“Aussies love to travel, but what does it mean for your budget and your investments?”

On our South American backpacking honeymoon, Mrs DebtMan and I wrote an email from a Bolivian internet cafe with this subject line: “Tear gassed in La Paz!”

The student peasants were revolting (of course, says Mel Brooks) and police had tried to disperse them. Wind had pushed the vapours up the hill to where we were, several blocks away, and our eyes were watering.

The email was sent to the usual friends and family. It was stupid to include family. “Come home now!” came the howling over-reaction from my mother-in-law. “We’ll pay for the tickets. It’s too dangerous.”

Regular breaks are crucial to your mental wellbeing. As they say: “All work and no play made Jack a boring git”. The world has too many boring gits.

Travel doesn’t have to be expensive. Or dangerous. I hear, from Catriona Rowntree, that cheap, safe, even tear-gas-free, holidays can be had in many parts of the world.

The expense is largely a choice. Accommodation and restaurant meals are budget blowers.

Visit the local supermarkets. Grab some rolls, fillings and a bottle of vino and sit on the beach, or in the local gardens with a book. It’s a great way to keep your costs down.

Lessons for your investments? It should remind you to expand them! Regular investing will help you create passive income streams that will allow you to travel, possibly permanently.

Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and a licensed financial adviser.