How Do You Afford Travel?

[Linri]

i usually just save all the money i can cause i know it will be worth it

budget yourself, say i will keep X amount for myself, weekly spending etc... the rest, you save... be sure to keep to this, and eventually you will have the money ^_^

i just went to japan for 2 weeks in may, it was amazing i plan on returning, the flight was the most expensive, being there was not actually that much money

[kamuimac]

Imo, maybe first work on increasing your income and then go after expensive hobbies?

nah thats too crazy idea - after all mass-media tought him he shoudl follow his dreams not think about finding job first

[Freighter]

I have money to start with. I'm not poor, if I was poor I wouldn't even attempt to travel.

[Toppy]

America has very little to no support for traveling around the country. Its something most American's aren't aware of because they have very little understanding of many of the services other nations offer as well as the US's none-existent options for public transport.

Its a disgusting problem that'll never get fixed if only because wide spread ignorance.

[Captain N]

You save money by budgeting and it helps to have a partner who wants to experience the same thing who helps pay for the travel.

If you're looking to save money traveling on a Tuesday or Wednesday will get a discount on airfare and visiting places in their off season will discount it even more.

[Deleted]

I've found it's usually much cheaper in your destination than it was to travel there if you stay away from the resort places, depends how luxurious you want to make it though. A holiday could cost you thousands at expensive restaurants and hotels, or it could cost you next to nothing in some random hostel surrounded by backpacking students.

[falagar112]

It depends on your travel goals.

If you just intend to take the occasional holiday - the cheapest way is to not have time constraints. Book many months in advance, in a low season time. Sacrifice luxury (aka bring a tent and camp), this works especially well in countries with free camping laws like scandinavia.

Now for serious world traveling, yes there are tricks.

- Obviously having a business you can earn some travel money and manage online makes life easy. Live out of your suitcase for a while and just travel.

- Something very popular is going somewhere to teach English to kids. The qualifications you need are minimum, any native English speaker should breeze through them. You can earn a lot of money doing this (up to $5000 a month in certain countries like Japan) - do it for a half year/year contract, use the money to travel around, rinse and repeat in a country of choice. A LOT of people do this, it's very popular, and very easy to get a position if you are a native speaker.

[God Save The King]

I make a tight budget and follow it to a tee. I also use cash for variable purchases, and give myself a cash allowance each month.

Here's an example breakdown:

• You make $2,000/month, in two pay checks.
• First Paycheck: Car Payment ($200), Insurance ($100), Phone ($50), Subscriptions ($50, Netflix, WoW, Amazon, etc).
• Second Paycheck: Rent ($500), Student Loans ($100).
• Each paycheck you have $1000, of which $600 goes to preset costs. This gives you a flex amount of $800/month. From there, I will take say $200 each paycheck and that will be for food, gas, entertainment, etc (aka variable costs).
• That $400 left over moves into savings. Each year, you could comfortably take a $1500 vacation and still have around $3000 in savings.

For the actually traveling bit, you have to do bargain hunting and accept that you won't be staying in luxury if you plan to travel more than once a decade. You can usually find tickets to Europe from CA for around $550 if you search ~6 months out (cheaper for the East Coast), and this can go even lower if you hunt for package deals.

Once you get to whatever part of the world you're in, you need to follow a budget for that as well. If you have $2000 for a trip, and you blow $750 on a plane ticket, how long can you make that $1250 last?

If you eat at affordable restaurants, and stay in cheap motels/hostels/camp, you can probably get by on around $40/day (I did some backpacking in Germany and was able to keep it around $25/day). If you stay for 14 days (which I did), you're looking at around ~$500-600 in room/board costs, plus anything else you want to do. With the extra money you could go to pubs, eat a little more upscale, or just save the remaining money for the next trip.


For the heck of it, I priced out a trip for you, if you left Nov 1st, and returned Nov 15th this year. (as an example). I will use my Germany trip as a guide.

