Oh no, don't misunderstand me. I was born an american, and hope to retain my citizenship, perhaps gaining a dual-citizenship at some point to allow me to enter a couple countries like Cuba for example. We are a heavily policed state, with many laws, and just as many lawyers. We do have our freedoms, and a rich history for which I am quite proud.

The ambassadors you experience outside of the country, are there for a reason, that they already are willing to experience the world and accept people for who they are. We have fortunately gotten a decent president after 8 years, I just hope he can do something to bring things around.

I've done a little bit of traveling, mostly short stays in Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, Mexico, and at most Canada. My wife a bit more with a year in Manchester on a year abroad in university.

To respond to another poster; debt put us in this situation, I find my college degree in environmental studies useless where I currently live, so hopefully I will get to use it on the road. I would love to work with an NGO for a bit while traveling and assist with some agricultural projects etc etc, but for now, my student loan debt is is a burden and not worth the trouble. Until I can afford to travel, I'm not willing to add any more debt. I don't know if it is like that elsewhere, but excessive debt load is what has caused the financial issues worldwide. I am a part of it, but took no bailout and have restructured everything to a favorable outcome. Step two is get rid of all debt and travel for a while.

To try to answer this with out getting to political not going to happen but you may want look at the medium pay Americans make ($35,000 last I have seen) vs the EU. Not the average, the top 1% wage people blow the statistics way over for the USA.
Many EU travelers do not worry about there health on the road there state health insurance is cheap and can cover them the USA has nothing.
33% of Americans will get 2 days or less off the EU gets much more like 30 and there work day is often shorter as well. 14% of Americans will get 2 weeks off. There is no law in the USA for any time off (unlike most of the world) taking any time off can get you fired in the USA.
Regardless what the wold press will tell you most Americans are over worked underpaid on the edge of a brake down and have little hope of it getting better any time soon. We fill the void with junk and food making us fat and owned by things so we are easy to control. Add to that no healthcare where getting sick can bankrupt you and taxes that are given to help the rich get richer and to other nations to help there leaders do the same to there people in the trillions of dollars.

But on a lighter side $20,000 for a down and back to South America is on the upper end you can do it much cheaper. Smaller bikes faster when it is expensive slow where life is cheap. Do not look at all the Junk people cram on there bikes and think you need any of it. a few bags for your stuff will do gust fine.
To help you save cut up the cards you have (but save one you may need the cash if you get in a real bind) pay down the house and refinance it so the payments can be covered by rent and pay the rental agency + a bit of gas money for your self. Get rid of all that junk you have. The less you stuff own the less the stuff owns you.
Think about getting different line of work environmental is grate its green and all that but no one spends a dime on it. I gave up on Hazmat my self people only care about it when the EPA is fining them and there on TV.

Make dam sure your wife is in with all this It will do you no good paying off credit cards at the same rate she is charging them up.

Go to HU meeting there is one in North Carolina, August 20-23 and one in California September 24-27 this year. (or you can get one going in the North East)

Books to read:
Adventure Motorcycling Handbook by Chris Scott
Everything You Need To Know Motorcycle Touring By DR. Gregory W. Frazier

Well,
The first paragraph hit it on the head. If it were not for falling into those things, we would be better off. Fortunately I see that, and I'm making great headway to get out of it.
I've bought the Adventure riders handbook, read that it takes a 1 years prep to do the south American trip...that is hopeful as I was under the impression, that people would call their pals on the phone, say "I'd fashion a trip to Ushuia next month, you up for it.....SURE!!! lets go" Obviously, this is not the case, there is planning, saving and genuine sacrifice. Just yesterday, I started an adventure fund, dropping $500 in an envelope, it's not much, but it'll pay for about 8000mi of fuel on my KLR650!! Extend that out now 1 year and the trip does not seem too impossible!!

Hey 'Shadow'....nice post. I too sometimes think of ?HOW? to come up with the $ to make 'the' journey....then I remember that all of my life has been a journey. I spent most of it living in bunkhouses and old cabins, etc. My only real regret is not doing more of it on a motorcycle.

Life is always about choices....at 30 you now get to make one! I made it...to adventure on life. Live every day as if it was the last one. Take ALL the 'offramps ' you can find. Every back road offered.

There is a price....at 52 I see it. Low income, failed relationships, no children, no home owned....lot's of financial insecurity as senior citizen time approaches. Then I realize that I have acquired a 'lifetime' of skills and savvy. I do believe if they dropped me into the middle of 'anywhere', I would be fine.

Yes..it seems insurmountable right now....the $ I mean. I find that reading can be a curse as well as a blessing. There is always somebody that can show you how NOT to do something or how HARD that thing may be. One poster noted that you really DON"T need a lot of 'stuff'. He was absolutely right. Take some things and GO! You CAN do just about anything! Money does come...just seek it out. Not WEALTH, but the money to move on.

Sorry....I didn't mean to be philosophical or anything, I just wanted to point out that after you procrastinate and plan...the real thing to do is just.....get up and GO!

I have a lot of fears about my own future, but then I just suck it up and go anyway...after all, I never saw anybody going to the grave with a moving van!

