Whether you’re looking to travel during the summer months or exploring the possibility of extending your remote work and becoming a digital nomad, there are a few things to consider first.
When you live a life on the road or spend a lot of time on holiday away from home, relationships, personal health, and finances can all quickly deteriorate without a plan and maintenance.
To keep your relationships, your finances, and your health in check, the very first thing you need to do is create a plan on how you will balance your time traveling with managing these other priorities.
Create A Budget
Too often, people go on vacation or make a significant life change, such as becoming a digital nomad, without analyzing all the hidden costs associated with the decisions.
The biggest mistake is underestimating the costs needed to travel or live a transitory life and setting a budget that falls well short of your expenses.
For example, let’s say you’re taking a two-month holiday vacation. Most people would plan for the amount of money they’d plan to spend on the trip as the priority.
This strategy is 100% wrong!
Here’s why; when you travel, unless you’re planning on working remotely, such as a digital lifestyle, then your budget is behind because of two major factors;
- Lack of income during the trip. On vacation, you aren’t making an income, so what you spend is creating a hole in your monthly budget, and you need to plan a surplus for the few weeks after your return to make ends meet.
- Your bills don’t stop accruing simply because you’re on vacation. Unfortunately, too many people make the mistake of budgeting for their expenses after returning from their trip and before their next payday. This oversight can put a massive hole in some people’s budgets that make it difficult to recover.
So the formula for your vacation planning should look something like: Time on vacation without income + time post-return to work before paycheck + budget for items and expenses on your vacation + bills during and after your trip + 10-15% of amount emergencies = vacation budget.
Your vacation budget should also include a contingency for emergency funds. For example, if your vacation is a road trip you may need to spend on repairs if you have a breakdown. Finding a local mechanic can also help you find the cheapest repair shop in town
The goal for your vacation, or significant life decision, is to create a budget for your next big trip that acts as a guide for what your expenses are and how much you need to save before your next paycheck.
Get inspired for your next trip:
- How We Stay Healthy When We Travel
- Ubud Organic Vegetarian Restaurants: the Ultimate Guide
- Fruits of Thailand: Healthy and Delicious Food You Must Try
- Vietnamese Food: 5 Dishes You Must Try on Your Next Trip
- 5 Tips For Healthy Nomads
Have A Plan To Maintain Relationships
You’ve decided now is the time, you have a few places picked out on where you want to travel, and you’ve begun to analyze costs and other expenses.
The next step is that regardless of whether you are on an extended vacation or plan on living a nomadic lifestyle for a while, have a plan to have ways to reconnect with family and friends.
Relationships lose steam as communication breaks down, so having a plan to reconnect will help keep those lines of communication open and nurture your relationships during long periods of travel and absence.
Part of your plan can include occasional text messages and phone calls, emails, or social media to keep tabs on loved ones and to share your adventures and experiences with them.
By maintaining your relationships while you’re away, if there’s an emergency that comes about and you need to ask for help, it will be better received than if your first contact with someone is out of need. Friends and family offer support, keep us in check, and encourage us to be better versions of ourselves.
Even if you don’t have an emergency, a monthly or regular update is a great way to nurture your relationships so that the next time you’re around each other, you can share more intimately your adventures and experiences, catching each other up on all that transpired during the absence. One of the best ways to make up your absence after coming back home is organizing a group meet up and have some fun together. For example, going for a sailing, camping, cycling trip, or if you’re not into outdoor things, then hire a party bus Anaheim or other locations in the States.
Work On Personal Health and Fitness
Most people overlook the other area is their health and fitness on vacation or with a nomadic lifestyle. Yet, your physical and mental health is crucial, and a setback can limit your opportunities to enjoy the adventures and experiences of your new locale.
In addition to eating well and getting regular exercise, the WHO recommends for full-grown adults, either 150-+ minutes of casual activity or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week for better health. These recommendations also stress better nutrition and staying away from drugs and alcohol unless prescribed for a medical need.
Even with a prescription, you need to know about local laws and regulations. For example, certain drugs like different types of xanax or other medications may be regulated differently or more strictly in other countries, so before you pack any medications, check with the US Department of State for guidelines.
Knowing local laws and regulations will keep you safe and out of potential trouble.
Suppose you’re looking to take an extended trip or even consider moving from a centralized location to a digital nomadic lifestyle. In that case, the key is to plan for expenses, plan for how you will maintain your health and plan to keep your relationships over the distance and time.
Pack & travel:
