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The main point is do not rush to get going until your finances are sound. Save up as much as you possibly can.
If you are planning a round the world trip, you need to think carefully about your finances. When we were away, we bumped into
quite a lot of travellers who had not properly planned out how much things would cost. If money is already tight, don't think of
going as soon as the buzz for travel enters your mind. Proper planning and knowing you will have enough money will make your
trip work. Otherwise, you will be stuck in places working where you don't really want to be trying to build up your cash. We met
a LOT of people in this situation.
So, first of all work out realistically what disposable income you already have. One idea is to set up a separate bank savings account
(Nationwide is best if you're from the UK - see why below). Work out how much you can put into it each month and do it religiously.
If you used to spend a lot of money on nights out, on clothes or whatever cut it back for a few months - it's much more fun spending money on
these things in a different country.
Set up online banking before you do leave so that you can always know quickly what money you have. If you live in the UK the best bank to
use is Nationwide. With a Nationwide card (FlexAccount) you pay no commission for taking money out anywhere
in the world and on top of that you get business rate.
Plan your trip according to what you bank balance will finally look like. If you can't save up loads of cash then it is unlikely you will last long
in somewhere like the States or Europe. Focus instead on countries where your money will stretch further - Thailand was a great place
for us to conserve money (or if you have it you can spend it but be able to afford much more luxury than the same money would pay for in westernised countries).
Asia, if you exclude places like Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, on the whole tends to be much cheaper. Websites like FinFacts
show example living costs - the differences may not always look like much but if you're spending a long time in a place the differences add up significantly.
Also visit travel forums like BootsnAll.com and find out what and where is too expensive and where you can get a bargain.
When you start your trip don't feel flush with cash because your bank balance looks healthy. We did that for a while when we could have
been staying in reasonable accommodation for much less. Always do research on the web about accommodation and the likes. If you need
transport somewhere like we did and you know you are going to be somewhere at a certain time get quotes like they're going out of fashion.
We did when we organised campervan hire in Australia and New Zealand and car hire in the States and when we compared what we paid with
other travellers the difference was often great. Links to companies we used are on this website so if you are going to the same places
we did and are doing the same thing these links could be useful.
To give you an example of our budget, we spent £5250 per person (US$9545) over 4 months which covered everything including all air fares, food, accommodation,
car and campervan hire, beer and all spending money. We stayed often in nice resorts so could have saved quite a bit by picking less fancy hotels and resorts.
Keep an eye on your spend every few weeks - this is where online banking really helps. If you are spending too much look to cut back but spend according to
the budget you set yourself. If not your trip could be over a lot sooner than you would have liked.
Hong Kong >Singapore > Thailand >
Australia >New Zealand >Samoa >USA
