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I Quit My Job to Travel in My 30s: What You Need to Know
Most people talk about traveling in their 20s, staying in hostels, figuring things out as they go, and living very cheaply. I did that too. But traveling in my 30s felt completely different.
Just before I turned 32, I quit my job as a middle school teacher and started traveling full-time. What was meant to be one year turned into 2.5 years on the road, traveling mainly through Europe, but also to places like Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia.
In this post, I’ll share how I made long-term travel work in my 30s, how I saved money, earned while traveling, and made decisions that felt more intentional than when I traveled in my 20s. I’ll also explain why I eventually stopped traveling full-time and where I decided to settle.
If you’re wondering whether it’s realistic to quit your job and travel in your 30s, this is my honest experience, the good, the hard, and everything in between.
Why I Chose to Travel in My 30s
In my 20s, I traveled to see the world, to explore new places, meet people, and have fun. But when I decided to travel in my 30s, the motivation was completely different.
I didn’t just want adventure. I wanted change.
At the time, I was working as a middle school teacher and felt completely burnt out. I knew I didn’t want to do that job forever, but I wasn’t sure what came next. So I made two big decisions:
1. Quit my job.
2. Give myself time to figure things out while traveling.
This time, I wasn’t just backpacking for the sake of it, I was looking for a place that felt like home, and I was trying to build an online business so I could eventually work from anywhere.
What started as a “let’s try this for a year” plan slowly turned into something bigger, and more sustainable, than I imagined.
Prefer to Watch? Here’s the video version of this post:
Traveling Solo in My 20s vs With a Partner in My 30s
When I first started traveling in my 20s, I did it solo, and I’m really glad I did. There’s something about solo travel that forces you to grow, meet people, and figure things out on your own. I stayed in hostels, made friends, and even met my now partner on a solo trip in Thailand.
But as much as I appreciate that chapter, I realized long-term solo travel isn’t for me. I love taking short solo trips, but after a while, I missed sharing the experience with someone.
In my 30s, I traveled with my partner, and it completely changed how we traveled. We weren’t interested in hostels or party scenes anymore. Instead, we stayed in Airbnbs, cooked meals at home, and looked for quieter, more comfortable places to stay.
Eventually, we discovered house sitting, which let us stay in real homes and take care of pets in exchange for free accommodation. It fit our slower, more intentional travel style perfectly, and it ended up being one of the best decisions we made.
How I Afforded to Travel Full-Time for 2.5 Years
Long-term travel isn’t just for people with trust funds, but it does take planning. Here’s how I made it work financially, from saving up beforehand to keeping costs low on the road.
Saving Before I Left
When I traveled in my 20s, I saved about €10,000, which worked fine for Southeast Asia. But in my 30s, I knew I’d be spending more time in Europe, so I saved up €30,000 before quitting my job.
That gave me enough to travel slowly without stress while I figured out how to build an online income along the way.
Accommodation Costs (and Why They Nearly Broke Us)
We started out staying in Airbnbs because we wanted more comfort and privacy than hostels could offer. But over time, especially in countries like Portugal and Spain, Airbnbs got ridiculously expensive, especially for long-term stays.
So we shifted to more affordable countries like Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia, hoping our money would stretch further. And while the prices were lower, the quality didn’t get better.
We stayed in places with:
- Mouldy kitchen worktops
- Zero natural light, like, none at all
- Places that stank of smoke
- The most uncomfortable sofa beds
- Barely any cooking equipment, making even simple meals a struggle
After almost a year of this, we were completely burnt out. We weren’t just tired of travel, we were actively considering quitting and going home.
That’s when we found house sitting.
We signed up for TrustedHousesitters and started landing house sits across Europe, staying in real homes for free in exchange for taking care of pets. It changed everything.
No more horrible apartments. No more wondering if the kitchen would even have a knife.
We stayed in beautiful homes with actual comfort, and that alone made us want to keep going.
🐶 Read my detailed housesitting guide here
Ways We Saved Money
- Housesitting: Not having to pay for accommodation was by far the biggest money saver.
- No bills back home: I sold my car, gave up my apartment, and stored my stuff with family. That meant I wasn’t paying rent or utilities anywhere.
- Minimalist packing: I only traveled with a personal-item-sized backpack, which meant no baggage fees, even on budget airlines.
- Cooking our own meals: When the kitchens were usable, we made almost everything ourselves, especially in rural house sits.
How I Started Earning While Traveling
My boyfriend already had a remote job, so he worked throughout our travels. I didn’t, but I used the time to start my travel blog and slowly turn it into a business.
It took time, but after about a year I began earning from it and eventually registered as self-employed. I also launched a YouTube channel, though that’s grown more slowly.
If you’re serious about turning a blog into a business, I highly recommend investing in a solid course. I’ll link the one that helped me most in the description, it taught me how to treat my blog like a real business, not just a hobby.
Why I Stopped Traveling Full-Time
Even though we traveled slowly, often staying in one place for a month or more, after 2.5 years, we hit a wall.
At some point, constant movement just got exhausting. We were tired of never having a proper bed, or a comfortable couch. And honestly, as you get into your 30s, sleeping on a bad mattress starts to hurt. Literally.
We missed the little things:
- A bed that didn’t give us back pain
- A couch to relax on
- A kitchen where we knew we had a sharp knife and a working pan
- A home office that wasn’t just a noisy kitchen table
Even though we were technically spending less money than we would’ve living in one place, we found ourselves longing for more stability.
We didn’t want to stop traveling forever, but we knew we needed a home base.
Why We Chose Vienna as Our Home Base
When we first started traveling, we imagined we might end up living in Spain. But over time, it didn’t feel right. The anti-tourism protests, the language barrier, and the constant reminder that we’d always feel like outsiders made us hesitant.
We also considered the UK, especially since my partner is British and we both love London, but the cost of living was way too high, and the visa situation post-Brexit made it complicated.
In the end, we chose Vienna, the capital of my home country, Austria.
Why Vienna?
- It consistently ranks as one of the most livable cities in the world
- It has a fantastic vegan food scene
- It’s centrally located in Europe, with easy access to train travel
- It made the most sense for my new business, and gave me peace of mind that if it didn’t work out, I could more easily find a job again
We’re still planning to travel, but now we get to enjoy both: the freedom to go, and the comfort of coming home.
Thinking of Quitting Your Job to Travel in Your 30s?
Quitting my job and traveling in my 30s was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. It wasn’t always easy, and definitely not always comfortable, but it gave me the freedom to reset and figure out what I actually wanted from life.
If you’re thinking about doing the same, here’s what I’d say:
- You’re not too old. I felt more grounded, confident, and intentional in my 30s than I ever did in my 20s.
- Be clear on your why, whether it’s escape, exploration, building something new, or all of the above.
- Money matters, but you don’t need to be rich. Slow travel, minimalist packing, and house sitting helped us stretch our budget way further than expected.
- Start building something on the road if you can. My blog didn’t make money overnight, but it gave me a path out of my old job.
- You can always come back. After 2.5 years, I did, and it wasn’t failure. It was the next chapter.
If I could give just one tip to anyone wanting to travel long-term on a budget, it’s this: learn about house sitting. It saved our travels more than once, and gave us real homes (and pets!) to look after while we explored the world.
👉 I wrote a full post about how house sitting works and how to get started. You can read it here.
Read More:
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