• Plane ticket: British Airways, LAX (Los Angeles) to FRA (Frankfurt, Germany). Cost: $523.84
• Average hostel cost in German cities: $10/night, German Countryside: $5/night. So: 4 nights in cities, 10 in countryside: ~$90.
• Train tickets: you'll need 4 to hop around the major cities easily, so about $80.
• Average meal cost in Germany is roughly $11, but you can find cheaper if you ask locals, or do some research before hand. Taking a look at some restaurants in the major cities and regions I visited, I'd say $25/day is good, or $350.
• Let's give you $200 for extra expenses, or do whatever you want money.

Altogether, $1250 pretty easily. I did my trip for around $950 personally, but I got $100 off on the airline ticket, and I was willing to visit grocery stores to buy food instead of always eating out. And remember this is from Los Angeles to Germany. The UK is cheaper, as is France (outside Paris). Staying in North America is much much cheaper.


My last little bit of advice: if you can, shave back costs. My rent is incredibly low, and I keep it at around 10% of my income, instead of the recommended 36%. I only use Netflix & WoW as entertainment, everything else is things like hiking, movies, hanging with friends, etc. I buy bulk, freeze, cut coupons, etc, and spend about $150/month on food.

But that's only if you love to travel (which I do). If you prefer to have a more luxurious home life, then probably don't go as extreme as I have haha.

[Blood Raven]

i just went to japan for 2 weeks in may, it was amazing i plan on returning, the flight was the most expensive, being there was not actually that much money

I'd always wanted to travel out to Japan, so I'd love to hear where you ended up staying over there and whatnot.

That is if you don't mind, of course.

[Dyluck]

First and foremost is determining what kind of trip you want to take. If you want to stay in one place for a week or backpacking through a country and so on. Then do as much research as possible, while also determining what im "willing" to expect from the places i stay.

My biggest suggestion is explore hostels as they are generally very cheap compared to hotels. Granted you might have to share a room with others, but that can be quite fun as well. Met some pretty fun people last time i stayed in one in New Orleans.

[zenkai]

So I've got quite the wanderlust, and I've been desiring to travel overseas for a long time - Europe, China, Africa, etc. I haven't made any serious plans because right now there's no way I could afford even a single plane ticket, let alone fund an entire vacation. I'd like to, though. But I know that even lower and middle class people travel, and you don't have to be rich to get out and about. I know people working minimum wage jobs who've been around Europe and Africa, so I know you can do it without dropping a shitload of money. I've seen much of North America, but I'd like to get out there and see more.

So, for those of you who do travel alot, how do you afford it? How do you get out and see the world on a limited income? Is it all about budgeting, or is there somewhere or some way most people don't know about to get cheap passage overseas?

I didn't travel until I graduated from college and got a stable job, before then I was poor as fuck. I am guessing and poor college kids who do it, is thanks to their parents.

[Doctor Amadeus]

I am fortunate enough to have enough disposable income that I can save and don't have to do so for too long. I wont make any significant dent in my life style if I do, however in general I still do save for a vacation because I rather not ever get in the mindset of not budgeting.

Because when I used to be broke as fuck starting out, it was that kind of discipline that helped. Outside of that it depends what kind of vacation you want to take.

If you are single Nevada isn't so bad HAHAHA, however Europe is a little bit better and cheaper, the only difference is depending on language barriers and culture, it can be pretty intimidating, but sometimes that really is part of the adventure, but just know the less you KNOW about what you actually want, or want to really do, the more you are likely to have BUMPS as it were.

Lastly one mistake I notice people also make is single or not is to over fucking complicate a vacation, Complicated = Stress= MORE MONEY!!

[Talon8669]

So I've got quite the wanderlust, and I've been desiring to travel overseas for a long time - Europe, China, Africa, etc. I haven't made any serious plans because right now there's no way I could afford even a single plane ticket, let alone fund an entire vacation. I'd like to, though. But I know that even lower and middle class people travel, and you don't have to be rich to get out and about. I know people working minimum wage jobs who've been around Europe and Africa, so I know you can do it without dropping a shitload of money. I've seen much of North America, but I'd like to get out there and see more.

