Going Off Social Security to Travel for a Living

When I tell other people that I want to go off of Social Security, one of the most common questions I get is: “why?”

Social Security can be a safety net. But like all nets, it can trap you if you let it. For one thing, it limits my travel so that I have to be in the country at every new month. I don't like that, because as most of you know, I want to travel for a living (including out of the country).

It can also be a factor in even getting a steady job. Many jobs require a car, and I can't get driver's training or car insurance (let alone a car) with my income unless I work to supplement it. Catch-22's can get annoying sometimes.

Also, not too many renters agree to have tenants on Social Security. So, it seems my only feasible option would be to work in a menial, dead-end job close to where I live (which would be with one of my parents) for most, if not all my life, never seeing the world like I want to. This is not the case, however.

What if, instead of finding desperate ways to boost my income, I could eliminate my main expenses? That's where help exchange programs come in. My main expenses that I need right now are food and lodging. Help exchange takes care of all of that. It lets you work for room and board while traveling.

Unfortunately, help exchange is limited in legality; you can't do it legally on a tourist visa in most countries, and in a few (like the UK) it's just plain illegal if you only have a U.S. passport. However, there are numerous opportunities in the U.S. where, since I'm a citizen, they have no issues with it. Also, in Canada, you can do any sort of help exchange for up to 30 days as a tourist.

And now, my plan. I will try and do help exchange throughout the US and part of Canada from February to August. By then, I will have gone from little to no work experience to a fully employable candidate for a job I just might like, all through volunteering. During that time, I will try and get published in a few places as a travel writer. By that time, I will hopefully be off Social Security. I will keep my job for four months, then in January, I will go around Europe, continuing as a travel writer.

Review: Airpark Cafe

Review: If you want to eat delicious food in a diner just before you take flying lessons, Airpark Cafe is the place to go. It's also a good place to go if you just want to eat good food! It's a local business and family-run, and it's tucked away above the hangar of Benton Airpark, a small airstrip in Redding. They get a lot of pilots here, but also locals. The owners are friendly, and when they're not cooking, they're always happy to say hello. They almost always have food projects going, usually trying out a weekly or daily special of some sort. It's under new management as of now, but it doesn't make the food any less tasty.

Geography: This is transportation cuisine of a different sort. It's different from the Coast Starlight Diner because it always stays in the same place. It caters to people in the transportation industry as well as locals, which results in hearty and generous servings of food. It's not a fusion cuisine per se, but more of a “generalistic cuisine”. It generalizes American diner cuisine, without giving thought to regional variation. This can be a good thing: it still is good food, and catering to the common factors of regional diner food helps bring in pilots from all over the country. It also makes it very true to American cuisine; a rare quality in food in general because it can be hard to sum up the regional differences in American cuisine due to its diversity.

Car-less Travel: Redding to Arcata

Traveling Highway 299 west from Redding to Arcata by car can be frustrating.  The sharp curves, construction work, and often bumpy sections of the road can be challenging for cars.  If you don't own a motor vehicle, then you may think you're out of luck unless you take Greyhound via San Francisco.

But you don't have to do that.  There is a route you can take using a series of regional buses that goes only on the 299.  The advantages over Greyhound are: 

• It costs a lot less.  The regional bus route costs $24.35 one way from Arcata to Redding, while Greyhound costs over $100.

• You meet more locals than tourists.  Since the area of coverage for these buses are small, you often see commuters from the small towns in the area.  I've ridden the route more times than I can count, and I've never once gone without meeting a friendly local along the way.

• The other passengers will not randomly try and stab you.  There have been no combative or hostile passengers when I've ridden the regional buses.  However, every single time I've ridden Greyhound to Portland, fistfights (and more than once, stabbings) have broken out.

Here's a link to transit directions from Redding to Arcata and back:

Redding to Arcata

Arcata to Redding

Future Travel Plans: December 2014

December 2014

San Diego

Tijuana

First off, I'm going to San Diego in December.  It's easy to figure out why I would go there.  Diverse cultures, cheap eats, not Los Angeles... what more could a budget traveler ask for?  Well, I could always go to Tijuana, right across the border.

If you now are wondering whether I have officially lost my mind by going into a place that's reportedly filled with drug dealers, human trafficking, and all sorts of things which (if you're a big fan of the slippery slope fallacy) could land me in a Mexican prison, then I'd like to take a minute to tell you about my hometown (and where I currently live), Redding.

Redding is home to all of the things Tijuana is known for, at least to the same degree if not more.  Drug dealers?  Redding just to happens to be (alongside Eureka) one of the crystal meth capitals of the North State.  Human trafficking is a serious issue here, along with domestic abuse.  Another problem is a broken county mental health system, which I myself have been affected by.

With this in mind, Tijuana begins to sound like a picnic to me about now.  Unfortunately, it isn't; drug cartels do have a lot of power there.  However, I am going with a friend who grew up there, and therefore knows the ins and outs of the place.

There is also a draw for culinary travelers in and around Tijuana.  Fearmongering in the media may have hurt the economy, but it also has brought a sharp decline in stereotypical tourists who seek only places in their comfort zone.  Therefore, more travelers seeking a more authentic, realistic experience there have increased slightly.  Restaurants and food stalls are responding to this, and now Tijuana is undergoing a return to more traditional cuisine.

Launch of Car-less Travel

Hey everybody!  A lot of people, including me, don't have a car or a driver's license.  This new section will deal with traveling without one, and catalog my journeys as it relates to transportation.  Enjoy!

Catching Up...

A lot has happened since I last posted here.  The day after I wrote about the first day in Seattle, I signed up for Matador University, an online travel writing school.  Since then, I've been working on being a travel writer.  Since I started reading travelogues by Bill Bryson at the age of 6, it's always been my dream job to go out and travel, and also get paid for it.

Of course, the reality is that travel writing is a lot of work, and most writers don't make too much money.  That's why I've been thinking of things like antiquing, coding, and also making a bit on this blog by monetizing it.  This means that you may see ads in the near future on here.  I'll try and make them as non-intrusive as possible, don't worry!

I leave for Arcata tomorrow, which also happens to be my birthday.  I'm okay with that, as Arcata is my favorite place I've been to.  I'm also thinking of renting a room there, and having Arcata as my base for travel instead of Redding.

Goodbye Redding...

... and hello Arcata!