Once the decision was made to uproot ourselves and head off into the unknown, there was just the small matter of how we were going to fund such an adventure... Because as much as I'd wished otherwise, taking a hiatus from your career to drift aimlessly around the globe can be a costly exercise (at least initially).
Of course, I could always be true to the stereotype of the irresponsible, consumerist-driven Gen Y and simply put the lot on a credit card to be dealt with in some far off, distant future. But I'd deliberately avoided ever getting a credit card. Throughout my 20's I'd taken pride in never owning one, so I wasn't about to start now. Truth be told, I was far too much of a control freak to ever be comfortable with debt, no matter how minuscule. I'd spent much of the last few years at work forecasting and managing budgets, so I had developed a fascination with frugality and saving that bordered on the obsessive...
Combined with the fact that I worked in a notoriously precarious industry (of which I'd been burnt in the global recession of 2008, when I'd been made redundant and couldn't for the life of me secure further employment), saving "for a rainy day" may well have been tattooed on my forehead, it was so ingrained in my thinking.
I'd also learned from my uni days that I didn't need money to be happy. Whilst I'd supported myself throughout my degree working up to three jobs at once, after rent and bills and food were deducted I had little left to play with (let alone save). But I was perfectly content. Despite the insecurity, I always found a way to get by. And I was able to spend those years studying what I loved, yet at the same time gaining employability skills that would benefit me years later (and enabled me to get that first "big break" in my field). So accustomed was I to surviving on so little, that even when I was working full time and earning more money, my lifestyle hadn't changed. I still lived like a poor uni student.
So whilst I wasn't exactly intimidated by the thought of saving for the next 12 months - I did want to do some research. I'd only ever travelled for a few months at a time, often with a job and a place for me to return to at the end. How much would we really need, to survive a whole year on the road?
My previous post explains the origins of this blog - the "30 for 30" title, that represents the $30,000 goal. To be honest, I'd actually plucked that figure out of thin air - I think I'd simply repeated that catchphrase to myself so many times, it had stuck.
But as it turns out, I wasn't too far off. I began scouring web forums and the internet for any information I could find on how much it cost people to take an adventure such as this. I Googled: "cost of travel 1 year", "how much to go around the world?" and "budget for around the world trip".
Obviously my first obstacle was that I wasn't 100% sure where we were going to go. It soon became apparent that this needed to be resolved, because we needed to ensure our savings went to our top 5 countries as a matter of priority. And once we identified our top 5 destinations, we would need to consider what time of year we wanted to go (not just to ensure good weather - but to avoid the high season when costs are greater and tourists are everywhere) and also what direction we would travel in.
Both of us agreed that Turkey was number 1 on the list of countries we most wanted to visit. In fact, eastern Europe in general was unequivocally in the top 5. I had previously travelled through central and western Europe in 2008 and 2009 when I lived in London, so I was desperate to get back to visit those countries that I'd missed.
Fortunately for us, this is also a reasonably cheap part of Europe to travel (if you do it right). As I continued to do my research I came across other travellers who had done similar journeys to the one we envisaged. In order to estimate how much we would need to save, I decided the most accurate way would be to work out an approximate daily spend. This led me to finding this list:
Now, I already knew looking at that list that we would be able to do some of those countries cheaper (i.e. self catering instead of eating out, limiting tourist attractions etc). I'd travelled enough to know that not all attractions were worth visiting and that long-term travel always meant a degree of self catering (with the exception of south east Asia, where it was often cheaper to eat from the street vendors).
Nevertheless it provided an excellent starting point and as I trawled more web forums, travel blogs and websites I saw similar figures echoed elsewhere. It became apparent that a budget of $30-40AUD/day (each) would be a safe bet for eastern Europe - especially considering that we could split accommodation costs where possible (i.e. when we weren't staying in dorms, but in private rooms).
So let's do the math:
- $30AUD/day x 365 days (1 year) = $10,950 each (lower end of the scale).
- $40AUD/day x 365 days (1 year) = $14,600 each (higher end of the scale).
Considering the unlikelihood of always sticking to a $30AUD/day budget (not to mention the stress!) I concluded a realistic estimate would be between $12,000 and $15,000 to travel the cheaper parts of Europe for 1 year. Add to that flights over (and back - eventually), travel insurance, vaccinations... I threw in an additional $5,000 for good measure. So that would mean around $20,000 each.
Then assuming we came back to Australia after a year or two, we'd need a few thousand to get ourselves started. And what about outside of Europe? If we didn't spend the whole year in Europe (but instead say, 6-10 months only) perhaps we could stretch our funds to allow an additional year in another part of the world that could also be travelled on a budget of $30-40AUD/day (a list of countries and some further inspiration here: http://www.priceoftravel.com/2222/world-cities-by-price-backpacker-index/ )
The possibilities were endless. Eventually I concluded that $30,000 was both a realistic and achievable goal. Anything less would mean: a) I'd be too anxious about every dollar I spent, so it would be unlikely I could completely let myself go (which was precisely what I wanted to do); and b) anything less would mean I may have to shorten the trip - and I was determined to travel for at least 1 year.
But how long would that take to save? Was it even possible to save that much in a year (bearing in mind that was almost half my annual salary)?
It was time to get budgeting...
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