Traveling is cheaper than staying at home

These are actual numbers calculated from my personal spending habits. Your mileage may vary.

This is my average total monthly spending from one year living in Seattle’s Capitol Hill, one year living in San Francisco’s Upper Haight, one year traveling to 20 countries, and one month at a hotel in Bali. It is much cheaper for me to travel. Since the majority of my costs are from trains and flights, it’s significantly cheaper if I stay in one place.

My friends in San Francisco and Seattle often ask me: “How can you afford to travel so much?” I can’t afford not to travel. I’m bootstrapping a company and living in San Francisco was draining my savings.

San Francisco’s median rent is now $3,120 per month. My total cost to travel all over the world and live the life of my dreams averages to $2,921 per month. I’m living in Bali right now for $1,200 per month. The total cost of living in Chiang Mai, Thailand is $641 per month.

Traveling makes me more productive

When I first started traveling, I was a great tourist, taking pictures of everything and doing all the activities listed in tour guides. After a couple of exhausting weeks it occurred to me that I’m not on vacation. This is my life now. I slowed down and realized that if I have a month to explore a new city, I don’t need to do it all at once. I can explore the city for a few hours and still get a lot of work done.

I was surprised to find out that I’m significantly more productive while traveling. But it makes sense. If I’m only in Rome for a week, why would I waste my time on Facebook? Being constantly surrounded by novelty reduces my boredom and increases my focus, and even makes me feel healthier and more creative.

My productivity in Seattle in June vs traveling in September, measured with RescueTime

I went back to Seattle in June to work next to my co-founder and hash out long-term plans. My development time was surprisingly less productive than while traveling. I was sitting at the computer just as much, but was more easily distracted by internet and TV. And even though I was in 6 different cities in September, I managed to work extremely productive 48 hour weeks. Being more focused while working gives me more time to enjoy the rest of my life, so this is huge for me.

9–5 is not optimal

Instead of working during the daylight hours and pushing all my free time to the worst part of the day, I prefer to enjoy the days and work at night. I get out of bed faster when I’m excited to go out, and when I don’t have to commute there’s just more time in the day. I like to work 7 days a week with flexible hours so I can take a day off when I please or enjoy an empty movie theater at 2pm.

I wasted a lot of time when I worked in an office because of commuting and the massive distraction that is the internet. Now I spread my work throughout the day and take big breaks for exploring. After working for a few hours, I reach a milestone and explore the city until I want to get back to work. Or if I hit a problem I can’t figure out, I walk it off until I’ve solved it. Cycling between fun and work makes my days less exhausting and makes me less prone to burnout.

Gray: Unproductive time, Red: Productive time, Green: Fun time

My stay at Livit in Bali was the most productive time of my life. It’s an integrated co-living and co-working space, with all meals provided, so I could focus on my work and not worry about anything. And it’s all inclusive for $1500 per month, less than just the rent in most major tech cities. This is a great trend and I’m happy to see it growing as similar startup getaways are popping up in Bali and around the world.

Traveling expands my cultural bubble