Managing Long-Term Travel With Commitments

Many people travel when they are young and free of commitments. Once you have a home, a car, a full-time job, kids or pets, it can become much harder to travel as freely. A week or two of travel is usually fine, but anything longer than this can become a challenge when you have bills to pay or responsibilities to look after. Fortunately, there are still ways to travel long-term when you have commitments. This post explains how to travel long-term when you have commitments.

A home

If you rent or own a home, you’ll need to make sure that your home is secured and looked after while you’re gone. It could be worth asking someone you trust to house-sit while you are travelling – or at the very least to regularly go round and check in on your home. You could even consider taking on a lodger or tenant. This will stop your home from being vacant and will allow you to cover bills, however you’ll need to still hire a property manager who can handle repairs in your absence. Alternatively, if you’re not too attached to your home, you can move out and put your personal possessions in self-storage temporarily while you travel – you can then look for a new home when you return. 

A car

If you’re going on a road trip, you can always take your car with you. If not, you should consider where to keep your car as you travel. It may be sensible to temporarily cancel insurance and park it somewhere secure. You could even look into vehicle storage units as a place to temporarily keep your car secure. Alternatively, if you’re not going to be driving it for a while and you’re not too attached, consider whether it’s worth selling your car before you travel and buying a new one when you return. 

A job

Most employers only offer a few weeks holiday, making long-term travel impossible without quitting your job. That said, if you’ve been at a company a while and are valued by your employer, you may be able to negotiate leaving for a few months and returning to your job after. Of course, some jobs can be worked from any location providing you have a laptop and phone – if you have such a job, consider taking advantage of this. If you run your own business, consider whether you can get someone to step in as temporary manager while you travel.

Kids

If you have kids and they are not in school yet, consider taking your kids with you on your travels. While it can be challenging travelling with a young kid, it is definitely possible – check out this guide to travelling with young kids. Once kids are in school, it’s much harder to travel long-term unless you’re willing to take them out of school and homeschool them as you travel. You may have to wait until the summer holidays to travel or you may have to wait until your kids are old enough to travel without them.

Pets

Most pets do not travel well. You may be able to take some pets with you in an RV, but otherwise you’re better off leaving them behind with someone you trust. Alternatively, you may have to wait until your pets are no longer around to travel.