Boho Budget Travel Planner
There’s a common misconception that travelling is extremely costly and unattainable for the average Joe. Money is the number 1 deterrent that holds people back from following their dream of travelling, but guess what? You really don’t need to be rich to travel! Obviously travelling does cost money, but not as much as you think. With our helpful tips on how to travel on budget, you’ll be a vagabond in no time.
Get a Monzo Card
It’s the new age of banking! Say goodbye to carrying around an unnecessarily large wad of foreign cash and hello to Monzo. The app makes managing your money super easy and there are no charges for using the card abroad. It can help you stick to a budget by letting you know when you’re over spending and exactly how much you can spend. It has revolutionised the world of banking and changed the lives of travellers.
Get instant spending notifications, fee-free spending abroad and easy budgeting tools by Signing up below.
Travel off-season
While travelling at the height of summer may sound like the best idea, it might not help you when trying to stick to a budget. As a general rule of thumb, travelling in early spring and early autumn are the best options for those on a budget. For example, opting to travel to Thailand in October instead of August could save you a boat load of money and you’ll still be able to enjoy the glorious weather that Thailand has to offer.
Seasons vary for each destination, so make sure you do a little research beforehand – we have found the best way to do this is using the website BestTimeToGo.com. You search by destination and it’ll tell you the best time of year to go, the daily cost of living for a tourist and most importantly what the temperature will be.
Cook for yourself
Fine dining when travelling can take a huge chunk out of your budget. We advise planning ahead to only have a couple of meals out per week and then saving your pennies by gathering ingredients from local markets to cook cultural dishes for yourself. We have found that most hostels and Airbnb’s have kitchens where you’ll be able to cook and prepare food, and if you’re struggling for ideas, we have found the book ‘Bought, Borrowed & Stolen: Recipes and knives of a travelling chef’, to be super helpful for finding cultural recipes on a budget!
Forget about hotels
As Islanders, we recommend looking for hostels when travelling as a budget-friendly alternative to hotels. In most cases, you will end up sharing a room with other travellers where you will find yourself making lots of new friends and meeting people from all over the world!
Alternatively, if you prefer to travel with a bit more privacy, you can rent out affordable apartments through services like Airbnb and HomeAway. These websites give you the unique opportunity to experience a wide range of travel destinations in the same way locals do, for as low as £9 a night!
Budget Airlines
Planning flights can be an absolute nightmare with juggling times, airports and prices. We always use Skyscanner as a tool for easily comparing flight options and prices, and it even shows you where to go in the world for the cheapest flights. Super handy if you’re still undecided on a destination!
Top Tip: If you’re using chrome to plan and book your trip, make sure to do it in incognito mode. Otherwise the websites see what you’re looking at and bump up the price. Save your money and shop in incognito mode.
Digital Nomad Movement
Ever wondered how those bohemian nomads on Instagram can afford their adventure lifestyles? It’s most likely that these savvy travellers are doing freelance work whilst island hopping. If any job can be done remotely, we’re betting they’re doing it. All you need is a laptop and you can work on the road too!
‘Location Indie’ has a super helpful guide on how you can become a digital nomad and have their own little online community of nomads that can help you throughout the process. Kurtis, a member of the community, went from corporate hell to world traveller. After 10 years in a tedious and mind-numbing job, he joined the Location Indie community. He was able to quit his job and buy a one-way ticket to Japan and live life on his terms. Check out their guide and join the community and see where it takes you.
https://locationindie.com/
