43-year-old American lives abroad and never plans to return to the U.S.—how she travels the world on $44,000 a year

CNBC

01-05-2025

Growing up in Detroit, Nicole Brewer didn't know that she wanted to live abroad, but she had a pretty good idea that she wanted to travel.
Her first inspiration: Catherine C. Blackwell, a pioneer in African and African-American studies and the namesake of Brewer's middle school.
"She would come and tell us stories about her travels," Brewer, 43, tells CNBC Make It. "I was like, Mozambique — that sounds like a beautiful country … so that curiosity about travel was sparked at a young age."
Mozambique is still on Brewer's list — and given her track record, there's a pretty good chance she'll get there eventually.
Brewer first moved abroad in 2008 and has resided in Nizwa, Oman, since 2012. She says the Middle East has served as a perfect home base for the two big trips she takes every year, which have included vacations in Europe, Namibia, Seychelles and, most recently, Bali.
But Brewer is hardly a member of the jet set, earning about $44,000 a year between her job teaching English as a second language at a local university and her side hustles. Here's how she makes her travel-heavy lifestyle work.
Brewer's January spending is, in some ways, a perfect encapsulation of her lifestyle in Oman. Of the $4,128 dollars she spent that month, $2,630 went toward her trip to Bali. The remainder -- $1,498 – is closer to what Brewer spends in a typical month and is well below what she brings in, tax-free, from her teaching job.
How does she keep the budget so tight?
A very low cost of living certainly helps. Brewer pays about $650 a month for a furnished two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment that's just a short walk from her workplace. Utilities, such as power, water and Wi-Fi, are included.
"The only thing I pay for outside of that would be my cell phone bill," Brewer says. That comes to $10 a month.
She only spends about $70 or $80 a week on groceries, and goes out for occasional dinners with friends, who have a rotation when it comes to picking up the bill.
Insurance, a major line item in many American budgets, is covered by her employer.
At $277, cab fare came in as the fourth-largest spending category in her January budget. That may seem like a lot — until you realize it's her primary mode of transportation. The 90-minute trip to Muscat, Oman's capital, typically runs Brewer about $40. "I don't think I'd be able to do that back in the States," she says.
By keeping her expenses low, Brewer is able to save up to fund her wanderlust. Her primary job makes life easy on that front, too. While Brewer is paid year round, school isn't in session for two months out of the year.
"I have two months of paid holiday," she says. "When I travel, like in the summer or winter break, I'm still paid my monthly income."
Brewer also has enough time for a few side hustles, working as a travel advisor, blogger and freelance writer. All told, her side gigs brought in about $3,400 in 2024, enough to help fund Brewer's favorite hobby.
"Some of the income that I made on planning trips for others was income that I used for my travel," she says.
Plus, working part-time in the travel industry has its benefits.
"I definitely manage to get some travel perks for some of my trips," Brewer says. "For example, this past summer before returning back to the States, I actually ended up going to the Maldives and I had a free hotel stay there because I was going to blog about them."
Even given her low cost of living and travel-friendly work environment, globetrotting on a teacher's salary means Brewer has had to put some financial goals, such as paying down student debt, on the back burner. She also hopes to ramp up her savings and investments in the coming years.
But don't expect her to stop traveling — or side hustling — any time soon.
"I realized just how much of a passion it is, and being able to be a writer and a travel influencer, I've been able to turn this passion into an income-earning opportunity," she says. "So it's like the best of both worlds. I get to travel and make money from it on the side."