You probably caught the travel bug a while ago and now your thoughts include spending a year (or more) traveling around the world. But what does that mean? Where should you start? And how should you plan your trip in order to have few (not-so-nice) surprises.
Budget
Of course, the first question to ask yourself is how much this would cost. From past experiences (from fellow travelers), it probably cannot be done for less than $30,000 per person. You should consider that you’ll be spending quite a lot of money before you even set foot on the plane.
It seems like a big budget but even so you’ll have to find ways to cut the costs sooner or later. And those include making sure you get the lowest price for the plane tickets, accommodation and find the cheapest ways to travel within a country.
How to figure out the budget
Depending on your travel style you can do this in several ways. Firstly, look up around the world plane ticket prices for different departure dates and different stops. Write down the countries you really want to visit and make sure those are included in your itinerary. Then look for travel insurance quotes. In the case of such long trips it’s better to be safe than sorry, for sure. Depending on where you’ll be traveling, chances are that you’ll need at least some immunizations done (which, of course, cost money).
Then, consider that you need to store whatever items you’ve got at home and there are some expenses you’ll have to take care of especially if you own the place where you live.
Now you’ve got the first expenses figured out. These won’t even be included in your traveling budget while on the road.
It’s time now to take a look at the list of countries in your itinerary and decide which of them is the most expensive to visit. Let’s assume it is Australia. Take a month-long vacation in Australia to estimate the cost of a vacation here.
Find affordable airline tickets to Australia (which won’t need to be included in the round-the-world trip budget, of course) and head to the country. Once here, look for the type of accommodation you know you like and plan to book for your long trip. If you are the type of budget traveler who prefers the intimacy then, Melbourne hotels are an excellent choice for you. Of course, you can always look for private rooms in hostels, especially in large cities like Sydney, Canberra or Melbourne. Don’t forget to consider the cost of food, daily expenses and even some small souvenirs.
You’ll soon have a budget for a month of living in the most expensive country in your itinerary. Use it as a base to calculate the budget for the entire year. Remember to take into account the exchange rates (which can easily increase or decrease the budget).
Don’t forget …
You’ll need appropriate clothing for the countries you’ll be visiting, depending on the time of the year. But don’t over pack. You really won’t want to carry an entire closet worth of clothes with you. Plus, you can always buy something (cheap) from the places you visit.
You’ll need quite a bit of equipment. A lightweight tent is a good idea if you plan to do some camping (or you’ll be forced to because of the budget). Consider that your equipment might get stolen…so you need some backup money for such an experience.
Using printed travel guides is a matter of personal choice. If you travel with a laptop, you can relay on free wi-fi connections to get the information you need while on the road. But if you plan to head to the middle of nowhere, a traditional guide book will do the job.
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