Slow Travel Nightmare! Stranded in Chiang Mai Thailand with NO MONEY!
Meet Paul and Brooke, an American couple who left the US with a dream of building a YouTube channel and creating content while supporting themselves through their channel’s earnings. With $18,000 in savings, they set off for their adventure abroad, full of hope and ambition. Unfortunately, despite 9 months of hard work, they are facing the reality of being homeless and stranded in Chiang Mai Thailand. They’re nearly out of money and in urgent need of help.
They’ve spent the last two months searching tirelessly for online jobs and opportunities but have had no luck. The future is uncertain, and they are now facing the harsh reality of potentially losing everything they’ve worked so hard for.
We’re reaching out to you, our community, to help them get back on their feet. They need donations to their GoFundMe to survive and continue their journey. Whether it’s a donation, a job opportunity, or simply sharing this video with others, your support can make all the difference.
Please consider donating to their GoFundMe page or offering any job leads that could help them. Let’s come together and support Paul and Brooke during this tough time. Every little bit counts, and together, we can make sure their dream doesn’t end in failure.
👉https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-paul-and-brookes-slow-travel-nomads-alive
#slowtravel #slowtravelling #slowtravelSEA #slowtravelnightmare #lifeabroad #strandedabroad #retireabroad #gofundmehelp #gofundmecampaign #gofundme #gofundmeplease #slowtraveleurope
🌍 **About Warren & Julie Travel – Slow Travel Nomad Expats**
We retired early to explore the world at a leisurely pace! For the past 3.5 years, we’ve been navigating Europe, mastering the Schengen shuffle. 🐾 Traveling with our two dogs brings its own set of challenges, but it’s all part of the adventure!
🛡️ **Need Travel or Global Health Insurance?**
Check out our website for tailored solutions:
👉 [Travel Insurance & Global Health Coverage](https://www.warrenjulietravel.com/internationalhealthcoverage).
Warren is a seasoned health insurance agent dedicated to helping expats and travelers find the right coverage.
🎥 **Our Top Playlists**
👉 **Residency Programs in Europe**
[Explore Here](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkOobSSGsmh4bIB2LA_O49J7j5L59zxw2)
👉 **Slow Travel: Our Expat Cost of Living**
[Watch Now](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkOobSSGsmh55YUcfh0mleMs66T3jC4EH)
💳 **The Best Travel Cards for Saving Money**
👉 [Travel Credit Cards We Carry] (https://www.referyourchasecard.com/19o/DPVP8B8H2Y)
👉 https://www.dailydrop.com/credit-cards-2?via=warrenjulietravel
🧮 **Our Favorite Free Schengen Calculator**
👉 [Calculate Your Schengen Days] (https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/visa-calculator/)
🔗 **Stay Connected with Us!**
We love hearing from you and connecting with our community!
👉 [Facebook (Warren & Julie Travel)](https://www.facebook.com/groups/warrenandjulie)
👉 [Facebook (Home Swap Long Term Travel by Warren and Julie)](https://www.facebook.com/groups/wjtschengenhouseswap)
👉 [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/warrenjulietravel)
👉 [Website](https://www.warrenjulietravel.com/)
📚 **Chapters:**
00:00-07:00 Nightmare
07:00-14:00 How to Help
14:00-18:21 YouTube
Don’t miss out on essential information! Subscribe for more updates on living abroad, and let’s embark on this slow travel journey together! ✈️
📩 **For Collaboration and Business Inquiries:**
Email us at: warrenjulietravel@gmail.com
=============================
⚠️DISCLAIMER: We do not accept any liability for any loss or damage incurred from you acting or not acting as a result of watching any of our publications. You acknowledge that you use the information we provide at your own risk. Do your research.
Copyright Notice: This video and our YouTube channel contain dialogue, music, and images that are the property of Warren & Julie Travel – Slow Travel Nomad Expats. You are authorized to share the video link and channel and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to our YouTube channel is provided.
© Warren & Julie Travel – Slow Travel Nomad Expats
26 Comments
set up a buy me a coffee account for them
Pet or house sitting? Also cooperative living? It exists in Europe on many of the farms there. Not sure about SE Asia. I wish them the best and will add to my prayer list.
