Budgeting for an adventure in 2023?
Kate, Owen & Monique take you through planning your next overseas (or interstate) vacation, including saving and planning for your trip, helpful travel apps, managing your money on the road and break down a potential travel budget for London, Japan and Port Douglas.
✈️ Send us your travel tips, and we’ll share them in our next Money & Chill episode!
Step 1: Plan the vision for your adventure
Are you able to plan 12 months ahead for your international adventure?
Working out the broad vision for your trip and where you want to go is an important starting point.
This will not only help you to work out the approximate cost of your trip, but it will help you stay on track with your goals.
Step 2: Budgeting for your adventure
If you’re planning to backpack around Thailand it’s going to be a completely different cost to spending a week in London, so it’s good to work out the general travel costs in different countries for your travel type (backpacker, comfort, luxury).
Sadly, if you want to leave Australia it’s going to cost quite a bit.
Your flight will probably be one of the more expensive elements of your trip, so working out the travel costs is a big part of figuring out your overall budget.
Spend some time searching online for travel blogs that break down the daily cost of travelling in the countries that you’re interested in.
It’s always better to overestimate and have some breathing room when you travel, than having to scrape the bottom of your savings because you underestimated the costs of food.
Step 3: Set your savings target & revise your budget
Once I identified my major fixed costs (flights, passport renewal, travel insurance etc.), I then identified a base daily rate that works in general for where I wanted to go.
This gave me an approximate overall cost for the trip, which I was then able to start planning around.
I then broke that total figure down over 12 months to work out exactly what I needed to save each month. You will need to build your budget around this goal to ensure you can reach it in your desired timeframe.
Step 4: Automate your savings goal
When it comes to reaching any financial goals, taking friction out of the process helps point you in the direction of success.
If you need to save $500 every month to reach your goal, set up a separate bank account and auto-transfer into that account the necessary amount after you get paid. If you never saw the money in your bank account, then you’re less likely to spend it.
⚙️ Sound interesting? Check out our 100% FREE Automate Your Money Course.
Step 5: Start planning out your trip
When you go on your adventure, you’re probably planning to be a little spontaneous, however, it might end up blowing your budget out of the water.
Ending up in Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Tattoo with no accommodation booked could be a costly mistake!
Make sure you understand the general layout of your trip and the most efficient ways to travel between locations before you set foot out the door.
Step 6: Book major expenses early
While you might be planning to save up for your entire trip before booking anything, you can often take advantage of great deals and promotions if you book early.
It’s definitely a balance, as you don’t want to be locked into any fixed expenses if your plans change, however, areas like flights and travel insurance might be worth keeping an eye on.
👀 Importance of insurance
From Smart Traveller: Travel insurance is especially important if you need medical assistance. Healthcare overseas can be very expensive. Most countries won’t give you free care, or subsidise the cost of your care. You, or your insurer, must usually pay full price.
💸 Spending overseas & money backup plans
Here are a few questions to consider if you’re travelling to a different country:
- Backup cards?
- Do you know your login details?
- Can you receive an SMS code?
- Do you want to take a backup device?
- Should you convert currency before your trip?
- Cash, card or both?
📱 Helpful apps
- Skyscanner
- Hostelworld
- GetYourGuide
- Booking.com
- Maps lol
- Rome2Rio
