Are you desperate to travel the world but don’t think you can afford it? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. Let’s create the perfect travel budget to make sure you don’t overspend and can keep on travelling. Travelling on a budget doesn’t have to be difficult.
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Who needs a travel budget?
Almost everyone will benefit from having a travel budget, but they’re ideal for someone travelling on a low budget. Travelling is great, but it’s also expensive. You can easily burn through a lot of money very quickly without even realising it. I know I have!
By having a travel budget, you can make the most of your money. In this guide, you’ll be given a free budget planner spreadsheet so you can easily see what money you have, how much you’ll need, and where your money is going. With this all at hand, you can then make your money last.
I also like to use my travel budget to plan my vacations. It’s a great way to keep all my research in one place. If I know there’s a tour I want to do or a museum to visit, it goes into the budget. This way, when I am away, I can easily check my phone and have all the reminders there.
Top Tip: Download Google Sheets onto your phone so you can access your budget spreadsheet wherever you are!
Why is a travel budget important?
Making a budget will help you find out whether or not you can afford a trip. You can quickly see if you currently have enough funds, or need to save more in order to do everything you want to do.
I find this a huge incentive to keep saving. If you’re like me, saving money is difficult. But with a goal in mind, it becomes so much easier to say no to a new dress. That’s why having the goal to save money for travel is a great starting point for any budget. sa
It can also see what kind of holiday you can afford. Maybe you don’t want to save any more and are impatient to get on the road. With this travel budget, you can find a trip that fits your savings and start having fun straight away.
Whilst travelling, a travel budget will help make your money last. By tracking your spending, you can see where you’re overdoing it. Perhaps you notice you’ve overspent on eating out so it might be time to cook for yourself.
Or maybe you’ve been really good with spending and have some money left over. Now you can have that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and take the scuba lesson you’ve always wanted!
How to a Travel Budget that Actually Works
What do you need to Consider when Creating a Travel Budget?
It’s actually pretty easy to create a travel budget. Really, there are just two things to consider: the essentials, and the desires. In other words, what you have to buy and what you want to buy. Essential items tend to be fixed, so are super easy to put into your budget, whereas what you want is more subjective and changes more often depending on the trip you’re going to.
Below I have a few things to consider when creating your budget. If you follow this list, hopefully, there will be very few surprise expenses on your trip.
To help you even more, I’ve created this easy-to-use budget planner to bring all your research together.
Use this planner to find out how much a trip will really cost you. You can see how much you need to save, as well as track your spending whilst on your travels. I find it so useful to see how I’ve divided my budget and adjust it accordingly as I go along.
Let’s have a Look at your Travel Budget Necessities
These are the easy things to budget. They’re things you just have to do, and the price rarely changes no matter when you buy them.
1: Visas
If you’re travelling outside of your home country, make sure to check the travel restrictions and whether or not you’ll need a visa.
For example, UK residents will need:
When travelling to Australia, you must have a valid UK passport and an ETA visa, which costs between $150-$300. This allows you to travel in Australia for 90 days within a 365-day period.
When travelling to Europe, it is currently free for UK citizens. However, this is expected to change in November 2024.
When travelling to Thailand, your passport must have at least 6 months of validity remaining from your date of entry into Thailand, and you can stay in Thailand visa-free for 30 days. If you wish to stay for more than 30 days or want to work in Thailand, you need a valid visa. This must be obtained before you travel.
2: Passport
Whilst it might be obvious that you need a passport to travel internationally, it’s always worth double-checking your passport’s expiry date. Some countries (see above for some examples) require your passport to have a certain amount of validity left on your passport when you enter the country.
You might think your passport is in date, but it would be terrible to arrive and not be allowed to travel because it expires in 3 months’ time. I’ve known people who’ve had to cancel last minute because of this exact reason! It’s not fun, that’s for sure.
3: Travel Insurance
It’s always good to travel with insurance. It’s not expensive, so why take the risk? Check out Visitors Coverage. They are an American brand but provide coverage for people outside of the states. They have different options depending on your trip.
4: Vaccinations
In the post-pandemic world, we live in, there are even more vaccination requirements than usual when it comes to travelling. Whilst most countries have relaxed the rules on testing negative PCR tests etc. before flying, it’s always worth double-checking before you fly.
Those tests aren’t cheap, and it’s an annoying expense to have to pay last minute.
Of course, there are other vaccinations you will need to get depending on where you’re travelling to. Make sure you do some research and protect yourself from any potential illnesses you could get. If you’re unsure what vaccinations you need, make an appointment with your local GP to get all the information.
Now, onto the fun part! Where do you want to spend your money?
You’ve now created solid foundations for your travel budget. Next, you need to work out where you want to spend your money. I like to find the cheapest transport and save money on food so I can spend it on activities and the occasional eating out instead.
But that usually means I have to make sacrifices like travelling with just a carry-on and travelling at bad times which is usually the best way to find cheap flights.
If this doesn’t appeal to you, that’s fine. All you have to do is adjust your budget to have a larger fund for transport.
Make your way through the list and see where you want to put your money. You might have to do a bit of research at this point. You don’t want to allocate just £20 to food per day only to get to your destination and realise you grossly underestimate how expensive food is.
5: Food whilst travelling
I love food. It’s something I am more than happy to spend money on but that also means I can get a bit carried away. Despite allocating more funds to it, I still have to be strict with my budget. I’ve created this post to help you save money on food whilst travelling abroad.
