The problem with traveling to a cheap destination.

Kiersten Brown
Jun 25, 2024
2 min read

Updated: Jul 3, 2024

How many of us have looked at our bank account and typed into Google, "Where is the cheapest place to travel?"

I have. That's the thing about travel: there are so many facets to it. You can go all out and spend thousands of dollars on a luxury all-inclusive resort trip. There's also the option of budget travel and having more adventures and experiential travel.

With the mentality of saving money and going to places where the U.S. dollar could buy more, I was able to move out of the United States in 2017 without saving tens of thousands of dollars.

When I first moved to Panama City, Panama, I significantly reduced my expenses since I could comfortably move around the city by walking or using public transport. This saved me a significant amount of money since I didn't have to pay for gas or car insurance monthly.

Yet my money-saving mojo didn't stop there. I dramatically lowered my cost of living when I moved to a rural area known as Playa Venao.

Thus, these changes in economic status prompted me to write this article on how I lived in paradise for less than $600.

This idea of moving to a country where the cost of living is around $1,000 or less has been the driving motivation for digital nomads to move to places such as Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Spain.

Now that the digital nomad lifestyle has become trendy, I am starting to question the intention and effects of always traveling to a cheap destination.

I've been living in Spain for almost five years, and I'm starting to worry. There's this sharp, somewhat gnawing feeling in my stomach that life in Spain isn't going to continue to be as charming as it is now. Why?

Well, if more people come to Spain, "an affordable destination", with the wrong intentions, more harm than good will be done.

Tourism is good, but too much of anything can be toxic. Too many tourists can cause prices to increase, more taxes, and overcrowding.