A Year Off

by Alexandra Brown

  Regional Daily Averages

  Your general route is a good starting point to help you wrap your head around how much you can expect to spend in each area. Within your route, each region will have an average daily cost that takes into account your preferred comfort level. We labeled these as “low,” “medium,” “high,” or “superhigh” burn areas.

  Below are our averages, which take into account what basic things in each region cost: transportation, accommodation, food and beverages, and miscellaneous, such as basic necessities, excursions and activities, and gifts. These averages are based on a roughly 75/25 split between cities and towns versus countryside, with some regional touring. We wanted to enjoy ourselves and not completely “rough it,” so we built a cushion into our daily averages. Rather than trying to stick to these amounts each day, we went for a total average for the entire time we were in a region. In other words, some days were high while others were low. Overall, everything tended to even out.

  Note: These totals are for two people.

  REGION

  DAILY BUDGET in 2014 (AVERAGE)

  India

  $35–$75/day (low burn)

  Southeast Asia

  $35–$90/day (low burn)

  Central America

  $50–$110/day (medium burn)

  Eastern Europe

  $65–$100/day (medium burn)

  South America

  $65–$110/day (medium burn)

  Western Europe

  $80–$140/day (high burn)

  United States

  $80–$140/day (high burn)

  New Zealand/Australia

  $90–$180/day (superhigh burn)

  Japan

  $110–$200/day (superhigh burn)

  United Kingdom

  $110–$200/day (superhigh burn)

  Your daily averages may look different than these based on the level of comfort you choose, your interests, how much you want to be actively thinking about your budget, and the financial climate of each area when you visit—social and political events can have a big impact on these numbers. It is well worth checking out online resources and frequently updated travel books when establishing your daily averages.

  We were more budget-conscious in Europe where luxuries are expensive, but in Southeast Asia and India we gave ourselves much more breathing room. For example, we could make it in Thailand on $20 a day, but by budgeting $70 a day we gave ourselves the freedom to not think about our budget and spend as we wished.

  Splitting Your Time

  Once you have a sense of your daily averages, you can start to wrap your head around how much time you can afford to spend in each region. We never spent more than two weeks in a “superhigh burn” country and maximized our time in “low” and “medium” burn regions. Based on these daily averages, we ended up spending four and a half months in Southeast Asia and India, a month in Eastern Europe, and three months in Western Europe, interspersing shorter stints in the more expensive places in between. Below is a summary of our rough budget. We included an estimate on “Free Housing & Transit” in order to help quantify what you may need if you do not have a network of people to host you. In most cases, our hosts’ homes were significantly nicer than accommodations we would have had otherwise, but this estimate reflects what we think we would have spent on a basic Airbnb, guesthouse room, or something similar.

  Other Expenses

  Total

  David’s

  Personal Stash

  $1,000.00

  Transportation Costs

  $13,000.00

  Credit Card Points Savings

  $(7,000.00)

  Housing Savings

  $(7,100.00)

  GRAND TOTAL

  $37,292.50

  In Case of Emergency

  Always have some emergency cash in USD stashed away. We kept $400 in reserve money for “just in case” moments. We divided it up and hid the money in secret pockets in our backpacks and under the insoles of our shoes.

  ROUND-THE-WORLD TICKETS—YES OR NO?

  When you decide to take a trip around the world, people will often ask whether you are doing a round-the-world (RTW) ticket. It’s a logical conclusion to make, particularly given the branding. RTW tickets range in cost from $6,000 to $7,000 per person with roughly ten destinations available per ticket. RTW tickets require you to book your destinations in advance, limit what carriers you can use, and confine you to a single direction of travel. If headed east, for example, you cannot backtrack west. For us and every other traveler we met, restrictions and advance planning were deal breakers. Moreover, these tickets are expensive. We ended up spending just shy of $6,000 each on our twenty plane tickets, including the long international stretches to and from home, a multi-leg journey to Japan involving flying in and out of smaller airports, and all the regional flights we took back and forth across countries. We also didn’t book most of our flights far in advance, apart from the longer and guaranteed-to-be-more-expensive stretches when moving from region to region. On average, we booked flights anywhere from two to six weeks in advance and never ended up being burned on prices.

  THE TIME VERSUS MONEY RULE

  David

  The quicker you move from place to place, the more money you will spend. For example, if you want to see a few cities in a country in two weeks, you will need to pay to get from place to place. Unless you want to spend a significant portion of your time on a slow bus or train, you will most likely opt for quicker, more expensive modes of transport. Once at your destination, you may be tired and want to treat yourself to something easy, which is often costlier. And finally, since you only have a few days, you will want to see and experience everything you can, which often comes with a price tag.

  It didn’t take us long to notice this and develop the “time versus money rule.” Although Alexandra seemed like the more budget-conscious member of our party, we both tend to veer toward frugality. Shortly after our trip had begun, we spent what felt like forever debating whether or not we should purchase a $125 plane ticket from Cambodia to Laos instead of taking a $5 bus. In the end, the extra time at our destination was worth the money.

