Description

How to Budget for Backpacking; The Girls Guide

4 years ago I spent over 2 years travelling 14 countries with Sean & 2 friends.

I wasn’t handed any money to do this, We travelled through South America, China, India, Southeast Asia & Australia, saw 5 of the 7 world wonders & had the absolute time of our lives. Want to know how I did it? Read on.

Firstly, documenting my travel experiences has been, by far my most requested post but, it can be hard to know what angle to take; we could sit here for weeks & I wouldn’t be able to tell you all the stories/ things you need to know so I’ve whittled it down to this topic. If you’d like me to talk about it from another angle make sure to comment on this post!

————————————————————————————–

To start:

I’d just qualified in nursing when I started organizing the trip so I was earning a full time wage for the first time in my life & certainly making the most of it! Our plan was to travel 10 countries before we landed in Australia leaving us with enough surplus cash to start a life in Melbourne- not the way it panned out by the way!- We each had roughly €150 when we landed in Oz with no supports in the city we wanted to live in… but we managed. (that’s a whole story in itself!!)….

Estimate your Budget

We estimated that we’d want €10,000 for the first 10 months of the trip which was roughly €30 a day. Note: The only thing we had pre-payed for in the entire trip was 1 flight into Brazil, another flight from Peru to China & accommodation for the Rio carnival… every single other flight/accommodation/ living expense was paid for with the €30 daily budget.

I worked for a year & a half before we jetted off and I did the following to get the money I needed-
I saved €2,000
I sold my car for €1,000
I took out a €7,000 loan

I also did stalls at the Dublin flea market which made me about €600 – that went towards shopping for the trip.

That ten thousand euro got me 10 months travelling across 3 continents. I never once felt broke until the day we landed in Australia (because we were SO broke!) and our budget never compromised the experiences that we had.

I worked for 6 months in Melbourne after that 10 months, saving enough money to buy a van, build a home inside it & travel the length of Australia. Then, worked another 2 months back in Melbourne which afforded me 4 months travel on the way back to Ireland.

I agreed with my bank to delay my loan repayments for the first 2 years meaning I didn’t have to worry about them while travelling. Then, the tax I was owed back from that 8 months working in Oz paid off my loan on return to Ireland meaning I was debt free within 6 months.

—————————————————————————————————————-

Here’s my advice on how to budget for a backpacking experience:

Before you go:

*If you’re going for more than 6 months, book your trip independently! We originally sought to go through a travel company but then realized they were trying to rip us off and dictate our itinerary. By booking independently we could plan our route whichever way we wanted and, go to the embassies in Dublin ourselves which cut the visa costs in half.

*Don’t over pack. Seriously. If you don’t absolutely LOVE it.. take it out of the bag. No matter where in the world we found ourselves, we always managed to do a bit of shopping picking bits up as we went so, that fear of not being able to get new things along the way is unfounded. Pack light & you can replace the items that get damaged/ you get bored of along the way.

Paying excess for overweight luggage is an expense you will regret. I managed to pick up beautifully unique pieces along the way that easily replaced any high street item I’d insisted on bringing with me.

*Do you spend a lot of money on personal upkeep? Trips to the hairdresser? Waxing? This is a sure fire way to burrrrrrn money as you travel and, will end in disaster with some back alley ‘beauty salon’ sooner rather than later (trust me!). Consider letting your natural color grow out before you go, get used to going without gel nails and invest in an epilator for DIY bikini maintenance. The more natural you are heading off the better.
Anyway, a tan is an excellent distraction from all manner of dodgy hair days!

*Don’t be scared into booking any accommodation before you go!! Here’s why: 99% of the places we stayed in over the 2 years didn’t even have Internet access, let alone a website. Most places with websites are automatically higher end than your average backpacker guesthouse so, you’ll have forked out 10 times more for a place to stay than the backpackers who rocked up & checked in somewhere for the night.

