Amanda Chatel, 35, from New York, spends most of the year travelling

Travelling the world is one of life's biggest luxuries, but for many, the only time they can spend months at a time on holiday is during a gap year before university or after retirement.

But Amanda Chatel, 35, from New York has caught the travel bug so hard that she has decided to dedicate her life to the pursuit of discovering new places.

Chatel now spends the majority of the year on travels and this year she has already been to Costa Rica, Thailand and Cambodia before arriving in Europe in April, where she is currently holed up in Barcelona.

By sub-letting her New York apartment, she can work enough as a freelance writer to fund her trips, using cafe, hotels and hostels and her office.

The arrangement works so well that she has no plans to give it up and reveals that her future will be centred around seeing the world, instead of settling down and having children, something that even in this day and age, strangers have a problem with.

Chatel told MailOnline Travel: 'I don’t want children because the lifestyle I want for myself isn't very conducive to parenthood.

'It's the freedom that I like - even when back home in New York, I like to go out to expensive restaurants and bars, but when you have children that changes - you can't go for dinner at the Plaza because of the cost of the kids' education.

'Maybe that seems selfish, that certainly what men have called me on the internet. Mostly men, but also women who says that other women should procreate.

'But at this rate, we're soon going to have too many people on this planet for the planet to be able sustain us, so I mean c’mon guys, really?.'

Amanda, pictured at Koh Ker Temple in Cambodia, works from the road to fund her trips

Chatel first caught the travel bug in 2010, after her marriage ended.

A spur-of-the-moment holiday to Paris led to more and more trips abroad, until she was spending the majority of her time out of the US.

She said: 'I had never gone to Europe before 2010 and when my relationship came to an end, I sublet my apartment and just said, "F*** it, I'm going to Paris."

'I went on my own for a couple of months and I loved it, so the next year I went back to Paris, then Italy, then year after that I did Paris and Spain, and just kept adding more places.

'I feel like it's the only thing that makes me happy - after a while I just get itchy feet.'

Later this year, Chatel has plans to visit Kenya, South Africa and Japan.

Amanda first caught the travel bug when she visited Paris after a difficult break-up in 2010

She revealed that in the time since her marriage broke down, it has become a lot clearer what she wants from life, and that is unlikely to ever mean children.

She said: 'I don’t think I ever will - I’ve felt this way for a while and my sister, who has two sons, and my parents are supportive that this is the lifestyle I’ve chosen for myself.

Amanda on the beach in Barcelona, where she is currently staying

'When I got married and was so deeply in love, I thought that maybe there would be something in me that wanted to procreate, but if anything it turned me off the idea.

'I have a dog who when I travel stays with my parents and he’s the love of my life, I’d rather own an animal shelter than have kids.'

But even though it is her decision what to do with her body, Chatel revealed that she regularly gets angry messages from men who believe she should choose to be a mother instead.

She said: 'I think people like to get involved in other people's business and the internet has allowed people to do that more easily now, while hiding behind fake names.

'I don’t understand it, I’ve never commented on an article in my life, but when I write about something like not wanting to have kids, people actually take time out of their day to find my email and tell me I suck.

'Old white men want to dictate to women what they do with their bodies, whether it’s about abortion or having kids, they want to have a say - I say, when you guys get a uterus then we can talk.'

But while the hurtful criticism might bemuse Chatel, it is largely water off a duck's back as she is living her dreaming her dream by travelling the world.

Amanda enjoying chocolate mousse at a restaurant in Paris, a city that she tries to visit every year

She said: 'Travelling the world changes you, because you are stepping outside of your comfort zone and leaving a culture you’ve always known, and you change because of that.

'When I went to Cambodia it had such a profound effect on me and I came back changed.

'Every time I go to a new country and experience new things, I feel like it adds to my character and that I’m somehow a more empathetic person.