heffa

I have a collegue who I from time to time meet on the road. He has giving up his appartment and lives mostly out of hotels. He's from a large "University town" and rents a room out of an appartment with three other guys, where he has his basic stuff. As I understand it, he's there about once a month.

TRAVELSIG

Yes you got bad information. I had the latest set of additional pages added in November 2006 without a problem- if you are outside the US it is free and usually takes around 3 hours. Very good service...

cbellero

Thanks. I will keeep this in mind and perhaps look for something on the State Department's web page before I go to the consulate the next time.

stimpy

Sometimes it only takes 20 minutes, like at the Shanghai embassy. Amsterdam is another good place to get it done. Maybe Berlin is weird or you talked to the wrong person.

grahamb

Some of us are fortunate enough to have the company pay for that 20ft or 40ft container

I agree with the sentiment that moving around is a great time to declutter (and we do see it as that) but I also like the fact that wherever home is, there will always be things from our previous homes around the world. It's also nice now that we're starting a family - I want to be able to have some continuity for the kids to help them settle into wherever we end up every few years.

Why do you need to settle down anywhere? I couldn't live out of a hotel as BostonJim is planning but over the last few years, I've recognised that our current lifestyle of moving to a new country every 4 years or so is very good -new cultures, new experiences, etc. As our children reach school age, the style and frequency of moves may change but I no longer think that we'll settle down somewhere at the end of it all.

Internaut

I've spent less than 40 days in the place called home in the last year but home is where the heart is. Besides, I've been missing the dog and the dog is getting to a time of his life when he will need me. So, I hope much of the next year will be at home with shorter site assignments.

cbellero

If you take a Middle East Assignment you will normally get the equivalent of 40 kg extra luggage per person. This can turn out to be a lot of cash which can in turn be used to ship a container.

I personally am at a watershed moment - wondering if I should get rid of all my possessions which have been in a home that I haven't visited in 6 months. It gives you a sense of freedom to not have anything. However, it also is nice to have something that is yours in a place to call home.

sethb

I once read about somebody who took 365 days of on-the-road travelling expenses off his taxes (travelling saleman who was never at home). The IRS said that since he was on the road for 365 days that year, he didn't get to deduct "away from home" expenses because he had no home to be away from.

cbellero

That is pretty cheeky of them. I suppose he should have gone home one day of the year, incurring additional expense and causing the IRS to "lose out" on more tax revenue. Tax authorities everywhere are ridiculous.

pbarnette

Only sort of cheeky. You already get a standard deduction, which is intended to defray the basic costs of housing. If you are living on the road, you don't have the double expense of maintaining a separate home. So why should one be able to deduct those expenses again? Wouldn't this be (more than) doubling your deduction? That doesn't seem overly fair to me either.

All that aside, I do think it important to think carefully about the tax implications of living on the road, as you may find you open yourself to multiple jurisdictions claiming that you owe them tax - I know Massachusetts won't let you out of paying very easily if you can't show a new home somewhere else. A little planning ahead will save some headaches down the road.

cbellero

I agree with you that careful planning is necessary. Most likely a tax adviser is required.

Btw, I was under the assumption that the 365-day traveller was actually maintaining a home. If that is the case, then I think he should still be able to deduct everything.

BostonJim

Thank's again everyone.
I never thought about the possibility of losing my tax deduction and will talk with my accountant about it.
Jim

yashan

Correct me if I'm wrong but one of the biggest complaints of a constant traveler is living out of a suitcase, right? While I understand the need to give up permanent residence and relocate to a hotel, doesn't it become a bigger inconvenience when you keep hopping hotels? You'd still have to keep packing, moving, unpacking, etc. I guess I always pictured Max Power's approach to "living" in a hotel rather than holtju2's.

szg

I think, you will get up routine.

holtju2

Bulk of my stays are in few hotels in LA area. Right now I am on a long vacation and traveling in four different continents.

I had plenty of Hyatt FFN's available and wanted to try different Hyatt hotels in places where I hadn't been before. Now I know that I will not return to Grand Hyatt Melbourne where I would rather stay at the Park Hyatt. I also learned that the Park Hyatt Tokyo is not really that great. .

Here in Sydney I spent first two nights at the InterContinental, then one night at the Park Hyatt, following three nights at the InterContinental, and one final night at the Park Hyatt.

Writing this from the IC's Club Lounge. I told club attendant to get somebody to refresh my suites minibar.

You do learn how to live out of a suitecase, although I haven't seen my since I checked it in at the LAX 28th of January. AC found it at YYZ on 15th of last month but has not been able to deliver it to me so far.