The teens claimed CBP targeted them because they hadn’t booked hotels for their entire stay in Hawaii.
“They found it suspicious that we hadn’t fully booked our accommodations for the entire five weeks in Hawaii,” Pohl said. “We wanted to travel spontaneously. Just like we had done in Thailand and New Zealand.”
Heavily depends on whether you’re backpacking and staying at hostels or expecting all the usual vacation bells and whistles. But yes unless you become a digital nomad it’s not sustainable into adulthood, this is probably a gap year kind of thing. Saving up a couple of thousand working while in secondary education while still living with parents can get you quite a ways.
Also, there’s still tradespeople going on journey, with actual work visas. Tough luck doing such a thing abroad without a guild with the right contacts into state structures, staying within the EU is significantly easier.