December 2016 – Jen Goes Rogue

By Jen Hawse on Budget, Preparing for the Trip, Travel Philosophy tagged Budget, Costs, Money, Planning, Spending

Keeping the Books Abroad — How To Finance a Year Long Round the World Trip

Money is a dirty word. We really hate talking about it in the US. It’s so personal and completely uncouth. Because of that this post may be distasteful, intriguing, TMI, or even feel like bragging to you. My point in writing it is that we’re asked this question often and I know it was one of those things people tiptoed around in the US before we left. People say, “Wait, you don’t have a job and yet you’re traveling… for nearly a whole year?!” Yep, I agree, that’s kind of absurd. I didn’t think it was possible either, but I’d like to walk you through how we’re doing it.

First off, we’re not crazy rich or trust fund babies. Most of you know this, but it’s worth saying that, while we come from middle and upper middle class households, we were working professionals making our own way up until we left. We lived in a modest apartment in Baltimore City, together paying $850 for rent monthly, along with utility costs that added another $100 or so to the base cost of living. Add in other bills, and the general cost of having a young professional’s lifestyle, like drinking out, going for coffee, or eating a decent restaurants, we were spending quite a bit of money each month just existing (in a volume that’s greater than I care to think about). Neither Jason nor I are much into “things”. We aren’t much for buying stuff at least and prefer foods and experiences over the appeal of a new gadget. Because of this, and limited carrying capacity, we have a serious lack of souvenirs.

Despite not being trustafarians, we did have well paying jobs that allowed us to save up during our planning process. Salary talk is again considered ill, but we made good money and held middle management positions in our companies. Being childless is also key here, because if we had a kiddo we’d have surely invested our cash into that little life.

A few months after Jason and I met he told me it was his dream to travel the world. It was not my dream. My dreams had been fairly well taken care of. When I was 27, I took my gap year to farm, then came back to work for a company that I thought was doing well for the world in a position that I enjoyed (almost) every day. My family and friends were close by. I lived in a city that I was invested in from a personal and professional standpoint. Plus, I had a habit of travelling a few times each year anyway, more than the average American does. I enjoy exploring various parts of America. Jason, on the other hand, needed to go beyond the sea to shining sea and see what life was like somewhere else. I didn’t even have a valid passport when we met. I wanted a dog.

During the course of our relationship my dad got sick and eventually passed away. He left us in June of 2015. He was my top priority when he was alive. After we lost him I could start to entertain the idea of long term travel. We began discussing the idea more in depth. We had several emotional talks over our priorities as a couple and what the future held. I eventually said, “Yes” to a dream that I still felt was his, but was beginning to become mine. We started saving and planning.

In 2016, we really hit the ground running with our plans. Discussions surrounded routes, timelines, overall goals, health and insurance, backup plans, keep in touch with the people at home, equipment, and most important to the trip’s success: budget. We decided we’d like to spend $30,000 in total between us, all in. That figure meant we’d not drain our savings, nor will we have to put anything on the credit card, and we should still be able to see and do a decent chunk of what we wanted.

We knew from the get-go this was a budget travel trip, not luxury. No resorts, no crazy sightseeing tours, no overpriced excursions, no scuba certifications; nothing that would break the bank. This means we’re missing out on activities a casual, short term traveller would partake in where spending isn’t a concern, but if we didn’t skip some of that we would never be able to adhere to our budget. We also originally thought we’d only be gone nine months, but due to the crazy Affordable Care Act exemption requirements we had to extend to 11 to ensure we don’t get fined over $1,000 each for not having insurance for the past year. We did not increase our budget. Make that 30K stretch!

It’s worth noting that prior to the trip, even though Jason and I lived together, we did not share finances. I’ve never shared my finances with a partner and rather liked it that way! I very fortunately had made enough that I didn’t have to. In the beginning, our lack of prior experience together in this area meant there was some fierce bickering about how money should be spent. I have a YOLO streak and that makes me more of a spender. Jason is far more frugal and can go without in ways that can feel torturous to me, but natural to him. He’d eat instant ramen from 7-11 every day if he was travelling solo. I’d drink expensive craft beer every time I got my hands on it. We’ve become better at compromise, now three months in, but it wasn’t easy at first.

