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True or False: Travel is expensive. If you answered true we have a lot to unpack with you and we can not wait to change your mind. The real answer is FALSE. One of the biggest misconceptions is that travel is too expensive. It is also one of the main reasons why people do not travel more and we can’t wait to prove to you that travel can be affordable.
As fellow corporate world millennials on a budget both in our daily lives and while traveling, we know why you think travel is expensive. But we are living proof that you can travel to your top destinations on a budget.
In today’s episode of the Passports and Coffee Podcast, we will be sharing with you our top tips on how to budget for travel. So who is ready to shift their mindset and start prioritizing travel?
So you are here because you want to start prioritizing travel but you are unsure if you can afford to travel to your dream destinations. Honestly, being able to afford to travel starts at home. You will need to start making daily adjustments now in your every day life in order to afford travel.
At the end of the day, if being able to travel is important to you then you need to make travel a priority. We prioritize travel and we both have made adjustments in our daily lives to be able to afford all of the trips we go on.
We can not wait to share with you how we budget and afford to travel. We have some great tips on how to start prioritizing travel today, how to make adjustments in your daily life and how to budget while traveling.
How to Budget for Travel
So you want to start prioritizing travel. This is the first step that you need to take in order to afford travel. Why? Because if you do not prioritize your want or need to travel then you will never make the certain adjustments needed in order to afford travel.
Now that you have shifted your mindset of wanting to travel more, it is now time to start making certain adjustments at home.
What adjustments at home have we made to afford travel? These adjustments are so easy but they are ones that many forget about. We simply have become more conscious on what we spend our money on such as coffee, buying lunch at work and eating out frequently.
Let me guess you read that and thought, “duh, that’s so easy to do.” Then why aren’t more people doing it? We have made a conscious effort to make our coffee at home instead of buying a $5 Starbucks every day. If you are someone who is buying a coffee every day before work lets break down the cost and see what you could be saving to go towards travel. A coffee is $5 and if you buy a coffee 5 days a week that is $25 at minimum per week and a $100 in a month. Add that on top of other expenses like purchasing lunch. This is another added expense where you could save money. You are already buying groceries every week so why aren’t you packing a lunch? Think about the money you could be saving. That right there is airfare and/or a few nights in a hotel.
We’re making you rethink things aren’t we? So you have to ask yourself, is it really worth it? Is that daily Starbucks worth it? If your answer is no then you can start making those changes now. I would suggest putting the money aside that you would have used for your coffee in a travel fund and see how much you have at the end of the month.
So what if you still want to go out with your friends every week, buy lunch at work every now and then and maybe buy a coffee once a week, how can you do that and still afford to travel? That’s easy and leads us to our second tip on how to afford to travel.
Life is about compromise. We are not perfect. We love drinking a nice cold brew coffee while browsing the aisles at Target. Trust me we are all guilty of that. With that said, it’s important to create a budget for yourself so you are not completely restricting yourself from daily living. Planning ahead for those moments is important. But there are some ways to save a little extra money throughout the week that can go towards your next trip and Cheraya has a few fun ways.
Cheraya has implemented several ways this year to start saving money to go towards travel. One thing she has started to implement is by paying in cash. If you set an allotted amount of cash aside every week it makes you conscious of how much you are actually spending. Plus it’s harder to part with physical cash.
Another way to start saving and budgeting, is to budget your paycheck every week. Every week look at your expenses and split your paycheck into categories. She uses the envelope challenge by Dave Ramsey. To physically see the categories she’s allocating money to. This can help you stay on budget.
Another way to help save money is by participating in money saving challenges. Cheraya currently participates in two different money challenges. One is the pay day challenge where she saves a certain amount of money depending on the day she get paid. For example, if pay day is on the 25th, she will save $25. The second method is the 52 week challenge where you have 52 envelopes labeled with 1-52 for every week of the year and every week you open an envelope and that is the amount of money you need to save.
Our favorite way to budget for travel is part of the planning process. And that is traveling in the off season! We love off season travel for many different reasons but the reason we are talking about today is in regards to budget.
Traveling in the off season is a great way to save money in more expensive locations. For example, we traveled to Santorini Greece in February of 2020. High season for Greece comes at a pretty high price tag that we can’t afford. But we were able to afford to stay in an infamous cave hotel for $50/night. In addition to cheaper accommodation we also received off season discounts at restaurants, had amazing weather and essentially had the island to ourselves.
Traveling in the off season sometimes comes with some disadvantages but you have to look at the bigger picture. Sometimes you need to compromise in order to visit a location that is high on your bucket list.
Another way to help you save money while traveling is to look into staying at hostels. Now before you tell us, “But I’m too old to stay in hostels.” We’re going to tell you to knock it off. Just like you, we are millennials in our mid-30’s and guess what? We still stay in hostels to save money. You just need to be more selective when choosing your hostel.
Not all hostels are party hostels. In fact, hostels have really stepped up their game. One hostel that we love is Selina. Selina offers a more upscale atmosphere and is really geared towards digital nomads. Yes they offer traditional dorm style rooms but they also have a lot of single rooms that are often cheaper than hotels. It’s an option to look into if you are wanting to save money. And guess what? You won’t be the only millennial staying in a hostel. You just might run into us somewhere around the world!
Another tip we have to save some money while traveling is looking for accommodations that offer free breakfast. Any time you can save money its always a win in our book. If you are staying in an AirBnB, we recommend to make your own food as a way to save money for a least one meal.
Our last and finally tip is related to transportation. While traveling abroad, sometimes getting from point A to point B can be expensive, especially if you are using Uber. We suggest that you look into using public transit. Does your destination have a metro, local bus or trolly? If so, we recommend that you consider using public transit.
Are you staying in a hotel with free transport from the airport? This is also another great way to save money while traveling. It’s also something for you to check into when booking your accommodation. If the transport isn’t free, what is the cost? Sometimes the cost is cheaper than say Uber. Especially if there is no public transit from the airport to the city.
As you can see there are so many ways that you can save money both at home and abroad. Budgeting starts at home but it can also be applied when on the road. If you truly want to start seeing the world you really need to start prioritizing it. When you prioritize travel, you begin to start making changes to allow you to afford to travel.
Travel does not have to be expensive and we hope that we changed your mindset. With these easy tips we hope that you can start prioritizing travel and start saving extra money to start seeing the world. But before you go, we want to know, what is one way that you save money for travel? We are always looking for new budgeting tips!
Thank you for listening!
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Passports and Coffee Podcast
Hi travel besties! It's Kayla and Cheraya, your co-hosts of the Passports and Coffee Podcast. We are fellow corporate world millennials looking to escape the 9-5 and are encouraging you to do the same.