Full-Time Travel: Expectations vs. Reality – The Truth About Life on the Road

I have great success with stretch bands.. I take my gym in my bag… so far, it is working well for us

Hey there. My husband and I have been traveling for over 5 years. We travel with bands...we always workout in the early morning....with our favorite music...bands are super light weight. Easy to travel with. 🙂👍

Your travel wisdom is appreciated. It will be interesting to hear if you get any pushback from customs for being American and by people outside the U.S. in general. U.S. Customs has detained American citizens for clearly their political beliefs. I hope you do not experience any issues. You guys are so open with communicating about everything honestly I am sure you will. Enjoy your travels! 🍻

Love how the minimalist list still wins. You and all other travels do not regret this

I would love a video on what you plan to do when you are "done" with your travel lifestyle? Do you think you will move back to the States to be near family? Will you rebuy most of those things you gave away to set up a household again?

Thank you so much for sharing with us your experiences, I truly enjoy hearing about . If you would have to live in one place what place would that be?

My wife and I enjoy your content. It's important to us as we should be empty nesters and retired once our youngest flies the coop in 5 years or so. Your content helps us think and plan.

Just stumbled across your Romania video as we are going forctwo weeks in June, luckily your 1st, 2nd and 3rd favourite places are on our route. Just starting to eatch this video and agree about the planning. We go away three to four times a year with one two month trip in February/March. Definitely find the planning takes a lot of time. We have just recently returned from a month in Southern India and a month in Sri Lanka. Buses, trains and tuk-tuks in India and a self drive tuk-tuk in Sri Lanka. Great not having to rely on others.

Great idea for a video, really enjoyed it. Best of luck in all you do

Thank you for this video! Great info! May I ask , where do you plan to live when you decide to finish traveling full time?

How much does it cost you per year?

Do you guys keep a home in US?

You definitely need to be flexible. Sometimes a popular vacation spot might be more expensive on the weekend because of a holiday or festival or a place where many of the locals go on the weekend. So what you do go to the bigger city on the weekend.

Another great video! I'm curious as to what locations didn't match expectations (I think I remember Kuala Lumpur being one of them). As a family of 5 with young kids we actually prefer traveling alone because when others tag along on our trips it has actually been harder for us because of those people's expectations not matching our family needs. :)

We live in Seattle and love living in the PNW when we are not traveling. We are minimalist and travel like the both of you. We can totally relate to your experiences as well. We are heading to Ecuador, Bolivia, and Paraguay from May 1st to June 13th. Bolivia will be our 80th country. While we are away, we use TrustedHouseSitters for our 3 pups. You guys should look into it to cover your accommodations.

Just getting started in our slow travel journey and enjoyed this video. Really opens the eyes on what can be expected down the road. Keep up the great work and safe travels.

What's the longest amount of time you've stayed in one location? I imagine it's probably on your trips back home, haha.

Brian and Carrie,
Good to see y'all!
I'm happy to know I'm not the only traveler that gets the test before the lesson.😊
Where in the world is Brian and Carrie headed to next?! 🌎 🤔

Hi Brian & Carrie, great video, thank you. Would love you to do a realistic slow travel annual costs video for a couple in 2025. This would be a great video as the cost of living and inflation affects budgets and a lot of us are planning for slow travel in the near future. Would this be possible? Thanks

Hi Brian and Carrie - if your two were to start your journey over next month, now knowing what you know, where would you prefer to slow travel and possibly puts down roots - Europe, SE Asia or South America? I would love to see how you would rank them 1,2,3. Thank you for the informative videos.

I appreciate the non-sugar-coated straight talk very much: I am considering this lifestyle and in the information-gathering stage, so thanks. My first tickets are booked to Spain- can’t await!

Quick question for you guys. Do you still recommend the Saily eSIM? Have you tried it in European countries as well as South America? Trying to decide between them and airalo

I'll be negative for you. In Jomtien TH & while affordable, something is off. Sure it's probably me. But leaving USA aside, can't see moving here. Some global expats here seem sad, lost and a little creepy. Very strange (old men chasing very young Thai women.) Especially because I was certain this area was a contender. And I don't know about y'all but creating YT content is EXHAUSTING!!! I love what you do... Hoping it's satisfying for you both.

Excellent compilation. Thank you so much. You two are naturals. Cute shirt too Carrie ;)

WHY do you travel (now)?

It is also important to remember that when moving around the food, sleep schedule and environment changes so the emotional changes are to be expected. The hormones and weather affect that too so it would be good to maintain a certain degree of routine and to take supplements and vitamins to help your body adjust.

