Affording Travel Part One: Saving Money

One question I get a lot is how do I afford to travel so much. Well, I think this question is a little crazy because I think that travel is pretty easy to come by when you decide it's what you want.

Most people don't travel because they don't know it's value. They think it's both too expensive and not worth it at the same time. But I have to tell you that it's not too expensive and it's actually impossible for it to be worthless (unless you're going to Vegas, then I could tell you a million and one things to spend your money on besides that).

I am a self-proclaimed travel budget queen. I know there are about a million people on the internet claiming the same thing, but let me give you some proof.

Last summer I went to Ireland for a month on a study abroad. Sixteen people went a little early, including me. Plane tickets, hotels and food were up to each person.

• My plane ticket cost $872, everyone else paid well over $1,000
• My private hotel room in central Dublin for 10 nights cost $500 (included breakfast and laundry service)
• I spent approximately $20/day on food. 

I came home with $500 left over from my budget for the entire month.

It's doable. Travel is very doable.

That's what I'm always telling my friends and family who think I'm crazy for leaving the country every 2.5 years since I turned 17. Now that I'm graduated from college and work full time, making decent money as a reporter for a local paper (aka: I'm not exactly rolling in money) I plan on leaving the good USA at least once a year. And that's doable.

I can plan a fantastic 10 day trip to Europe, 1 to 4 countries, for less than $3,000. In fact when a friend of mine asked for help planning her graduation trip to Europe, I planned five separate holidays which varied from an in depth exploration of  one country  to a four country "see all the big stuff" first time to Europe trip. All under $3,000 (three of them cost less than $2,500). That $3,000 includes round-trip airfare, inter-city/inter-nation travel, food, hotel, and touristy things.

Now that I've sufficiently patted myself on the back, here are my tips for getting to Europe without breaking the bank. Here is my first tip:

#1- Save smart

Now I'd like to believe this is obvious, but I've had conversations with family and friends who claim they want to be able to travel, but think they should just magically have the money to go.

Three grand ain't money I brush off as chump change, but I must argue that as long as you're employed $3,000  is pretty simple to come by.  

Lessen the amount you spend on fast food/eating out. I know you don't always have time to cook and you're hungry coming home from work, but swallow the temptation to stop at Wendy's or wherever and think of the fresh crepes you'll get in Paris and go home and pour yourself a bowl of cereal if waiting to cook something with kill ya.

If you are the kind of person who buys fast food "just" twice a week, that's approximately $80 a month. After 6 months that's $480. That's a hotel/B&B for 10 days in Switzerland. Even if you only cut it down to once a week, that's $240, which will more than feed you on your 10-day vacation.

Take public transit. I learned the hard way just how quickly driving my car, paying for parking and filling up on gas adds up monthly. About $200-$300 a month for the daily commute.

Public transit can take twice as long and feel like a pain, but it'll cost less than half (and you're helping to make a cleaner safer future). In fact public transit where I'm from, for a month cost me $25. That means after one month I saved $175-$275. If you save that for 4 months you'd have $700-$1,100 saved. So, when you wake up that extra hour early and feel frustrated taking the bus, imagine the beautiful landscapes you'll see from your train window snaking up the Swiss Alps. 

If you do just the above mentioned for just six months you'd save around $1,290 - $2,130.

Stick to a plan.  Travel is a big expense however you slice the facts, but it's one of those things if you've done it you don't regret it and if you never do you always wonder about it. There are a lot of reasonable plans for saving money for travel.

1. There is the save $3 a day for a year, which gives you $1,095, enough for a plane ticket. 
2. Then there is the take a year and save $1 on week 1, $2 on week 2 all the way until $52 on week $52, which will leave you with $1,378, nearly half your budget for a $3,000 getaway to Europe (and if you're planning a trip to a less expensive destination, it'll likely pay it completely). 

Both of these savings techniques are kinda lazy too. I mean the $3 a day is basically asking you to not buy a cappuccino/beer/soda a day. Like I said before this is doable. None of this could really be described as scrimping and saving, just being smart.

Sacrifice. If seeing the world is important to you, then this isn't really a sacrifice. Everyone has something they are willing to spend a substantial amount on. My things are books and travel.

I don't like buying clothes or shoes or food, so whenever I have to spend money on any of those things I get stressed out and annoyed. It seems like a lot to me, because I'd rather spend my money on something like a weekend trip to San Francisco.

Some of you would like to travel, but it's not on your list of things that doesn't pain you to spend money on. You may be a tech lover or a movie goer or a fashionista or a foodie, but all those things are fleeting. Your iPhone 13 will be outdated in 3-9 months. Movies can be seen anywhere and eventually end up on Netflix/Amazon Prime. Your clothes will go out of fashion or not fit right in a couple years. And that unbelievable new Thai food restaurant ain't got nothing on the original.


Let me promise you something right now: Travel lasts forever.

There is nothing quite like seeing The Eiffel Tower, The House of Parliament, The Great Wall of China, The Great Barrier Reef, the Easter Island Statues, Aztec pyramids, Egyptian pyramids, the Holy Land, the Leaning Tower or Pisa, the Grand Canyon, the rain forests of Nicaragua, the lion-dotted plains of South Africa, whatever tickles your fancy. Then, after you leave that surreal experience, for the rest of your life every time you see a photo of that place, see it in a film or when someone talks about it, that feeling that leaves you in awe, will come back and fill you with the most incredible sense of a life well lived.

So, just this once, don't go out and get the newest technology, hold off on seeing all the new films, only shop at thrift shops if you must, give yourself the chance to recognize just how big the world really is.