So, for those of you who do travel alot, how do you afford it? How do you get out and see the world on a limited income? Is it all about budgeting, or is there somewhere or some way most people don't know about to get cheap passage overseas?

Look into time shares, A buddy of mine went to mexico kicked the owner of the time share couple hundred for an all inclusive resort and just had to pay for travel. Also look into non-profit and charity organizations. You'll have to work while you're there but they will typically pay your travel, lodging and food costs.

[Argarock]

I live in Norway.

this, having minimum wage being a living wage really helps.

so my tip is to become a politician, fix the US, then get a minimum wage job where you can save up to travel.

[Doctor Amadeus]

I make a tight budget and follow it to a tee. I also use cash for variable purchases, and give myself a cash allowance each month.

Here's an example breakdown:

• You make $2,000/month, in two pay checks.
• First Paycheck: Car Payment ($200), Insurance ($100), Phone ($50), Subscriptions ($50, Netflix, WoW, Amazon, etc).
• Second Paycheck: Rent ($500), Student Loans ($100).
• Each paycheck you have $1000, of which $600 goes to preset costs. This gives you a flex amount of $800/month. From there, I will take say $200 each paycheck and that will be for food, gas, entertainment, etc (aka variable costs).
• That $400 left over moves into savings. Each year, you could comfortably take a $1500 vacation and still have around $3000 in savings.

For the actually traveling bit, you have to do bargain hunting and accept that you won't be staying in luxury if you plan to travel more than once a decade. You can usually find tickets to Europe from CA for around $550 if you search ~6 months out (cheaper for the East Coast), and this can go even lower if you hunt for package deals.

Once you get to whatever part of the world you're in, you need to follow a budget for that as well. If you have $2000 for a trip, and you blow $750 on a plane ticket, how long can you make that $1250 last?

If you eat at affordable restaurants, and stay in cheap motels/hostels/camp, you can probably get by on around $40/day (I did some backpacking in Germany and was able to keep it around $25/day). If you stay for 14 days (which I did), you're looking at around ~$500-600 in room/board costs, plus anything else you want to do. With the extra money you could go to pubs, eat a little more upscale, or just save the remaining money for the next trip.


For the heck of it, I priced out a trip for you, if you left Nov 1st, and returned Nov 15th this year. (as an example). I will use my Germany trip as a guide.

• Plane ticket: British Airways, LAX (Los Angeles) to FRA (Frankfurt, Germany). Cost: $523.84
• Average hostel cost in German cities: $10/night, German Countryside: $5/night. So: 4 nights in cities, 10 in countryside: ~$90.
• Train tickets: you'll need 4 to hop around the major cities easily, so about $80.
• Average meal cost in Germany is roughly $11, but you can find cheaper if you ask locals, or do some research before hand. Taking a look at some restaurants in the major cities and regions I visited, I'd say $25/day is good, or $350.
• Let's give you $200 for extra expenses, or do whatever you want money.

Altogether, $1250 pretty easily. I did my trip for around $950 personally, but I got $100 off on the airline ticket, and I was willing to visit grocery stores to buy food instead of always eating out. And remember this is from Los Angeles to Germany. The UK is cheaper, as is France (outside Paris). Staying in North America is much much cheaper.


My last little bit of advice: if you can, shave back costs. My rent is incredibly low, and I keep it at around 10% of my income, instead of the recommended 36%. I only use Netflix & WoW as entertainment, everything else is things like hiking, movies, hanging with friends, etc. I buy bulk, freeze, cut coupons, etc, and spend about $150/month on food.

But that's only if you love to travel (which I do). If you prefer to have a more luxurious home life, then probably don't go as extreme as I have haha.

DaMN really wish I was this damn precise when I was younger, you are a damn laser, hell NICE breakdown.

