Since 2008 I'm almost non-stop traveling. Sometimes I think back about my life before and I barely remember anything. It's like I didn't live before. Once I started to travel, everything felt more intense. Every day was a new adventure. I paid attention to details. I got lost. And addicted. Addicted to this kind of lifestyle. I never wanted to go back to a daily routine. Sitting in an office and doing some job from 9 to 5 seemed like the most ridiculous thing on earth. What a waste of lifetime!
I looked around me and found some of the most interesting travel bloggers. People, who are living a life of travel. People who are making money while traveling.... I want to learn from them, so I stalked them and bothered them with my questions! Each of them has a very inspiring story.
I’m Caz Makepeace from Australia. My husband, Craig, and I are founders of y Travel Blog, a site dedicated to sharing travel tips and stories to help people travel more and create better memories. We have been blogging now for 3 years. Before the travel blog, I was a primary school teacher and Craig worked in construction. We can’t begin to tell you how immensely glad that we no longer get up every day to go to those jobs. We now spend every day doing what we love and helping others to do the same. At the moment we are in Australia and will be here for the next 2 years.
When did you start traveling and why?
I first started travelling in 1997, 3 days after I graduated from University. I was dying to embrace a life of freedom on the road and experiencing the beauty of the world, meeting new people and having wild adventures. I really wanted to discover more about the world and more about myself. I was addicted after the first week and have never stopped travelling. I found a way to make it my lifestyle instead of a month long adventure here and there.
How do you fund your travels? Are you working abroad?
We have always funded our travels by working abroad. It is the best way to travel the world long-term and cheaply. I worked as a teacher and did the odd hospitality or labouring job. Craig worked in construction, for Delta airlines and also taught English in Bangkok. We would usually source out work before we arrived in a new country. We often joined agencies or special recruiting programs. As a benefit to this we often received perks such as free flights and accommodation. There were several places where we found work just by hitting the pavements and looking or through contacts we had made. Here you can read more about our working holiday life.
Is your travel blog making enough money to fund your travels?
After three years of hard work it finally is. But, we aren’t earning oodles of money, so we have to be very smart with our budget and expenses. We have 15 years’ experience of travelling on a budget, so are pretty good at finding cheap or free travel experiences. We are actually publishing our first ebook sharing all our strategies at the end of this month. It is very difficult to make money travel blogging. You have to ensure you have multiple streams of income and you must look at ways you can earn income because of your blog, not necessarily from it. We make money from advertising, sponsored posts, sponsorships, freelance content creation, and soon, our own products. Because of our blog we also receive hosted stays in destinations which reduces our travel costs. This is not free travel, however as it does involve a lot of work on our behalf. It’s more of a value exchange.
What's your plans for the next 3 years?
We are immensely excited to be taking off on a 1-3 year road trip of Australia this September. We’ll be taking our daughters and enjoying valuable family time while exploring our beautiful country and sharing it with our readers. You can follow through our blog and the hashtag #yTravelOz. Once we have finished, we will be doing the same in the US.
Do you think you will ever settle down and stop traveling?
Travel will always be a part of our lives. I have a gypsy spirit and I can’t ever try to deny or hide that. We will probably settle for a time while our children go to school. I’m not too concerned about making that something permanent until the girls are around 10 years of age. No matter what, travel will always be a part of our lives, whether we just escape on weekends or during school holidays. We are still undecided on where we would like to settle. At the moment in would be in Queensland, Australia or Raleigh, North Carolina in the States. But we blow with the wind so this can change at any time.
Any tips for people on how they can travel as long as possible?
You’ve got to want it bad enough and be willing to make the sacrifices in order for it happen. Get very clear on why you want to do it. Once you know that and you make the commitment to creating a lifestyle of travel, you will be amazed at the doors that open up for you. In 1997, I never set out with the plan to make travel a lifestyle, I just really knew why I wanted to travel. That first step turned into thousands and they’ll continue for the rest of my life. It really has felt so effortless. All I am doing is following my heart and being guided by my soul.