Travel or settle down: How to settle down on the road
As backpackers, should we maintain travel or settle down?
Long-term travel is a really awesome thing to do. Not only can you live on your own terms, there are also no rules to it either. Spend a month on a tropical beach? How about 6 weeks of trekking in the deep jungle? It’s all possible.
Such is the option to put a pause on your travels and set up camp somewhere for a few months. Whilst it’s great, settling down somewhere new can also have its own kinds of challenges too.
Travel or Settle down: While on the road
In this article, I’ll share my own experience having just spent 6 months living in Lima, as well as different tips for those who are settling down abroad.
If you’ve not read my Peru travel tips yet I suggest you check them out too!
Why Settle down while still traveling?
When you start feeling a little tired from constantly moving from place to place, the idea of staying somewhere longer does seem more attractive.
You don’t need to hop on weekly buses or flights for a while, and can also find a cheaper private room somewhere (monthly rentals are always cheaper – I recommend looking first with Booking.com or in some cases, Airbnb).
It’s also a good way to recharge too. You can use this time to focus on new goals, start new work, make a more stable social life or simply relax after all that time skirting around. Many will say well… why not just go home?
I think that’s also a great idea, but again it depends on what your goals are. Latin America isn’t the cheapest place to constantly fly to and from, so it’s worth first asking yourself what you want from this particular time in your life.
The Alternative: Very Slow Travel
There’s also another way to avoid travel burnout, which is ideal for those who are more flexible and like plenty of new experiences.
Very slow travel essentially means spending 1+ month in every new destination, which is often months at a time in any particular city or town.
Not only can you begin to rest, you can also ease up your finances too. You’ll find plenty of new job opportunities which are perfect for those who hang around longer, which range from working in hostels to local gigs (remote work will also be easier to settle into now that you’re in one place).
I’ve got a friend that does it this way, and it seems to really work well for him to be fair. It’s an option I’ll keep an open mind for in the future, and I recommend others to also consider it.
My Experience Settling Down in Peru
When I first set out traveling I had a plan: “12 months travel, and then I’ll pick the best place to live and start working.”
Very quickly into the trip I started to like backpacking Peru above the rest, for different reasons such as the experiences, I had as well as the people I met there. So I decided I’d come back to Lima and give this work/travel lifestyle a go.
At first it was exactly what I needed. Finally a private room that wasn’t expensive to stay in (given it was paid monthly), and also a chance to start building my finances without too many distractions.
I also had a more stable life and started to see what Lima is really like (not just the quick touristy glance I had previously given it before).
Whilst I did start to miss traveling, I never got to the point where I felt like I needed to go travel (and this was an important turning point for me). Before this, I almost felt like I had to get out and explore to escape the vanilla everyday life, and now it feels like something which is great to do, but isn’t as urgent as before.
Settling down wasn’t without its minor difficulties, though. For me, the biggest one was the culture clash and realizing that every day there’s going to be some kind of challenge. From angry locals to reckless driving, it definitely kept me on my toes (not exactly a bad thing either though – I’m now a pro at crossing roads and expecting the unexpected 😎).
My Tips for Settling Down while Abroad
Here are some of my tips for those who have either just settled down, are thinking about it, or are already there and are looking for ways to spruce it up.
1. Create a Daily Structure (and Goals)
This was by far the most important for me. It’s what kept me sane, and not feeling like I was losing myself in a foreign place not heading anywhere in life.
Going a step further would be to set yourself a big goal to achieve during your time there, which you work on daily.
This alone made even the shittier days tolerable for me, knowing that I’d achieved a small step towards what I was working on (which for me was developing my career and supporting myself financially).
2. First Supply Yourself with What You Need
It’s important to know yourself, and what you need to keep yourself feeling happy and productive. For some, this is having a solid social circle, an awesome gym, or even knowing that you’re able to do something new every single day.
Whatever this is for you, this is your first priority when settling down.
It’ll prevent any personal crises or feeling like you’re wasting your time, which can also be a problem when traveling non-stop for longer periods. Remember that a tower can only be built on a solid foundation, after all…
3. Stay Curious and Open-Minded
The reason I hate being still is that I know I’ll slowly begin to get comfortable being like that. It’s a recipe for complacency, and not one that I like, or think helps to build a more exciting and satisfying life.
A good way to stay open-minded is again to set a daily goal to try something different each day (or every two days if you’re strapped for time). From trying exotic new foods to talking with that spicy stranger in the park, life feels best when you know it’s going to be different each day.
Travel or settle down on the road
Settling down while abroad is a great way to change things up when traveling, and of course, will be needed in certain cases too.
From enjoying a new culture on a much deeper level, to creating some much needed structure, it’s a very rewarding experience. It’s not without its challenges too though, where you may have new difficulties that you’d never thought you’d have before in your life.
I personally think everyone should do it once. After I’d traveled for 14 months straight, near the end it started to wear me thin both physically and mentally.
Now after a 6 month pause, I feel revitalized and ready to get back out there and start exploring again.
Have you got any settling tips you’d like to share? How about your own experience living somewhere foreign? Let us know below in the comments.
See our best backpacking South America route for more travel tips.
👉🏽 P.S. If you’ve found this guide helpful, buy us a coffee here to say thanks! Or, support us by downloading our South America Travel Bible to get our best content.
“Dear traveler! Some links in this post contain affiliate links. Meaning, if you click through and make a purchase, book a hostel or sign up for a tour, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Your support means a lot and helps us to carry on traveling and maintaining the quality of this site for you.”
