As far as I am aware, what you are describing - a merchant caravan escorted by paid guards - is mostly an invention of role-playing games and fantasy literature, rather than an accurate reflection of medieval Europe. Medieval Europe lacked the infrastructure - roads, way-stations, traveling inns, etc - to make a proto-stage coach viable. If you had cause to travel far, but lacked the money to buy a horse, you almost certainly walked, though where necessary (to cross an ocean) you might have taken passage on a ship. The poorer you were, the less likely you would have had the opportunity or need to make a long journey. The only exception would be going on pilgrimage, and even then, most pilgrims went to fairly close shrines. Canterbury for the English, Santiago de Compostela in Spain, etc.