(Side note: I’d also personally advise against booking all of your flights in advance… one of the best parts of travelling is the freedom you feel & the fact that you can move around or stay as you please; if you have flights booked then you’re tied to a schedule which puts a less spontaneous spin on the overall experience)

—————————————————————

When you’re away:

*Don’t accept the first price you’re given!! Most countries are still unfamiliar with set prices & the price often gets a severe hike as soon as they see an unfamiliar face coming. Never accept first price.

*Learn some simple phrases in each language that you’re immersed in… not only is it basic manners, it’ll also allow you much great bargaining powers when the person realizes you haven’t just stepped off the plane (… even if you have!)

*Eat.The.Local.Food. I can’t stress this enough!! Eat the street food, eat where the locals eat, can’t read the menu? There is no menu? Point at what someone else is having or let the chef choose!

Half the adventure is delving into the culture of any country you’re in and if food isn’t a significant part of that culture you’re not looking in the right places! Suuuure, we had a western meal here & there but, eating locally saved us money, provided us with some very interesting experiences and never increased our chances of getting sick (Ironically, I spent 3 days in a Cambodian hospital after splashing out on a very dodgy club sandwich in a ‘western restaurant’)

*Travel at night. In most parts of Asia & South America is commonplace for backpackers to travel by night bus…. not only does sleeping make the travel go a lot faster; this also saves money on a night’s accommodation. Another way to save money on travel is to take alternative methods such as local busses for relatively short journeys or, tuk tuks instead of taxis.

*Consider working to live; by the time we’d gotten to Laos in southeast Asia our funds were running low so, we took jobs in a Vang Vieng ‘tubing bar’ (YouTube that shit, seriously!). This covered all of our living expenses in return for work & was, without doubt one of the highlights of the trip. We ended up staying 3 months & making memories that’ll last a lifetime.

*Consciously plan ‘cheap days’ on your trip where you aim to spend under €10… stay in & socialise with other backpackers, eat in the cheapest restaurant you can find & spend the day relaxing on the beach. Doing days like these every so often will allow for the more expensive days when you just HAVE to go to the best steak restaurant in Argentina (damn right you do!)

*If you’re running low on money towards the end of your trip why not busk for some extra cash? In Bangkok we bought jewelry in bulk to sell on the beaches in Thailand as a great way to acquire some extra funds.

If you’re based in a city for a week or more do the following;

1) Source the local equivalent to the dublineventguide.com to find out whats going on for free around you… this is an amazing way to get in with what the locals are doing and, find out about discounted tickets.

2) Consider renting through Airbnb.com… we rented through them in Buenos Aires because we’d heard it was an expensive city. By having access to a fully equipped kitchen we could eat in a few nights, make breakfast & prepare snacks for our days out. This saved us a huge amount of money, allowed us to really enjoy our meals out in the city and, allowed us a break from having to eat out for every meal which gets tiresome after a while (even for me!)

*Be smart. Sounds simple enough but, by not just walking into the first guest house or restaurant you see you’ll become aware of what the price point is for these things in the area, making you more aware of when you’re getting ripped off-

When we arrived somewhere new 2 of us would wait with the bags while the other 2 walked around pricing accommodation… by not having our heavy bags on our backs we didn’t feel under pressure to take the first place we came across which saved countless money in the long run.

Spend, Spend, Spend!

*Finally, spend your money!! Sounds like an odd way to end a post on saving but I’m saying this for the following reason: We regularly met backpackers who were so strict on their budget they’d turn down anything & everything for cost saving reasons-

What’s the point in being in Rio if you won’t go out for carnival? What’s the point in being away for your birthday if you can’t even celebrate it? Enjoy your money even if it means having to come home a month early. We really splashed out a few times and enjoyed every minute of it.

Well, I really hope this was helpful, if this is inspiring you to take a trip then DO IT. There’s never a ‘right time’ and the later you leave it in life, the less likely you are to go.

Take the risk, book the tip, make it happen. After all; l if you never jump, you’ll never fly.

xx