Very true, @anomadsoul. I think it's a BIG mistake to assume to be able to cover any expenses with ONLY steemit. Great respect to you for trying, especially while traveling! However, let's think about what people usually do on facebook anyway: reading and sharing stuff, linking things they've found on other sites, posting photos and telling stories about them, or in many cases just commenting, commenting, commenting... and nobody even thinks about earning a penny. Apply the same to steemit, it's what you would do anyway, but more presentably, more originally (or call it personalized) less copy-pasty. For that the 1-2 dollars for a post is an amazing reward. I think the problem is with expectations. But the same thing could be said about any activity: The other day I sold like 30 bottles of probiotic drinks at the market. WOW, what a milestone (needless to say, I had to build up my customer base first, before reaping such a reward).