RTW Forever on £500 a month
 

Ok Here is the question I spin my head around constantly.

I have worked hard and am in the position where i could pack work in and set off indefinitely around the world in a unimog based camper. Which I am currently building.

The catch is, I'm 47 years old, single, have a good job with a decent salary and a pension.
To do the trip I would rent out my home and get 500 pounds a month to live on.
I would be living onboard so would have no accommodation costs.
I would have no time scale so could simply stop and let the funds build up when they run low.
Once I hit India/asia my living would be cheap. = food and fuel when I need to move on.

I would always have the house to come back to in the future or equally an asset to sell if the time came.

So the question is. Can I do it on 500 quid a month with a 5 grand panic fund? And should I before I die of old age still thinking about it.

Genuine question from a man on the edge of something great or something dumb, I just don’t know which is which. doh

(Ps any single millionaire’s daughters are welcome to come along and navigate.):thumbup1:

The saying goes............
Ten years from now, you’ll regret the things you didn’t do, not the ones you did.

It will Boil down to How Much you want to do your trip.

If you can live on your budget then go for it.:thumbup1:

Goal..?
 

FWIW... I'd think of a goal. What's your plan? Literally just to bum around the planet or to circumnavigate the world?

For £500 per month, maybe the first couple of months would eat away at your cash until you got into a rythmn as to what mileage you wanted to do and whether you wanted to work and top up your funds every so often.

yeah, Europe etc will cost you a fair bit but if your not extravangent then why not. I'd personally start with a good couple of grand to start with for startup costs then slide into the £500 a month whilst on the trip.

If it's not for you, you'll never know until you try it..!?!

Hi,

500 Pounds are more then double of what i spend traveling per month so it will definitly be enouth even your unimog will take more petrol then my bike does. If you run out you can allways spend some weeks at nice beaches untill the next money comes...you are so lucky to have unlimited time :)

Have fun, Tobi

Thanks Guys,
I would simply drive down through western europe in no rush but Ive done it to death on the bike for many years so would not be spending long
or too much money, Fuel would be my main cost for the first few months.

I was thinking of getting east and then seeing where the road took me. i would love to spend a few years exploring India, Nepal Laos, vietnam, Cambodiam Thailand and so on further south Malaysia Philippines even to Aus and see my sister.
Once in asia the pace would slow as would the costs.

I would be looking to maybe do some work along the way to top up the funds, but dont want to rely on having to.

Ta rider- I am of the same mind as you, park up in a nice spot and relax for a while until the money builds up a little.

Geoffshing- I would be buming around while circumnavigating the world if that makes sense.
It would apear all I need is a little planning and the bottle to do it.

Daz- You are so right. :thumbup1:

I don't want to come across as negative but I think those who say your travels need some sort of purpose do have a point, in my opinion.

And I think that because travelling round the world is incredibly easy. If you've worked hard in an adult job it may well turn out as not particularly challenging.

I've only done two big trips, one driving home from the Middle East and 1 to Cape Town, both of which had clearly defined purposes and both lasted quite a few months. Endlessly driving around looking at things with no purpose might not have seemed so worthwhile to me, without a clearly defined aim.

500 quid isn't enough in my opinion. Its only 16 quid a day and whilst you may have several very cheap days in a week, petrol/repairs/visas/ferrys/entry fees/beer very quickly add up

But rent the house out and go somewhere. Yes absolutely. Definately. 100%

yes you can do it !!!
 

Hola majorbumsore,

yes, you can do it !! and you know it.

just two things that came to my head.

First, make sure the people renting your house pay and they dont destroy it. I have met many travellers over the years that tried the same, but it is not easy to deal with all the problems once you are far away ... I cant give you the perfect solution, but you need somebody trustworthy at home that will take care of things once they go wrong.

Second, to travel in a car can be expensive if you have to ship it / repair it / get a carnet ... accommondation in Asia is cheap. The only continent I would travel again and maybe use a car would be Africa, but I am a biker ;-)

Enjoy and start as soon as you can ...

Saludos
mika

Major, at ease!
 

Stop the doubt and go for it. Life's too short to waste another minute.

Would 500 be enough? I don't know. It can bring you a long way, perhaps even further than you expected or perhaps not that for as you would have hoped for. In the end it is not the miles you travel that determine the pleasure, it's your experiences.

Main thing is that you can in the end look back at as something you accompished with great,positive feelings and memories. Trying to live a dream can never result in failure.

Would you be able to do it in the UK (only looking at expenses you will incur while on the road eg food, diesel). If you think you can, then you should be able to do it while on the road...

Which mog? Pics please!!!!

