Home / Money and budgeting
We all know it can be hard to get your money together and head out the front door. Here we gather together money and budgeting resources for travellers including tips on:
Travel isn’t as expensive as you think it is: flights seem cheaper if you’re travelling for six months rather than one week, and you can spread your money more widely if you stay in hostels rather than hotels. You won’t spend as much on food if you don’t eat in flash restaurants every night.
How can you plan your trip? It really comes down to individual style, but I’d divide things into four categories then list like mad:
Costs at home should be minimised or completely destroyed if at all possible. However some things, like debt repayments or charitable donations, just keep rolling and can’t be cancelled or offset. Try though, promise us you’ll try!
Getting there and coming home includes equipment, insurance and immunisations along with major transport costs.
Daily expenses can be estimated using a guidebook and adjusted using our simple budget idea. If there are expensive attractions you plan to visit include these here.
Splurges and emergencies should be enough to cover an instant flight home from the most expensive location you plan to be in along with luxury accommodation for any stop-overs you might need. As the likelyhood of an emergency departure decreases you can use this money to splurge.
We strongly suggest freeing yourself from as much debt as possible then saving some money before leaving on your travels.
Listen to “Dealing with Money before leaving home”:
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Source: 041 – Dealing with Money before leaving home.
We’ve found the three biggest expenses of any trip to be:
Because of this, we’ve come up with a simple budget idea – click play to hear us talk about it:
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We stick with our cash budgeting system when we travel too. We use an ATM to withdraw the cash we expect to use during the week and use a credit card for online orders and unexpected emergencies. Only spending cash will ensure your budget actually lasts until the end of your trip!
Listen to cash budgeting for travellers:
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Source: Cash budgeting for travellers
Read:
Before leaving home make sure you have established some good lines of communication with your bank. Check their phone-based customer services and make sure your card will work overseas. Sign up for internet banking and familiarise yourself with how to use it. Find out what fees are going to be charged and also what happens if your card is damaged or stolen.
Internet banking and cash machines (ATM’s) will probably serve 90% of your needs but it’s always worthwhile having an emergency telephone number in case something goes wrong.
In most of the world a price is more of a guideline than a ultimatum. In the future we’ll be talking more about how to haggle your way around the world.
You are no more likely to experience a scam abroad than at home. However your lack of familiarity with your surroundings can make you more likely to fall for them.
Read:
Common problems occur when changing money. Learn how we deal with currency conversions and some of the hassles we’ve encountered.
Listen to “Carrying and changing money while travelling”.
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Source: Carrying and changing money while travelling
How do you find good insurance and how do you maximise your chances of a successful claim? Craig interviewed Graham Kingaby of World Nomads Travel Insurance to find out.
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Source: 079 – Multitrip Travel Insurance with World Nomads
We follow up with our own strategies for finding insurance:
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Source: 080 – Get Good Travel Insurance
There are many insurance companies out there offering solid policies. We have chosen World Nomads because they allow us to start and extend our policies from anywhere in the world. Read more about them.
