No fixed plans and not intent on arriving: The art of long-term travel

Before leaving for Mexico, we had usually imagined travel the way most Americans vacation: small chunks of time — maybe a week or two — to visit friends and family, a new city, or park yourself on a beach. Something to look forward to while drudging about your daily routine.

But it never quite made sense to us. For one, the single biggest expense for many trips is airfare. We always dreamed of wandering through Southeast Asia, but how could we afford to be out $3000 for two round trip tickets for a ten day vacation? Plus, once you've flown 18 hours to the other side of the world, you likely want to explore not just Thailand, but also Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia. Now you're rushing between countries, cramming experiences, paying for rapid transportation between places, and likely by the end of it, exhausted. And then to fly back home and return to your job on Monday?

Traveling like a snail is much easier on the wallet. When we're able to book long stays, we're rewarded with steep discounts. Our Airbnb in Oaxaca — a simple but lovely studio apartment with a little balcony — came with a 70% discount for stays longer than 28 nights. For the same price of two dorm beds in a hostel for ten nights, we have our own apartment with a kitchen and private bathroom for an entire month! Then we're able to save even more by buying food at the markets and the grocery store, so we cut down our food costs by cooking a good portion of our meals at home. Furthermore, since we aren't trying to visit Mexico City, Oaxaca, and San Cristóbal de las Casas in two weeks but instead over the course of four months, we're able to avoid flights and instead travel by bus.

We prefer long-term travel because it gives us the chance to dive deep into one place and feel the rhythm of life. Right now we are in Oaxaca for seven weeks and as our departure date to San Cristóbal de las Casas slowly approaches (though still a week away), we're sad to say goodbye to this gem of a city. We've made friends here. We've shared family dinners with them. We know the ladies at the market where we buy our cheese and veggies. We regularly run into the parades snaking their way through the cobblestone streets. We have days to sleep in, get lost, and process all that is happening around us. This is a gift of long-term travel.