Travel is NOT free

Let me get this straight folks: TRAVEL IS NOT FREE.

Travel is a luxury, something that is not really a must for survival if you are broke or don’t have the means for it on a small budget when you are struggling to survive daily. It is a luxury not everyone can afford. Sure, you can “free” travel in terms of using miles and points, but getting them requires careful planning, a lot of time, oh and day to day spending.

In our chosen travel lifestyle, you will probably just see the beauty of the places through our blog posts and photos. You don’t see the nitty gritty behind the scenes of planning, scheduling, and organizing so we can give you a breakdown of the lowest possible costs we incurred for our trip. We’re trying our hardest to earn the cash to travel, and well, even though other bloggers may tout that travel is free, it really isn’t.

Most of us are not big time travel bloggers who get sponsors from various hotels and tourist bureaus giving us complementary stays, airfares, or activities to experience travel. And if we do, we worked hard for it.  Peter and I don’t even make money off our blog just yet, as we are still starting to figure out how to earn extra money side hustling. Our main source of income now is a 9-5 job which we slog through every single day, essentially trading off our time, energy, and resources, precious commodities to us which aren’t going to be replaced in order to earn money. Money we will then use for living, to support our tiny little family of three (we treat Rosie the dog as family) and for travel, of course.

If you cannot afford to travel, then don’t travel.

Don’t incur debt in order to make your life look good on Facebook, Instagram, or other social media sites. Or even to keep up with appearances with your so called friends.

Don’t ask for money from your relatives for the sake of travel. You are not entitled to that. Sure, if they gave you a free trip as a treat, then thank them for their generosity. Travel really is a great gift because it is something you will always remember. However, do not demand or expect it as a gift. Travel is NOT free, and the company or other person who may have offered to sponsor your trip has incurred charges on their business to either help promote or market it, or gave up their time in order to earn more money to pay for it.

Stop being so entitled, people. Let me repeat it again: Travel is NOT free. Do not expect people to give it to you. And if they did give it to you, that is a welcome surprise and you should be forever grateful.

Until such time that somebody actually gives you the gift of travel, and as I said, don’t expect it, then it is up to you and only you to make it happen.

If you can’t afford travel right now, then don’t. Make lifestyle changes. Earn extra money to save. Live below your means. Invest that extra money and make it work for you. It’s not going to be overnight and will definitely take some time. Because you know, nothing massive and life changing is ever instant. There is no such thing as instant gratification travel and living wise. (We say the same for achieving early retirement too)

But please don’t ask and expect people to pay the tab for you.