3173: The Holy Grail of Travel by Craig Stephens of Retire Before Dad on Financial Independence and Nomadic Life

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4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

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Summary

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com. Episode 3173: Craig Stephens explores the four types of travelers based on time and money - backpackers, vacationers, broke people, and financially independent travelers. He shares his journey from a budget traveler to someone working toward financial independence to achieve long-term, comfortable global travel without time or financial constraints. Stephens emphasizes the strategic savings and investing necessary to reach the ultimate goal: the freedom to travel anytime, anywhere, in comfort. Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.retirebeforedad.com/holy-grail-of-travel/ Quotes to ponder: "Financial independence allows for travel for any period of time without the pressure to return and start or resume a career." "Depending on level of comfort, backpackers can travel for very little money for long periods of time." "It makes more sense from a cost perspective to fly to another part of the world and stay for two months than to take a week-long cruise." Episode references: Camino de Santiago: https://caminoways.com/camino-de-santiago Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:11.9	The Holy Grail of Travel by Craig Stevens of Retire Before Dad.com.
1:19.1	When it comes to time, money, and travel, people fall into one of four categories.
1:26.1	Backpackers, lots of time, but a finite amount of money. Vacationers,
1:31.2	enough money, but not much time. Broke people, no money for travel and very little time. And
1:38.1	financially independent travelers, all the time and money needed to travel comfortably.
1:47.7	In my 20s, I fell into the first category, backpacker.
1:51.4	I had plenty of time, but a decreasing amount of money and a nagging reality in the back of my mind,
1:54.2	reminding me that someday my traveling would end
1:57.4	and I'd need to start working again.
2:00.0	Today, my family is firmly in the second category,
2:03.7	vacationers. We're more of a sitcom family now. While I have a job with four weeks of vacation,
2:10.4	a two-week getaway is about the maximum realistic break I can take. Without a drastic change
2:16.6	in our housing and lifestyle, long-term travel is out of the
2:19.6	picture for the time being. During my 14-month trip to Asia and South America in my 20s, I stayed in
	...

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