“Don’t Worry About Money, Just Travel” Is Bad Advice

There are other options. You could teach English. I was able to live in Japan for 3 years doing this. Not only was I able to support myself, but traveling to other parts of Asia (and even Australia) were much less that it would have been if I flew from the US.

After I got sick of teaching, I found some remote jobs online and did that till I decided to come back to the US.

I came back with no debt or gaps in my resume. For the remote jobs, future employers didn't even know I was out of the country.

Most people don't want to do this though. Many of the people I met along the way would rather just party every night and do nothing until they run out of money and are forced to go home.