Over the years, I've read countless volumes of blogs, websites and forums where people discuss various tips for how to budget for your trip abroad. A large volume of what I've read I find to be accurate, but my experience has taught me a great deal more than any of this research could have prepared me for.
Travelling should not be a burden - a minor, manageable credit card debt is one thing, if you know you have a reliable job upon your return. However if you're embarking upon an overseas journey, the ideal is to do this without having to slave away just to survive when you get back, check your credit card statement and start to regret your travel decisions.
Tip 1: Don't forget the real world will continue to turn up until you leave, and from the day you get back
You can plan and plan and plan to eat only noodles, bread and butter in preparation to save cash for your trip; you can think you have your accommodation/job for when you get back all sorted and organised. However things go wrong. If you are embarking upon a long overseas trip, for starters, people in your real life may want to catch up - go out for farewell drinks with your work colleagues, catch up with all of those pals you only see once in a while for coffee/lunch. The dollars add up. Sure, if you're being completely frugal you can insist that they'll have to shout if they want to see you, otherwise it is budget brand soda and popcorn in front of a DVD at home for your pre-trip catch up. However, in the interest of normality, try to find a line between locking yourself away and being wise.
Depending upon your living/job situation, you may need to account for start up costs when you get back - if you're moving out of a rental accommodation, if you're quitting your job. Include in your budget any realistic start up costs for your return and put them aside into an account which is separate to your travel budget account. Do not touch it, under any circumstances. This may include cash for bond and two weeks rent, and even to allow for your wages for a few weeks if you're going to be looking for alternative work.
Tip 2: Separate your budget for major pre-trip expenses, and allow for lots of minor extras
This will depend largely upon your style of trip, but generally most people who are backpacking or budget travelling will have booked some sort of major flights, and then will do travel within a country/continent with some sort of pass (whether it be a Eurail Pass or a Greyhound Bus Pass or the like) and other smaller flights and travel costs. All of these major expenses should be accounted for as pre-trip expenses. So too should your luggage, travel insurance, any clothing you may need to buy, any guidebooks you wish to purchase. Budget for lots of extras, little things that you won't realise you need until you're almost leaving, last minute journals you pick up and when you decide that you do, in fact, want a travel pillow for that major long-hail flight you'll be starting out with. Try to think about all of these little things in advance, and where you can, shop around - check out Ebay for travel accessories, start looking for things early so you know what you want and can grab it when a sale comes up.
Tip 3: Prepare for the worst.
Always get travel insurance, and get comprehensive travel insurance: for an extra couple of hundred dollars, you'll be grateful if something does go wrong. I was staying at a hostel in Nice in 2008 and one of the guys in our mixed dorm went out drinking one night and slipped over in a bar where someone had spilled a beer and they'd yet to mop up the floor. He managed to do some serious damage to his knee, and he and his brother spent the next three days trying to arrange for emergency flights home for him. This poor guy was laid up in the hostel, the joy of his day being when his brother would sneak him in 'medical' marijuana.
When you're reading estimates for your budget for a particular area, and they range from one dollar figure to another - use the higher figure in your budget. Always. This will allow you more flexibility in your budget. I not once have sat down and actually budgeted a trip to the dollar, I've never been at the point where I've spent the last three weeks of my trip filling up on the free hostel breakfast because I can't afford to buy food. I believe that the reason for this is because I've always estimated HIGH in my general expenses budget. If they've said to allow 75€ - 100€ per day for Paris in summer, I budget 100€.
You'll have days where you eat the hostel breakfast, all of your tourist efforts will be free and you'll just be paying for lunch and dinner and you decide to self cater and grab things from the grocery store. You'll likely break below 100€ even allowing for public transportation costs. But then, because you've budgeted high, you'll be able to afford to go to Disneyland Paris; or if all you've ever really wanted is to go shopping and buy something from Champs-Élysées, then it will be realistic for you.
Tip 4: Be realistic with yourself
Some people plan their travel budgets with this notion that they're going to become a whole different, frugal, targeted, simplistic person. You can have all the best intentions but you can't deny the person that you are. You aren't going to enjoy your travels if you never take the opportunity to experience things and sometimes, experiences cost money. Beer and pretzels cost money in Germany, so too do hotdogs from vendors around Central Park in New York City. If you deny yourself the simple pleasures, then you're going to be denying yourself experiences that you want to have. If you're likely to want to go out and party, then that's fine, if that's who you are and that is the trip that you want to have. You're going to have to allocate extra money. If you'll want to go see a show when you're in London at West End, or go to theme parks in Orlando - allow the cash.
Tip 5: Be true to yourself
Just because you know someone who managed to spend 6 months in Europe and never paid for anything more than their hostel and basic food and transport, it does not mean that this is the way that you should experience your travels. There is no formula for the best way to travel - the best way is your way. Sure, branch out, have new experiences, try to cut down on extra expenses - but don't do away with the things that will bring you joy. You're the one who has to look back at the experience you had and know that you made the most of it.
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