[Talon8669]

this, having minimum wage being a living wage really helps.

so my tip is to become a politician, fix the US, then get a minimum wage job where you can save up to travel.

Minimum wage though shouldn't be a living wage. People shouldn't be building their lives around working at McDonalds or some other fast food chain. Those are starter jobs for people in or just out of high school. No one goes off to college or a trade school to work in fucking McDonalds. Not to mention the cost of living increase you force upon everyone else by doing so. And don't think for a moment that just because businesses have to pay their employees more doesn't mean they aren't going to charge more. They will make the same amount of profits they do now, the consumer will just pay more money. Shit look at Seattle where the $15/Hr hasn't even fully kicked in and the loss of revenue is costing the city dearly. Now they want to impose an illegal income tax on to the super wealthy to compensate for it.

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DaMN really wish I was this damn precise when I was younger, you are a damn laser, hell NICE breakdown.

He is spot on though. I do something similar, I have an excel spreadsheet that I do at the start of each year, I break it down to what I make for a 4 week month, we have several months that have 5 weeks and that additional income on those 5 weeks is 100% savings. I budget based on that 4 week, allocate all of my known costs, include paying my total deductible of medical and dental, budget for food and entertainment, travel, 401K contribution, college funds for the kids, repair and maintenance cost for the house, birthdays and holiday costs, and even a slush unknown cost for anything that might come up. Once your start actually looking at the numbers you get a real sense of what you can actually afford. Then I go back every quarter and adjust based on what I have spent or haven't. It's the only thing that has really allowed me to keep 6 months income in my bank account that is ultimately intended to contribute to my retirement but is there in the event I find myself unemployed.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Minimum wage though shouldn't be a living wage. People shouldn't be building their lives around working at McDonalds or some other fast food chain. Those are starter jobs for people in or just out of high school. No one goes off to college or a trade school to work in fucking McDonalds. Not to mention the cost of living increase you force upon everyone else by doing so. And don't think for a moment that just because businesses have to pay their employees more doesn't mean they aren't going to charge more. They will make the same amount of profits they do now, the consumer will just pay more money. Shit look at Seattle where the $15/Hr hasn't even fully kicked in and the loss of revenue is costing the city dearly. Now they want to impose an illegal income tax on to the super wealthy to compensate for it.

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He is spot on though. I do something similar, I have an excel spreadsheet that I do at the start of each year, I break it down to what I make for a 4 week month, we have several months that have 5 weeks and that additional income on those 5 weeks is 100% savings. I budget based on that 4 week, allocate all of my known costs, include paying my total deductible of medical and dental, budget for food and entertainment, travel, 401K contribution, college funds for the kids, repair and maintenance cost for the house, birthdays and holiday costs, and even a slush unknown cost for anything that might come up. Once your start actually looking at the numbers you get a real sense of what you can actually afford. Then I go back every quarter and adjust based on what I have spent or haven't. It's the only thing that has really allowed me to keep 6 months income in my bank account that is ultimately intended to contribute to my retirement but is there in the event I find myself unemployed.

Can I just say I love how you both think and are kind of like super heroes. Admire the hell out of that kind of detail.

[Deleted]

I travel rarely, as i love my home country and my village that much i likely stay home.

If i travel, its to Austria or to the Netherlands. I have never been in america, asia or in east europe.

[Trollhammer]

this, having minimum wage being a living wage really helps.

so my tip is to become a politician, fix the US, then get a minimum wage job where you can save up to travel.

Norway doesn't have a minimum wage outside of what the unions set for certain roles. We do have a very strong union presence though and every one gets good pay. I'm an immigrant to Norway and I work in IT. I get 3 times the pay I made back home and cost of living is about double... We also pay slot more tax than most countries

[ifrah]

Proper planning and being frugal gets you so far away you can't even think of. Plane tickets, if your travel times and dates are flexible, can be surprisingly cheap. Accommodation then can be anything between free and filthy expensive, depending on your skills, efforts and interest.