Around the World Trip: Budget

Of all the questions I get, “how did you afford it?” is the one I hear the most. And trust me before I traveled I wondered the same thing. I used to assume that you only traveled if your parents were willing to back your trip. Over time I have meet tons of people who have found a way to do it. This is the way I did- it definitely isn't the same for everyone but hopefully it will help you brainstorm ways you can make your dreams reality. 

*Myanmar*

I believe that if you desire something enough you will work for it and sacrifice things of lesser value, to obtain it. While planning for both trips I was attending school full time and working at least one job. To afford the trip I saved what I earned and found ways to cut costs in other areas. The fall before my first trip Jaims and I learned how to glean. Lucky for us a lot of people in our small town had huge gardens and not enough mouths to feed. We willingly accepted squash, apples, berries, tomatoes, zucchinis or you name it to add to our pantry. We were not picky and would find creative ways to prepare the food we had. That fall we mastered the skill of making homemade applesauce. We had soo much that we were even able to share it with anyone willing to try and on occasion trade it for other goods. Already being rather thrifty, any new clothes during this season, came from the local second hand store.  I tired really hard to only purchase new clothes when it was necessary. We still enjoyed life fully and would go to the dollar movies and ride our bikes around town. We even ate out on occasion. We just had to be creative in finding ways to have fun without spending our saved up travel fund.  Think of ways you can save or items you can remove from your spending. I laugh when people tell me they are not able to afford traveling while they hold a Starbucks Coffee in one hand and a designer bag in the other. They can afford it but choose not to. Living in a city where gluttony is very easily available we can forget how much we are spending. If you eat out once a day for $10 and get a $5 cup of coffee and then spend even as little as $40 on alcoholic beverages a week you are spending over $7,000 a year on coffee, eating out and drinking. Now this is an extremely low estimate. But for me I knew if I cut these down or completely out in my case since I don’t drink, I could easily afford 3 months traveling around the world. What you are wiling to sacrifice in order to fulfill your desires or dreams is completely in your hands. I know my example may seem extreme, but sometimes we must do extreme things in order to achieve our dreams.

*one of the few street food items I didn't try ick*

When deciding where to go, we looked at places based on cost of living and found a good variety. We figure London will be very pricy but India is ridiculously cheap. We actually spent almost the same amount of money in London for 4 days that we did for a month in India! Yeah no joke. Crazy cheap. We googled budget estimates for  each country and found average costs of hostels and street food- which I LOVE, and transportation costs. We ran simple equations to figure out just how much we would need. We of course than planned on bringing at least 20% more than our estimate. Both times I broke even with my expected budget taking into account that some places had hidden expenses, like booking a flight out of Cairo right before the protests started in June 2012. And other places were actually cheaper either because we decided to couchsurf  (Stay tuned for an upcoming post on how much I LOVE couchsurfing) or were there during low season. You can travel on just about any budget while still having a great time. Just plan ahead and know what you are willing to spend based on what you want to do.

*hot and sweaty in a bus and they still wanted to be our friends!*

My husband was really good about keeping track of our spending. We carried a small little notebook with us and at the end of every week would tally our costs in the following areas: transportation, food, hotel/hostel, activities (tours or classes), tips, extras (gifts for ourselves and occasionally for family). If I found that we were spending less in one area than we guess I would take that money and move it over to the extras area for some fun spending or we would consider an extra activity like renting horses for the day. Other times we let it transfer over to the next country as a safety net which we ended up needing more than once. 

Around the World Trip: Weather

*just getting dressed to head to the beach! I love Hawaii.*

Weather for me is very important. If I could live on a beach I would if for no other reason than to never be cold. Being raised in Colorado one would guess I was acclimated to harsh conditions when in reality I learned how to dress warmly and avoid leaving my house. 

My first round the world trip we decided to only go to warm climates. This made packing very very easy. With my husband on the other hand we did a little of both. We spent the first few weeks in Peru, in June, which is during their winter. We packed lots of warm coats and sweaters that sadly filled our small bags. Because it was our first stop we knew that we could leave all of the warm cloths in Peru before we headed on to our next destination. You can often offer them to the hotel or hostel and ask if they know of anyone who could use some extra layers. They are normally more than willing to pass them on. Our backs were grateful for the break. Remember, you can always buy extra cloths while you travel. For more packing tips read here. On both trips we traveled during our summer, which was peak traveling season for some cities and monsoon season for others. We love the rain so it was a price we were willing to pay.  In some areas the rain meant less visitors so hotels were cheaper and we had beaches to ourselves.

When willing to gamble with the weather take full advantage of those warm days or sunny hours. A week in Hawaii only gave us 2 days of sun and a lot of wind and rain. We had to change our plans but the minute the sky cleared we were in the water!

Remember traveling often means being outside for extended periods of time so be prepared. Wear clothes you can layer incase the weather changes while you are out. And if you have a nice camera have proper cases to protect it from the rain, snow, sand or what ever else you will be facing!

Around the World Trip: Culture

The culture of a place can greatly influence how you travel and if you will enjoy your time there. Culture can include food, customs, language and religion. If you feel uncomfortable not knowing the language, what are you willing to do? Will you take classes? Is a small dictionary enough? Are you ok if people don’t understand everything you say? What are you willing to eat? Yes now a days you can find westernized fast food just about everywhere, welcome to global obesity, but do you want that to be your every meal? Do you want to go somewhere with lots of outdoor adventure or calm beaches? Is there a culture you are interested in and want to learn more about? As you ask these questions make a list of what matters most to you in traveling and then find countries that fit that description. I know some of my friends would love the food of Vietnam but would not be willing to take uncomfortable sleeper busses along the coast. Of course they can fly but they also want to spend more time on islands, so instead of Vietnam they are going to Thailand. There are countless guides available so do some google image searches and read!

I belief that every culture has something beautiful to teach us. While in Thailand I learned how significant a smile is. I had never before felt so welcomed and loved in a place where no one understood me.  As a result I now try to smile at more people, even here on the streets of NYC. I often get concerned looks, as if people are checking to see if I am ok. Oh well, one step at a time. Even if the culture may seem harsh or cold I encourage you to find something good in it. I mean why are we traveling if not to experience new things and learn?  

*toilets in Japan really do solve all my bathroom needs! oh what you can discover.*