5 Sacrifices I Made To Travel The World

A travel lifestyle is glamorous, inspiring, and dreamy! There are so many travel influencers out there showing you the perks of traveling the world. Let’s be real, who doesn’t want to travel to the most beautiful regions of the world, swim in the clearest waters, try new foods, and live in unique accommodations?

But, as the saying goes .. “nothing worth having comes easy.” No matter what your dream is, making it happen will always take sacrifice.

Choosing a life of travel also means choosing a life of sacrifice. You will have to make sacrifices in relationships, finances, luxury purchases, new clothes, eating out, living accommodations amongst many other things. Are your goals worth the price and what are you willing to pay to get there?

Here are 5 things traveling the world has cost me …

1. Relationships

Let's put it like this, I haven't seen my family and friends in 1 year, therefore I have missed out on birthday celebrations, graduations, the start of businesses, births, marriages, and many other important milestones in their lives and they have also missed milestone in my life. During my travels my niece was born, my nephew turned five, my best friend made a big move, my cousin finished building her dream home and I was not able to be present for any of those milestones. I am lucky to have friends and family that I am able to maintain a close connection with despite distance and time, however those relationships are never the same. You change in each other’s absence. You no longer relate in the same ways. You miss those big moments that bring each other closer. You simply move down separate paths in life.

Traveling consistently makes it difficult to maintain long term relationships and even build new ones, although you’ll always be meeting and connecting with people.

This is where learning how to be alone and enjoying time with yourself becomes important. You won’t always be alone and if you have a strong foundation with your loved ones they will always be a call away, but with different timezones and lifestyles you’ll have to have the best relationship with yourself.

Are you ready to lose friends, miss milestones, and build a stronger relationship with yourself?

2. Luxury Purchases

Although I am not pursuing my background in fashion, that doesn't mean that I don't love shopping and nice things, however I mostly opt out of luxury purchases to afford my travels. My last nice Gucci handbag was purchased in 2017 and I still wear it with no desire to spend money on another one. After 3 years of knock off Prada boots I finally decided to treat myself to the real ones, that I wear almost every day. I am 100% an outfit repeater and most of my current clothes, shoes,

accessories, and jewelry are several years old, and occasionally I purchase a piece from a local shop on my travels to reinvent an old outfit. My theory is — In the next 10 years what would you rather remember?

3. Home

One of the things people told me as I prepared to leave the US to live abroad was “You could be saving your money to buy a home.” I now laugh at this because my “home” is nowhere and everywhere all at once. Although my friends and family would always welcome me back with open arms to their homes, technically I am homeless because I don’t actually have a home of my own anywhere in the world, not even in my hometown. After I completed my one year lease on my apartment was when I decided that I would travel the world instead of renew a long term lease. Now I no longer return to the comfort of the same home everyday. Personally I love staying in unique accommodations all over the world that give me inspiration for the day I am ready to settle into my own home, but I still have no desire to be tied to a lease or mortgage of my own at this point in my life. If that is your goal in the near future consider that traveling long term could alter that.

4. Finances

Would you rather be rich in money or rich from life experiences? While both are an option depending on your unique situation, the reality is you may have to choose one over the other for a while with long term travel. Finances become even more important while traveling because you have to balance having enough to actually enjoy where you are, plan for where you are going next, have a savings for your long term goals, and keep enough saved for any serious emergencies. I would love to buy land somewhere in the world and build a unique tiny home, so on top of all of my travels I still save up for that ultimate goal.

5. Freedom

Most people will tell you that they experienced the ultimate freedom from traveling. While traveling can grant you the ultimate freedom over your life, like anything, too much of it can have adverse effects. Finding balance between work and play can be difficult. Being in a new place with tons to explore can result in you neglecting responsibilities. It’s a mistake that a lot of first time long term travelers make, but if you truly want to make the best of your time traveling or create a digital nomad lifestyle that allows you to continue to travel, some days you’ll have to sacrifice that sunset hike for a sunset at a local cafe to get your work done.

Make a list of all of the things that you are not willing to sacrifice in your life. Here is mine:

I am NOT willing to sacrifice

• Eating fast food our unhealthy to save more

• Living in crappy or ill kept accommodations

• Not having the option to access to my friends or family in case of emergencies or when I really miss them

• Cut out arguably-disposable expenses in my life, like hygiene and self care routines. For example, I love yoga and meditation and whether it’s my favorite app or a class I will more than likely pay for it because it makes me happy

The thing is you’ll always have to make sacrifices to achieve your ultimate goals with hopes that those sacrifices will be worth it to you at the end. Some sacrifices are more difficult than others, but if you don’t sacrifice for what you want, what you want will be the sacrifice.

Want to quit your 9-5 to travel the world or pursue another dream? Subscribe now for a first look at my new E-book coming soon!