How To Create A Travel Budget- Tips & Tricks for How to Save for Travel

So you want to travel, but you don’t necessarily know how much you should budget while away. This blog will show you how to create a travel budget. Whether you are embarking on a two week vacation, or a year long adventure around the world, we will take you through the steps we take to set up an appropriate budget for each country we visit. Hopefully this can help you on your next trip on the road!  

STEP 1

Google Search: Prior to leaving, we typed this simple phrase into Google – ‘what is the average cost per day in _____’ (insert the country, or city of preference). Generally, you will get a plethora of results and some sites may even break it down for you in categories. For example, average cost for the budget traveler, average cost for regular traveler, and average cost for luxury traveler. Depending on what category you feel you fall in, use those prices. Also be sure to use the most up to date prices shown!

STEP 2

Breakdown: Once we have a thorough understanding of the average cost per day, we break it down. Average cost per day on accommodation. Average cost per day on food. Average cost per day on transportation. Average cost per day on activities.

How To Create A Travel Budget

STEP 3

Math: After we gather the average price per day for the given country, we multiply that price per day by the total number of days we are planning to visit. For example, the average cost per day for a budget traveler in Laos is around $15, multiply that by 14 days (2 weeks), you get $210. Thus, a backpacking trip for two weeks in Laos will cost roughly $210 per person.

Tip: This process requires you to be brutally honest with yourself and the style of travel you want. If anything, always expect to spend more, rather than less. Aim high, because then if you end up spending less than anticipated, you will be pleasantly surprised. 

STEP 4

Take Out Money: We find that the best way to get money is through the ATM. Using our debit cards we try to take out as much as we can that fits within our budget one time. That is because each time you pull out cash from the ATM, you acquire ATM fees. These fees can add up, so if you can pull out a solid amount we recommend that. We understand that some of you may be thinking, “Isn’t that unsafe to travel around with that much cash on hand?” In short…yes. However, the luxury of traveling as a pair is that you can split it up. We have a method of hiding our cash in various places between the both of us within our bags and it works for us!

How To Create A Travel Budget

STEP 5

Spending: Once we have the money converted to the correct currency, we input the average price per day into an app called XE Currency. So let’s say the average price per day was $15 per person in Laos. We would multiply that number by 2 and input that dollar amount into the app. $30 USD in KIP, (Laos currency), is roughly 255,000 kip.

STEP 6

Adjust: Now for us, since we are long term travellers, we tend to cut this number down immediately. We would rather input in our minds that the average price per day is lower, so that we are pleasantly surprised in the end. In this case we actually mentally told ourselves that our daily budget was 170,000 kip between the two of us per day. We find that cutting the number down also helps us in other ways. While we do our absolute best to stick to it, we are also not as hard on ourselves if we decide we want that extra brownie, or beer after dinner!

STEP 7

Stick to It: Do your absolute best to stick to this budget. This may mean prioritising the activities you do. Understand that this is a process of give and take, so if you want to embark on all the tours, you may have to stay somewhere not as nice. Understand what is a priority for you and your needs. For us, we like to stay in places that are generally a bit nicer than a hostel.

While we love hostels and stayed in our fair share back in the day, we are now traveling as a couple, so we prefer the privacy. That being said, a private room can be a bit more than a shared dorm, therefore we generally give up in the food department. We try our hardest to refrain from fancy date nights and find those hole in the wall spots to dine. We also limit our partying, which is a huge money saver!

How To Create A Travel Budget

We hope this guide helps you to plan out the perfect budget for your next trip! Always remember if you have any questions feel free to email us or message us on the gram! We are more than happy to help! 

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