We still don’t have a shared bank account, but we track our costs through an app that Jason has built specifically for our trip. Building the app helps keep his mind busy programming while providing a useful tool. It doesn’t just track expenses, it tracks the places we’ve been, our accommodations, the sights we’ve seen, and a map of it all, along with pictures and a beautiful interface. It tells you where we are today and where we’re going next. I’ll show you all one day, when it’s ready! 🙂

We planned on the trip having three distinct spending parts: expensive Asia, cheap Southeast Asia, and mostly expensive Europe. We were going to breeze through expensive Asia for the first five weeks, then spend five months or or in Southeast Asia, then finish the trip in Europe where some places would be insanely expensive and others more moderately priced. With this plan we’d never need to wear a winter coat and that means we’ll hardly ever check a bag (saving more $$). We did not plan to go to Australia, but after finding a great flight deal and a volunteer working opportunity that covers room and board we felt like it would be foolish not to go.

Former farmer days, 5 years ago, where room and board was the paycheck for hard work.

Summer of 2016 we made our first real trip purchase, tickets to Korea. We found a great deal on China Southern Airlines for $400 per person for the one way journey. It was 1/2 what we thought we would spend, so we felt it would be really foolish to turn it down. From there, we booked more flights and accommodations until the first six weeks were set up. By the end of July, we had all of expensive Asia booked and paid for, minus attractions and food. Pre-trip spending was around $4,000. Just because we spent it before the trip, while we had jobs, didn’t mean that we could increase our budget any, it just meant that we could pay for the trip with an inflow of cash versus strictly our savings.

Korean park views for the cost of a subway ride.

New Year’s Day puts us at exactly 1/3rd of the way through our trip. Because of the way that our budget works we should actually have spent less than 1/3rd of our budget by this point. This is due to our plan to be in “cheap” Southeast Asia for another few months. Unfortunately, we are more than 1/3rd of the way through our budget. How did this happen? Basically, we didn’t think attractions and food would cost as much as they have; our mistake. We were fairly spot on with our accommodation estimates. Flights are a little more expensive than we bargained for, but not by an exorbitant amount. It’s just the day to day living that’s driving our costs higher than expected. Now, since we’re headed to very expensive Australia next, we have to be extra vigilant on our spending.

This is corn soup. It can’t be expensive, right?

Below, you can see how we’ve arranged the budget. This is collective, not separate, so together we want to keep the spending at $90 per day throughout the entire trip, averaged out. Clearly, in very expensive cities like Tokyo, Singapore, and Rome, we’re going to go way over that so we need to compensate by going far below in the cheaper places. Right now in Kuching, we’re spending about $40 per day all in and we’re staying here for one month. Everyday here, before we do, eat, or drink anything, we are paying $20.50 for our hostel (at $16.50 per night) and the transportation to fly here ($4 per day on average). Today we had one meal out that cost $7 for the both of us. So, that means our total today was 27.50. Many days we spend more than that. Every ringgit/dollar counts. But, it’s cheap in Kuching! We love that, and that’s why we planned to stay here for so long. However, since we’re not just spending whatever we want whenever we want we are going to miss a few special attractions. C’est la vie.

Something to note is we’ve received some very generous monetary gifts from friends and family. We are extremely grateful for their goodwill, but we’re trying not to have that alter our 30K mark. As Jason has reminded me time and again, it’s nice to have extra money, but it shouldn’t affect how we spend day to day. Yes, sometimes we can do something extra special and attribute it to a gift, but we can’t just increase the budget. Again, I’m a spender, he’s a saver, so he’s being reasonable and I’m desiring excesses.

Once we make it to Europe we plan to visit several of the must see spots, but we also plan to work on farms or do other kinds of volunteering to both become part of the community in a that way a tourist can’t and to save money. Trading labor for housing and food is something I’ve done before and adore. I wish more of the world was set up like this. Europe has a greater number of opportunities for this than in the US, so if you’re thinking about long term travel I encourage you to consider this as a way to save money and really meet local people.

I’m not exactly sure what will happen in the next few months money wise. My mom asked me if we go over budget do we go home early? Probably not. We’d have to go pretty significantly over budget to do that. That said, when we get back our goal of buying a house and settling down is more important than this trip, so if that reality feels compromised we’ll definitely consider it. We talk about our spending on a daily basis, so this isn’t something we’re ignoring or doing without much though; it’s a balancing act.

