{"id":413,"date":"2010-09-22T14:36:09","date_gmt":"2010-09-22T18:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/?p=413"},"modified":"2020-06-13T14:08:41","modified_gmt":"2020-06-13T18:08:41","slug":"meet-plan-go-recap-how-to-budget-your-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/meet-plan-go-recap-how-to-budget-your-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Plan Go Recap: How To Budget Your Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was honored to be on the panel of speakers at Meet Plan Go in Austin, and it was a great event. I hope everyone learned something and became inspired to travel! Naturally, I spoke primarily about budgeting (being the co-founder of Budget Your Trip and all that).<\/p>\n

When it comes to long-term travel, everyone always asks, \u201chow much does it cost?<\/strong>\u201c My wife and I have done several long-term trips, including a year-long trip, and over time we\u2019ve learned how to put it all together. It\u2019s hard to get all of that \u201cexpertise\u201d out in one night during a\u00a0speaking event, so I wanted to try to put some words down in writing that will hopefully educate those of you planning a trip. No, we\u2019re not accountants or financial planners or professional tour guides. We\u2019ve just done this enough times to the point where we\u2019re comfortable hopping on a plane, knowing what to expect when we arrive, and how to figure it all out along the way.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what I talked about at the Meet Plan Go event in Austin (both on the panel and to individuals after): how to figure out your budget<\/strong>, factors that affect your budget, planning not to have a plan, and how to save money<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

First, how do you figure out your budget?<\/strong> Planning for a long term trip is very different than booking a two-week vacation. Don\u2019t worry, various strategies have been tried by many intrepid travelers before you. Some people leave with absolutely no plan – they aim to travel as much as possible given the amount of money they have in their bank account. This sounds pretty scary to most people, though (even me). Others pull out Excel or even Microsoft Project (Gantt charts, anyone?) and plan everything to the last detail. This may sound like the perfect solution, but in the end, you won\u2019t stick to that plan<\/strong> anyway so it’s only a way to make yourself go crazy. If you do, you\u2019ll be miserable and regret it because a long term trip has too many changing variables to be able to stick to a set plan.<\/p>\n

The ideal solution is somewhere in between. I think someone quoted me when I was on the panel and said, \u201cplan not to have a plan<\/strong>\u201d. You\u2019ll want to change your plans while you\u2019re on the road<\/em>. This is a good thing, it\u2018s the best part of long term travel. There\u2019s no way you can know everything up front, and this is the beauty of exploration. Instead of going into too much detail with their trip budgets, I told people to figure out their average daily budget for a country or region. Then, multiply this daily average by the amount of time you\u2019ll be there. Add on plane tickets to get there and maybe a little extra for unexpected costs, and you\u2019ll have a pretty good idea of your budget. This will help you balance your need to figure out your total costs with your desire to wander aimlessly like a nomad.<\/p>\n

As a simple example, let’s say you’re going to France for a month, and then Italy for 2 months. First, you could figure out the typical daily costs you would spend in each of these places – France: 52\u00a0Euros, Italy: 49\u00a0Euros (these are the “budget” daily averages, typical for “backpackers”). Then you can do some math: 30 days X 52\u00a0Euros for France, plus 60 days X 49\u00a0Euros for Italy… that’s approximately 4,500\u00a0Euros for a 3 month trip, not including airfare to get there and back.<\/p>\n

To find your average daily costs for a region, country, or city, you can\u2026<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Get a guide book (Lonely Planet<\/a>\"\", Rough Guide<\/a>\"\", Let’s Go<\/a>\"\"
    \n) and check out prices for hotels, food, buses or trains, admission tickets for sites and museums, and so forth.<\/li>\n
  2. Look at the daily average costs for various countries and cities here at BudgetYourTrip.com<\/a> where the information comes from actual travelers\u2019 budgets. This is why we created this resource in the first place!<\/li>\n
  3. Talk to other travelers, either in person or online via travel forums.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"\"
    A typical Mongolian ger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Next, I talked about the factors that affect your budget<\/strong>. We\u2019ve also mentioned these points in our How To Plan A Trip Around The World<\/a> guide, but they warrant repeating. Your budget will be affected by the following variables:<\/p>\n