Choose your own adventure

The Temple of Heaven in Beijing — yours for a song? Photo by Chris Welsch Western Europe for $1,700. South America for $1,100. Southeast Asia for less than $1,000?

These aren't fire-sale prices from panicky companies trying to fill seven-day group tours. This is how much people are currently spending for a full month of budget travel in these locales. Recent increases in airfares notwithstanding, the idea that long-term travel is prohibitively expensive is evaporating in the face of growing online resources. And the truth is that affordable do-it-yourself travel has been a reality for decades.

Whenever people hear about my early-30s lifestyle reboot that led to 4 1/2 years of solo international vagabonding, their reactions are uncannily similar: Their jaws slacken, their pupils dilate and they whisper an awestruck "Wow." After a few probing questions about life on the road ("Seriously, how many countries have you had sex in?"), inquiries about finances soon follow. How, with the meager income of a novice freelance travel writer -- a profession fractionally more lucrative than collecting beer cans under the Washington Avenue Bridge -- was I able to visit 40 countries on three continents and live in Spain, Romania and Italy?

The secret -- it's more of a poorly circulated fact -- is that travel and living abroad are nearly always cheaper than simply sitting at home. Barring an extended stay in pricey Scandinavia or a lavish appetite for partying, a moderate budget for hostels or cheap hotels, reasonable meals and public transport will easily undercut your cumulative expenses for rent/mortgage, cars, insurance, entertainment and all the mindless, day-to-day costs that go along with the uniquely whirlwind living conditions in the United States.

The myth that average mortals don't have the time, money and hygienic flexibility to entertain anything more ambitious than a week in Cabo is being rapidly demystified by a slew of travel-enabling websites, like Briefcase to Backpack. Focusing on career-break travel, but also applicable to round-the-world trips, living and working abroad, or simply a few months of post-college backpacking, the site neatly breaks down the preparation, execution and reentry stages of long-term travel.

Riding horseback in Uruguay. Photo by Chris Welsch "Technology has allowed us to see that people have been taking career breaks all along, but we weren't aware of it," says Briefcase to Backpack co-founder and sporadic Twin Cities resident Sherry Ott. "With the rise in blogging, travel forums and social media, we are more aware of people taking long-term trips and breaks. But people were doing this well before then. We just had no way of knowing who they were, and they had no way of communicating with each other."

The current employment slowdown may also be contributing to the surge in post-college and career-break travel as people wait for the flat job market to recover. Twin Cities native Julie DuRose paddled right into the crashing economic wave last year. "I was in a grad program and had been teaching English at a university," she says. "Given the paucity of teaching and editing jobs last year, it was a natural place for me to take a break from career-building. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything."

The logistics of plotting long-term travel are admittedly complex. Even with today's resources, it may be one of the more intimidating endeavors one will ever undertake. Describing the preparation for her 11-month journey, DuRose reports, "The biggest challenge is not the finances, but committing to the idea of it. To quitting your job and leaving your home, family and friends. To the idea of a trust-fall with the universe."

Guide Alexander Araya surveys the canopy of the rain forest at Arenal Hanging Bridges, a private eco-park never the Arenal Volcano. Photo by Chris Welsch Conversely, David Lee, editor-in-chief of GoBackpacking.com, downplayed his trip preparations. "I sold my car on Craigslist, gave away smaller things through Freecycle.org, stored a few furniture items with friends, and put the remainder of my things in a small storage locker," he says. "I changed my mailing address to my parents' house. It was surprisingly easy."

Though I personally managed to quit my job, sell my house, car and possessions, equip myself and blast off on my indefinite world tour in a scorching six-week sprint, most people take a measured approach -- and rightly so. Getting the money together, quitting one's job or arranging for an extended hiatus, subletting or abandoning the crib, selling/storing possessions, stopping car insurance (or better yet, selling the thing), arranging travel/health insurance, finding caregivers for your hermit crabs Fido and Snowflake ... The task list is enormous.

Of course, even in today's shrinking world, trip preparation often means suffering ill-informed editorials from trash-talking naysayers, who will confidently inform you of the disease, food poisoning, terrorism and all-around mortal danger you're bound to encounter should you foolishly leave our idyllic borders. Counterpoints, like the statistical likelihood that one is far more likely to be killed while standing in broad daylight on a Los Angeles street corner than in the scariest neighborhood on the darkest night in Jakarta, are blissfully ignored.

But foremost in most aspirant travelers' minds is how to finance six, 12 or 18 months of travel. Your budget, of course, will vary wildly depending on your own preferences and destinations. Asia, Africa, South and Central America will cost significantly less than Western Europe. People report hitting the road for a year with anywhere from $17,000 to $25,000, with some exceptionally hardy travelers spending less than $1,000 a month. On the high end, Lee, whose 15-month trip included French Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, southern Africa, Egypt, Western Europe and Colombia, spent a rather impressive $35,000 during his journey. Justifying the hefty sum, he explains, "$30,000 went toward daily expenses such as accommodation, food/drinks, local transport, sightseeing, activities. About $5,000 went toward my international flights. Many budget travelers can't understand how I spent so much money in some of the places I visited, but everyone has their own standards and priorities when traveling."

The Great Wall at Simatai. Photo by Chris Welsch For his five-month trip to Southeast Asia, Jeremy Kressmann, a part-time travel writer, budgeted about $30 a day. "I financed the trip by saving a nice sum of money before I left -- bringing lunch to work, freelancing, not going to the bar," he explains. "I cut back on buying a lot of items I realized I didn't really need that help me cut costs. I also sold a lot of my possessions, like my furniture."

But DuRose warns against spending money you don't have. "I don't recommend that anyone consider plastic as a viable way to finance, well, anything," she says. "We used savings, mostly. Frequent-flier miles helped a lot, too. You sure don't have to be rich to travel this way, just clever."

Though the discombobulating experience of returning home is rarely taken into account during the mad planning, it's worth mentioning that "reentry" can be both challenging and invigorating. "I think the trip has given me a newfound perspective on what's most important in my life," Kressmann reports. "I've been trying to make sure I apply that new outlook and optimism as I search for work and figure out my next steps."

"There are people who have had to live at home after they return to figure out next steps," Ott adds. "That can be a humbling experience, but there are many factors that go into taking a career break, more than just the travel.

"Before you leave, you should consider what you hope to achieve. Did you hate your job and want to change paths, or did you just need a break and some time to rejuvenate? Once you have an idea, figure out how you can use your break and travels to help gain some focus on your future. Traveling alone is not going to supply you with the magic answers. What it will do is give you time to open up your mind to new possibilities."