About Me
My name is Paul. I'm a British-born, New Zealand-raised expat who now spends around 8 months of the year traveling, currently based mostly in Thailand.
I left the UK with my parents as a kid for New Zealand, and once I was old enough I set off on my OE (Overseas Experience) — the working holiday most young New Zealanders and Brits do at some point. Along the way I worked as a head barman, cooked in a kitchen a few days a week, picked apples in the fields of southern England, helped run a bike shop on Australia's Gold Coast, and hired out rollerblades, bikes, and scooters to schoolies in Surfers Paradise. I met a few TV celebrities along the way too, one of the odd perks of working tourist towns.
For the last 20 years I've kept a base in New Zealand while running a pest control business called Mayfair Pest Control , and working my online business called Ezyrank , in SEO and affiliate marketing. That online work is what eventually gave me the freedom to travel properly, and starting No Trip Too Far came out of a simple frustration: I could never find the travel information I actually needed, written by someone who'd actually been there. So I started writing it myself.
Living Abroad Isn't hard
It comes down to your expectations. You can make living overseas as cheap or as expensive as you want. You don't need to be an expert in anything, and you don't need to be wealthy to travel or live abroad long-term.
You don't even need to speak the local language before you go. Translation apps and language-learning tools have made that barrier much smaller than it used to be. If you're willing to adapt, there's very little that can actually stop you.
Living Abroad Doesn’t Take Lots Of Money
When I move to a new country, I'm not budgeting like it's a two-week holiday. I work out what it actually costs to live there for months at a time, and the number is almost always smaller than people expect.
Right now I'm living in Thailand, and it's costing me around $500 USD a month, including going out. I'm not paying rent at the moment, which normally runs another $300 USD or so, so on a typical month here you're looking at close to $1,000 USD to live pretty well not just surviving.
When I lived in the UK, we still managed to save plenty. It comes down to whether you're spending toward something specific or toward saving. You can do both, on the road, if you find the balance. I'll be breaking down real costs for specific destinations as I write about them.
Why I Write About My Adventures
To show people that most travel dreams are more achievable than they think.
To make the point that living in another country doesn't have to wait until retirement.
To stop people waiting for the "right" moment that never quite arrives.
To prove that a travel-first lifestyle is possible regardless of your starting point.
If any of that pushes you to actually book the flight, it's done its job. Check out everywhere I've covered on the destinations page.