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Originally Posted by ASU2003
I've met quite a few people in the past few wees who haven't been home in months, myself included. Some are temporary nurses brought in from the north, others are retired RVers who live in their RV and travel where they want to. I've met businessmen who are on the road 90+% of the time, and people who lived on their sailboat in Marina del Ray. And a few years ago I met a Crazy guy on a bike in Canada who had started in Patagonia (crazyguyonabike.com) who had been living with just what he could carry on his bike for the past two years. I met a girl in a hostel in Australia that had been backpacking around the world for 6 months in South America, 6 months in New Zealand/Australia, and was planning on going to Asia and Europe for the next year and then Canada.
I guess the four biggest questions are "do you need a job or lots of money?", "Is it remotely possible to get into a relationship when you don't know where you will be in a week?", "How long would you go for?", and "Can you downsize your life enough?"
I would like to think I could downsize my life enough, and by traveling only to warm climates, it would cut down on some of the gear. I could easily go in an RV or sailboat for months or years, it is trying to get down to 50lbs of gear on a bike and have it take up less than a 3'x2'x2' space that might be tough for me. I could easily do it for 3-4 months though.
Money and the job are my issues. If you only used renewable energy on a sailboat. Or you only used low power electronics on a bike, you could get rid of a lot of bills. No property tax, no home owners association fees, no electric bill, no water bill, and you won't buy a lot of unneeded stuff... The initial cost might be high, but it would be cheaper than trying to buy a house on the beach in CA or Hawaii. The recurring costs would be food, entertainment, occasional campground/hostel/marina fees, and health insurance.
The other problem would be that things like drivers licenses and credit cards aren't setup for people with no address.
*One other thing would be how often you could see your family. In the summer months I might be able to see them a lot more than I do now, but in the winter months I would want to be someplace warm.
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Drivers licenses, registration, insurance, and credit cards are no problem. Have you ever wondered why so many full-time RV folks have South Dakota license plates? SD allows all license and registration issues to be handled by mail. There are many mail handling businesses in SD that specialize in full-timers. You get a street address with an "apartment number", that is used to process mail. I can check online to see how much mail has accumulated. When I know that I will be somewhere for a couple of days, the mail can be sent via the postal service, UPS, or FedEx. No problem.
On my roof is a small dome, about a foot high. Inside is my sat dish. I select between HughesNet for Internet connection or DirecTV (different satellites). My work only requires me to check in for email, most of the time. I do attend a few virtual meetings via Internet and deliver my completed projects that way. It is difficult to get out of cell phone range, these days, but I have a cute little box that can give me cell phone coverage through the Internet connection.
It doesn't take a lot of money. I have a large refrigerator, microwave, and stove, so I go grocery shopping like anyone else. Laundry involves parking near a laundromat, but isn't really a problem.
Why only warm climates? My tanks are in the basement of the coach, which is heated. I have a good furnace and AC. The bank of batteries will allow me to go for about a week without firing up the generator or plugging in.
Where is the hardship?