On a smaller scale & without selling everything you own, you could tighten up on your lifestyle & save as much as possible.

I did this for three years in the early to mid 90's so that I could raise a large deposit to buy a house.

Went without a decent holiday for three years, holiday time from work was spent working for cash at bike shows & in my spare time I bought & sold bikes. Never made a loss, least I made was £200, most was £700+ on a couple of occasions. Obviously you need a basic knowledge of bikes & repair facilities.

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My photos: www.possu.smugmug.com

Here is a great description on how to retyre at the age of 30 anf dinance this lifestyle: Meet Mr. Money Mustache

THe good thing of traveling on a low budget is that one can earn this money while on the road by placing ads and writing articles for magazines etc. This way one does not become a slave of the consume system but is free and able to travel forever

Did you get going SheffSteve??

Some thoughts from the present. I funded a 3 month euro trip, and the 6mth mongolia trip through loans and meagre saving.

Moving to London to work as a despatch rider had me putting away 200UKP a week on average, less during the lean times (thankfully few), and more during the good times (had some real good stretches). I did this for nearly 4 years, though most of the spoils were spent on paying off the mongolia loan (came back owing 6grand UKP) and getting married to the Russian girl I met in Azerbaijan and living beyond our means for a year or so. But I still saved a fair bit to bring to Australia and start me off here.

Now I'm trying to settle here in Darwin and get sponsored by my employer for a working visa. I'm not fully versed on the rules, but I think time spent on the working holiday visa counts towards the citizenship requirements, so if I get sponsored I would be able to apply for an Aussie passport in 2 and a half years. I'm mentioning all this because the money here is way better than in Europe in general, for most blue collar jobs. Tradies often earning $50hr. I've been earning far less labouring, but still in low 30s. The best job I had was working out bush, AUS$1800 a week after tax ($800 tax!!), but zero living expenses apart from booze because your living in the camp.

If you're under 30 and from Europe/Canada/etc, a working holiday in Australia would be a great way to save cash to travel afterwards. If you're older but have a profession or trade, consider moving here on the points visa. Can't afford to pay for travel? Move to somewhere where you can save more money! I've done this twice now. No regrets.

When I leave Australia (either in 6months when my 2yr working holiday ends, or in a few years), it will hopefully be with a wad of cash and on a plane to South America to start the next bike trip.

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UK to Mongolia 2009, on a DR350

What all these replies tells me is exactly what we are finding on our RTW trip. There is no such thing as a typical RTW traveller and everyone has a different set of circumstances, budget, comfort level, timeframe and dreams. I'm not prepared to share on a public forum the specific finances of our own trip. However, after currently being on the road for 9 months we have a pretty good idea of our on the road costs. I've broken down our costs by % for all to see on our blog which can be viewed here Tiger 800 RTW | A global motorcycle adventure
Steve

I agree about the Espina del Diablo! I really enjoyed my ride through this past November. Road was in perfect condition for the most part. Great fun, just like California!

I last did the Espina route in 1998. During those times the road was jammed with trucks, with lots of Diesel spilled in corners and plenty of pot holes and gravel as well.

Much better now. I road the "libre" road of course, but switched to Cuota about 5 miles before Durango.

I never saw any Cartel activity either ... all pretty mellow. The road was deserted ... quite cool in November.

If you wonder why your UKP is going a bit further now ... you might note
(and everyone should) that the Mexican Peso just dropped in value from 13 pesos per USD to 15 Pesos per dollar and promised to continue higher.

The UK pound is super strong (Arab oil money in British banks) so you lot have a windfall! !que le via muy bien!

Something which will increase the options for middle aged Brits is the change in pension rules that allow access to funds at the age of 55. Whilst I would not advocate people blowing their entire pension pot on a RTW trip it could increase the chances for some people to travel before retirement age. Although I do think blowing it on a RTW trip is a better idea than buying a new car.

BBC News - Budget 2015: Pensions set for another overhaul

I agree and we're certainly making the most of it. When in the USA we hit a high of $1.74USD to £1GBP. it's now at about $1.48 so we were certainly there at a good time. A couple of weeks ago we got $23MXN and that's now dropped to $22MXN to £1GBP. Exchange rate has definitely got slightly worse for us, but still pretty good :-)