly wealthy in time, enjoys a relaxing lifestyle of surfing and baking bread for the community, and has started a steemit funded reforestation project that you should all check out. Where he is living in Lobitos is just another great spot on the planet to maximize your spending power through international living.
A few other places on the planet that I can recommend is Playa del Carmen Mexico. Clean, safe, affordable, friendly, with great food and great weather. Kampot Cambodia, Luang Pro Bang Laos, Mui Ne Vietnam, Krabi Thailand, George Town Malaysia, Sihanoukville Camboida, Chiang Mai Thailand, Lake Atitlan Guatamala, Cebu Philipines, San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua, Cuenca Ecuador, Sucre Bolivia, Goa India. These are to just to name a few.
What's great about all the locations I've just listed above is that they all have an expat community so you're never alone and never left hung out to dry by the locals. But if you're talking strictly money, there are some countries you can throw a dart at the map and live well for very little.
Ignoring your budget just to get your travel rocks off is the fastest way to go broke! Once you go broke you're no longer able to travel; let alone Live Life Travel Pro! So when planning out your Travel Pro Life it's essential to maximize your spending power through international living! Until next time! -Dan "World Travel Pro!"
With over 11 years of travel experience I answer travel and international lifestyle questions. Leave a question in the comments and I may make a Steemit post just for you!
THANK YOU
