The boring bit planning and saving

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Suzanne here…

So here we are, after nearly two years of planning and dreaming about our trip, it’s now less than a week away.

We’d discussed a round the world trip many times, but about two years ago the idea really started to grow, and it wouldn’t go away. We decided to start saving for it - if it didn’t happen we could always use the money for something else. In January 2009 we started a strict saving plan. Bills / mortgage had to be paid, but other than that we had a budget: £60 pw for food, £30 pm for petrol, £20 pw each spending money and £60 pm for a monthly treat.

With a couple of exceptions, we really did stick to this. The food budget was generous, so there was a little ‘creative accounting’. We switched to Lidl and did almost all our food shopping there. Some weeks we managed to keep it to below £20, which meant £40 we could put towards the occasional weekend away. Even so, we obviously had to cut down on travel a bit. A weekend away sometimes became a £9 a night Travelodge room in a random British city rather than something more exotic.

It all paid off and we’ve now reached our target. We should have enough money to see us around the world without working, as long as we don’t go mad. We’ve budgeted £25 each per day as an average. We hope to spend less than that in Asia, but I’m sure we’ll spend more in places like Australia.

We’ve also been very lucky in terms of our jobs. I knew redundancy from my job was on the cards, but it was to come sooner than expected - in August 2010. Sad as I was to leave a job I’d really enjoyed, it did mean that I was now free to travel. David’s employers have very kindly agreed to give him a year career break, which we are very grateful for.

We’ve booked round-the-world tickets with Quantas, through STA. This has covered most of our trip, although we will have to book the flights to and from the USA and Central America ourselves. The planned itinerary is:

Thailand > Laos > Cambodia > Vietnam > Malaysia > Singapore > Australia > New Zealand > Fiji > Costa Rica > Nicaragua > Honduras > Belize > Mexico > USA.

The first three nights accommodation in Bangkok are booked, but other than that we’re trying to keep the itinerary as flexible as possible. We’re restricted by our flights, and by the dates of our Vietnam visa, but we really want the freedom to make plans as we go. The only other accommodation we’ve booked so far is Christmas and New Year in Malaysia, as we thought that might get booked up early.

Today I’m having the last of my jabs. We found it really difficult to find anyone who would tell us definitively which jabs we should have. In the end we’ve gone for all the free NHS ones (although I’ve been given more than David, including Hep B and Swine Flu), and we paid an extortionate amount for private rabies and Japanese Encephalitis jabs. We’ve also chosen Malarone for malaria protection. We’d originally planned to go with the far cheaper doxyxycline, but Malarone seems more effective with fewer side effects. In the end, we had the money and as with the jabs, decided that our health is the most important thing. The cheapest place we found was Morrisons pharmacy at about £2.20 per tablet. Luckily we won’t need to take it for a lot of Asia, mainly northern Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

The only real worry has been letting out our house. It’s our home and we love it, and are really not keen on the thought of someone else living in it. Still, we can’t leave it empty for a year, and we need someone to pay the mortgage. We’ve gone with a letting agent to keep it all official, and so that they can manage any problems whilst we are away. In a strange twist of fate, David has discovered that he actually knows the tenant. He assures me that he is a nice and trustworthy person, so that has gone some way to reduce my anxiety.

So why are we doing it? Well, we both live for our holidays, and talk about our past trips all the time. We worked out that to visit all the places we’re planning to on this trip, using annual leave from work, would take at least ten years. Even then we wouldn’t be able to stay as long or see as much in each place. Yes, we could use the money we’ve saved to pay off the mortgage. But what are we going to want to talk about when we’re sitting in our rocking chairs at 80? The fact that we had one less bill to pay for a few years, or the amazing things we saw on our trip?

We’ll miss our families and friends, and our comfy little house, but our decision is made, and it’s too late to back out now.

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