We (the better half and I) made the decision about 9 months ago to leave our great country (Aust) and go travelling for as many years as possible. Our plan is to leave in another 8 months at the end of the year and so far things are tracking well.
Starting from scratch.... with nothing this is how we have financed things so far.
We had a good win with some shares that got transferred to the US when the Aust dollar was high and then we cashed them out 6 months later when the Aust dollar had crashed, so we won both ways; that bought the bike. With the remainder we both work in construction and have been working 13 day fortnights (one day off every 14) for 6 months and living off my wife's wage and banking all my wage. Its bloody hard and we dont have a life atm.... and the only thing that keeps us working like robots is our goal, so each day we drag ourselves out of bed and do it all over again..... day in day out. Our plan is to try and save $70,000-$100,000 (aust) before we leave which is doable and if it takes a bit longer to get to this goal then so be it. We have built a shed up the back yard to store all our furniture in as we priced self storage and for the cost over the period we could build the shed and have an extra asset at the end. The plan is to rent the house out which should cover the mortgage with all the furniture packed in the shed. If tenants / anyone wants to break into the shed while we are away and carry a flat screen or leather lounge down the yard then good luck to them..... plus its insured anyway. Everything else should work out...... we hope!!!!
If possible it would be good to try and get some work while moving around but I dont know how successful that will end up, with Visa's etc. Other than that we simply have to watch our money while we are away and try and budget to keep things going. That's the idea and while many around us have said it cant be done, what we say to them is #$@%!
David & Em