Getting vehicles for free (and other handy travel budget tips)

If you think you don’t have enough money to set off traveling then you’re going to enjoy todays show. Ted and Jen Avery sold up all their home possessions and vehicle raising $11000 in the process and hit the road back in 2012 using the funds to sustain themselves through Central America and beyond. For Ted it was a big move, particularly as he’d never left Canada or taken a flight before 2010!

After a period of time in Sydney, Australia during 2013 where Jen studied and the pair put in a claim for residency, they again hit the road.

We caught up with them in Florida where they shared the secrets to finding vehicles for nothing, how they downsized their life, why the Galapagos islands are easier (and cheaper) to get to than you might think and how airline mistakes can be the source of unbelievable deals if you act quickly.

What I learned from Ted and Jen:

Relocatable vehicles are a great way to get free transport while traveling. These guys have used it to travel right across Canada. Relocatables are hire companies who need their RV’s and cars moved from point A to point B but don’t want to pay for staff to do it. There are websites like http://www.imoova.com and http://hittheroad.ca which provide vehicles that need to get from A to B and sometimes they even throw in the petrol. Nice!

The Galapagos is not as expensive as I thought. These guys were able to easily get to the island reasonably affordably from Quito Ecuador and then booked a cruise at half the going rate from on the island.

If you can travel anywhere and anytime then you might be able to take advantage of airline mistakes to pick up some great fares. Computer glitches and human error do happen and although sometimes the airlines will renege when they find it they will often honor the deal. Much like the Economical Excursionists these guys love to find travel deals!

You have enough money sitting around you right now to go traveling. These guys raised $6000 from just selling their home possessions that they didn’t need which was enough, along with $5000 from their car sale. This was enough to live comfortably on the road for 6 months.