Episode 11: Where in the World Is Worldschooling Most Affordable?

Show Notes: Worldschooling Q&A – Episode 11

Episode Title: Episode 11: Where in the World Is Worldschooling Most Affordable?

Hosts: Astrid & Clint, creators of The Wandering Daughter

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Worldschooling Q&A, Astrid and Clint dive into a big question for traveling families — where in the world is worldschooling most affordable?

They share personal stories and real-world insights from their family’s travels across 18 countries, exploring how different regions like Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe compare when it comes to cost of living, lifestyle, and opportunities for learning.

Along the way, they also unpack what “affordable” really means — from acknowledging privilege and ethical spending to finding creative ways to stretch your budget. You’ll hear tips for exploring pricier destinations through house sitting, home exchange, and slow travel — plus links to Astrid’s budget travel guides for Singapore, Mexico, and Indonesia.

 

🎧 Ready to dive in?

 

👉 For full show notes, resource links, and a complete episode guide, visit:

https://thewanderingdaughter.com/episode-11-affordable-worldschooling/

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I would
say in Latin America there was one countrythat we were surprised,
but I mean, it's still affordable,but it was.
And maybe it was just a sticker shock.
We had just come to Mexico, but,when we went to Costa Rica, we were like,
whoa, it's not as affordableas we expected it to be.
This is World. School and Q&A.
I'm Astrid,creator of The Wandering Daughter.

(00:22):
As a traveling family,we've spent four years traveling
full time to over 18countries and six continents.
Wherever we go, we try to learn
as much as we canabout the countries and cultures we visit.
While we didn't coined the term,we like to call this worldschooling.
Using the world as our classroom.
Each week, my husband Clint,and I will answer one question

(00:44):
about worldschooling and share.
Our experiencesof traveling the world with our kids.
Ready to get started?
Great. Let's dive in.
First question.
Okay.
This week,the question that we're answering is

(01:05):
are there specific regions of the worldwhere worldschooling is more affordable?
All right. Well, this is a good question.
I think this is a common one that people,especially people who live families
that live in westernized countries,like the United States, or it's more.
Expensive. Or more expensive. Yeah.
This comes up a lot.
And so, yeah, what would be the first,I guess, region.

(01:29):
And we want to say regions, becauseI think it's more than just countries.
And there may be a part of a countrythat is.
Yeah.That is a little bit more affordable.
Or there may be a bunch of countriesthat's more affordable
within a specific region. So. Yeah. Yeah.
And, I guess the other,the other caveat is like affordable is

(01:51):
relative to for people, you know, andfor us how what we say affordable is like,
we're able to have a comfortable life,
a comfortable lifestyle where we can,
do activities and have, like,eat at restaurants,

(02:12):
stay at, places without feeling
like it's, a major stress on our budget.
So I think it's I think it's a probablya good point to also
acknowledge the privilege that we have inthat and that, that,
that comfortor what we consider affordability,
is largely due to our, our incomebased in the United States.

(02:35):
Yeah. We have even dollars. Yeah.
And that goes that goes towardsthe constant theme that we are always
stressing is ethicaland responsible travel.
And part of that is recognizingthat we are traveling with privilege
and that when we are in other countriesthat are affordable to us,
it does not necessarily mean
that it is not affordablefor the people living there

(02:57):
or if there's challenges, economicchallenges in those countries as well.
Yeah. Stoicism.
Doesn't mean that it's necessarilyaffordable for them.
Yeah, exactly. Yes. Yeah.
So having said that, where would bea reason you would want to say.
I think the first one is Southeast Asia.
That,

(03:17):
we've been
to several countries in Southeast Asia.
We spent a lot of time in Indonesia,but we've also visited,
Vietnam and the Philippines.
The one country in Southeast Asiathat's an exception is Singapore,
because I feel like that country is like,
more expensive than,

(03:39):
the rest of the region.
But in general, I think you can you,
your dollar can go a long way.
If you're traveling through SoutheastAsia.
I agree. And it's no secret.
Southeast Asia is a hotspot for digitalnomads and world's going families.
You look up any digital nomad or world'sgoing family group, Facebook group,

(04:02):
in southeast or blog or anythingin Southeast Asia is often touted.
Countrieslike Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines,
Indonesia,those are all very popular destinations.
I think the one I would want to sayis Latin America. Yep.
Latin America is greatfor a number of reasons.
It's affordability, for us is really nice.

(04:24):
It's also very diverseas far as where you go.
Countries such as Paraguay versus
Colombia versus Mexico, versus Peru,
can be drastically different.
Costa Rica, for example.
But the other thing,unless you're in, say, Brazil.
The other thing is, if you're Spanishspeaking or learning to speak Spanish,

(04:46):
you have a huge, huge region that you cantravel to and practice your Spanish.
Yeah.
So it's great.
And, you know, depending on where you goin certain areas of those countries,
of those regions, the affordabilityis going to vastly change.
Paraguay, for example, is fan tastic
place to visit,but it's not a heavy tourist destination.

(05:08):
Yeah.
So pricesand things are going to be less, but
you're also going to not have as many,kind of things to do or traditional
kind of support that you would have into other places like Mexico.
Mexico is great,but depending on where you're at,
you'realso affordability is going to be less.
So say truePuerto Vallarta or Cabo or or Cancun.