New friends took us jungle trekking. Only paid for the guide and snacks + made awesome new friends!

Next off topic-topic is packing! That post won’t nearly be as long, but it’ll certainly have more pictures! Thanks for tuning in. Until next time. Happy New Year!

13 Dec

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review, Travel Philosophy tagged asia, beaches, beer, guesthouse, holidays, malaysia, religion, travel

Paradise Muddled — Losing and Finding My Place in the World

If there’s one thing life is exceedingly good at it’s being in flux. Change is constant. When on the road, change is more omnipresent than going through the routine of life at home. True, holidays, birthday, weekends, all of these break up the mundane, but when you’re existing in a new city, country, and timezone on a rotating basis you’re faced with change in a new sort of way. While often positive, change can throw you into sadness when you were happy with the ways things were or refresh you when you’re so f’ing done.

It’s been just under three months of straight traveling and, I’ve got to say, I’m tired. It’s not from the constant motion, that is something that I strangly embrace better than sitting idly. I’m a mover, not a sitter. I’m simply tired of being away from home. The holidays are hard for everyone, whether you’re a fan of your family or trying to find the first ticket out of town. For me, I’m missing the normalcy this time of year brings. Cookies, christmas trees, holiday parties, wrapping presents, silly sweaters, they’re all reasons to love December. Being without them this year means Jason and I will be most likely losing weight during December instead of gaining it. There’s a plus!

This is my first year away from home during the holidays and second year without my dad, ever. His birthday is New Year’s Eve, so the holidays were even more special to me because of this. I loved having Lauer’s cake with him before heading out for a night with my friends. I can’t describe the guilt I feel for being away from my mom right now. The importance of family is even more greatly magnified in it’s absence. Being away feels unnatural. No matter where in the world I am I’d feel this way, so Malaysia or otherwise, I should be home for the holidays.

The irony in all this is, the last place we stayed was emphatically our favorite thus far in terms of feeling homey. Langkawi, Malaysia, had so much to offer that extended beyond the food and beaches. In Langkawi, we met people that we really connected with. We made six(!!) new friends at our guesthouse! More than anywhere else we’ve been, for certain. These are folks that we are looking forward to keeping in touch with and who are sharing journeys much like ours. The guesthouse itself was really conducive to people meeting and spending time in the commons area. Beers from the vending machine were $.50 (best price on the island!) and there was coffee, tea, and food on demand 24/7. So, you could basically stay up all night drinking and making friends, which we did on three separate occasions, and had an amazing time doing it.

One of the couples we met are world travelers from Britain who are going from Southeast Asia to Asia to South America on a year long journey. They’re our age, which was pretty refreshing when most of the folks we’d met thus far were in their early twenties. Nothing wrong with early twenties people! I have made plenty of friends 10 years younger than me and love the general positivity and freshness of that age, but meeting people our age on their “gap year” was a welcome surprise. We are so grateful that we met you all Hannah, Paul, Charlie, Aggy, Kate, and Mike Willy Holder! I’m sorry we didn’t get a few pictures together! <3 <3 <3

Beyond the people, although it’s quite difficult to go beyond people, Langkawi was small enough for us to feel comfortable renting our first motorscooter while big enough to give us a variety of activities. Going to the beach everyday is enough, but there was far more than available. I can tell you immediately from getting to the guesthouse I thought, “I wish we had booked another week.” Malaysia has very high vice taxes, because it’s a muslim country and muslims don’t drink, so while the true price of alcohol is rather cheap here the tax is exorbitantly high. Langkawi is a duty free city, meaning it’s tax exempt. If tax wasn’t included our beers would cost $.50. Today, at the store, the beers priced at about 2.00 each, or $12 for a 6 pack of crappy beer. This was the same thing we found all over Malaysia. Even if a bar or store wants to charge less they can’t due to tax regulations.

