How to calculate your traveler budget and avoid staying penniless on the way

¡Hi community! Traveling is not just for the rich, those who do not swim in money and we have that passion we can also do it, it is enough that apart from constantly saving for that purpose, we organize ourselves. In this article I will explain the method that I have applied in almost all my trips, especially long-term ones, those in which we get lost for at least a month.

Photo: Iguazú Falls, on the border between Argentina and Brazil

There are things that may seem insignificant, such as knowing how much the subway or the bus costs in the place you go, but these are details that can limit your budget because in many countries transportation is expensive, so do not miss any information that you touch the pocket like this. Here we go…

1) Choose destination: either inside or outside your country, the main thing is to find out first how much it costs to get there and get back from there. If you can go by land and the cost is lower than the plane, take advantage, sometimes there are bus routes more expensive or almost equally expensive to fly, then it is worthwhile to choose to go by plane and save time. You also have to find out the departure rates at the airport and if you have to pay an entry fee, whether you arrive by plane or by land.

Ok, you already have the price of the ticket to your destination, what's next?

2) Set itinerary: I particularly love this part because it generates enthusiasm, expectations of the places that I will meet. Whether you go to a single city or you want to visit several regions of a country, it is important to investigate what you are interested in visiting in order to calculate expenses. Today you can build the itinerary with Internet information, there are official sites of the countries with the most prominent destinations, maps, etc., but in my case I like to have in my hands a guide to get it out when you need to consult something, the ones I recommend most are those of Lonely Planet, because they condense very well where to go, how to get there, accommodations, what to eat…

When I go to organize my trip, I buy the guide a few months before and start reading it and making notes to decide which places I want to go to and how much it would cost. Then you can discard sites if you do not reach the money or time, but it is important to make a route.

3) Choosing accommodations: after the itinerary, this part is crucial, because much of the budget of a trip is taken by the accommodation. If you have friends, relatives or you will use Couchsurfing where you are going and therefore you will not pay, you can skip this part, if not, continue reading.

We all want these three things here: Good, Pretty and Cheap; and yes it is possible, I have found them many times. What I do is find the hostels or hotels recommended by the guide on the Internet, whether they have a page or other sites: hostel.com, booking.com, etc., where you can read comments from people who have stayed there and current rates. Then you can contact the accommodation directly and ask if they have availability for the dates you go. I have never booked online, what I have done is to write down the telephone numbers and addresses of the options that fit my budget and once I have reached the destination, I call to ask if there is a place at that time and the price, and I'm heading there.

Photo: View from the Laranjeiras hostel, in Salvador de Bahía, Brazil

Generally when I have traveled outside Venezuela I have stayed in hostels, sharing a room with other travelers, it is much cheaper and you can also meet people.

It is important to choose an accommodation in an area that allows you to easily connect with the places you want to know, that is, have a metro or bus stop nearby. Do not stay far for being cheaper because with the transfers you may pay more and you will lose more time.

4) Food: eating is very important! And if we are in a new place, obviously we want to taste the local flavors, so it is also necessary to previously find out approximate costs of breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Of course many accommodations include breakfast, and if they do not have, we can buy cheaper at the supermarket for one of the three main meals.

Photo: Catalan potatoes and vegetable pastiche in Barcelona

What I have applied to not spend too much on food is to make a good meal a day, that is, one day a big breakfast, another day I prioritize lunch and go to a restaurant and on another occasion I buy a good dinner. When you are traveling and knowing different places every day, it is easy to do it because suddenly at lunchtime you are visiting a museum or park and you simply eat anything, a snack, and it is at night that you have more time to sit down to eat.

One advantage of staying in hostels is that many offer the possibility of cooking, so you can save something there.

5) Transport: knowing more or less how much the transfers will cost us is important to be able to fulfill the itinerary that we have planned and so we do not feel frustrated because we did not reach to go to a place that we longed to know. That is why I insist on the importance of point 2: Arming itinerary, in order to know how much we will spend approximately to get to the places we want.

Photo: Valparaíso, Chile

6) Attractions: whether we want to go to a museum, an amusement park or sites say top of a city or town, it is good to find out by Internet how much the entrance costs. For example, Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (Spain) or the Acropolis of Athens (Greece), are places that to enter you have to pay and if we arrived in those cities it would be a shame not to be able to access there because we can not afford the money, right? Then, the attractions also go hand in hand with point 2: Arming itinerary.

Photo: Acropolis of Athens, Greece

7) Miscellaneous: here we must put those things that may arise along the way, for example go to a site that you had not planned but they told you it's worth it, or go out to a night spot, a concert… also buy something that you need or that you like for yourself or your family, friends, to give it away when you come back. These are the unforeseen events, for which it is also good to have a percentage allocated in our budget.

Photo: Crafts in Otavalo, Ecuador

All good and then how do we apply with these 7 sections the formula that allows us to be calm in our travels? It is simple and it will seem logical and even obvious, but I swear that when several people have asked me how I calculate my budgets and have traveled so much and known incredible places with little money, I keep seeing and saying: "truth, I had not thought about that!". So I explain how this worked for me:

If for example I have $ 1000 for my trip, after buying the ticket to my destination, suppose it cost me $ 300, I have $ 700 left. So if my trip lasts 20 days, I divide that $ 700 between 20 and it gives me $ 35, this amount is what I can spend per day during my trip.

Some will seem little and others who like me travel backpacker style, a lot. To these $35 per day we subtract the cost of accommodation, if we stay in a hostel can be between $ 8 to 15 daily, so we will have $ 20-27 per day. With this we eat and walk quietly if we have planned our itinerary well.

Also, as it has happened to me, there are days that do not spend almost anything and what we do not spend that day is left for the following. There are countries that are cheaper than others, but in general, this simple formula does not fail. Several times I have returned from my trips with surplus money and experiences that are priceless!