Hello! I’m James.
Have you ever wanted to go travelling but didn’t have the money, or gone travelling but had to return home earlier than you wanted because you ran out of savings? I’ve been travelling since October 2018 while doing a professional job remotely to make this lifestyle financially sustainable. Since I started travelling, I’ve met lots of people who are surprised about this and ask how it’s possible to work and travel so I’ve decided to set this blog up to talk about it, while sharing some travel tips and stories.
Growing up, I wasn’t that interested in travelling. My parents didn’t have much money and holidays as a child were mostly to a small town in Italy to see my father’s side of the family. It wasn’t until a couple of more adventurous holidays in my mid-twenties that I became interested in travel. I started maximising my annual leave from work to get away on more travels but the professional demands of being an accountant meant I was always limited to a few weeks away at once, which is less than ideal when there’s a big country I want to explore and the long haul flights there and back take up two days… not to mention jetlag and the cost of them!
I started thinking about quitting my job, renting my flat out and going backpacking for a year or as long as funds would allow. Then I started thinking about all the places I wanted to go in different corners of the world and all the possibilities, one year wasn’t going to be enough. Around this time it occurred to me how much of my job was done online. I didn’t need to be sitting at the same desk in England every day to do this, it could be done anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection. I could work while travelling and, as long as I was sensible about money (without limiting myself to the bare minimum), I could earn enough to keep travelling. After some negotiations with my employer at the time, I agreed a freelance role with them, whereby I would be doing a part time version of my old job, with the elements that couldn’t be done remotely stripped away. Shortly after, I gained some other freelance accountancy work so I’m not dependent on one income source.
This has been a big lifestyle change for me and I want to show that you can do the same.
Get in touch
The best ways to get in touch with me are through the contact page or on Instagram @backpackandwork – I reply to every email and DM I receive.