My Plan to Move to South East Asia

Posted on 29. Jun, 2009 by Dan in The Voyage

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My goal is to move overseas, initially to Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam or outsider, the Philippines. I would like to spend 6 months to 1 year (possibly longer) living in each of these countries to start with, and travel through more of Asia during that time, eg; India, Nepal, China, Laos. After Asia I will travel to Central and South America and do the same there. That could keep me going for the next 10 years and even further so I only have vague goals beyond this.

What will I do once I’m over there? Other than sustaining this lifestyle of travel I have a strong interest in learning Asian languages. Get fit and practice martial arts. Starting a “real” business, although I have no idea what that might be for now. Working to better poor communities in these countries and with organisations like PEPY where travel and charity intersect. I’d like to do some video too, there doesn’t seem to be much travel blogging going on where there is a good commentary with it or that follows a journey.

For most of us, especially those of us who are in “stable” employment, the opportunity to move overseas with our work comes along very very rarely, so rarely in fact that hoping or waiting for it to happen is beyond naive. In my position it has no chance of coming from my employer, so…

We need a plan. This is my plan.

There are two main things I have to consider. Debt, Income and Expenses.

Debt: What’s stopping me?

I have to clear about $10,000 AUD in Credit Card and personal loans. My current reduction plan has this payed off in September next year but I’m confident I can bring this forward a few months by reducing my monthly expenses. I’m currently housed in a unit that is well beyond my needs, it’s much bigger and more expensive than I would now like. In October my lease ends and I will find a smaller and more affordable place to rent. This will save me between $200 and $400 a month. Taking the $300 medium this will bring my reduction date forward to April/May. I’ve put together a Google spreadsheet that calculates this and pumps out a graph so I can track my progress, it will also adjust my monthly goals so that I always have an attainable goal to target each month to avoid a situation where I fall short one month and can never seem to catch up again, or where I get ahead and then get lazy with the next month.

Now just a few days before the new tax year, I’m hoping for a return that will bring that date forward by yet another month or more. I’m estimating that will put me firmly in April.

Income & Expenses: The Nuts and Bolts

This is the hardest part really, while I’m working on building this website and a few others to cover my monthly expenses once I have moved my current online income is dismal and will need to improve a lot. I have an income goal of $1500-$2000USD a month. I’m willing to make that up by teaching English as a fallback but I’m beginning to question how realistic that is. I don’t have a degree and it seems a lot of schools in Thailand are now requiring one. I like working online, depending on what I’m doing much of the time it doesn’t really feel like work. $30 a day in these countries is reasonable to live on (ex rent) 31*30=$930 a month. I’ve discussed my daily income goals on my personal blog not so long ago however I didn’t put it in the perspective of this $30 a day number, the numbers I am aiming for there would make me quite comfortable.

Talking to some people living in Thailand already they are spending about 30,000 THB a month which is about $1000 USD and that allows for fairly regular fun as well.

Other Considerations

In December of this year I’m planning on spending a month in some of these countries, this will probably cost me about $2000 or more, however it will be a good chance for me to get a good plan in place for the actual move. I’ll try to find some renting options in advance and other groundwork to make it all go as smoothly as possible.

I’m going to have to sort out a laptop too, I have one provided by work currently and that will have to be returned when I resign. I would like to get a Macbook but something else may be a better option in the interim. Why a Mac, iMovie, Time Machine, I could go on and on. It just does the things I want without paying for expensive add-on software.

23 Responses to “My Plan to Move to South East Asia”

Corinne

30. Jun, 2009

Oh Dan, really cool, I’ve pretty much the same plans

I would love to start with South East Asia too (Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Thaïland, Philippines, India) for the same duration (long enough to take some marks) and then heading to South America. The same problem too (debt :p) and the same income aspirations (which I kinda already do, 1500-2000 per month, but completey irregularly, so no control on my finances and hard times pretty often – I want to create a reserve fund after I reimburse my debt in order to solve that problem

I’m kind of adraid to go there before, because of the expense too, but would definitely love it. If I have nice surprises with my work I think I’ll do that too.

