Advertisement
Published: February 29th 2016
Edit Blog Post
As times draws nearer, the days are becoming blurred. That is why I think it is important to start recording everything now. In less than a month, I will embark on the biggest journey of my life, thus far, and I’m in a bit of a haze about it all. When I tell people about it, I become anxious. It’s a bit unsettling, but in a good way. I’ve never left my home country before, and soon I will be visiting six new ones. It barely feels real, but it is. I want to share and remember everything from this moment on. I want everyone who reads this to know, that if I can do it, it can be done by anyone. However, I’m not exactly sure I can do it just yet. Hopefully, you’ll be here with me through it all. I’ll share with you what I feel has been most important to setting myself up for success in this adventure. Today’s topic will be the most important component, money.
Money makes the world go round or it can get you around the world. Many assume that a person who travels must be wealthy. Although that would be nice, it is not the case for most. There are many factors that come into play when budgeting for trips when you don’t have tons of money to blow. One of those major factors was evaluating my spending habits and realizing how often I treated myself to things that were rather unnecessary, such as going to the bar or dinner multiple times a week, or buying clothes and shoes that I didn’t need for anything in particular. So instead, back in October, I decided, as a birthday present to myself, that I would finally buy a passport. $150 USD and a few weeks later, I had the first major tool I needed to become international. Rather than spending $150 USD a week on food and drinks, I decided to spoil myself by finally seeing the world. For less than $250 USD, I bought my first plane ticket abroad to Iceland. I learned that being flexible is vital to getting the most out of your money, especially when it comes to traveling.
Skyscanner.com is an excellent tool in booking flights. When choosing flights with this site, you can see when it is the cheapest to fly to your destination. If you are undecided on where to go and just want to get away, the site will make a list for you, starting with the most inexpensive, places you can go with prices listed. I’ve used it to book all of my flights for this trip so far and will continue to use it for a long time. Now I was not picky; I’m leaving from Boston instead of my hometown, and I based my trip around the cheapest flights. Once in Europe, flights are really inexpensive. I bought my ticket from Reykjavik, Iceland to London, England for $70 USD and from England to Ireland for $41 USD. After that I will be traveling to Belgium, Croatia, then Italy before returning home. That’s six different countries in fifty days, and I plan to do all of this for about $4000 USD, including airfare. I’ve been planning for about eight months; however, saving did not come easily at first.
Once I bought my ticket, I decided it was time to get serious about saving money. Aside from cutting down my nights on the town, I started to look at little, everyday things. I gave up my morning trips to Dunkin Donuts and started making coffee at home. I stopped buying Red Bulls before work - let’s face it, they aren’t much good for one’s body anyway. I stopped buying packs of cigarettes every day and am slowing trying to stop all together. I started buying a bottle of wine and made it stretch at least two days. Now I rarely buy more than two bottles a week. Those add up quickly over a month’s time. It seems like a lot to give up, but I never once felt deprived. If I did well, I would reward myself every two weeks with my favorite iced coffee or a nice dinner with friends. I’ve been doing this since October and have reached my goal! Once that first ticket is bought, you really start realizing where your priorities are. If traveling is not a priority for you, it will not come as easily. It seems a bit extreme, but it needs to become an obsession.
Likewise, you need to obsess over finding the best deals on accommodation. I gave myself a budget of about $26 USD a day. I’m mostly staying in hostels, many of them offer breakfast, which cuts the cost of one meal. The exception to this is when I will be traveling with friends. I’m lucky enough to have some of my best friends and my boyfriend joining me for a decent part of my trip.
Airbnb.com is a great website to use when you will be with multiple people. You can rent entire apartments for very low rates or a room in someone else’s house for even less. I like the idea of hostels and bnbs better than hotels because not only are they cheaper, but most of them have services like kitchens, washers, and dryers. These will help cut costs in other areas of your travel, especially since you don’t have to dine out every time you’re hungry. The only thing that I think will be tough about hostels is the lack of privacy. The cheaper you go, the more beds will be in your dorm. Actually, a major upside to this will be all the fellow travelers you’ll meet. I think I can do without a whole lot of privacy for a couple of weeks. I will definitely be stepping out of my comfort zone, but I’m sure it will be well worth it. We’ll find out in a few months.
It’s not impossible to travel, you just have to want it. For people who are young, especially, let’s do this now before we really get tied down! A little, tiny, miniscule part of me is worried that I’ll hate it. At times, I’m sure I will. Those times will be forgotten, I bet, with all spectacular things I’ll see and all the wonderful people I hope to meet. I’ve been dreaming about this since I was young, but life got in the way. I don’t intend to let that happen anymore. I hope to see the world in a different light after this. I hope to learn a lot about myself from these experiences. I also hope that you’ll continue to follow me week after week as I set off on my adventure. Next week’s blog will leave me with two weeks before I board that plane to Iceland. In it I will discuss everything I’ve done to prepare. Money is important, but it isn’t the only thing you need, you also need a good game plan to help ease the anxiety (somewhat).
I will be very honest about my spending habits once I’m there, and I will include a tally of the money I’ve spent. Of course, I have a back-up plan if I do not succeed, but I do not intend on failing. Thanks for reading!
Money Spent So Far (flights): Boston to Iceland: $245 USD
Iceland to England: $70 USD
England to Ireland: $41 USD
Ireland to Belgium: $40 USD
Belgium to Croatia: $21 USD
Croatia to Italy: $34 USD
GRAND TOTAL: $451 USD (I have not bought my flight home yet. I plan to buy the same flight that my boyfriend is taking which will be a little pricey. If I were able to be a bit more flexible the price of the ticket would be almost cut in half.)
Advertisement
Tot: 0.084s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 5; qc: 44; dbt: 0.051s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb