Amelia Was SO Skeptical about Slow Travel (until now!)

lots of countries are pricing expats out of residency places like Mexico Greece and Bulgaria have dramatically increased Visa income and investment requirements over the past year and other countries are changing tax laws like Portugal and Thailand which means your cost of living is going to be much higher there unless you have a lot of money it's getting more and more difficult to get residency this video we're going to talk about a legal alternative that might allow you to live abroad without the hassle of getting resident and it might even save you money in taxes and in legal fees you may have already guessed that we're going to talk about slow travel this is also called being a slow mad or a digital Nomad if you're still working before you dismiss this concept as too expensive or impossible hear us out please because there are a lot of benefits to slow travel that you might not have even considered let's start with a definition of slow travel instead of taking a traditional one or two week vacation or going the traditional residency Visa route you Meander through multiple countries on tourist visas if you have a strong passport 30 to 90day tourist visas are common for most countries some countries offer a six-month tourist visa like the UK Costa Rica and Panama so you can just hop back and forth between Costa Rica and Panama some even have a one-year Visa tourist visa for Americans like Albania and the country of Georgia this doesn't mean you have to slow travel forever although you might discover that you really like it and just keep going a lot of people do slow travel for years that is what we're doing right now we are slow traveling staying in one place for 2 weeks to a month or even longer if we decide we want to and then we're going to move on to the next country now let's talk about the benefits of slow travel we're going to say the best for last but we're going to start with it's liberating it is liberating I actually think this is my favorite part because we got rid of all of our stuff again and now we just have this freedom to go where we want when we want although I have to admit unconven I was very reluctant to do this I had my misgivings and there were a couple times I got a little bit angry with you know who because it was hard for me to figure out how to downsize all of my stuff into one medium-size suitcase but after traveling like this for just a couple of months I well I just fallen in love with it yeah I have one word for ailia Vindication I knew I was right and I knew after a while she would adopt this lifestyle with a lot of energy and excitement and she has she's finally gotten on board with this and I'm glad because I love how free it makes us feel it's just so freeing to be able to go where we want and when we want if we like a place we can stay longer if we don't like it we can leave sooner we can do whatever we want on whatever time frame we want it feels like we're on a permanent vacation we are having so much fun exploring eating a lot shopping and just trying new things there's never a dull moment it doesn't feel like we're stuck or in a rut and I don't know I guess this could be a pro or con because we have gained a little bit of weight yes we've gone overboard a couple times on the eating out especially in Granada they we had this chocolate egg dessert that we ate way too much and well then we had to reel it back in yeah and the olives too pounds I've eaten several pounds of Olives but they're so affordable here in Europe compared to the US I've I've indulged myself in the olives we are getting to see a lot of the world and check places off of our bucket list and had we decided to go the traditional route it would have taken us years to see places like Rome or Athens or we may not have ever even gotten there I like that you can test drive different locations because we are looking for a third home we just don't know when we're going to settle down in that third home but we get to go to try these different places to see if we like them more than just a quick vacation for seven days we're spending weeks or even months in some of these locations yes so we're doing things that are not just the the tourist stuff we're really fit trying to fit into the community and talking to the locals and going out and going shopping with the locals and eating and learning some of the language it's really important that we focus on the culture to make sure it's going to be the right fit for us the next benefit is that we're actually saving money doing this we are technically homeless we aren't renting a place in Ecuador anymore and we don't own any property our friends in Ecuador are just storing some of our stuff for us yeah if you do own a home and you don't want to sell it you can rent it out and that rent could cover the cost of your lodging as you slow travel you can save on air travel by taking short Toops between countries that are close together yeah that's a lot better than flying clear back home only to come back a few months later to countries that are close together you can also save a lot of money by taking the train the train tickets are very affordable they're a little bit slower but you get to see the countryside it's an awesome experience yeah we loved taking the train through Spain and you can also take buses a lot of people take the bus between countries another benefit is you won't be a tax resident in most countries if you stay for less than 6 months and if you're an American you can actually lower your US taxes okay so I'm going to read what the IRS website says so I get it right for you all if you're physically present in a foreign country or countries for 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months including some part of the year at issue you may qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion we're not tax people so please make sure you check with a qualified accountant somebody who understands expat taxes to make sure that you're getting good advice I'm going to put links to the IRS website and to the accounting firm that we use in the description below and finally you do not need a residency Visa which can save you a lot of time Hassle and money yeah it can take months or even years to get your residency they might change the laws during the middle of your application process like they did for us and it you might get all the way to the end of this process and find out you don't qualify it could be so stressful there are a lot of benefits to the slow travel approach and we love it way more than we ever expected we're going to share a few slow travel tips to save you money and make your travels easier but first we want to invite you to follow us over on Instagram and Facebook we post there almost every day and you're going to see stuff there that we will never share on YouTube pause the video now if you want to and scan these QR codes are checked below for links and be sure to follow us because otherwise meta will ghost you from our post and now for a few slow travel tips based on our experiences starting with don't book too far ahead yeah we've watched some YouTubers who booked their travels out months in advance but they're really reduces your flexibility and you won't be able to stay longer someplace if you really like it or cut it short if you don't we always just book one-way tickets everywhere whether we're taking a plane or a train because we find find a lot of times that we end up extending our stays the next tip is to choose destinations that are close together so instead of flying halfway around the world all the time or zigzagging back and forth in longdistance flights just go country hop go to the country next over or close by that's going to minimize your airfare cost and your time spent traveling look for direct flights or direct train travel and be flexible with your location and your travel dates because prices are cheaper depending on the date and locations can be cheaper as well the next tip is to go minimalist don't try to pack everything including the kitchen sink and your suitcase if you want a slow travel you need to be travel as lightly as possible JP tried to get me to go around the world with just a carryon and he did realize that was unrealistic but we still were able to go very minimalist with just a mediumsized suitcase we actually have a whole video on this so we'll link that video in the description another tip is to rent a place with a kitchen because if you cook cook a lot of your own meals you're going to save a lot of money and you're going to get a better feel for what it's like to live there the next tip is to choose destinations that have a similar climate and ideally you want to chase the sun because summer clothes take up a lot less space and weigh a lot less than winter clothes that's a mistake that we've made here we came to Europe in the winter we were unprepared and we've had to buy bulky clothes and now when spring hits we're going to be unprepared for that yes I think we're going to be donating some of our bulky clothes and hitting up some of those secondhand stores because I don't want to just go and be wasteful buying a lot of clothes but we couldn't bring everything with us that leads us to the final tip and that is expect to buy stuff along the way this mindset will help you keep from overpacking if you understand going in that you're going to have to pick up some things and replace things I'm wearing the same stuff over and over again which I thought was going to drive me crazy but now I know well I'm just going to wear them out and then I'm going to have to replace them anyway and the good news is is that guess what they're shopping all over the world yeah the US isn't the only place with stores to buy things My Philosophy though is if you buy something new something old has to get donated and we've actually seen donation bins all over Europe so far we're going to talk about some of the pitfalls and irritations of slow travel in a future video so make sure to hit that subscribe button so YouTube tells you when we post it if southern Europe is on your slow Travel list then check out these videos next and let us know in the comments what you think will you like slow travel are you interested in it and what what destinations are on your dream bucket list before you go leave us a like and we will see you all in our next video ciao adios

Channel: Amelia And JP Abroad

Views: 48,586

Keywords: slow travel, digital nomad, slowmad

Id: GRj3iEYmNkw

Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 06 2024