You might want to get info from:
vandweller

This guy and his wife are living a travel orientated live in a van. While I don´t agree about everything (like freeloading at bars and eateries) there is plenty of good info to be fund. IMO well worth the money.

Something great for sure. I am only doing a short 6 month trip and have been on the road for 3 and love it more than anything I have ever done and wish I could carry on forever.

GO FOR UIT and hell 500 a month is plenty, beaurocracy unforeseen bike troubles and visas will cut a chunk out of this but camping and cheap counties will make up for that
ENJOY and write a blog so we can all follow your adventures

At 500 GBP a month, money won't be an issue. Only your will to carry on will be what starts or stops you. Get on the road and just keep going... if you love it, keep doing it, if not try something else.

I think that 500GBP per month will be enough for you to travel around the world, excluding The Scandanavian Countries and North West Europe, Netherlands etc. Plus Switzerland (plus avoid Europe in the peak summer months, everywhere is expensive then). Also excluding Australia, it won't last you there. To cut it short, check out this map and avoid anywhere with dark red tags World Map of Consumer Price Index (CPI) for 2012

Get on helpx, couchsurfing and you will be ready to go.

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If you have a diesel heater and can show you are using the red diesel for that, then you are OK, but as far as I know, red diesel is scrutinized, and is illegal for propulsion (engine use) in northern Europe, such as France. This I know from taking a boat through France and learning how sailors get questioned about large tanks of red diesel. A large UK barge can have diesel tanks of several thousand litres, but the owner has to show it is for use as heating fuel, not engine.

By the French inland waterways, which cover the whole of France, there are free govt funded 'Halte Nautiques' which are small parking for camper vans with water, electric hook-ups (for a small fee to local agent), waste disposal and showers. They are by locks, bridges, villages and very quiet and rural.

Realistically ..... No! Your choice of vehicle is completely wrong for your budget, as others have said. Of course you can do anything if you put your mind to it, but in general, The Mog is a rich mans toy.

Either do it on a bike, or if you need a roof, any Mercedes......or a Landy.

Fuel is the killer. I am in my 5th year in a Merc based motorhome, and a budget bigger than yours. Fuel is the number one consideration. Everything else is secondary. Of course you can stop, work, stop etc ......

However, in the spirit of being positive, may I suggest that you try a shakedown trip to Morocco and the Western Sahara. Fuel there is cheap, it's a paradise for a Mog, and you will meet lots of others and learn loads. Head for Dakhla for starters.

Good luck!

Having a rental property ,i agree with a previous post you can count on income of about 8 months.there will always be a chance of change in tenants ,unexpected problems(hot water system crapping out eg) Increases in insurance premium (ours has over doubled in the last few years)Speaking of insurance costs will rise when you are no longer owner occupied .
The truck if it does a transmission ,it could cost around $10000 aussie dollars
Engine $20000
Now im not trying to be negative just presenting the facts as i see them.
I have an idea, how about taking people on legs of your trip to help with costs?
Making some thing (i know of a couple who paint and sell their works as they travel)
volunteering work some where,this will let you funds accumulate.
I wish you well with your endeavors .Noel

MajorBumSore never posted on this thread again, so I think he never walked out the front door. :-( But, I would say nearly impossible to do in a Mog. I did it for five years in an old Chevy van with crap gas mileage while I worked on the road - barely. I'm the first person to cheer on wild ideas, but in a Mog? I really don't think so... all too pricey a vehicle, especially if you'll be shipping.

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I'm enjoying this thread so far.

I'm actually considering something similar. Only I don't have an asset such as yours. I'm in my late twenties and looking to develop a business that requires minimum input from myself but that can make me around £650 per month. Add that to About £17,000 that I will be trying to save over the next few year, and I should have enough to set off.

Key differences being that I would expect to come back to Europe (not necessarily the UK) within 36 months. And I'm hoping to do it on a motorcycle with at least 50mpg.

I think as others have said, you probably have the wrong choice of vehicle for your budget.

If you save £10k and have £500 a month coming in, that'll give £777 a month for 3 years, which is more reasonable, but that's a best case scenario.

I think you'd probably want to have a credit card with a nice limit on it for contingencies.