  The rule wasn’t just about transportation costs and time; it also had to do with the speed of transport and the density of our agenda. If we wanted to hit a bunch of places in a short amount of time, we needed to accept the fact that we would spend more.

  When we decided to add Japan to our itinerary at the last minute, we made our plans with the understanding that two weeks there would simply cost more, not only because of the local economy but also because of the limited time we would have to see multiple places.

  On the flip side, when we were looking to take it easy and really get to know a place, we generally spent less. Europe is known for being expensive, but when we decided to spend nine days in Lyon, our time was so relaxing and leisurely that we ended up spending relatively little.

  This rule helped guide our decisions throughout our trip, and a couple times it even helped us slow down, which always paid off in the end.

  TRICKS FOR STRETCHING YOUR BUDGET

  A budget may be a finite amount of money, but with a few simple tricks, you’ll find you can stretch this pool more than many people would expect. By implementing these tricks into our travel routines, we were able to save thousands of dollars and relieve a lot of the anxiety we felt about sticking with our budget.

  1/ Sign Up for Credit Cards with Rewards Programs

  There are countless credit cards out there, many of which tempt you with amazing sign-up bonuses and points when you spend on travel and eating out. When you’re taking a trip around the world, almost all of the expenses you put on a card are travel and dining related, meaning you rack up points quicker. We strategically signed up for three different credit cards over the course of our trip, timing them at three-month intervals to be able to hit all the different rewards bonuses and use those points for future flights and accommodations. We were so appreciative of NerdWa
llet’s site, where we found the best deals. We then called the companies and asked them to ship our cards internationally for free. Between the three credit cards and points we already had, we ended up saving $5,000 on flights and $2,000 on other travel-related expenses.

  Note: We each kept one of the cards after the trip and ended up canceling the others within a year of returning to avoid being hit with the annual fees. The impact to our credit scores for doing this was negligible.

  2/ Leverage Your Network

  Reach out to friends, family, and friends of friends as you travel to see if they are willing to show you around or host you. Staying with people you have a connection to is not only a great way to save money but also often a richer experience than staying by yourself in a foreign place. Even if you cannot stay with people you know, they will often be enthusiastic guides, introduce you to other locals, and show you places you may not have found otherwise. For the most part, we were amazed by how happy people were to host us and show us their hometowns through their eyes. When we look back, some of the richest experiences we had were in some way due to the help of friends, friends of friends, and family along the way.

  3/ Ask for Discounts

  Throughout our trip, especially in Europe, we stayed in a lot of Airbnbs. Sometimes we stayed with a host, but most of the time we stayed in our own apartments. People assume hostels are the cheapest option in Europe, but as a couple looking for some privacy, we didn’t find this to be true. Airbnb became the most affordable and enjoyable option, particularly with the added cost-savings benefit of being able to cook at home. We would also ask our hosts for a discount. This seems like it would be uncomfortable, but people aren’t offended when you ask considerately. Before submitting a booking request, we would send an inquiry to the host and share our story. We would ask for a small discount for a longer stay or offer to clean in exchange for waiving the cleaning fee. These small amounts of money added up, and we always left our hosts a small gift from our travels as a thank-you.

  4/ Live like the Locals Do

  Part of what makes vacations so expensive is the short-term luxury mentality: you are rewarding yourself for working so hard. Vacationers eat out for almost every meal, visit lots of sights, and take quick but more expensive transportation. If you’re traveling for an extended period of time, you have the opportunity to mimic the locals. Not only will your budget benefit, but you will also have a richer experience as you dive deeper into the culture. This was especially true for us in Europe.

  • Sleep like Locals Do: Stay in less touristy neighborhoods. You’ll not only save money and escape the tourists, but also discover food gems and greater authenticity.

  • Travel like Locals Do: Regional airlines outside of the U.S. are amazingly affordable. We flew local airlines all the time, and they were often cheaper than trains. Trains can be one of the very best ways to travel, but they generally require more advanced bookings in order to save. Buses are also a common way to travel and can be quite nice. In Southeast Asia and India we had a couple of excellent bus experiences, and even the buses we took in Europe were pleasant.

  • Eat like Locals Do: If you want a classic hamburger outside of a Western country, you’re going to pay Western prices for it. For example, a burger, fries, and an imported beer in Thailand will cost you about $12 to $16, while pad thai and a local beer will be $3 and way more delicious. Also, avoid tourist traps. Everywhere you go will have restaurants catering to tourists, where the food is generally more expensive and less tasty. Ask locals for their favorite spots and sniff out the places with delicious vibes.

  • Live like Locals Do: When in Europe, stay in places where you can cook at home and take advantage of the local markets and produce. Going to the market and learning how to cook seasonally is both an awesome cultural experience and budget-friendly.

