How To Afford Full-Time Travel: Tips by Adventure Campitelli

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Last Updated on September 28, 2021 by Leslie Stroud

Hello! We are Kathy, Marco, Jaden (12) and Maelle (8) from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and we took a break from it all to travel the world for 6 months. Traveling extensively was a life-long dream for us and with lots of planning and saving we were able to make it happen. We didn’t want to wait for the “some day” when we retire to travel the world. Sadly, we have met so many people over the years that were never able to realize their travel dreams due to illness, death or financial circumstances, including my own parents. It was also so important for us to be able to share this experience with our kids and give them World Schooling and an experience of a lifetime!

HOW DID WE AFFORD TO DO THIS?

9 Key Tips

For us, the bottom line was to save, cut costs and be patient as it takes time. Having to pay for our wedding many years ago taught us how to save and budget for our dream travel journey.

Here are 9 things we did to make this trip a reality.

Dedicated Bank Account
- Make a dedicated travel account and put money into it every month using the “pay yourself first” principle, even if it is only $10 here and there; it adds up over time.
Cut Costs
- We cut down our costs and made a budget. “The latte factor” is popular and cliché but the little things do add up. We made a budget and scrutinized everything we were spending to find extra money. Cost reducing measures that worked for us included:
1. We switched from picking up our lattes every morning to making them mostly at home. This saved us at least $12+ a day between the two of us and any treats we would buy for the kids when they were with us.
2. We cut down on eating out. This included both bringing lunches to work every day and not eating out at restaurants as often on the weekends. This is good for the waistline too!
3. We eliminated a lot of monthly banking fees. We opened an online no fee banking account that has free interac transactions, free e-transfers, and free checks. We also had another main account that we kept over a minimum balance that eliminated the monthly fee of $29.95. Banking fees add up!
4. We cut our cable and saved over $100 per month.
5. We reduced haircuts, beauty treatments and shopping which can add up quickly.
6. I cut my gym membership and went to an online workout program. The workouts require minimal space and equipment. This reduced my costs from about $1000 per year to around $200.
Rack up the Points
- Use points where you can. We have a Travel Visa and purchased everything on this card and paid off the balance at the end of each month avoiding being charged interest. This is a good way to rack up points for free flights and accommodations.
Offload your Debt
- We paid off our car so we eliminated the loan payments while we were away. Had we traveled for more than six months, we would have sold the cars.
No shopping Sprees
- We put any extra money we received such as bonuses and/or raises into interest earning investments.
Embrace Minimalism
- We went through all of our belongings selling things we no longer used or needed for extra cash. It’s amazing what can store up in the garage like bikes, ski equipment or other things that can free up extra money. We donated the rest to eliminate clutter and help a good cause.
Rent your House
- We rented out our house while we were away and were able to cover all of our at home expenses by doing this. We used a management company to find the tenants and look after our home so we didn’t have to worry about it while we were away.
Reduce Flight Costs
- Flights are a huge expense so we did a few things to minimize the costs:
1. We visited fewer countries by traveling more slowly and staying in countries for a longer period of time. We stayed in a few of the places for up to a month which reduced flight costs significantly vs. traveling every week.
2. We tried to fly on cheaper days of the week. When you travel long term the days of the week you fly don’t really matter so you can save significantly on flights. When booking flights we regularly compared prices and costs on different days of the week.
3. We extended a layover to sneak in another destination. Airlines will often allow a few days layover in another country with no added costs.
Cheaper Accommodations

We mostly stayed in Airbnb’s which is usually much cheaper than hotels in terms of nightly costs. Airbnb’s also have full kitchens and supplies available so you can cook your own meals and save a lot of money by not eating out as much. We even lucked out securing an Airbnb in a resort giving us access to all the facilities and saving over $100 per night.

We hope to inspire other families to follow their dreams of traveling with our YouTube videos of all the amazing places we’ve been to.