I'm confused, don't they need a work visa to work in another country? Isn't it difficult to get a work visa?
Thank you for sharing their story and we can definitely empathize with them. This is one reason why we do cost of living in the places we stay and also slow travel, it cuts down on a lot of expenses. We recently shared a video about having a family emergency while we were living in Albania and that ultimately cut our European trip short and we decided to go back to the United States for 6 weeks to be with family. Highly recommend having at least 3 months of expenses saved up and enough money for flights back to your home country. We've been traveling full time for the last 5 years and every year something has happened where we've had to change our plans due to family situations, work, or health related issues. Living a nomad lifestyle is awesome but it's always good to have a back up plan. We wish this couple well and we hope their situation turns around for them. ❤
A moving story and cautionary tale. Slow travel/nomadic lifestyle, takes research, financial planning, and bit of entrepreneurial spirit. I wish Paul and Brooke the best of luck that they can turn things around in their 3-month timeline. I've submitted support via GoFundme 🙂
Don’t even try the slow travel or retire early if you haven’t paved the way to do it with your investments or you have guaranteed income from pension or retirement accounts. Please don’t think for one second that you can start remote work if you already don’t do it.
My policy. No money, no travel.
In Thailand, there are opportunities for native English speakers without degrees. The requirements are social skills, clean cut appearance, and being substance free. There are plenty of English camp opportunities in other Asian countries nearby,— some will require police clearance reports and physical exams, and non smoking.
I'm just wondering what you are going to do now that people have donated money? Are you going back to the U.S. and start over? To work overseas you will need work visas. What are you going to do to avoid this in the future?
Thanks for sharing this couples story and helping them. You two are the best. We will subscribe to their channel 😀 and assist as well.
I'm very sorry to hear about this couple's plight. People often talk about English tutoring (not teaching, that needs certification and work experience) to foreign learners, often Chinese and making a living out of it, I don't know any resources or websites to point out. Not sure about cost of living in Chiang Mai but have heard prices have gone up in Thailand in recent times and the Philippines might be a better option. I totally agree going back to the US isn't the best idea especially as we're approaching winter. God bless and take care
Very good and educational video. Out of respect, I won't comment on Paul and Brookes situation directly other than, when they have enough for a ticket back to the US, get on a plane. Go back to your state. Get on welfare and food stamps at first to get your feet under you, then find jobs to get your life back together. You won't find any wages in SEA that are going to sustain you long term.
In general, I see a lot of Travel media doing pieces on how you can live overseas dirt cheap. $1,000, $800, $600 a month. I'm an experienced traveler. I know that's BS. When they do COL videos, it's always skewed on the low side. I wouldn't even think of traveling overseas (inexpensive countries) unless I had a solid $2,000 a month. What happens if you get sick? What happens when your phone breaks? Laptop breaks? What happens when you're robbed? What happens when your luggage breaks? etc…etc. You're right about Youtube. Do it as a hobby. For fun. If it turns into income, great. If it doesn't, not a big deal. I always remember the Warren Buffet saying…….“You don't find out who's been swimming naked until the tide goes out”.
I use this YT profile when I discuss anything financial because I don't want to be identified due to my 'high' net worth. There are so many plot holes in this story and yet the caring side of me wants to believe this is a case of garden variety financial ignorance. Either way you slice it, to have $3k in a GoFundMe is now more than enough to close it to new contributions if what you are saying / your intentions are true. You have enough to get on your feet and find gainful work or go back to the US within a month.
I have to go back to what you were thinking before you left. To take off with $18k when flights had to be more than $1k to start? Inflation is rampant all over the world and unless you hunker down with a 1 year lease somewhere – which is typically what those low budget YT videos are about, your rent / food / transportation alone will be close to budget breaking – which I am sure you realized quite quickly based on what you posted on your GoFundMe.
Then, you want to be a vlogger so you actually have to go outside that little box you now call home and do things that people want to watch (at length and repeatedly), which also costs money. People aren't going to tune in regularly to watch you walk around. What about medical? You seem to be missing your teeth (man). If one removes drug use from the possible reasoning, how are you going to pay for that? You obviously have some medical concerns that need to be dealt with.