The best way to save money is to cook all your own food. When you do eat out, eat the local cuisine. If you do this, your budget should be ok. It’s worth doing some research into the area you’re going to. Search on different Europe travel blogs and read articles like Nomadic Matt’s budget guides. He breaks down a lot of the costs you need to make your own budget from food to accommodation.
6: Drink
A big part of backpacking is the social side of it. Going out and meeting new people is one of the best things about travelling. And whilst it doesn’t have to include drinking, it often does. Spending your evenings sitting outside in a warm country sipping on a cool drink is a pretty nice way to end your day. These drinks don’t have to be alcoholic, but make sure to budget some money towards this.
This is another hard one to stick to as these plans are often spontaneous, but really try your best to stick to them. You might decide to drink alcohol just one night a week and drink soft drinks the rest. Or maybe you’d prefer to spread it out and have one beer a night to keep yourself on track.
7: Accommodation
The biggest thing with accommodation is to check out multiple sights. Don’t stick to the first place you see. I like to use both booking.com and Hostelworld. You often see the same hostels on both but at different prices.
When thinking about accommodation, try to be aware of the facilities available to you and what’s included. If you’re going to be cooking your own food, you’ll want a kitchen available to you. A lot of hostels will have a shared kitchen available, but it’s not a guarantee.
You might also find somewhere with breakfast included in the price. This is a great bonus as it means you don’t have to budget for a whole meal. Be wary of hotels that have it as an add-on option. Usually, it’s at least 10 euros extra per day, which is more than I would budget for breakfast.
8: Flights
My favourite way to find places to go for cheap flights is Skyscanner. They give me the most constantly cheap flights and give you a lot of options. You can search anywhere to find a super cheap destination and shows you cheaper dates on either side of your search.
Flight prices fluctuate a lot, and it can be a bit of a game to find the best deals. If you need some ideas, check out this guide on how to find the cheapest flights.
9: Transportation
It’s vital to work out how much you’re going to spend on transport whilst away. This will depend a lot on the type of holiday you’re going on. This encompasses quite a lot, so check out what things to think about below.
If you’re planning an interrail trip, buying an interrail ticket will have your main trains sorted. But don’t forget about potential day trips and any smaller, in-country trains you might want to take. I like to use Trainline to book my trains whilst travelling in Europe. They are consistent with finding the cheapest deals and make it really easy to find train timetables.
If you’re looking at renting a car, check out Discover Cars. They are an award-winning company and compare over 500 suppliers to find you the best deal wherever you’re travelling.
Other things you need to consider when it comes to transport:
What public transport is available to you and how much does local transport cost? Do they have a multi-ticket deal?
Is public transport reliable?
Will you even need to use public transport? If it’s a smaller city or all the places you want to see are within walking distance, you might not need to budget anything for this at all.
How much is transport to and from the airport? I always forget to budget for the return journey and have had to spend a sad amount on last-minute taxis when the buses have failed.
10: Activities
This is where you can have some fun with your research. Get to know what’s happening at your destination, and begin adding things to your list of what you want to do. If it’s a city holiday, see if there are museums you want to go to and look at what free activities are available to you. Most cities will have free walking tours that are great ways to see the city whilst saving your budget.
Or maybe you’re travelling to the coast and want to finally learn to surf? Perhaps there’s a boat trip that looks unmissable. The important thing with any budget is to balance making your money last and spending it on what you really want to experience.
I like to use Get Your Guide to browse my options. They often have bundle tickets with added queue jump which is great if you’re travelling with less time.
Also, think about what you will be buying. Are you one for getting presents for others? Or maybe you like to collect postcards from everywhere you go? These might not be big expenditures, but they can add up so it’s good to include them.
11: Emergency Fund
The final thing you need to create is an emergency fund.
The reality of travel is that things can go wrong. Whether you simply forgot to budget for something, or you miss a flight, you need to be able to financially cover these.
More often than not, you won’t have to dip into these savings, at least not for anything major. But I almost always end up taking a little for small things here and there. Just knowing I have it is also a great stress reliever and makes me more confident whilst travelling.
If you’re worried about travelling solo, check out these tips on how to stay safe when travelling. They’re easy to implement but can make a huge difference in feeling confident when venturing out on your own.
How to use your travel budget when you’re away
Whilst you’re away on your travels, your budget will help make your money last. Without a budget, it can be difficult to know where you can spend your money, and where your money’s suddenly disappeared to.
By tracking what you’ve spent, even if loosely, you can see exactly where you might be overspending and can act accordingly. Travel can be very spur of the moment, and you don’t want to miss an opportunity because you’re not sure if you can afford it. With your tracker, you’ll easily be able to see how much money you have and where you can spare it, and never miss out on a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity again.
Budget saving tips
- Work whilst away through companies such as Worldpackers
- Use these tips to get the cheapest flights every time.
- Travel light with a compact carry on
- Save money on food whilst travelling with these tips
Taking the time to create a travel budget is a great way to discover where you’re going. Find incredible things to do, even if they’re free activities, and pop them into your budget. It’ll help you save money whilst way, as once you’ve created your budget, you can use it to keep track of your spending, and also see where you have overbudgeted. Maybe you don’t need that much money for food, so can afford to spend more on activities.
If you’ve filled out the budget planner and discovered your dream vacation is out of your budget, you can now make a plan to save. Check out these easy and actionable tips on how to save money and travel more. Soon, your dream vacation will be well within reach.
