Year 1 Nomad Travel Spend Report – Traveling the world for half of the cost of staying home

When we decided to get married and sell everything to travel the world, we knew that this new lifestyle was going to be fun, exciting but also cheaper than staying at home. What we did not know was how much cheaper it was going to be to live a very high quality of life where we would enjoy the local food scene, cook amazing meals, take regular getaway trips, spend time in nature, attend local shows/festivals and everything else you get the freedom to do when you decide to travel the world slowly.

As we are closing our first year of nomadic travel, I am digging into our finances to answer this question and the results are pretty exciting. In a nutshell in the last 12 months, we slow traveled to 10 locations in 5 countries for about half the cost of living in San Francisco. But more than reducing our spending, geo-arbitrage let us rebalance our expenses towards activities that we enjoy the most, spending more time with our respective families, living a less stressful life and exploring new places in the world.

So let’s dig into our spending report for our first year of nomadic living!

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What our $3,700 California wedding looks like: a budget breakdown

It is the early morning exactly one year ago. I’m standing up front, surrounded by magnificent and giant redwood trees that have been living here for thousands of years. On my left side, I see close friends and family members. On my right side, our wedding officiant is reminding everyone to be present and absorb the energy of such a unique nature setting in this very special moment. Holding my hands and standing in front of me is the love of my life (Mrs. Nomad Numbers). She is wearing a stunning dress that is competing with the early sunlight that is illuminating the entire grove we are gathered in. As I look into her eyes, I can feel the love radiating around her. This was one of the highlights on the best day of my life that took place exactly one year ago.

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Detailed Guide + Cost of living in Aruba: Nomads in Paradise

Staying for a month in paradise on a Caribbean island costs tens of thousands of dollars right? We assumed it can only be affordable for 5 days or 10 days max unless you are a gazillionaire and it’s probably only worth it for a special occasion like a honeymoon. We never heard of any digital nomads or slow travelers going there, so it must not be practical. Well we have some good news for you, it is very doable and can be cheaper than staying at home! Are you ready to go explore Aruba?

Cost of our travel to Mexico for 3.5 months

We recently wrapped up a 3.5 months (106 days to be exact) trip to Mexico where we slow traveled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico City, Oaxaca City & San Miguel de Allende. We choose these places based on few factor which the main were 1) wifi quality (especially for Mrs. Nomad Numbers who was working remotely on that trip), 2) things to enjoy over a relatively long stay (4 weeks in average for us) and of course 3) safety.

In this spending report post we look at how much we spent in Mexico, project what our yearly cost of living in this country would have been and give a few tips to reduce this budget even further. Let’s dig into our Mexico spending report!

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Cost of our nomad living in San Miguel de Allende

After having such a great time in Oaxaca City where we felt we experienced for the first time what authentic Mexico is, we spent 4 weeks in San Miguel de Allende (SMA) as our last leg of our 100+ days trip to Mexico. While Oaxaca City set the bar pretty high on so many fronts, SMA turned out to be our favorite place of all the places we explored in Mexico and one we are planning on coming back to.

Cost of our nomad living in Oaxaca City

After a wonderful 6 weeks in Mexico City where we explored both the city and the Pueblo Magicos surrounding it, we spent 4 weeks in Oaxaca City during Christmas and New Years. Oaxaca city is THE place to experiences authentic Mexican food. It is also extremely affordable as we only spent $26 per person and per day making it the cheapest place we’ve visited since we started to travel the world!

2018 Year End Spending Report – Traveling the world for half of the cost of staying home

As we are closing 2018 and our first six months of nomadic travel, I am digging into our finances to answer this question and the results are pretty exciting. In a nutshell in the last 6 months, we slashed our spending in half, rebalanced our spending towards activities that we enjoyed the most, are living a less stressful life and are having the time of our lives.

Cost of our nomad living in Puerto Vallarta

After spending a wonderful summer in Quebec visiting both Montreal and Quebec City, we decided to look for a warm winter location and Mexico ended up being the winner. We started our visit of this large country by making a week long stop in the picturesque town of Puerto Vallarta which offers beaches lying between mountains and ocean. Let’s look into what we liked the most, what we recommend, as well as the details about our budget and how the two of us spent $34 per person per day. Let’s go explore Puerto Vallarta!

Cost of our nomad living in Quebec City

Quebec City was the second major stop on our trip to Quebec Province after 4 weeks in Montréal! While the city lacks the vibe of Montreal, it has an impressive historic downtown and ended up being a great stop to let us explore the surrounding attraction Quebec City has to offer. Let’s look into what we liked the most, what we recommend, as well as the details about our budget and how the two of us spent just under $2000 per month. Let’s go explore Quebec City!