Ask HN: Those who quit their jobs to travel the world, how did it go?

There is a whole industry around this. Take a look at http://www.homestay.com/, it's like Airbnb except you book a family, not just an apartment.

1. Budgeting is key. It's easy to tell yourself that you can't budget for such variably-priced things as hotels and eating-while-vacationing, but you can. Make a budget, stick to it.

2. Get hotel-rooms (or airbnbs) with kitchenettes. Having access to a refrigerator will save you a lot of money and will allow you to eat healthier food. (Because you can go shopping at local grocery stores instead of eating out every meal).

3. Keep many income streams. If you do independent contracting (like I do), don't just have one client. I prefer to have 3-4 at one time, to even out the late-payments and such.

4. Save first, have a big emergency fund. If you're a Suze Orman fan, she'd probably say to have an 8-month emergency fund in place before doing anything like this. If youre a Dave Ramsey fan, he'd probably say 3-6 months. Either way, you need money for emergencies. Once you have that, the regular up-swings and down-swings of your finances won't be so stressful.

Better than staying put!

What were you able to do?

Everything. Importantly, lose my introverted character. Literally went INTP->ENTP (ENTP-A). All the travel stuff, learn languages, cycle-touring, paragliding, caving, exploring, plus try other types of work, start a company, learn a lot of computer stuff, learn a lot of history/culture/geography, etc.

How did you choose to budget?

Variously. Some periods pushing red or even red, other periods (after 7+ years) back to the salary-snatch. Had a scholarship for awhile, free accommodation to boot. Initially working wasn't necessary, as $50 bought me a month's rent in 2001 in China and I left with $15k. Made it through Laos, Thailand and Taiwan on those funds. Later, I tried English teaching but found it wasn't for me.

What moved you to this decision?

Exposed to travel a little bit at a young age. Bored of the commuter 9-5 lifestyle by age 18 or 19 after only 1.5 years exposure.

How was the process of finding work again after your travels, if applicable?

Surprisingly easy. I left Australia having been on a salary of 60k AUD at age 18. 7 or 8 years later I rocked up in London with effectively no western work on my CV for that period (I had actually started a company in China, kept up many interests in programming, etc.). Once I'd taken a permanent/salaried position (at GBP 40k, which moved to 60k within 3 months) I was surpried to realise that people in 'normal' career coding positions rarely get the ability to go deep in their learning the same way living cheap in some random country being your own boss lets you. I'd done diskless systems, clustering, VOIP, digital fax, replicated databases, SMS, lots of mapping, business process automation, and all of that in 6 human languages. I'd also learned Chinese. Thus, I was in some ways more broadly employable than if I had never spent time away. After two years of salary (one in London, one in LA) I found a remote position, then moved back to China. My wife and I have since had our first child, lived a year in Thailand, and traveled broadly in Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and currently Europe, where we are looking to resettle.

If you were to do it all again, what would you do differently?

If I did the entrepreneurial thing for the first time while in a foreign country again (a real learning experience!), I would pay or beg an experienced CEO back in my home country - one with some nous - to give me a strong education in business accounting up front. What's critical, what different parties look for, how they evaluate, how to present, how you can usefully evaluate numbers yourself, etc. I would try to meet and involve skilled mentors in my businesses from day one. Other than that, nothing. Maybe buy bitcoins early on ;)