I’ve planned my departure for summer/autumn 2010. But I also hope I’ll be able to do that quicker
Dan

30. Jun, 2009

It’s funny before I left on my trip last year I spent years paying off my car, once it was paid off I saved the money I needed in just 6 months. I’ve been checking out your portfolio, you’ve done some really cool looking work so I’m sure you’ll be able to make a stable business out of it. Just promote the arse out of it online and off. I hope we’ll be able to meet when we get over there, it’ll happen, I’m sure of it.
Cody McKibben

30. Jun, 2009

I’m super excited to see you guys in Thailand (both Dan & Corinne)! This is a fantastic breakdown of the finances behind your journey towards the goal Dan. I know Chris (from TravelHappy) is working on a cost breakdown for living in Bangkok, and I’ll give him my input also. But my two cents: I live well with just $750 to $100 US per month right now. That’s including debt & student loan payments though, so once you are in a healthy place financially you can probably spend even less. Good work man, Stumbled
Corinne

01. Jul, 2009

Yay! I’m looking forward to meet all of you too, and share our achievements and the joys of it with each other!

Thank you Dan! Yes promoting, especially online to be accessible internationally… And educate clients about the usefulness of online tools to communicate from everywhere. That’s not an easy task, but I’m definitely willing to take the challenge.

See you soon, somewhere in Asia
Alan

01. Jul, 2009

Dan – I really like this post. If I didn’t have a job that paid for me to travel, I feel like I would be in a similar situations. It’s good to know that you have a solid understanding of the finances involved, and I look forward to reading future cost breakdowns! Happy #traveltuesday!
John Bardos

01. Jul, 2009

Congratulations on your upcoming adventure. Hopefully, we will have a chance to meet up somewhere in Asia.

If you are coming through Japan please let me know.
Dave

01. Jul, 2009

Great to hear you’ve got this plan in the works. Having goals and monitoring your progress toward them routinely is sooo important. I look forward to following along since we’ll be on parallel tracks…

…because even though I’m not back home in the USA for another 2 weeks, I already have thoughts in my head about how fast I too can pay off my debts and raise my online income to the point where I can live comfortably overseas.

I thought I could fall back on teaching English when I decided to live in Medellin, but I soon found myself spending more time on a new blog than learning effective teaching skills. Now, I’m completely convinced that if I’m going to work overseas, it will be on MY terms, doing something I enjoy that compliments the experience for me, rather than teaching because it pays the bills.

I think it’s a much more empowering approach, though if you might like teaching, that’s cool too.
Sean

01. Jul, 2009

Congratulations on making it official! Thats the first step, and it sounds like you have the rest figured out. Good luck over the coming months, and I am looking forward to hearing about the journey.
Dan

01. Jul, 2009

Thanks for the comments guys, I’ll have a lot more to write about this and how I’m going so stay tuned.
Joel Brown

14. Jul, 2009

This is also something that i think that i would like to be able to do at some point in the future. I think i need to start in the same place getting some income from my online interests. Or income from projects that don’t require my presence.

The Reserve fund is not an issue for me as i have some savings. I think thought before doing anything i would like to get some travel happening to get a taste for a few different places and see where exactly i would most like to visit.
Shawn M. Rill

14. Jul, 2009

Dan, thanks for your recent Tweet. We have similar things in common except I am already here in Thailand. From personal experience I would recommend being grounded in your Internet Marketing prior to ever leaving for your travels around the world with a steady income and a nice savings for emergencies only.

I left America with just a savings and hopes of a successful Internet Marketing career that didn’t materalize for me before I had to get a job. Thankfully, I do Internet Marketing for a company in Bangkok as I am not interested in teaching. Picking up a teaching gig on nights and weekends at private language schools is easy but I think you’ll need to know someone for a regular job in a school. Of course, either way, they only pay at the end of the month and you get some held back as a bonus at the end of your contract for staying.

I believe 30,000 baht/month is a solid amount although I did spend less but didn’t go out and do anything. Keep in mind that in Asia/SE Asia clothes are cheap but they are Chinese copies and don’t fit Westerners so you need to spend U.S. prices to buy name brand in the department store to get something to fit. But that’s only if you’re 6 foot 2 inches. Not sure about other Western guys.

Thai is tonal, like Mandarin, but both can be learned. Thai isn’t a world language because Thais don’t travel abroad much so outside of the country, it isn’t spoken. Mandarin is the number one language in the world but in Hong Kong they speak Cantonese mostly and Singapore isn’t a good place to learn Mandarin since they speak Singlish. I would be interested in going to Taiwan and studying Mandarin there, however.

