How to go on a long journey and not go broke

on the annual journey of the dream was my husband and I shared. When we finally decided to consider it seriously, in an asset we had a good career and a comfortable life in Cyprus. But the dream drew and did not allow to forget about the question "What if ...". That is what eventually led us to a long Asian tour.

We travel more than a year, managed to visit 12 countries, stopping here and there for a long time, and some places to visit for a few days or even hours. In this paper - tips on how to prepare for such a large-scale travel and how to save on the road.

How to prepare

1. Begin to save for a dream

Our training began for 15 months before leaving it to savings. we created family budget, Considered income and expenses, we analyze what expenses can be reduced than can be sacrificed for the sake of dreams. Considering the final amount of the potential savings, we were happy with it.

Council: Create your budget, keep track of where the money went. Reduce your spending and start to regularly set aside a certain amount of money.

2. Decide what you will do in the journey

The journey itself - it's great, but we did not see for themselves the idle routine. Therefore, in advance began to create online projects with which we could work remotely. By the time of departure we had a job search sites in Cyprus and my project is "a variable to be!", Aimed at helping people achieve the dream.

Council: think of those things which you could work on the trip. Believe me, it is impossible 24 hours 7 days a week, spending only on the journey. You will have free time. You can spend it on watching TV shows, but why not devote the time to something more useful to you?

3. Be patient

After the decision to go on a trip, I was ready to do it tomorrow. However, common sense called me to order. I had to tighten their belts and continue to gradually prepare for the trip.

Council: Think about how long you can actually go on a trip. Undermining of money and / or start your online project. Do not try to do everything faster, it will not lead to a good result.

4. sell your stuff

Closer to the trip, we began to sell things. How much I have turned all unused! Some things were new at all. We sold everything: appliances, electronics, furniture, board games, videos, car. Clothes carried to the point of acceptance of things for those in need. These sales replenished our budget by more than 3000 euros.

Council: dismantle their stuff, critically evaluate what you do not use, and boldly expose it for sale through forums or specialized sites.

5. Protect your savings

One of the most frustrating things that can happen on the road - it loss of money. Agree, terrible to wake up in the morning and find out that someone has withdrawn from your card a decent amount of money.

To avoid this, we have created a triple money storage system consisting of two banks and one of the mobile bank. All savings have kept a bank A, from which we translate the amount of a month to the bank B. On the map, to which is attached a mobile bank (we have it Revolut), we transfer the necessary amount through the application for withdrawal at an ATM. Thus, the "light" we just Revolut card that never lie money.

An added bonus is that this card will convert the currency of the account is not a standard banking scheme (your currency - in dollars and then from dollars - the currency of the host country), and directly, bypassing dollars. Thus, it turns out the most advantageous course.

Council: choose a reliable storage system money. At the very least, get a second bank card which you will use to withdraw cash only.

6. Select the appropriate health insurance

The secret to selecting medical insurance on a long journey he is to choose the plan that really covers the whole period of your trip, and not as in the majority of insurance companies - a maximum of 45 days in during the year.

The second thing you should pay attention - this is a franchise, the amount of payments, after reaching which expenses are paid by the insurance company. If you are traveling to Asia, it is best to choose insurance with no deductible, otherwise you will constantly pay out of pocket (so as medicine in Asia inexpensive).

Council: Spend time researching the insurance, ask all sorts of questions to support the service. Medical insurance - an important part of safe travel.

7. Download the online and offline maps

If before the trip, we did not install these cards on all your devices, I think we still would wander somewhere in India or Myanmar. Sometimes that local just sent us somewhere without knowing the right direction. After we came to believe just the map, simpler life.

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Council: before the trip, set to the phone app, download the relevant maps of countries. For us ideally come Maps.me, it works perfectly when you're offline.

8. Make copies of documents

Sometimes, copies of documents we have started to demand suddenly and in places where not expect. For example, in Myanmar, when we moved from one city to another night bus, we were awakened at some conditional border which no photocopies of your passport it was impossible to pass. Fortunately, we were overlooked copies. Sometimes, to find a copy machine, we had to run round a decent seats. With photos fared even worse.

Council: make in advance at least five copies of the passport and a few photos of 4 × 5 (they can be converted, if necessary, in a 3 × 4, but on the contrary - just did). Scan an insurance policy and passport store scans on the phone and send it to your email. This will help you in case of loss of documents.

9. Take a tour of homes for rent

We met folks who travel for years, simply by renting their homes for rent. So they did not earn, but do not waste accumulation.