Prior to Langkawi we spent one week in Penang, or colonially known as Georgetown, another tropical island in Malaysia, but without the remote and extensive beaches. It was more of a city with resorts dotting the coastline that weren’t easy to get to, so we mostly stuck with the city center. Penang is hip. The street art is rich and abundant. You can tell they encourage creativity here. Another huge plus, this place had the best Indian food I’ve ever had! Truth be told, I wish I had just eaten Indian food the whole time I was there because I foolishly thought I’d find more Indian food in Kuching and Langkawi and have yet to find the right stuff. Nothing beats fresh, properly cooked naan bread. Nothing! And this stuff was cheap. I’m taking under $2 per meal. We had Indian food for Thanksgiving, because I’m not a huge fan of turkey anyway and, as they say, when in Malaysia!

Before Penang we were in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, or KL locally. KL was a true melting pot of the poorer, former Malaysia and the rich capitalism that’s coming to take hold. The Petronas Towers were the world’s tallest building for a few years and are still a symbol of progress in Malaysia. There is no qualm here in their embrace of fossil fuels. They love dinosaurs and have erected statues of oil molecules and have dino parks throughout the city. Corporate sponsorship is not hidden nor frowned upon like it is in the US. Petronas actually means Petroleum in Malaysian, so their state capital’s symbol to the world is the Petroleum Towers. To each their own.

Perhaps this embrace of petroleum is the reason why walking was fairly dreadful in KL. The city is not intentionally built for pedestrians. We were at the central transit station trying to get to the closely located major tourist destination, the botanical gardens, and it took us over 30 minutes to walk what should have taken us under 10. That’s because there is no proper civil engineering in KL and roads are basically thrown on a map wherever they’ll fit, which forces you to take taxi’s. We are not great taxi takers, we would rather slug through a stupidly difficult walk instead of succumbing to the several dollar charge that is an unnecessary taxi ride in our minds. So, we slugged and dangerously dodged cars and were pretty unhappy with the structure of KL.

On the bright side, the Batu Caves, just outside of KL, were the first place either of us had encountered wild monkeys and provided a great get away from the city. After about an hour on their subway we arrived to find history, beauty, and some interesting creatures surrounding us. The caves are 400 million years old and the Hindu temples here were originally built up in 1891. The main golden Murugan statue that greets you at the base of the 300ish steps is 140 ft tall. During our visit Murugan was under construction, but c’est la vie. Upon summiting the cave entrance we were handed a bucket of rocks, each, as our way of “paying” for entry. This wasn’t necessarily required, but the construction worker at the base of the caves said, “You been here before? No? You take this”. So, we walked up 300 steps with a bucket of rocks! Builds character!

Today, in Kuching, we’re laying low. This would seem like a great thing for me right now and my weary traveling bones, but in fact it’s making me a little crazy. We planned it this way, but I don’t sit idly well. Jason, on the other hand, is a fantastic sleeper and sitter. He doesn’t mind days in front of the computer, coding or watching movies. I panged with guilt and frustration over this, whether at home or away, but especially during the most delicate time of year that is the holidays. So, since we arrived, I’ve read one short book and am about 1/3rd of the way through a 2nd along with beginning French lessons via an app again. I might pick up on German too, what the hell! While the guesthouse isn’t perfect it’s great for the price ($16.50 per night in total) and the staff are immensely kind to us.

Since I was a child I learned about Borneo and filed it in the, “I’ll never get to go there” category. Well, I’m here, Kuching is on Borneo, the oldest rainforest in the world and one of the most biologically diverse places that exists. Granted, we’ve seen zero biodiversity as of yet, being in the little city of Kuching, but it’s our goal to go out and explore the rainforest very soon. We hope to see some hornbills and proboscis monkeys in person, while avoiding alligators and vipers, oh my! But, while we’re not jungle trekking, we’ll be laying the lowest we’ll have been this entire trip and having lazy days walking around the quaint waterfront, talking to the guesthouse staff, and generally relaxing. Maybe it’s a good time to adjust some habits, pick up some new ones, or let go of old ones that don’t serve us any longer. Resolution time is coming!

Miss you all! I am thinking of you during the holidays. The holidays don’t mean a thing if it’s not for your friends and family that make them special. I love you and thank you for making my life special and meaningful.