With ours, if we were forced to buy our tyres new they're about 10p per mile. Fuel in the UK is about 50p per mile. If you did stay in the UK £500 won't be enough to drive around, and since theres no wildcamping in England you can't afford to stay still either :(. France is better with free aires and cheaper diesel, Morocco cheaper again and maybe possible there. You may have to use a campsite in some places to fill with water, empty waste or just where they won't let you park where you want? Will you never need to recharge the camper batteries?

Is the £500 the total income, or just what you know you will always get? Our house was managed by the rental agency for 10% on top of what we asked for and was no hassle, but the occasional requirements of the tenants were unforeseen expenditure. Some friends who ran a rental agency reckoned the industry average was you would get 8 months rent in your pocket out of 12.

What it may boil down to is you can't actually afford to go where you want just because starting her up will cost you, so detours are a no-no, just shortest route please Mr GPS. Maybe work out your cost per mile, and see what your plan will roughly break down to, 150 euros per tank fill is no fun for tarmac bashing.

Personally I think I would save a bit more until I was sure I could do it? If you could pick it up and plonk it somewhere cheap then maybe?

Have you looked at the Mog bit of Benzworld too? Motorhome Facts for general Euro camper travel? Vicarious Books for Euro Aires guides? May get some info on those?

Good luck

:)

How many People think just that ? then never do it !

so cool oh i wish i could do the same i am 46 and mad to go. Don't wait of you go and enjoy every minute and the best of luck to you:funmeteryes: bier

I'd pay close attention to Grizzly10 above. It's obvious that what you're describing is theoretically possible.....but it's a rare individual who could actually pull it off, whether possible or not. Rarer still: the individual who could sustain it over time. Maybe you're that person, but the overwhelming majority of us are not.

I'm not, for example. I've spent more than that on every extended trip I've ever taken, even those without a vehicle. With a bike there are lots of added expenses; with a Mog, more so. How will you get the Mog from India onwards? Not via China, and not shipping it to SE Asia or Australia either on that sort of budget. You're really talking about a trip through Europe and the Stans into India then?

I'd pay less attention to those who say that's their dream too, therefore you should do it (even though they can't). That's not the voice of experience in any sense; it's the voice of people who want you to live out their dreams. You've got enough on your plate figuring out how to live out your own dreams.

On the other hand if you've got a backup plan--also known as an escape hatch--then why not try? Throwing off a secure job and situation in order to travel for a while is not as big a deal as it sometimes seems--I've done it several times. But you might want to find a way to dip your toe in the water without risking a whole lot before you fully commit.

I'd think carefully about cutting things too close with your rental income: as indicated, things sometimes go off the rails in a hurry if you're not there to keep tabs on it. I've traveled all over the world relying on rental income, with and without motorcycles; when it works, it's great. The idea is to have a plan for what to do when it all falls apart.

Hope that's helpful. Good luck!

Mark

You could always try pm'ing Maja (Mike), I know he covers a respectable distance every year for up to 10months of the year while his house is rented out so he would have good info on monthly costs...especially beer

been leasing houses for 20+ years in USA. laws are different but principles are the same.

for instance it's much better to find tenants that are not helpless. state up front you are looking for tenants that are able to fix minor issues like leaking faucets, etc. in return lease house for a bit less than market value.

write it into the lease that tenant is responsible for the first $75 of every repair. major repairs will costs you no matter what. most can be taken care of before you leave. drawback is tenant gets lazy and maintenance gets deferred until you get back. leasing at below market value means tenant are more likely to stay long term.

think about this... if house goes empty, not only are you paying to put house back into lease-able condition. you are losing rents while it's being repaired. then add down time until a suitable tenant is found. average downtime could be 1-3 months rents lost forever. makes giving a good tenant a break in rents look down right cheap.

besides not losing any rents from being empty... another huge advantage of receiving a 90 day paid notice. one is able to show the house before current tenant moves out. an occupied house if it's not torn up will almost always show better and be easier to lease. another tactic is to have new tenant take house in "AS IS" or with a limit list for you to take care of. keeping in mind that you are leasing house for market rates, so you are expecting a few things in return. New tenant will LOVE it, because house is offered at below market rates.

be very careful at only offering above to a quality tenant that you have thoroughly checked references on.

all my leases contain a requirement that tenant give a 90 day paid notice before moving. otherwise lease will auto renew under same terms and conditions. this takes the work out of renewing leases. since house is being leased at below market value. highly likely they will stay anyways.

only use lease forms that an attorney specializing in real estate has given blessings to. feel free to PM if you have questions that need to be off line.