My mother in law used to say, “if you can read, you can cook”. Well, I feel the same about travel. “If you can walk, you can travel”. It may not get you far, depending on your physical condition or vacation time off, but it can get you somewhere. Take the case of Tom Turcich, who is walking around the world. He plans to visit all seven continents, traversing all of them on foot. You don’t need to do it this way, but this is just one example.

The highest costs when traveling are transportation, accommodation, and food. All of these can be minimized to the extent that you can practically travel for free. Tom got someone to sponsor his transportation that could not be covered on foot. You’d be surprised how easy it is to find people who get excited about what you’re doing and want to offer support for a good cause. I travel for free using airline miles. In addition to the sign up bonus, I put everything I buy on my credit card. As a tour director, I am able to charge enough to earn me at least 30,000 miles a year. That right there is enough for a one way ticket to Europe.

The other transportation expenses that add up are getting from one place to another. On my 3-6 month tours, I cover a lot of ground, and that has to be paid for. It is the reason transportation is still the largest part of my budget. I could easily solve this by not moving around so much but there are also ride share apps like BlaBlaCar. Still, if I just stayed in one country or one region, to really take in the place, I could cut my monthly expenses by as much as 60%.

Accommodations are the next largest part of my budget. These expenses are easily managed because there is such a wide variety of accommodations available. As a single traveler, I find hostels to be the cheapest option, but that’s because I enjoy my comforts like AC, WiFi, kitchen. In many places around the world, you can practically camp for free, like on the beaches of Mexico.

There are also many types of homestay and volunteer opportunities available which allow you to stay for free in exchange for a daily minimum of work. This can be farming, child care, or even simple house sitting. There are several sites dedicated to these opportunities: HelpX, Workaway, Wwoof. The latest way I’ve found to stay for free is house sitting, using platforms like TrustedHouseSitters.

Food is a major part of my budget but the smallest part. This is an expense that is really easily controlled by reducing your visits to coffee houses and buying food from markets to eat during the day or prepare at home. Many volunteer opportunities will also provide one or all of the meals for the day.

So, as you can see, you don’t need a lot of money to travel, and you can practically live for free if you find the right opportunity, so start today because anyone can travel!