The Art of Travel Budgeting – Financial Planning for Adventures

Roaming the world with your friends, family, or even solo has to be one of the most enjoyable experiences in the world. Meeting new people, soaking in exciting cultures, trying out new cuisines… If the world is a global playground, it is open for everyone to join the game.

However, we have to keep in mind that this hobby is not exactly cheap, and poor financial planning can turn your globetrotting adventures into a genuine nightmare.

Let us take a look then at a couple of tips that should help you to master the art of travel budgeting and allow you to hit the road without breaking the bank.

1. Set a realistic budget and stick to it

We could even say that the travel budget should inform your decisions about the travel destination. When you are creating one, take a good look at your income, savings, ongoing expenses, and so on.

If you have a problem navigating this maze, you can use the good old 50/30/20 rule to see how much you can spend when all pending obligations are accounted for. When you have a crystal clear idea about how much you can spend, destinations, lodging, and other things will quickly fall into place.

2. Make good use of travel deals and discounts

This applies to all expenses you are going to make ranging from travel deals to accommodations and tickets. For instance, traveling to another city may give you access to low-cost flights that are much more affordable than the deals in your hometown.

Buying bundles of tickets and sharing them with fellow travelers may drop their original price. The same can be said for opting for guesthouses instead of hotels. If you dig deep enough, you will find countless opportunities for saving money.

3. Keep your cash flow going

This is especially important if you are traveling for an extended period of time or even working from abroad. In that case, you should opt for some of the popular global payroll solutions and make sure you always have access to your finances.

But, even if you just want to share expenses and make good use of the discounts, you need to have the ability to quickly exchange money with people from all around the world. So, setting up a PayPal account will definitely make this process much simpler.

4. Book everything way ahead of time

This simple move can offer multiple benefits. First, tickets, reservations, lodgings, and flights usually feature much lower prices if you pay them outside the peak tourist season. Second, moving this issue off the table as soon as possible will allow you to plan other activities much more comfortably.

Finally, sorting out these things before you start packing bags will help you avoid making last-minute decisions that rarely rely on good financial judgment. So, try to be an early bird and get both worms.

5. Do what the locals do

This will not only give you a great deal of financial leeway but also make your journey more fulfilled and immersive. For instance, why would you ever want to eat at artificial and obviously made for tourists restaurants when you can venture outside the downtown and try out small, family-owned taverns or street food vendors?

They are far cheaper and give you a much better idea of local culture. Small stores and flea markets are always cuter than big malls. Follow the locals and you will do just fine.

Related: Travel tips for a beginner

6. Learn a couple of things about the local language

This topic closely relates to the one we just covered above. If you want to use local services, public transport and shop at small local markets it is highly preferable to master at least the basics of the local language.

The staff at the big stores and restaurants may speak English perfectly. People outside the traditional tourist locations? Well, it’s a gamble. Also, knowing the language will give you much more bargaining power and help you avoid being ripped off by some less scrupulous vendors.

7.Keep yourself prepared for any outcome

In other words, you have to keep your budget flexible and always have backup options you can fall onto if your original plans backfire. For a start, make sure that a portion of your budget is always reserved for unaccounted expenses.

According to what we can call good travel budgeting practices that is at least 5% of the available money. Also, be sure to explore alternative lodgings, and travel options, to avoid aimless wandering if some of the reservations you have made earlier get canceled.

We hope these couple of suggestions give you a better idea about the strategies you can use to perform your next trip in a frugal manner while not compromising any of the joy you will have along the way.

Traveling the world is an incredible experience. But, even the best experiences can be compromised by a lack of financial planning and plain poor judgment. Make sure that is not the case, and the world will become your playground.