1 Dec

By Jen Hawse on Asia, City Review tagged Animals, Bangkok, Buddhism, Chiang Mai, City review, Elephants, Festivals, Temples, Thailand, Tropics

Chiang Mai This Place is Nice

When people think about Southeast Asia, Thailand often comes to mind first. Formerly Siam, this ancient civilization is a culturally rich tourist haven. Tourism accounts for 6% of Thailand’s GDP. For comparative purposes, the US generates 2.6% of our GDP from tourism. Thailand’s main economy is export focused. I bet you have a few clothing items in your closed that are “Made in Thailand”.

During our trip planning Thailand was highest of the list of places to dig into and explore, chiefly because it’s fairly cheap, safe, and open to foreigners (or farangs as we’re called by the Thai people). Our original plan was to get a six month multi-entry visa (MEV) for Thailand and make it a sort of “home base” for our travels. We wanted to explore all around Southeast Asia, while knowing we could go back anytime. After weeks of research we realized the requirements for the MEV were too much to handle. You needed to have a job at home (nope, sorry), plus proof of that job that isn’t a paystub (what, how?) then statements showing $7,000 in the bank, plus we’d have to pay $200. We didn’t want to lie or pay that huge $200 fee, so we opted to just keep hopping and avoid having the “home base”. That meant our first stop out of the Far East and into Southeast Asia was Thailand for a one month stay.

Chiang Mai ladyboy cabaret. — Chiang Mai ladyboy cabaret

As you know, we jumped into Bangkok first and spent a pretty intense 10 days there. The King had passed away six days prior to our arrival and the city was transformed in ways that no one could have envisioned. A sea of Thais were arriving daily to pay their respects and mourn his loss. The sadness was visceral and all entertainment was cancelled, including even simply playing music at bars. Black was the standard garb and locals and tourists alike were encouraged to wear it. For being in the tropics, Thailand has some fairly strict standards of dress. This includes no shoulders or knees showing, with many Thais opting to fully cover their legs and arms. No, tourists don’t have to comply, but it’s again encouraged. So, when temperatures feel like 107 F, you’re suppose to wear all black and be covered up in order to be modest. Jason and I care about respecting culture and modesty, so we wanted to make sure we covered as much as possible (read, it’s hot and just got hotter for us).

img_20161113_152436852 — Hot, but worth it for this craziness

Really, it’s mostly important to be covered at temples. Thailand is a swarm of Buddhist temples. They’re everywhere, with over 40,000 throughout the country, and my goodness they’re stunning works of art and religion. 94% of Thais follow Buddhism, a religion that has origins in the country from the 3rd century. I’m personally a big fan of Buddhism for their culture of nonviolence and belief in the changing nature of the universe. Out of all religions that I’ve encountered this one speaks to me the highest.

img_20161112_214034428 — Temples everywhere

Something I never got over was seeing monks draped in flowing orange robes, walking the streets, with canvas shopping bags carrying their simple belongings. Thailand has between 200,000 – 300,000 Buddhist monks, so they’re easily found. Monks can be of the city or forest variety and the monks have to follow over 230 rules. How do I know all this? When in Chiang Mai I participated in a Monk Chat to learn about their unique way of life. The monks were very open to my questions and were actually quite interested in what I was doing in Thailand and where my travels had taken me. Many were intermediate English speakers, so the conversation provided them an opportunity to speak with a native English speaker while engaging in a cultural exchange.

img_20161102_170556944 — Extremely old temple in the middle of Chiang Mai

We spent 17 days in total in Chiang Mai, so besides spending time with Buddhist Monks and sweating we also had a great day playing with elephants at Elephant Jungle Sanctuary. My mom had gifted me some spending money for my birthday (thanks again, Momsie!) and this is what we opted to spend it on. In Thailand there are several options to interact with wild animals. You can pet sleepy (read: drugged) tigers at Tiger Kingdom or ride elephants at several parks, which is terrible for them on many levels; or you can go to one of several elephant preserves in the area to help care and interact with the big lugs in an environment that’s specifically designed to make them happy and keep them safe. We opted for the humane elephant preserve (of course!).