It is hard to imagine in this day and age that people are naive to what it takes to make money remotely. There are so many videos out there talking about the reality of this type of life and the # of people who end up broke / homeless / destitute. $18k total for TWO people?!? After 4-6 months you would have seen that your YT channel was failing and you would have changed direction, so what did you do? You jumped on a plane and went to SE Asia. There are so many entry level jobs open now, some paying big money, that you could have come back to the US and the two of you together could be earning $40 / hour. At 50 hours per week, that is a 6 figure income.
I am a slow traveler with my wife. We have a $5M net worth, generate $330k / year in income and own our primary residence outright. We still budget heavily and try to keep our monthly expenses under $6k, $5k preferably, so we can save for our future, invest, and be prepared for emergencies. It also allows us to go to more expensive places like Switzerland every now and then. That brings me back to your total savings, budget and now looking for money… you want to earn $2000 / month so you can spend almost $2000 / month? My god man, this is a recipe for disaster.
The skeptic / cynic in me is wondering how many other channels you sent your email to. It is great that W&J put you on as a cautionary tale and I hope that others are watching other channels for another appearance. $3k here, $3k there, etc sure does add up to a nice income without much effort. That money will also soon be gone so this is an opportunity to do the right thing in the face of those that have given their hard earned money to support the (poor) decisions you have made with yours.
Ultimately, you have to look in the mirror and know your truth. I will focus on mine. This may be tough love and know that I don't mean it as an insult. Where I come from, this was very gentle, lol.
Unfortunately, This is not uncommon. I lived in Thailand for years, left a few years ago when the retirement with the US embassy was dropped. Agree with the others, never slow travel if broke or don't have a nice monthly income. Most look at the internet and without exploring go all in. It is a recipe for disaster.
I agree. Get back to the US. Plenty of jobs…live in the warmer climates in a van or rent rooms until you get back on your feet. Until you can get social security, work like crazy. Retirement is not cheap. I wish you luck.
I am happy to see that there go fund me is now up to $3000. That should support them in Thailand for at least a few months.
Retail, bartending and serving has a lot of opportunities in seasonal work in the US! Many jobs come with housing and food included too. Check out Coolworks
Thank you Warren and Julie for your kindness. Paul and Brooke's channel is great and I hope they are able to keep going. They're good people. Sending positive energy!
Also, what if you become sick and die? How will your wife get by? Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
So now they have raised more than $3000 and yet they did not buy return tickets back to the states to find work? Normally we are glad to help people that need a hand up. There seems to be a desire for a hand out here. They have said they want everything to be "on the up and up" with regards to working in Thailand but that seems disingenuous because on their last border bounce, they would not have been permitted to enter Thailand if they claimed the truth, which is they are looking for work. What are we missing?
You’re going to get through this. You are both capable and in good health. I just started my slow journey as well. I’m not so sure I would go back to the states. I struggled on $62K yr. It’s about to get worse financially speaking in the new year. As Elon Musk the American people are going to have to suffer a bit before it gets better. Easy for a billionaire to say.
You’re going to get through this. You are both capable and in good health. I just started my slow journey as well. I’m not so sure I would go back to the states. I struggled on $62K yr. It’s about to get worse financially speaking in the new year. As Elon Musk the American people are going to have to suffer a bit before it gets better. Easy for a billionaire to say.
Sad but my sympathy is limited and it is most kind to be honest. They cant find work in Thailand and they cant find work in the US. I see a pattern here. Americans, monolingual, and no tangible skills but full of entitlement and their "right" to travel. They should have stayed home and acquired marketable skills to fund their travel in the long run. Right now they should GO HOME and get on SNAP (food), welfare and medicaid. Medicaid is some of the best healthcare in the US.
My Croatian/Russian was continuous in her poor poor pitful me. Her sisters are very wealthy and will never let her homeless yet will not even co-sign … she is lovely, friendly, a great date if you pay and just cannot hold on to a nickle.
Jiminy Cricket 😊
What a great shout out. I'm sure they can do it!
Thank you Warren & Julie for showing Paul and Brooke kindness and compassion. I've subscribed to your channel , which i wasn't familiar with prior to their recent video in which they talked about your kindness. I enjoy the content of their vlogs and I'm hopeful that they will be able get work and continue their nomadic travel life.