(05:32):
Those places are goingto be more expensive.
Because they're popularwith tourists and vacationers.
Yeah. Yeah.
And that's across everywhere across inSoutheast Asia, everywhere we mentioned.
Yeah.
So yeah, I would say in Latin America,there was one country
that we were surprised, butI mean, it's still affordable, but it was
and maybe it was just because stickershock, we had just come from Mexico.

(05:52):
But when we went to Costa Rica,we were like, whoa,
it's not as affordableas we expected it to be.
And partially,and you might find this in other places.
And actually, it's the same in Indonesiaand parts of Indonesia, too,
because the country is so popularamong tourists
and there's a lot ofinflation, for, you know, to,

(06:15):
take advantage of the tourist dollars.
So keep that in mind as you're traveling,
and kind of choosing locations that,
there are going to be places,even if it's in an affordable
or more affordable areathat will be a little bit
more pricey if it's, has a higher,you know, foreigner popularity.

(06:38):
Yeah.
That can also address the evenwithin one city, Mexico City, for example,
you can be in the heart of Mexico City
in the downtown,and it's incredibly expensive.
The five star restaurants,that kind of stuff.
But then just some of the smallerneighborhoods, it's incredibly affordable.
And you, you still get the

(06:59):
you have the charm,I guess, of being in Mexico City.
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, the expensive places.
It's not to downplay those.
Like Costa Rica, for example,is more expensive, but they're doing
there's some wonderful thingswith eco tourism and stuff,
and Singapore is expensive.
But Singapore is a
great jumping off point, especiallyif you've never traveled to Asia before.

(07:20):
Singapore is a great jumping off pointfor anyone that's from the US or Canada,
for example.
Yeah, I.
Actually have a,blog post on my site that is,
activitiesthat you can do in Singapore on a budget.
So that's,
like, you can still have a good timein Singapore
without spending a lot of money.

(07:40):
Speaking of my blog,
I like to be transparent with the moneythat we, you know, to show
to help people, like, understand, like,how much it costs to travel and places.
So I have an article, that lists
out, like, how much it coststo spend one month in Mexico.
And I have one, similarly for Indonesia.

(08:02):
So I encourage you to checkthose two articles out on my website.
Yeah. So where else?
What about Europe?
Europe, I think is famously expensive.
But we we have mixed feelings about that.
What what would you say about Europe.
Yeah, it's it's kind of splitlike I think Eastern
Europe is generally less expensivethan Western Europe.

(08:25):
We as a family haven't doneas much travel in Eastern Europe,
but I have, in the past just, solo the,
I went to Kosovo and,
spent like a day in Sloveniaand both those places
I was surprisedat, like, oh, I was expecting, you know,
to be more expensive than the US,but it was actually,

(08:49):
cheaper than, being in the US.
Well,what do you think about Western Europe?
Can you.
Should we just rule outWestern Europe altogether?
Because it's just going to betoo expensive and we can never go.
Yeah.
No. No.
Obviously not.
There's pockets.
It's like what we were saying about,

(09:10):
Anyway, you know, the popular placesare going to be expensive,
but, like, if you go off of the offthe beaten path a little bit,
you'll find thingsthat are more affordable.
And in fact, like,we spent three months in Spain, right?
Yeah. And that was,
partially because
we were spending a lot longer,but Spain was

(09:33):
more affordable than we expected it.
When we were specificallyin the southern part of Spain, Andalucia
area, and even in the cities like Malaga,the bigger cities,
it was more affordable than I thoughtit was going to be.
Yeah. For sure.
We've been to the UK twice or once.

(09:53):
We spent a month and a half in Scotland.
Yeah, and another time we spent a monthand a half, almost two months in England.
And both those times with the exceptionof London and Edinburgh, for example.
Yeah.
We found it incredibly affordable.
The, the grocery stores, the restaurants,

(10:14):
we felt were well within our budget,
and considerably less than what we spendhere, say, in the Seattle region and.
Yeah, us. And think,
before we close out the episode, I,
I would say like, you know,
don't don't discount expensive.
I mean, this is what you were sayingearlier, like, don't discount

(10:37):
countries or regionsthat are more expensive because there's
there are ways you can be creative about,
finding ways to offset the costs.
Like one thing that we love doingis housesitting.
And that's what we did in the UK.
For most of the time that we were thereand that like, you know,

(10:57):
you pay an annual fee to be a house sitterand then you get to stay in,
in homes without paying for accommodation,but just in exchange
for watching or taking care of,the owner's pets.
So that's a good option.
Home exchange is also a good way to,

(11:17):
offset the costs of, travel,
into countries or regions that tend to bea little bit more expensive.
Yeah.
Just one quick tip on homeexchange or house sitting internationally.
Don't tell immigrationthat you're going there
and home exchanging or or,

(11:38):
how setting.
You don't they don't understandit and becomes a red flag,
and it can cost more than it's worth.Yeah.
Just say it's an Airbnb.
Your friend's house.
Yeah. Yeah. Cool.
Well, that's all for today.
Thank you for joining uson this episode of Worldschooling.
Q&A with Astrid and Clint.
Be sure to check out the show notesfor any links we mentioned in the episode,

(12:00):
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(12:22):
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(12:46):
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Until next time, happy travels. Bye.