It’s All about the Benjamins, Baby: A Money-saving Odyssey in Three Parts

Alternately titled: Alanna Fancies Herself a Financial Expert

When it comes to frequently asked questions (besides that which has already been discussed), the thing that most people want to know about our trip is how can we afford it? Did a wealthy great aunt bequeath her estate to us? Did we set up a meth lab in our apartment? Did we invest our savings in Google and Whole Foods?

No, no, no, and it wasn’t gambling or a gift from God, either. The truth is much simpler: we got jobs and we saved. We decided to do something and we did it.

On paper, it doesn’t really add up. Our pay cheques are really quite paltry, the cost of living in this city is insane, and one of us just wrapped up four years of university that certainly wasn’t cheap. And yet, we’ve managed. We have more money in the bank than ever before, and we still treat ourselves to things like fancy cheeses and a bottle of (cheap, Chilean) wine more than we probably should.

The funny thing is, almost without exception, the people who ask us how we can afford it make far more money than we do, yet they are seemingly baffled by the perceived costs of a trip such as ours. This leads me to believe that there is a misconception about the costs of international travel. Sure, you could easily blow our six month budget on a six week (or even six day) African safari, spending your days tracking wildlife on private reserves and your nights in five star resorts and lodges, but you don’t have to. There are other options. Not all travel is prohibitively expensive.

A lot of travel blogs I’ve come across go into great detail about their budgets – what they estimate the costs of their trip will be, covering everything from airfares to camping equipment to immunizations. While this is absolutely fascinating for people who love crunching numbers and scrolling through Excel spreadsheets (i.e. accountants), it didn’t really do a whole lot for me. I haven’t spent a lot of time researching the cost of a bowl of mealie pap in Umtata or the cost of a dorm bed in Mwanza, nor do I think that that sort of precision is necessary, or particularly helpful to those in the process of drafting travel budgets.

I do, however, see the value in sharing some of my own money-saving tips and emphasizing how attainable long term travel really is. I honestly think that anyone (yes, anyone) can start at this point, with an empty wallet and bank account, and in less than a year be taking off for an extended period of vagabonding. If you have credit card debt, a hefty student loan, or a minimum wage job, you’re going to have to work a little harder, but I still think you can do it. Let the penny pinching begin!

Part One: In which the only math skills you need are addition and multiplication

Step one is an obvious one – decide where you want to go. Break out the old atlas (or use Google Maps, if that’s how you want to be) and have a good look at what’s out there. Since we’re talking about long term budget travel, there are a few places that you can pretty much forget about right away – mainly, Europe. Don’t let me crush your dreams of Paris and Berlin and Milan, but if you’re headed there thinking a few grand is going to cover several months of living and traveling expenses, think again. Your $35/night hostel bed in Amsterdam could buy you three or four days of beach bumming in Guatemala or Malawi. If you really want to stretch your travel dollar, you can cross off Western Europe, North America, Japan and even Australia, from the get-go, leaving yourself plenty of fascinating destinations to choose from. Travel Independent has a great section for wanderlusters trying to decide where to go and what to see.

Next, purchase a ticket. There’s a ton of information out there about this, and from what I’ve read, what it boils down to is this: air travel is expensive. There are certainly some deals to be had, and if you spend some time getting creative with your dates and pricing a variety of different airlines and ticketing agents, you just might get one of them. Most airlines will let you book fares up to eleven months in advance, and some of the best deals become available well in advance of departure. However, I would caution against becoming too caught up in getting the lowest fare. You might find that you end up having to pay several hundred dollars more because you were banking on fares dropping and they didn’t. Also, having a ticket purchased well in advance is one less thing you have to worry about as your departure approaches, and a great incentive to start saving for other parts of your trip.

Which brings us to all those other parts of your trip. Before you even get on that plane, you’re going to be doling out some cash – and no small sum either – on some rather pesky but totally necessary details like insurance and immunizations and equipment. If you don’t have a passport, you’ll need to get one. It will be the best $85 you’ve ever spent. Depending on the length and itinerary of your trip, you could be spending anything from a couple hundred to a couple thousand on travel insurance. We’re going with World Nomads, where a comprehensive six month international package costs $355. Another non-negotiable is immunizations and drugs. Unfortunately, few of these are covered by MSP or your employer’s insurance policy. It is possible to keep costs down to some extent by paring down the number of shots you get and by choosing cheaper or generic drugs (i.e. don’t get Malarone) but keep in mind that it’s your health in the balance, and $100 for a vaccine that could save your life? Sounds like a pretty good investment to me.

Another potentially major expense to consider is that of clothing and equipment. If you’ve done much traveling before, you can probably save most of your shopping dollars, but if you haven’t, you might surprise yourself with just how fast the money goes, even if you’re just picking up the essentials. Item number one on your list should be a backpack. You’re going to want something comfortable and small. Seriously – there’s nothing you’ll need for six months on the road that won’t fit in a forty litre pack. You might also want to buy some clothes to go in that pack. It’s probably not in your best interest to invest in a whole new khaki wardrobe, but a few high-quality outdoorsy items probably aren’t a bad idea. Besides that, you might want to think about purchasing things like a sleeping liner, a mosquito net, a head lamp, a travel alarm, and a caseload of DEET insect repellant (especially if you cut costs by opting out of anti-malarials).

Once you’ve added up your pre-trip expenses (which probably total somewhere in the $2500 – 3000 range) you can start estimating your on the road costs. This basically looks like this: accommodation + food + transportation + activities = don’t be totally distraught, you can do this! Honestly, staying in hostels, making most of your own meals, taking local transportation and steering clear of expensive tourist activities, you can travel in most countries (barring those listed above) for under $30 a day. You can plug your locations into this Travel Budget Calculator, and it will give you a rough estimate of how much you’ll need. Keep in mind that this doesn’t take into account costly one-off activities like shark diving and elephant riding, so any figure you come up with should be considered as a minimum. You’re going to want to add at least another thousand (or two, or three) to that number if you want to partake in such activities, or if you’re easily seduced by drink specials and full moon parties.

Altogether these things add up to a pretty sum, but think about what you’re getting – food, shelter, transport, fun – all in some of the most incredible places on the planet. In all likelihood, your on the road budget isn’t going to be much higher than your at home budget – the only significant difference being that you’re not going to have any income (unless you put a ‘donate’ icon on your blog, but you won’t see any of that here). No matter if your budget is $5000 or $20 000, it’s not as daunting as it seems. Stay tuned for part two, in which I reveal just how much the average office worker spends at Starbucks in a week, and show you how to turn your caffeine cash into a rewarding experience abroad!