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I would love to hear about the type of business which requires minimum input.
Maybe you don't want to give specific info but I'm always curious when I hear about people travelling and running a business at the same time.
I'm imagining it would be difficult to do any business on the road with minimum input unless you have a partner, great staff etc.

I have been thinking of this myself for a couple of years but as a firefighter I don't really have any portable skills (well I was a clinical Massage Therapist at one time)

Generally those where you put up the time in advance.

I'm a digital marketer by trade, so all my examples are online based.

Once such idea might be creating articles. For example as a test I created an article on how to open a business bank account with a bad credit rating. This is on my blog and attracted over 1,000 visits a month, earning the site some advertising revenue. I could have gone further and created similar interlinked articles on web 2.0 sites such as Hubpages and Squidoo.

Whilst one article isn't going to get you far, times that by 10, 20, 30 etc.. and it all adds up. I know of ex-copywriters who have made a living this way.


Another method is through running an affiliate marketing site. Again the initial outlay here is the time and investment it takes research your niche, create your content and market and develop your site. I flirted with this back in 2008 with limited success, but I again I know of people who make a living this way.


Yet another way is to create a virtual company. The best example of this is Nike. It outsources manufacture, outsources marketing, outsources logistics. Pretty much all they do is design sportswear. That too could be contracted out.


I employ a similar strategy with the company I set up. An online research panel, that pays members to take part in online market research surveys. Each time someone completes a survey I'm paid, and in turn share some of that with the user. The amounts here are tiny, so it's all about scale. Now I could source my own clients, but instead this is managed by a multi-national company. This way I have a constant stream of surveys coming in to keep my panellists interested, and they get to take part in surveys for well know brands such as BT, Barclays, CNN etc.. The technology is provided to me by another company, which means that my involvement is mainly marketing and recruitment.


Basically it's all about identifying your skillset and investing the time up front to create an asset that will reward you over time. My examples aren't necessarily the best way or the only ways to go about this, but I can only write about what I know.

I'm not successful yet, and might never be, but i'm trying. At the moment I make about £200 this way, so i've a long way to go. Just make sure you list it on your tax returns, or there'll be trouble.

Hope that helps.

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hahahaha got the money planning my first big one london to nepal

Dear Major!

Just remember that 'the joy is in the journey' and once you find the right pace for the available funds it'll all fall into place.

Do it mate and remember that you're a long time dead!!

Enjoy

You could make a compromise. A smaller car with the possibility to sleep when wanted or necessary combined with small cheap hostels where available. In warm climates, even in southern Europe, you don't need a big mobile "house", just a bed as you can live outside the car all day.

I have a 1999 Ford Galaxy with a camping bed in the rear, a small folding table and a folding chair. A water can with electric pump, that can be placed on the roof for showering. Auxiliary battery and 12V to 230V inverter and a solarpanel. Contrary to just a mattress, the camp bed gives you a lot of storage space underneath it.
I have a small gasstove, a spirit stove(its so silent) and a folding barbeque.

The big advantage of a totally normal looking car, is that nobody will send you away, as they just see a parked car and NOT a camper car or mobile home. In France it will go under the 2meter "gates" they have erected on most parking places.

Driving normally it goes 16km/liter, driving maximum economy it'll do 21km/liter on diesel. Thats as good as many bikes but you'll have the comfort of a car.

The Galaxy has an option of "offroad" springs, that will give you about 8 cm more ground clearance.
There is also a 4WD model(it might be the VW Sharan, which in the diesel version is the same as the Ford)

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Poul
May you enjoy peace and good health !

500/mnth is on the low side, but might be possible. The biggest unknown variable being the cost of repairing whatever breaks down on your Mog.

Diesel will probably average 80p once you're out of Europe and visas average GBP 50-100 per entry, food will often run about GBP 35-50 per week. Do the math, and you'll end up spending about 500 a month just staying on the road, with little margin for unexpected extra costs.
A panic fund is smart, but the Unimog will have to stay trouble-free which - afaik - is a fantasy. And you might have to spend the better part of a year on the beach in India while waiting for your funds to grow sufficiently to ship to Oz.
We share your dream, but previous travels (with a 14-tonne Merc) have taught us that Murphy's Law will happily follow you wherever you go, and that ample financial reserves are an absolute must. Just regular maintenance can be a financial challenge - and often whatever breaks down along the way turns out to be both hard to find and expensive.

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