The web, and especially this site, offer a huge way to travel inexpensively. Contacts are the best way to go! I have a huge book of 'destination friends'. My place has a bunkhouse that sleeps 5...covered parking and more. Hubb and ADV travelers are ALWAYS welcome. Limited funds? Let me know, we'll work it out. Food? There's always something here! Repairs? Plenty of duct tape and zipties here! (I know...I am a KLR guy myself)

Best advice............quit counting your pennies and such, sell what you don't love and GO!

The heaviest burden you carry in life are regrets. Nothing worse than sitting on the porch, in the twilight of your life, thinking about what might have been.

Be Well, Bill

__________________
Rule#2 "Never go ANYWHERE that YOU are considered a source of FOOD!

$20,000 USD for South America ?? Thats living a life of luxury....

You could travel for less than half of that if you don't mind camping and cooking cheaply.

It's all about disipline which I wish I had when I was there but I say again..

I think you could have a long, fun and exciting trip for $10,000 USD, comfortably... that would have you staying in cheap but cheerful hostels or campsites and cooking for yourself or eating at the cheaper places the locals use.

Watch Mondo Enduro or Terra Circa and you will see that a lot of fun can be had without a lot of money !

As for where to get the money... Start selling anything you don't need or use on Ebay, put some cash away in a savings account.. cut out the crap you waste money on and put that into a travel jar intead.. You will suprised what you can save and put away, if you're determined. Don't be in a rush ! Its very rare that people can do long trip every year. Most of us are lucky to get away every 2-3 years.

I travel for 6 months then come home and work/save for 2 years ! I still have debts and loans, you just need to save enough to cover the payments while your away and a little more to cover them if it takes longer to find work when you return...

Its a plan I think I will stick to for a while... Give it a go

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Although the consensus on this thread is as tedmagnum says above ($US20k = luxury), the drift on "that other thread" seemed to be that a hundred dollars a day was a reasonable Americas budget, hence $US36,500 for a yearlong trip. Sounded a bit plush to me, but lots of people appear to be thinking along those lines.

Personally, I'm looking at $18k for a full year, with opt-out possibilities after 8 or 10 months. I think this is entirely realistic and lends itself to the occasional splurge. It doesn't include buying and outfitting a bike; nor does it allow for the possibility that my bike will grenade and be rendered worthless at some point. But I think everything else is adequately covered, give or take.

As to savings concepts, it's a truism that what really matters is controlling your spending rather than your income. Assuming you're working at all, it's almost always possible to chop bits and pieces from the spending side of the ledger. These add up rapidly. Then, if you're at all like me, you need to put the money you just saved somewhere out of reach. Don't touch it for anything short of a life-threatening emergency.

Don't know if that's helpful, but sure hope so.

Mark

Well I am American
I broke a Guinness World Record Welcome to www.quadsacrossafrica.com
and that was my second adventure
WELCOME TO JOURNEY TO ESCAPE REALITY was my first.
Oh and I recently raced the Baja 1000

so I would say that it is not true that Europeans are the only ones having the adventure, maybe they are just the ones talking about it

Eeeek, i now hate you all!!!! I was planning a full rtw 2 year trip on 16k, seems like that was being overly overly optimistic. So what should i budget for it?? and am i going to have to try and flog my mother on ebay to raise it?
:confused1:

__________________
***Sorry, can you repeat that......Err what was that again***

2 years, RTW... 16k does seem a little optimistic. Is that USD ???

Just save what you can, stay in the cheap countries and come back when you run out of cash !

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Dual-national here, juris solis USA and juris sanguis Costa Rica. Having a second citizenship doesn't allow you to break US law just because you are traveling under another nation's passport. Right now if I go to Cuba with my Costa Rica passport I can still be prosecuted when I get back to the US. BTW, Cuba doesn't stamp passports. Nevertheless, all US administrations have prosecuted US citizens for traveling to Cuba since the Kennedy ban, unless prior clearance was obtained. It's yet to be seen what the current administration will do since it has only lifted the general travel ban for those with relatives in Cuba.

I've lived in several countries around the world, and have been solo traveling since I was a 15-yr old. I am now 52. I think your characterization of the USA and of US citizens is incorrect although I will say US citizens are 1) overdrawn, (2) overheard, (3) overweight, and (4) overdosed. Europe is following suit as well.

However, perhaps you need to get out in the world and see for yourself a comparison of the US and other countries. If you started with perhaps countries like Angola and Nigeria (two places where I spend a hell of a lot of time) and do some business and living there, then your view of the US might not be so negative. Or start with Latin America even. Not just ride through them on a motorcycle or a jeep.

Good luck with your adventures.

Z

I have some american friends and discussed the traveling issue that americans have.

Im from belgium and on top of that im lucky with what work i do. i get 40 paid vacation days a year (22 is standard in belgium i believe) , so when i travel i get paid by my company. I dont believe that is something you will get when your in america.

On top of that you get "vacation money" in belgium, a little bit extra for the travels or whatever you want to spend on.

That is why i can travel for 6 weeks in a row and dont have to worry about expences when i travel (aslong as i do normal and ceep it cheap)

But how good or bad your situation regarding to traveling is, its never enough, i dream of trips that take over 3 months, but i dont believe my boss would like that idea

__________________
NordKapp Rally 2011
Iceland 2012

I feel almost guilty to say that I get 10-12 weeks paid holiday per year.
I will take them all together and with 3 months long service leave and some other leave can probably take around 7 months at full pay and still have my job when I return.

Let me guess? Teacher?

__________________
Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Firefighter, slightly less dangerous than teaching these days