Council: if you have your property, think about to rent it. This will help you increase your budget.

10. Do not forget to collect the medicine cabinet and take the things that are indispensable

In our medicine cabinet not a lot of drugs: most of the necessary preparations can still be found in local pharmacies. We took only medication for emergencies.

And the list of must-have-things I include earplugs and a mask to sleep: sometimes in hotels there are surprises in the form of a very loud snoring neighbors or from the street light.

Council: Take only what you need, do not take a ton of medicines and personal items. If necessary, you can buy them on the spot.

11. Be open to the world!

We all have ideas about how the world works. They were born in our part of the reality that we see daily in the usual habitat. Aliens same rules and regulations may seem strange to us. What would you think, seeing in the supermarket people in their pajamas? That is what we have seen around midnight on the island of Penang in Malaysia. It turned out that in the 12 supermarket night makes a big discount, so many families have you done for hot deals, and then immediately go to bed.

Council: Respect other people's culture and norms of behavior. Finally, we also someone seem strange. And that's OK!

How to save on the road

Previously, I thought that a long journey - it's something insanely expensive and unrealistic. All these ideas are likely to have been born from a short vacation when you spend money left and right. In practice, it turned out that travel is available for every budget and if you wish, you can save considerably even in expensive cities like Hong Kong and Singapore. I'll tell you how.

1. Less travel at airplanes

Of course, airfare - is the easiest and fastest way to travel, but if you have no time constraints, why not try other ways? Buses, trains, water transport - the movement of alternative ways to save up to 60% of the cost of the ticket.

2. use Workaway

Workaway.info - a discovery of our journey, a kind of volunteer work in exchange for housing and food. This is a great way to save money and to get acquainted with the local culture, working and interacting with the locals. Normal conditions are: work 4-5 hours a day, five days a week (but you need to specify in each case).

We used Workaway five times, having to work in a cafe, restaurant, hostel, on a strawberry farm. The work was very different from the help in the kitchen to language practice and marketing. Requires knowledge of the English language at least at the average level.

3. Do not forget kauchsorfing

For many well-known way to travel with free overnight local. A great way to find new friends and get to know the culture and customs of another country. But do not forget that you are staying in their home and not at the hotel. Be polite and clean up after themselves.

4. Buy your tickets for night flights

Choose a night travel - so you can save on spending the night in a hotel, and comfortable sleeping coaches will help you not to feel overwhelmed in the morning.

5. Things fit in your hand luggage

We do not work, and we constantly observe with envy for those who are only traveling with hand luggage. With each flight are it saves from 20 to 40 dollars at the rate of baggage.

6. Pay attention to the hostels

Hostels - this is a great place to meet other travelers, share stories and have a good time in the company of like-minded. And yet it is cheaper than renting a room in a hotel, especially if you are traveling alone. Carefully read the reviews and check the rating, it will save you from unpleasant surprises.

7. Use the discount program service Booking, Airbnb and Agoda

Each of them has a coupon program: if someone reserves a property on your link, you get a percentage of that. You can also earn money by becoming a partner. To do this, you need to have your own blog (you can receive up to 25% of the rental cost through your website).

8. Work remotely

If you, like us, do not want to go idle, try to earn extra traveling. You can create your own projects or to find remote operationIf your specialization and experience allow it.

9. Rented accommodation with kitchen

This will save on eating in cafes and restaurants in the road eating countries such as South Korea. Of course, traveling without the local cuisine, you can lose a big part of the fun, so I'm not saying that it is necessary to completely eliminate food in the cafe. But to reduce the number of visits is still possible, if the budget is set for you.

10. Use the Grab and Uber

Place the phone and the app Protect yourself from the situation, when you pay with a taxi driver and you are suddenly told that the rate was announced at the person, and you have two... The application can be configured payment directly from the memory card completely eliminating calculations directly with the driver.

11. Determine the daily and monthly budget

Decide how much you can and want to spend on a daily basis. Keep accounting of expenses, try to stay within budget. We use Excel plate, to which we add all expenses. It helps us to see where we have gone beyond and the signals that it would be nice to save money on something (such as a cafe or a massage).

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Traveling make our lives brighter, offer us a world of new opportunities. Give yourself this pleasure! I hope my advice will be useful to you.

see also

• How to organize a budget trip to several countries →
• How to handle money in a foreign trip →
• 7 ways to combine living abroad and travel →