I quit my job for a year and did this with my wife. We didn't work while traveling -- it would have been too hard / distracting. This might sound odd, but traveling takes as much time as a real job -- the amount you spend just figuring out where to go next and what to do is significant. If you want to work while travel then your best bet is to taking a break from travel and live somewhere for a little while. It's not a bad way to go but it's not what we did.
One interesting thing is the amount we spent for a year of travel was slightly less than the amount we spent simply living at home. If have saved enough where you can spend a year without salary then you can afford to do it.
A few recommendations -- don't plan ahead. You can't. Just plan the first place you want to go to and go from there. You'll have ample time to figure things out and be open to changes in plan. A corollary to this is that if you plan on spending less than 5 months traveling then you may not be able to travel quite that way. It takes a few months just to get into the swing of things.
Lastly, don't stretch your budget thin just to hit an arbitrary length of time. Spend what you need to and leave a few months earlier. You won't enjoy yourself if you have to scrounge for every dime. I'd see people stay in super nasty places for $5-10 / night in places that had simple, clean, and comfortable places for $15 / night.
Reminds me of a buddy I travelled with in Thailand - we had split up for a while and then reconnected on some island, he's sleeping in a real dump, mattress on the floor, squat toilet with no TP, rats walking around, for like $10/night. Literally the next bungalows over were maybe $16 per night and VERY nice. About 10PM that night he changed his mind and came and slept at my place.
Don't take this too far though. Otherwise you might end up at some dude's house in Kilkenny trying to determine if he's going to let you crash in on couch or if he wants you to sleep in his bed. Or you might end up walking from Juno to Omaha beach hoping that you can hitch a ride with some Canadians back to Caen.
Second one sounds awesome. I hitchhiked with two German girls back to Jerusalem from the dead sea in some Russian dude's car. Fascinating guy. Highlight of the trip. YDIMA (your disaster is my adventure)
I mean, it was fun for me too and wasn't a disaster because I did in fact run into a Canadian couple whose son happened to be going to RPI. I'm just saying that not everyone is prepared for an 8-hour hike in the dark through the french countryside and those folks should plan ahead.
You must have a passport of some country which has pretty good visa agreements. For some of us, traveling the world requires sitting in a lot of embassies first.
I had to spend time in embassies too. When you travel for a year it's possible to do that where you are. For example, I got my visas to Myanmar and India in Bangkok. You do have to plan a few days ahead. I meant don't plan it all before leaving.
This is great advice, thank you. I backpacked through Europe with my best friend and we tried to do too much in too little time. As you said, there's a lot of value in taking it slow and making decisions based on how you feel, rather than what you think you "should" do.
One interesting thing is the amount we spent for a year of travel was slightly less than the amount we spent simply living at home. If have saved enough where you can spend a year without salary then you can afford to do it.
A few recommendations -- don't plan ahead. You can't. Just plan the first place you want to go to and go from there. You'll have ample time to figure things out and be open to changes in plan. A corollary to this is that if you plan on spending less than 5 months traveling then you may not be able to travel quite that way. It takes a few months just to get into the swing of things.
Lastly, don't stretch your budget thin just to hit an arbitrary length of time. Spend what you need to and leave a few months earlier. You won't enjoy yourself if you have to scrounge for every dime. I'd see people stay in super nasty places for $5-10 / night in places that had simple, clean, and comfortable places for $15 / night.