Home / Money and Finance / Podcasts / Research / 086 – Plan your 2009 travel
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
When the economy is bad at home, living or travelling in a cheaper country might actually be a way to save money. If there aren’t as many jobs to go around in your city, find one in a completely different part of the world; have a fantastic experience and escape the moans and groans of the financial analysts. If you don’t want to work away, now’s a good time to be a tourist too – since more people are cutting back on travel, many tourist hot-spots are experiencing a drop in visitor numbers. There are less tourists around, which means there are bargains to be had if you’re brave enough to ignore the nay-sayers.
Travel is possible on almost any budget, and in any economic climate, but you need to prepare if it’s going to happen; now’s the time to start planning your 2009 travel itinerary. Set goals, make a schedule, and sort out a budget to start the ball rolling.
First, dream. Think about what you’d like to do and where you’d like to go. Write everything down, and don’t worry if it isn’t realistic. Some of the things you write will have to be scheduled for another year, but many will be possible now.
Next, plan a trip away for every month of the year, using the dreams you’ve just written down as a starting point. Plan at least one longer journey, but in the other months a trip away could be as simple as an overnight at Grandma’s or a camping trip with friends. Going home for Christmas counts too.
Sleep away at least once every thirty days, and if you’re worried about accommodation costs, try couchsurfing. Join the network and you can stay on couches all around the world for free. Not only do you get free accommodation, but you’ll be staying with someone who lives in the area you’ve landed in, and who will probably be more than happy to advise you about what to see and do.
These mini-trips are easy to plan, mostly involving pulling out a map or checking a bus timetable. But plan at least one longer trip as well – it could be as short as a week or as long as the whole year. Either way, longer trips require more consideration and planning. You’ll need to think about transport, accommodation and budget, as well as smaller details like insurance and vaccinations. Set goals and then create steps for reaching each goal.
When you’ve got ten or twelve trip ideas, you need to schedule them. Attach each idea to a date, even if it’s a tentative one, and that trip is a lot more likely to happen.
Scheduling can be a difficult process. There are a host of tools online, such as iCal, Google Calendars or Outlook, but I find it satisfying to scribble on bits of paper. I like to print out calendars from Google Calendar, but you could easily buy a cheap one from the stationery shop. A character in a movie I once saw painted a calendar on her wall every month – perhaps your completed itinerary could be a new decoration for your bedroom?
Research/book online when poss, but don’t overdo it. Best experiences are unplanned ones. Don’t forget locals, they know best!
Travellers shouldn’t get too caught up in new fangled internet thing. Some trips I see are planned like military expeditions!
Budgeting is often the hardest part of any trip – saving to pay for it before you go, or working to pay for it when you come back.
Short, local trips aren’t usually expensive, and if they are, they don’t have to be. You probably won’t need to save up for a local holiday, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking “I’m on holiday, I can spend whatever I like.” Set a budget for your mini-trip, take it with you in cash and don’t go over it.
Longer trips are a bit more difficult to prepare for financially. First, you need to work out how much the trip is likely to cost you, and then you need to save towards it.
If you want to take an organised tour, the cost is usually pretty easy to find. However, check the small print to see what is included in your tour – is transport to the destination included, for example? What about meals? And is the accommodation shared or private? You’ll need to budget extra even if the tour is truly all-inclusive, to cover spending money, insurance and pre-trip costs.
However, we recommend going it alone. You can still get an idea of the cost of your trip by adding together flight costs, in-country costs, and insurance.
.
If you’re interested, compare this final amount with the cost of a tour. You might find a tour is cheaper – in which case, choose the tour! In most cases though, it’ll be a lot cheaper to go it alone.
Once you’ve got your budget, consider practicalities. When do you plan to travel? Can you save that much by then? Do some basic maths – if you plan to travel in six months, divide your total budget by six. Can you save that much each month? If not, plan a shorter or simpler trip, or reschedule your trip.
At the start of the show we talked about how we saved money on our flights from Perth to Brisbane. If you want to save money on flight costs, get a copy of Chris Guillebeau’s ebook Unconventional Guide to Discount Airfare.
Use the coupon code “indietravel” to get a 10% discount.
And don’t forget that you can keep in touch with all your friends and family while your away – check out Sasha’s podcast on this topic, and while you’re at it, read her blog as well.
Whatever you do though, don’t cut travel out of your life because you think you can’t afford it – you can. Travel is for life, not just for Christmas.
Written by: Craig and Linda
Posted on: Friday, January 9th, 2009
Posted in: Money and Finance, Podcasts, Research
Responses: None yet
