The housing situation

Planning a world trip

By Jaimy de Vries

Let’s start with the basics: a house! You probably have a roof above your head while reading this article. Luckily, then you’re one of the more fortuned ones in the world! Handling the housing situation is one of the biggest obstacles for people to overcome when going on a world trip, especially if you own. Some feel completely tied down, but having an owned house doesn’t mean you can’t take a world trip. It’s just a bit more difficult, so you need to work harder and find a creative solution. The important thing is to explore your options .

‘The key is being prepared and planning early on in the process’

What to do if you rent?

If you’re renting a house, your job is much easier. You can just give you’re landlord a notice you want to stop your contract. The worst scenario is that you’re locked into an agreement that takes you past your departure date. In that case you’re either going to delay your trip of pay whatever fee it is to break out of your contract. After you give your landlord a notice it’s important to find a place to stay in between your lease ending and your trip beginning. Maybe you have the luck you can stay for a while at your parents or friends house. You also need to find a place to store your keepings.  I know a lot of people who don’t want to give up there place. Here in the Netherlands it’s hard to find a good rental house or apartment. There are people who sublease there house. But there are risks: most contracts state that it is not allowed to sublet your house.

Our first Christmas in our rented home (2016)

What to do if you own a house?

If you own a house you will have more work to do. For some this will be easier than others. First you need to ask yourself a few questions: Do you want to return to your house after your trip? Would you prefer to sell your home? Are you underwater on your mortgage?

Return to your house

If you want to return to your house after your trip you have a few options:

  1. Find a person you know to rent you place while you’re gone. With the currents difficulties on the housing market you probably have some family, friends or recent college grads who are looking for a house to rent.
  2. Rent to a stranger: if you don’t know anyone in your circle of family and friends, or it’s your preference, you can rent your house to strangers. Put your house up for rent in the local newspaper, place an add on social media or on an online marketplace (craigslist). This will obviously be more work on your end, and it’s probably a good idea to have a go-to person in your hometown to look after things for you. It may cost you a bit more money and stress than if you rent to someone you know or sold your house, but if you know you want to return home, how much is it worth to you? 
  3. Do a home exchange: Another option for long-term travelers is doing a home exchange, which is exactly what it sounds like. You list your place and date availability, start searching and inquiring about places you may like to stay, and then work something out with the person who wants to swap houses/apartments with you.

You want to sell?

If you’ve decided you want to sell your place then start talking to your real estate agent as soon as you know what you want to do. You want to do this as early as you possibly can. The more time you give yourself, the better. While this may mean that your house sells earlier than what is ideal, I’m guessing you’d rather have to find a place to live for a few months than pay your mortgage while you are on the road.

Ask yourself some questions beforehand: If you sell early, where will you live? Do you have family or friends to stay with? Have you looked into short-term rental options where you live? Can you start your trip earlier than planned?f your departure date is nearing and you haven’t sold yet, what will you do? Can you delay your trip? How many months can you afford to double up and pay your mortgage while you’re on the road?

Knowing what you are going to do in every situation prepares you and makes everything less stressful.

What I did....

‘For me this step was quite easy and I had lots of luck. Before my wake-up call (see post why a world trip) I was looking for a house to buy. But the house prices went up to insane high prices. When my ex-boyfriend and I broke up, it was simply not possible to buy a house by myself.  I got stuck at my rental room and after a couple of years I even went back to live with my parents. That sounds like bad luck right? Well…At that time my parents were busy building their own house. They had quite some land 

….so they planned on building a garden house and they suggested that I can rent their garden house (my own little house of 60 square meters), where I can come and go whenever I want. That would be so great in combination with my plans for traveling around the world! Maybe my bad luck with the increasing house prices wasn’t so bad…..maybe it was a sign of the universe not to buy a house, so I had the possibility to go on a world trip? Who knows…?’ 

In 2021 we started building the house from the ground. We did almost everything ourselves. My father coordinated everything. He is so handy!  In December 2021 I moved to the garden house.  Underneath some photo’s of us building the house.

Special thanks to Bootsnall.com for all the guidelines and information on how to plan a round-the-world trip!