I replied on this thread a long time ago, but find a lot of the responses really interesting in that we seem to put a high value on doing things cheaply/for free as opposed to what I consider more realistic. Granted, selling one's home and all posessions and just flying out of town full throttle is so sexy and legendary, I just find it so unrealistic for MOST people. I find it unrealistic for people with a sense of obligation to what is at "home," let alone those 90+% of us who dont' have the personality to just up and leave.

For me, I want the adventure, but I also want the home to come home to. You can say that is having your cake and eating it too, and it may well be. However, what I tell people any time I talk about travel is that you CAN have both but it is all about choices. I live in a smaller house than I can "afford" because I want to make sure I can pay the mortgage when I don't have income (am traveling). I don't buy a new car every few years, I don't own a flatscreen, I don't go out to the bar and drop $100 every friday night. For me, those are the major things which enable travel from the fiscal side.

I wrote before about how I do contract work as a financial analyst for a couple of years at a time and then plan something and go off for a few months (last trip lasted about 6 months). I come back with a beard fit for nesting birds, tens of thousands of pictures, and several lifetimes of experience.

I hope to travel more, and I also hope to have a (somewhat) stable life here in Richmond, VA. Have I found the perfect answer or some secret formula? ..no, far from it, but I have found what I THINK is a way to make my perfect mix of travel and home time work out.

In the end, I'm always saving, always working to make sure my debt is limited and that when I do get the itch...or I do come up with a plan, I can execute on it more quickly. ...and that I have some sort of fall back when I get home, utterly destroyed from an epic adventure and need to obtain an income stream within a few months.

In the future I hope to be able to generate income through investments that can sustain or help buffer more longer duration travel. Every penny I don't spend on something I don't need gets me that much closer to that goal.