  5/ Know When to Afford Your Luxury

  When you’re on the road for a long time, you may need “a vacation from your vacation.” It’s important to take time to rest after being on the go. Between Japan and India, we spent two weeks relaxing on the island of Ko Lanta in southern Thailand—a much-needed break before the intensity of India. When you do take a vacation from your vacation, make sure it’s in a place where your money can go further so you can relax and not worry.

  A NOTE ON TRACKING YOUR BUDGET

  Alexandra

  How you monitor your budget on the road often reflects how you keep track of your money at home. In our daily lives, we always had a good sense of what money we had, what we had spent, and what we had saved, but neither of us tracked diligently. However, when we left on the trip, I decided to keep track of everything we spent in a notebook. While we both agreed to this plan, I went deeper down the tracking rabbit hole than David. For nine months, I tracked every expense each day, from a cup of coffee and lunch to a fifty-cent tuk-tuk ride. This generally worked out well, but as the trip went on, and our return date approached, the budget tracking began to produce more stress than reassurance.

  Two months before the end of the trip, David encouraged me to loosen up our tracking system. He suggested we try not tracking and see where we netted out at the end of a week. If we were way over budget, we would go back to diligent tracking, but if we were spending roughly the same, we would stop worrying about tracking for the rest of our trip. At the end of the week, we found we had stayed on budget without tracking. I was scared to not track for the rest of the trip, but it was a good test in learning to let go and have faith in our ability to take care of ourselves. If we could do it again, I would track for the first couple weeks of getting to a new region as we adjusted and then assume we would self-govern from there.

  TRAVEL ISN’T A LONG VACATION

  The average cost of a two-week European vacation for two people is about $6,200. If we had spent like that while in Europe, we would have blown our entire eleven-month budget in less than three months. On our budget we lived surprisingly well. We generally ate what we wanted, stayed in comfortable places, and enjoyed a variety of modes of transportation. We didn’t do a lot of sightseeing in the traditional sense, but we really got to know the places we visited. There were only a handful of times throughout our trip when we felt restricted financially, but those were few and far between and paled in comparison to the many moments we felt beyond lucky. We came to see that living on a budget doesn’t mean constant sacrifice and missed opportunities. Rather, we saw our budget as an opportunity for us to be more intentional with our time and money.

  With yearlong travel you may not have the luxury of having lots of money, but you have the luxury of lots of time. You also have the luxury of not needing to unwind from a stressful job in a finite two-week period. You are where you are to experience that place and learn from its people, and this is a completely incredible mindset to be able to enjoy.

  Chapter 4

  Prepping and Packing

  PLANNING IT OUT

  Alexandra

  David and I are planners. David tends to focus on the high-level “big picture,” while I immediately rush to tackle all the logistics. Preparing for a trip around the world proved to be no different. Our need to be prepared for any and all situations throughout the course of a year, and the daunting feeling of thinking through the countless situations we might encounter, butted heads with our desire to be light, easy, and free, jumping off airplanes without checking bags and not feeling burdened by huge packs that made us stick out in a crowd, as if we had a neon sign over our heads screaming “Tourists! Rob them!” These competing wishes created some tension, and as our departure date drew nearer, we began to feel overwhelmed.

  Preparing for a trip around the world felt like a massive undertaking when compared to planning for a two-week vacation, but in reality, there was a shocking level of similarity. A lot of the anxieties felt the same. We debated what to pack, wondering what we would want to wear, how weather would impact what we brought, and how light we wanted to keep our bags. We asked many of the same questi
ons we would ask ourselves before a vacation. Should we have a friend collect our mail? What would we do about recurring payments? What did we really need to get done before we left, and what did we really need to bring?

  The more we thought about things, the more we read. Packing seemed like a more tangible obstacle to tackle, and we quickly went down a rabbit hole of “optimal travel clothing.” David began scouring the internet for deals on brands we’d never heard of, all of which sounded like characters out of a sci-fi comic series. We stopped listening to ourselves and started drowning in blog chatter. As we made note of all the things we thought we were supposed to bring and do, it started to feel like our packs would be enormous and that there was no way we’d get everything taken care of before we left.

  It took actually being on the road for us to learn what we really should have packed and what really needed to be done back home before taking off. In this chapter, we share the lessons we learned about what really needs to be buttoned up at home, what you actually need to pack, and, just as important, what you can let go of and leave behind. These tips will hopefully save you some time, headaches, and unnecessary purchases.

  BUTTONING UP

  In some ways, leaving the country for a year felt simple, but in other ways, it felt like conquering series after series of to-do lists and decisions. The months leading up to our departure were dense, and we got a lot done. But once we had taken care of our visas for India, gotten our shots, found our backpacks and filled them, signed up for a travel insurance policy, and finalized our housing plan, we realized there wasn’t actually much else left we needed to do. We could just . . . go. No one was stopping us, and there were no looming deadlines or schedules. We headed into the holiday season feeling more settled and more excited about our upcoming departure. With all the research we had done over the last several months, we felt like we had covered all our bases, and when we finally left the country in January, we left with an assumption that our interactions with life back home would be limited apart from correspondence with friends and family.