The day started with an 8:15 a.m. pickup from a “red truck”, a Ford that’s been outfitted with bench seats and a cap on the bed that had windows cut out of it. The back of the cap was completely open to climb into and out of, there was no door. Staying by the train station meant we were a good 30 minute walk from the city with few hotels that far out, so we weren’t sure if this truck was going to take us to a van to drive up the mountain or if we’d be getting more passengers and going on our way. The latter ended up being true. By 9:10 the truck was filled with 10 people, driver included, and we were heading up to the sanctuary in the mountains of northern Thailand, in a truck, with no door on the back. Hey, at least we were all the way on the inside!

img_20161104_091511354 — In the truck, heading toward elephant sanctuary

Zig zagging through the mountain passes we drove fast. The driver claims we were making up time because two of our fellow riders were late. It seemed likely that they were very young newlyweds, at least according to me and the three hilarious German ladies that I shared a few laughs with. The couple surely wasn’t dressed like they were going to play in the mud! Either way, as for the crazy drive, you eventually became used to the crazy conditions and almost comfortable with it. A cool blew into the cabin and all around us were beautiful vistas. Peace set in, that is until the road no longer became a road, but instead a kind of truck “path” that steeply jetted us into an even closer to near death situation as we drove inches away from sheer cliffs on tracks wide enough for just the two truck tires. Somehow, we didn’t die (either coming or going!). The day has hardly started and yet our adrenalin is pumping at full force.

Instead of going into great detail with the elephants I’ll just share some pictures here to show you what happened.

Another special treat in Chiang Mai was the Loy Krathong Festival. This was one of the main reasons we decided to go north to Chiang Mai instead of south to the world famous Thai beaches. Loy Krathong roughly translates to “to float a basket” and is celebrated throughout Thailand on the full moon of the 12th month of the year. These baskets are generally banana leaves decorated with colorful flowers and sometimes hold a coin as an offering to the river spirits. Fireworks and big celebrations are generally part of this annual event, but with the King’s passing all of these extra demonstrations were toned down. Paper lanterns, however, were still part of the event and were just as magical as you can imagine.

img_20161114_235803176 — We are cleared for liftoff!

Yi Peng, another full moon even, is the reason these lanterns are part of the Loy Krathong Festival. For Thais, the lanterns are a symbol of merit, a Buddhist belief in doing good deeds to bolster personal enlightenment and ensure you have a better next life. I’m happy regardless of their reasoning, because watching these lanterns take off was a top bucket list item for me and completing it is like floating on air 🙂

img_20161112_200622823 — A celebration of lights!

Chiang Mai has become a favored city for Jason and I because of it’s medium size, natural setting, good food, mixed culture, and some great people we met during our stay. It’s #2 thus far for me, right behind Seoul, for this trip.

It’s funny how each place we’re only at for a short time, yet in my mind I keep thinking, “Oh, we can always go back if we want. We’re in SE Asia for a while.” but, in reality, we will most likely never return to these destinations and I have to be OK with that inevitability. Travel, to me, is the definition of bittersweet. Often, I’m thinking of home and wondering what you people are up to out there, living normal lives and spending time with those you love. When I’m not thinking of that I’m planning our next move, where to go and how to get there. I’m thinking of what’s on the agenda for tomorrow. I’m worrying about the budget. I’m looking at maps. I’m dreaming of our time in Europe. I’m considering how I feel both guilty to live this way and immensely blessed. I’m trying not to kill Jason as well, and vise versa 🙂

Travel requires patience and perseverance. I’m no model for either of those traits and often I’m rushing through something and stressing me and/or Jason out or bored that there’s nothing to do for a brief period of time instead of being productive and planning or just being. Patience and perseverance. I’ve never been a hobby kind of person. I’m a worker bee and that’s always been my hobby. I like to feel useful and I’m grateful that I’ve had great jobs where that feeling has been realized. In travel, you consume everything and you don’t give anything unless you make a concerted effort to take on volunteer work. This week, I signed Jason and I up for Work Away, a website that connects hosts looking for volunteers all over the world with their projects and willing workers. Like WWOOFing, Willing Workers on Organic Farms, Work Away is for all types of work and the great part is they most often pay you in room and board. With this we can save money, learn some new skills, feel useful, meet new people, and keep having fun traveling. I think this is exactly what I need to make this trip go from good to great.

img_20161108_185132838 — The fishies cleaned up our feet!

If you have specific questions about anything or want me to cover a topic, versus a country, just ask! Before I left people wanted to know about our budget and backpacks, if there’s interest I can write a blog on those topics or others. Thanks for reading! Until next time!