Tuesday 3 March 2009

How to travel like a Hazardous Pioneer Part 2 : BUDGETING

The b word. Yes the infamous BUDGET.
Well, hath no fear, it’s pretty straight forward. Seeing as I myself am preparing for three months travel on quite short notice, what better way to take you through my budgeting process, seeing as I only did it myself just now.

I’m going to try to break this down as simply as possible.
This is by no means the finest way to budget your trip, but given the time scale I have, this is how I’ve done it. If I don’t make due to cash, ignore everything beneath this line to do with money!
A series of questions to ask yourself, use this as a template if it helps;

1. How much money do you have in your account? Combining the contents of both the accounts that I use when I am on the road (having a back up account is always a good idea, as is have an account that does NOT charge for cash withdrawals abroad) I currently have £820. I also have £279 as a backup amount incase shit hits the fan.

2. How long are you traveling for? 3 months

3. To how many destinations? At the moment, 3 countries.

4. How much money in each country? Simple, £820 / 3 = £276 (I think!?)

5. Where is your first destination? Vietnam

6. What is the currency of destination 1? Dong and US dollars
Therefore I change half of my £276 into Dollars, half in to Vietnamese Dong.

Now these are the essential basics for figuring out the costs per month.


I can take these three steps further, briefly;
7. Accommodation? Hostels on occasion, hammock and mosquito net mostly.
Therefore, I don’t really need to look to hard at accommodation costs, as I plan to do this on the rugged side of things.

8. How many meals are you eating a day? Intentionally one full-meal in the evenings, and starting the days with fruit – most probably 2 small bananas and a tablespoon of peanut butter.
Thus – food costs are also low, probably £1.50 a day, 31 days, £46.50 for the month I’m in Vietnam, roughly.

9. Transport? Pushbike and Bus/Train primarily. However, a taxi from the airport to HCMC is necessary.

And so weighing up these basic options in my mind, I can pretty much conclude that £276 or there abouts, for one month in Vietnam, is definitely possible. However, it is important to note that I am not doing the average Joe trip here. I am intending to cycle as much as is practical/possible, and sleep in a hammock etc, so I am trying to keep my costs down as much as possible.
But with regards to budgeting, these are the kinds of questions you need to ask yourself before leaving for you next destination.

I’m sure there are many more ways or more efficient ways to budget your trip, so look on the net for more help. This is the way that I have used for years now, and it has sufficed me thus far.

Hope this helps,

Peace and rice,

1 comment:

  1. Yo man, Rowan here, i'm looking for an adventure this summer and almost definitely thinking of doing it on a bike again, let me know how the cycling is in 'naam! It looks like an awesome place to go...

    ReplyDelete