You can't spend 8 years traveling the world without quite a bit of money. The author should look at his own life before telling others that they don't need money; it sounds like luxury to me.
When I first started traveling for long durations, I quickly realized that my biggest expense was keeping my life in the USA alive. Once I ditched the apartment/car payment, I found that I could live substantially cheaper on the road than I could back home.
As an example, living and climbing on the beach in Thailand, I could pay for my monthly rent/food/beer expenses with a single day of billable work. I had a laptop along for exactly that purpose, and as a result I ended up padding out the savings quite a bit by living in a tin shack on the beach.
You think travel is expensive because vacations are expensive and that's your only experience with travelling. A week in Hawaii costs about $10k for your family all in, so naturally it must cost me ~$500k a year on the road, right? I'll leave it to you to do the math on what you actually end up spending when you're paying local rates for accommodation and travel in 3rd world countries, but the answer you're working toward is $500-$1000/month.
However, I still see this type of travelling as a luxury. I would not fly off to another country for 6 months or longer, without a significant amount of savings.
Not everyone can necessarily do a bit of freelance work when they are abroad. As a former freelancer who who's spent several years now working full-time in an office, I have lost a lot of my freelance network of clients and contacts. Furthermore, if we're looking outside of the Hacker News community, not everyone has a skill that can be as easily marketable from a distance.
Trying to establish a freelance network back in your native country, once you're abroad could be an option for me, although not one I would rely on for my survival. I would also not rely on acquiring work visas, either. Especially if I couldn't prove to the relevant authorities that I had enough existing savings to not be a burden.
So unless you're a person in a particular situation in life, with a specific skill set, you will still be spending a reasonable amount of money during your months or years abroad. Add to that flights, insurance (maybe you're not too keen on cheap surgery in a third world country), vaccinations, the loss of maybe a few years contributions to your retirement savings, the cost of reintegrating yourself into your country when you return. Things get expensive. Although I previously did not think so, I would now definitely consider long-term travelling (with the intent of returning) a luxury.
Edit: That's not to say it's not a good idea. Or that it's impossible. As far as luxuries go, it's a very good one to go for.
It's less common to see Americans doing this, but you'll be hard pressed to find a Brit or Aussie who didn't take a Gap Year at some point.
Gap years aside, I'm referring to sustainability when trying to do the work you want to, travelling and living frugally. Perhaps the author of the blog post was waiting tables for 8 years, in which case I apologise. But I'm assuming that, like me, they're a person who might have a bit of savings, and has a skill set in an industry that is location-independent. As such, doing work we are qualified in, on the road, is an option that is available to us. However, I acknowledge that doing so is a luxury. I do not believe I would be able to do so if I was penniless and didn't have a fair amount of work experience.
I didn't mean to be a killjoy. Doing what the author of the blog post did is something that I aspire to do. And as someone working hard towards that goal (work fulfillment + location and financial independence + guaranteed retirement income), I feel that presenting the bigger picture is important.
Not true. Sure, it's common enough for young people to take a gap year before or after university, but not everyone does - I certainly didn't. Among those who don't go to university, taking a gap year would be the exception rather than the rule.
I've been working abroad for over a year now. Make it happen and go where you want. Kids are easy to travel with in most countries too.
In my eyes, 8 years of constant travel would be expensive. Compare that to 8 years of working on the same spot.
These are costs that would be decreased.
My thought was that: you have to make concessions beyond what you would normally have in your life and that, to me, is proof that you are undertaking in a luxury which you can not easily afford.
Which brings me to my original point: when it's clear that the ability to travel requires money can somebody then genuinely advise others that more money doesn't solve a problem?