[grecy]

> in the order of hundreds of thousands (including gas).

This is a really, really common misconception.

For the Alaska to Argentina trek, two years and 40,000 miles through 16 countries, I spent $27k, for everything.[1]

Africa won't really be much more per month than that.

By keeping my monthly expenses low, I'm now very close to sustaining myself while on the road. Some months I do, some I still take a tiny bit from my savings. I'm about to publish another few books, and if they go reasonably well like my current one, I should be good.

My major tip is simply don't be afraid. Give it a go, see what happens.

In five years if all of this doesn't work I'll be sitting back at a desk and I sure as hell won't be sitting around thinking "what if". If it does work, I will be living my dreams.

> What holds me back is the fear of not having enough money

It's funny now from where I sit, the vast majority of people in the developed world are terrified of money. It's really educational to spend time with people that have none, and have no prospects of ever earning any, but are still immensely happy and have tons of time and often find ways to live their own dreams.

[1] http://theroadchoseme.com/the-price-of-adventure

[GotAnyMegadeth]

This is something I'd really love to give a go, but since transitioning I'm just not so sure about safety. I travelled South East Asia on a shoestring budget before I came out and had a few scrapes that turned out fine, but I'm not sure they would have gone as well if I was just a lone woman at the time, especially if I got clocked!

In my experience the places that sound scary are usually less scary on the ground once you get there, but the stakes are pretty high... I'm still travelling occasionally, but mainly to safer places. I hope to build my confidence back up!

Thanks for sharing! :-)

[always4getpass]

Thanks a lot mate. Truly inspiring, and I don't say that often.

I wish you the best

[senorjazz]

> For the Alaska to Argentina trek, two years and 40,000 miles through 16 countries, I spent $27k, for everything.[1]

including vehicle? If not, it can be cheaper. We did Europe to SE Asia (southern route: India and up through Tibet / China). Then California down to South America for less over 2 years (wife daughter and I)

[grecy]

I bought the vehicle at the start for $5k, then sold it at the end for $5k, so I don't count it as an expense. I drove it 40k miles and the vehicle cost nothing :)

I've met plenty of backpackers that travel the world for $10-$12k per year. Backpacking is cheaper than going with a vehicle if you are a single person, though a vehicle is cheaper as soon as there are two or more people, especially when you go to parts of the world where it's easy to camp out in the wild for free.