Perpetual Travelers?? (cheap, married, expensive, Colorado)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by clb10

...and where do you get your mail and how do you pay your bills and (most importantly) how do you get health insurance.

This should already be imbedded in the thread;

Many are perpetual travelers, especially from USA (FT RV / volunteers / nomads...)
Basically:
Mail:
1) email
2) Postal Boxes who will forward to you (readily available in most of the world for last 20 yrs)
3) Friends, house-sitters...

Bills:
1) Online / Auto-pay
2) Have a back-up person with signature authority on your accounts (We have 2 unrelated people to do this)

Health Insurance: (for the USA centric, other nations have far less HC burden. )
1) Primary from your std carrier
2) Supplement with travel insurance ~$40/ month
3) Self pay on location. https://patientsbeyondborders.com/
4) HC exchanges
5) HC cost sharing networks.

Even with multiple properties / rentals / investments / responsibilities (farming, eldercare, and other) One yr away from home, and we only were burnt by CC company hassles (Fidelity decided to switch banks and had no way to send us replacement cards (intl) to our billing addy. so that took some effort. Back-up financial institution (Credit Union) changed in an exhaustively complex merger. (first time in 40 yrs). So, we were without access to personal funds for a month.) Our kids sent us some money to get us by, and we were staying with locals (so no CC charges for lodging or food or transportation during our 'down-time')

[lieqiang]

Originally Posted by clb10

...and where do you get your mail and how do you pay your bills and (most importantly) how do you get health insurance.

Health insurance = ACA + travel insurance. Travel insurance is primary, we've only made one claim on it (wife's crown came off tooth) since most things fall under deductible. We've never actually used ACA since live abroad but it's a backup in case we get medivac home to USA by said travel insurance.

Mail = We have service that provides US address. They scan the outside of whatever arrives, and we can log in and decide whether to have contents scanned. The plan we're on can do contents of 10 things per month free, which is plenty. Can also forward if needed.

Pay bills online, have VPN.

[graceC]

I used to have this dream of becoming a perpetual traveler. But after traveling a lot for the past 5 years, I think i’m done. The thought of traveling through another crowded airport, sleeping on another crappy hotel mattress, just puts me off traveling completely.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by graceC

I used to have this dream of becoming a perpetual traveler. But after traveling a lot for the past 5 years, I think i’m done. The thought of traveling through another crowded airport, sleeping on another crappy hotel mattress, just puts me off traveling completely.

Why crappy?

[cebuan]

I started out to do that, in 1991, but your life keeps finding turns in the road, and other things happened. I was free to roam, but also free to stop.

[lieqiang]

Originally Posted by graceC

The thought of traveling through another crowded airport

For perpetual travelers the crowded airport is usually the exception. Granted you might want to avoid crowded bus/train stations as well, but travel long enough you stretch out your stays so can really get to know a place well. We usually go at least a week in a place, and often many months.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by graceC

I used to have this dream of becoming a perpetual traveler. But after traveling a lot for the past 5 years, I think i’m done. The thought of traveling through another crowded airport, sleeping on another crappy hotel mattress, just puts me off traveling completely.

Try finding a 'hub' where you can rent a furnished flat or room for elderly. in a quiet village, usually < 30 min - 1 hr from city by train.

It makes it much more tolerable to have a place to settle.

We only used (8) hotels the yr we were gone. I would rather stay planted for a few months at a time. and do short trips. (Can avoid crowded airports doing this and take the train / bus / boat.)

[graceC]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

Why crappy?

If it's airbnb or VRBO type rooms, you can guarantee the mattress will be lumpy, squeaky, or just a back pain waiting to happen - ditto for the rental furniture, they're all hand-me-downs from the last owner to the next (you know those rentals are mostly sold with furniture, right? Which means no matter how many times a rental unit changes hands, the furniture stays).

I have a sensitive lower back and prefer my mattress firm. The only place I can feel confident to get a firm mattress is overseas - Americans seem to prefer the pillow top / soft mattress that I detest. Although Marriott tends to equip their hotels with firm mattress so i try to stick with them when I travel in the US.

Then the whole flight / airport experience that's just getting worse and worse, and there's nothing you can do about it but to grin and bear it.

Then the food. Don't get me wrong, I love food! My main reason to travel was to eat as much local food as possible and I never passed up a chance to visit local market wherever I went. But I noticed that 2 weeks seemed to be my limit for traveling; after that I would start getting cranky due to homesickness and missing my own food. I could cook if I rented an apartment, but vacation rentals typically had bare-bone kitchen utensils and what's there didn't even work half the time. Those who've rented an apartment would understand what I mean.

By this time last year, I had already booked my travels through Dec. This year? I haven't even made any plans and have no desire to do so. Either I'm becoming too picky, or the travel bug has just left me entirely.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by graceC

...
By this time last year, I had already booked my travels through Dec. This year? I haven't even made any plans and have no desire to do so. Either I'm becoming too picky, or the travel bug has just left me entirely.

and you are commenting on Perpetual Traveler thread for giving what guidance?

BTW... thousands of private stays for me. 2 -3 bad mattresses.

If a problem... I just use the floor (firm is better than soft)

Flights?
Can't complain... I LUV the new 18 hr 'directs' USA to SIN and often for under $800 for 20,000 miles! (Much cheaper and FASTER / easier than 30 yrs ago)

For the simple USA routes... SWA... no seat assignments, for ANYONE... get on and GO (SWA turns planes 2x faster than other airlines., less time on the ground = more time GOING places!)

Homesick?
60+ yrs on the road, not homesick YET (maybe tomorrow?)
I should be 'home' by summer... I need to mow the grass (I hate that job).

Perpetual Traveler?
Let's go!

[clb10]

Originally Posted by lieqiang

Health insurance = ACA + travel insurance. Travel insurance is primary, we've only made one claim on it (wife's crown came off tooth) since most things fall under deductible. We've never actually used ACA since live abroad but it's a backup in case we get medivac home to USA by said travel insurance.

Mail = We have service that provides US address. They scan the outside of whatever arrives, and we can log in and decide whether to have contents scanned. The plan we're on can do contents of 10 things per month free, which is plenty. Can also forward if needed.

Pay bills online, have VPN.

Thanks.

ACA (even Bronze) is WAY too expensive but travel insurance seems a decent way to go.