Fortunately, because of the internets, you can do your job from anywhere.You can have it both ways, but you need to learn the business side.

You don't know the business side probably because you have never attempted it. Though some people seem to shoot off faster and more successfully than others, everyone has to start off with those same stumbling first steps. You might be surprised with what you can do on that side.

The most simple and direct way to start a business which will enable you to uproot yourself is to do freelance development. This is relatively easy as starting businesses goes, but it's not as easy as showing up to your job and punching a clock. If this is something you would like to explore, then start today. Always be building your professional network through social media (Twitter and G+ are great) and look for people who need your skills. Let people know that you are looking to do independent and you might get some responses. You can also look through freelance sites like Elance and Odesk, which are easy ways to gst started if you have difficulty finding clients elsewhere.

Elance and Odesk have a reputation for being markets with horrible projects and worse pay, but that's because most of these people haven't even tried to look for work there. I routinely find projects which pay as well or better than my regular freelance rates. You need to comb through the listings to find the diamonds in the rough. In your areas of development, you will find listings where people don't know what they are bidding on and bid up crazy prices. You will see projects where you know exactly what the client is looking for and you may even be able to make a killing on it at less than what the competition is bidding for. You are a native English speaker, you know exactly what the client needs and you can give them a fair rate. Sold! This is also a good place to build up your network.

Traveling can be cheaper than you think. For example, you can live in much of S.E. Asia on less than 1K / month. In the Philippines, I have yet to live in a house / apartment which costs more than $200 / month. Utilities (internet, electric, water) are around $120 / month for me and that's high. The visa is another $60 / month. That's just $400 / month for base living expenses. Add another $200 / month for food and you are taking care of all the basics for $600 / month. Feel free to add whatever budget you like for going out on the town and travel.

Another perk of living in S.E. Asia is that flights to other areas are cheap. I can get a round trip ticket to the capital from where I live for less than $100. I haven't checked prices lately but when I first got here I could get a one way ticket to Hong Kong and Singapore for $60. There are specials like these all the time. You could pick one place as your base and use that as a jumping point to explore the rest of the region. Knock out a project, take a vacation (or work on that vacation) and then come back and get started on the next project. This is S.E. Asia, but you will find similar opportunities in S. America, Africa and even Europe. Once you have had your fill of one base, then uproot again and plant your flag in a new region.

If at some point you decide that you want to go "coding cave" and work on your own project or learn a new platform, then you could do that rather than go on vacation. Looking at the prices I gave you above, it would be easy to knock out month long project which would sustain you for 3 - 4 months of doing nothing but your own projects.

Don't like working with a bunch of clients? Get a remote job. I have had gigs which were basically long term jobs where I could put in as little as a half day and have the rest of the day to myself. These usually aren't as flexible though, and the pay usually doesn't have as much top side potential.

You can have it all, but you need to learn how to bring in client work.Start now, but don't overwork yourself. Take on little gigs. Get in touch with as many people as you can. Every new contact is a potential source of work down the road. I never run out of work. As soon as I start seeing a possible end point, a client I haven't talked to in months, maybe years comes out of the blue and asks about my availability. Once you see that you can start possibly hit larger projects (which you can't do now because of your job) and clients are contacting you enough that you believe you can stay busy, then go ahead and take the leap.

One thing that really helps is that you have savings. To do all this, you should have about six months of savings. The more the merrier. If you get beyond that then you start to get to the danger point where you get desperate for cash flow and take on jobs you otherwise wouldn't. You can do it with three months of savings, but anything less than that is danger zone. Personally, I went full backpack mode and left with just one month of savings!

Also, don't wait for the perfect moment. Start the above now to build up some clients, but set a date where you will buy your ticket. Or buy your ticket now for something like 6 to 8 months out. I was in a situation where I was waiting, waiting, waiting, but then my roommate sold his house and I had to move. Rather than find a new place, I pulled the trigger and bought my ticket. Otherwise I probably would never have left.

There are a ton of stories on HN about this sort of thing and about freelancing in general. The stuff I have posted above has been repeated here (and much more golden information) many times.

You are filling your head with incorrect info because you have never actually tried this. Take the leap and you will see it's not that hard. You will probably even wonder why you didn't do it earlier!