Muay Thai is popular here in Thailand and foriegners can learn. Chinese Martial Arts vary in China. I personally want to go to Japan for a year and study Aikido, Japanese, and Zen. The Philippines have their own Martial Art which is a complete art (forget the name) but I want to learn Modern Arnis, which is stick and knife fighting, there. I took a few months in both Aikido and Modern Arnis in the States.

Keep in touch,
Shawn M. Rill
Dan

15. Jul, 2009

Wow, thanks for that comment Shawn. On my last day in Thailand last year I bought a couple of tshirts, size was an issue as well as quality, funnily enough in Cambodia I didn’t have the same problem, well not with the size anyway, quality is hit and miss anywhere.

It’s always a fun experiment learning about the practicalities of living abroad by experience. Looking forward to the end of the year for a return trip.
jen laceda

15. Jul, 2009

Dan, I’m originally from the Philippines. Your $$$ might stretch farther over there. The only thing is, English is already taught in schools there, so unless you want to do private tutorials for rich people’s kids…you’d have to help kids do their assignments and projects! I had a tutor for most of my grade school years Parents didn’t trust me to study on my own. Haha.
Lissie

25. Jul, 2009

Couple of things to think about in your budget – if you don’t have the standard travel vaccinations budget for them cause they add up! OTOH I wouldn’t buy anything in the line of medications – all so much cheaper in SEA, same for dental work and medical stuff. But on the other hand before you leave Oz remember to sell pretty much everything you own – don’t bother leaving it behind – it will just get old literally -and that last few thousands are always useful! Also remember friends and family may want/need to see you again so keep an emergency credit card for flights home.
Dan

25. Jul, 2009

@Lissie Luckily I have had all the standard jabs, will have to check they are up to date though before I go long term. I’m not one for taking malaria meds and stuff like that. I will be looking at dental though, I have some pretty good chips and I just can’t afford to have them fixed here. I’ll relucantly come home enough to keep them happy, hopefully I can convince them to come over and see why I want to live there so much myself. Thanks for the tips.
AdventureRob

09. Aug, 2009

Good luck with your Plan Dan.

I don’t really have a plan for settling anywhere, but I’m sure it will be the same sort of asian countries when I do. I find I don’t get enough time in countries to learn the language so would love to settle in one for a good year or so.
Chris

16. Sep, 2009

Good luck bro!

I still think this idea is worth pursuing: http://www.myeggnoodles.com/a-great-start-up-idea-city-promotions.html

I have the domain http://www.bangkokpromotions.com and got a custom theme designed and codded but unfortunately the writer I was working with fell through.

There’s plenty of Bangkok/Thailand based bloggers out there that you could target and pitch them a small monthly investment for site/business equity. I would happily give you x a month for a cut (and would also help out where I could) and know 2 other peps that would also do the same straight away.

It wouldn’t be easy (but no start-up is) and would require a lot of hard work to get it off the ground, but in the current economic situation, I think a lot of people would find it useful.

The site/project is yours if you want to follow through with it.

Chris
Dave - LifeExcursion

24. Sep, 2009

I love the way you broke down your daily budget. That is an awesome way to travel and/or live. I did that for Europe. I took ziplocks and put maps, important info, and lists of what I wanted to see. I also put my allotted money in their. That way I lived by the ziplock. That actually sounds like a good post. Thanks for randomly inspiring.

Get rid of the debt and you will be good to go.

Dave
LifeExcursion
Loc

14. Oct, 2009

I’ve been saving religiously and getting very excited to see my savings going up! I’m a female Vietnamese living in Las Vegas. I will have enough savings in 2011 for taking a break from work for as long as I want (as I’ll basically live on a modest interest) I so much want to explore things in Asia and South/Central America. I have a good office job here in the U.S., but I don’t want a normal life like having a house or a fancy car. I want to learn as many languages as possible (I speak 3 languages fluently). I want to do some charity and do some serious endurance sports since I’m a marathoner and cyclist. I’m so excited about this plan/goal. I can’t wait. I no longer like the clubs and superficial things here in Vegas. Congratulations to all of you who are interested in dreaming big, planning for it and living large on less.
frugal expat

14. Nov, 2009

All the best Dan!
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Ladyexpat

19. Dec, 2009

I’ve been living in Asia since 2000. Home base is Korea where I teach university level English. Now I have a position where I’m able to travel about 5 months out of the year.

I have traveled extensively in SEA, and hope to make a permanent move to Chiang Mai in 2011.

I left a good stable job in Canada, but I have never regretted the move.

You can do anything you set your mind to.

Good luck!
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