Our retirement plan was to full time travel, but we decided to pivot and purchased a small home. Our family is really confused since we have been prepping for full time travel for the last couple of years. We plan to travel a lot, but decided we really needed a home base.

Great video especially for a person that is 5 years away from being a slow traveler, I hope.

Got a thought, what if you even slowed down even more, example stay places for 6 months maybe make a visa run at 60/90 days? Would that help if you stay 6 months in Cambodia but then travel to Japan for 30/60 days because of cost difference but would that help keep cost on a manageable average cost?

You are so right flexibility is key in travelling and taking everything in your stride and you do what you do, ❤

My wife and I love your level headed approach to travel You must have so much to share we can’t wait for the next vlog thank you 👍

When did you both stop working?

Hello guys, we live in the US and my wife and I have been planning on stop working and become nomads in the next 1-2 years. We have made several “test” trips mainly to Spain and Portugal. We are currently in Spain, we landed only about half hour after the nationwide power outage. We were able to get a taxi and were glad to have some cash since everything was down, no internet, no phone lines etc. We made it to our Airbnb only to find out that our host was not there as offered on the listing. We waited for 5 hrs at the door hoping they would show up, at 9pm we decided to move on. After talking to some locals and the police we settled in a Hostel. This trip definitely opened our eyes on the Airbnb experience and taking some extra steps and precautions. Second Airbnb doesn’t have hot water and so many other issues. Airbnb support team has not been a great help and we are stuck with the place for 5 more nights without those things as they can’t get to it until next week. Even on shorter trips we enjoy taking it slow on some days, just stay in, cook, walk only in the local areas etc.
Thanks for all of your expertise.

One of the nice things about housesitting through Trusted Housesitters is that they often have comfortable beds, spacious rooms, luxurious kitchens and gardens. It’s working for me in England

Great information. Keep providing the negatives or downsides, which in my opinion is more important to know than the positives.

Even on our trips which are just 3-4 weeks we schedule a day off every week to 10 days. Sometimes I have a nagging feeling that I am wasting time but I am always glad we did it and feel recharged afterwards.

I can really relate to your comments on health and exercise. We both felt that we ate best and lost weight in SE Asia, but it was not the best for walking. Europe is great for walking a lot and going up stairs, but the meat/cheese/bread thing is a trap. We try to be intentional about getting fresh greens, veggies and fruit. Haven’t mastered the exercise part yet. It’s a work in progress!

I traveled around the world for work. For years.
I like going somewhere for a month. But, thats it.
All things can bet tiresome if done too much.

Hi guys! We’re on our first ever three-month trip as a test run for full-time travel. All of the places we’re visiting were recommended by you, Split, Budapest, and Brasov and we’re loving it so far! I think the one thing I’m struggling with is trying to adjust how I cook since I don’t want to buy too many ingredients as that can add up and we’re on a strict budget. Would love to know how you deal with this since I know you cook a lot on the road. Maybe Carrie’s cooking tips and recipes could be a subject for one of your videos? 😂

Great video! I appreciate your honesty!

While full-time nomadic travel has huge benefits and is wonderful most of the time, it's not always rainbows & unicorns.

It's hard to find that sweet spot for how long to stay and what is the best type of accommodation. Sometimes it feels like an ever-changing target for us.

We are currently slow traveling and staying in each place for 2-3 months at a time. 1 month was too short for us, 2-3 seems to be a sweet spot (hence our name). It's working great for now.

But it's not always easy. We miss some of those "comforts" you mentioned. Like Brian said though, the positives far outweigh the negatives.

You also mentioned gyms, we actually seek out a gym and join a gym since our stays are longer.

Thanks again for your honesty!

Nick & Karen

I have been a slow traveler inspired by you and it has been amazing l. The best decision I’ e ever made. Thank you.
I tell all my followers that “I am not a tourist, I live here” and this seems to make my friends and family realize that I don’t need to go out and venture out like a tourist on a 2 weeks quick stay. This works for me and hope it will help you and your followers. Safe travels

Sounds like you aren't slow traveling staying in hotels.

Amazing video, thank you Brain & Carried. We appreciate you two!

This is very helpful as we start our sixth leg of Our Radical Sabbatical July 13th in the Uk and then Across Europe and ending in Turkey perhaps. We hate living out of our bags so we do still love the slower travel and actually unpacking, but andrea loves that more than me. Im still checking g off a budget list. We like to unpack and our home-stands are filled with working on our friends and families homes a d being of service so we fill fulfilled as well.

Thanks B&C for the great insight!! Please enjoy a beverage or two on Kristi and I. Would love to catch up with you guys on the road someday...we're still a couple years away from hitting the road! 😊