Comments on: This Overlanding Life: The Financial Question

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 12 Feb 2019 19:19:04 +0000

I have not looked for what you do about health care or if you have medical insurance but I would like to know if either of you have any coverage. I lived in Vietnam for around 12 years and traveled from there to other parts of Asia. I would return to Canada every 6 months because I had a studio there that did marketing, design, commercial photo and publishing. In fact I published a life style/travel magazine which was how I first saw Vietnam. I was fortunate because I had worked very hard for 25 years to build my business to the point I was able to finally not be the only asset, or so I thought. I started a clothing factory making yoga wear in Vietnam which was expensive, complex, and took several years to get licensed as 100% foreign owned company, train staff at something I had no experience in, find staff, develop designs, and then market the brand which was my original intention so I could carry on with my work but be my own client and work from any where. Because I had sold my dream home (too early) and had decent cash flow from the marketing business in Canada I could cash flow my life style and the business but with limits which made growing a slow process, after 3 years I had everything working, was making enough money from both that I wasn’t cash flowing everything and hadn’t burned threw the money I had and even had enough to buy a beach property in Vietnam (didn’t though luckily) and thought I had beat the odds. Everything was working, I had reached my goal and thought I was free then WHAM, a major motorcycle accident where I hit a tree head first and was laying dying in a Vietnamese dump of a hospital in the morgue where they had put me without even putting an IV in because typically people who have such serious head,brain neck, spine, facial and internal die there due to either the poor medical care, training, facilities. I recall one time when Vietnam won a soccer tournament the local all went to the street to celebrate by racing their scooter threw massive crowds and within the first 15 minutes there was something like 12 DEO at the one hospital.
Luckily I did get found by staff the next day and with friends help they got me to a SOS clinic (international) who had me air evacuated to Bangkok, I won’t get into the details but i was barely alive even after several days of surgery, went into a coma and a month later woke. Even though I was basically totally disabled, disorientated and in extreme pain I almost instantly was trying to find out if my insurance had been contacted knowing the costs would be devastating. I had cash in Vietnam which paid the $32K for the Air Ambulance and had a large sum of cash in the bank plus a large amount of money in bank drafts, travelers checks and still had my business but had I not I would have died for absolutely sure! You do not get charity in most countries and if they know you can’t pay your left in that morgue.
A week later I was pushing very hard to be allowed to leave the hospital that was costing $2500.00 a day because I had heard from my lawyer in Canada that the insurance company wasn’t paying which is another story but what I am getting at is my entire retirement, savings, emergency cash was sucked up like dust in a hurricane.
I am back in Canada and have been for 6 years after trying to save my company and now working on my new escape plan and building my Overland Vehicle.I lost almost everything I had worked my entire life for and people don’t realize how quickly that can happen over something as unlikely as a freak accident that an insurance company manages to weasel out of paying because they know your nearly wiped out and can’t fight the buggers in court for years.
What do you guys do for insurance, have you had to use it (test) or have you found a company you trust and know isn’t a typical insurance company that is happy to take your money for 30 years as long as you never ask them to pay for anything. People really need to be very skeptical about insurance, I have seen people die because of it.
Sorry for the downer post and for the length but I thought this is an important topic for anyone wanting to live the amazing life style your living.
Save travels,

Sean

By: Brittany

Brittany — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 19:47:45 +0000

Thank you for the comment, Dee, and for also sharing a link to your own post. Unfortunately, I couldn’t access it – you sure it’s the right link?

Keep on traveling!! 🙂

By: Dee

Dee — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 19:33:00 +0000

Really useful info for anyone thinking about overlanding and how to budget, we’re always asked how we manage to travel for extended periods!

We wrote a short post about the challenges of actually living in a vehicle for a long amount of time and the things we’ve (occasionally) missed along the way http://www.followthehound.com/the-challenges-of-overlanding/

Thanks!

Dee

By: Brittany

Brittany — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 07:06:13 +0000

Thank you Louise! Bruno looks like Tarzan, doesn’t he?

By: Louise Jones-Takata

Louise Jones-Takata — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 20:21:12 +0000

Well done! And I love the photo of Bruno with the two lionesses.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 14:09:41 +0000

Glad to be of service! 🙂

By: Elizabeth (Mom)

Elizabeth (Mom) — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 21:18:54 +0000

I agree with Lisa; this is a great post. I frequently am questioned about how you are managing your full-time travel lifestyle so this clarifies points and offers suggestions. Thank you!

By: Brittany

Brittany — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 21:15:40 +0000

That’s a great question Lisa, so thanks for asking! We do have an approximate budget to make sure that we’re spending less that what we bring in from our rentals, but it’s flexible in the sense that we may spend more on diesel in some countries (like Turkey) or more on accommodation (like in Europe). Things always tend to even out, however, so if we spend more on some stuff, we will likely spend less on food and entertainment. Most “overlanding” couples can get by with anywhere between $1000-2000 USD per month, and we definitely fall into that category!

By: Lisa Sharples

Lisa Sharples — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 20:12:19 +0000

This was a great post to help people understand how you finance your travels. I would love to know approximately the cost of life on the road. Do you have a budget? Will you need to teach at some point to make more if you want to stay in more expensive countries?
Keep up the great work….I’m living the dream through you….lol

Love you,

Lisa xoxoxo