Funding a Gap Year - How much?

Hi all,

I'm hoping to do a bit of travelling as part of my gap year, because this was a bit of a last minute decision I havent saved or anything in antipication of a gap year/travelling so to fund it I was hoping to work from September to Jan and travel from late jan/feb for as long as I can fund it really..
How much did you save for travelling/gap year because I've been talking to people with £5,000+ which obviously I'll never acheive maybe more like £1-2000?... I was hoping to travel south east asia, india, nz or oz and poss a bit of the states.. I'm pretty sure thats a bit unrealistic but I'm hoping to travel with 2 others so part of that is their plans so I guess we will have to compromise.. Any idea how much 3-4 months (for whole trip) in these areas would cost (with some volunteering)? Any tips on saving money along the way?

Reply 1

FoeGeddaBowDeet

£1-2000 might cover the plane ticket. You need at least £2,000 if you want the WHV to work in aus(the only viable way to fund your trip). A single ticket to Aus is going to cost you at least £600.

Reply 2

Ewan

I spent about 3800 GBP, in 6months including everything. If you knock off japan and make that 5 months it would be about 2800. I went to SEA & China (and japan).

Reply 3

jammy1800

who said you need a plane ticket, hitch a ride on a cargo ship and find a way back when you run out of money, more fun that way

Reply 4

Reue

I've found flights to sydney for £450. Get there spend about £200 till find a job and then everything becomes self funding :biggrin:

Reply 5

Speedbird2008

jammy1800

who said you need a plane ticket, hitch a ride on a cargo ship and find a way back when you run out of money, more fun that way

I would be well up for that! :yy:

Reply 6

Tiesto1504

spent around 1500 on the 5/6 flights, around 150 on insurance hopefully, 2500-3000 spendning & 110 on workin visa for aussi

Reply 7

username42053

Woah so flying to Australia is pretty expensive. I was thinking of around 5-6 months to Australia, NZ, Thailand, Cambodia and/or Laos, Vietnam and China..

Reply 8

Zebrastripes

franpgb

Woah so flying to Australia is pretty expensive. I was thinking of around 5-6 months to Australia, NZ, Thailand, Cambodia and/or Laos, Vietnam and China..

Qantas do a ticket that is a return to Australia or New Zealand where you can stop off in Asia (It's like a half round the world ticket). I think you pay more for more stops. I paid £950 for a return to NZ with stops in Sydney and Bangkok, then bought cheap singles around Asia. 6 months will be better for all those countries. I could easily spend 3 and a half months in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

See here for the Qantas deals. Obviously it's cheaper booking in advance.

Reply 9

username42053

Thanks a lot for that link.

Reply 10

marknorthlondon

I think my rtw ticket cost £1,400 with STA and it had unlimited stops, change and included tax.

It really depends on how much you want to see and do to how much you spend, for example in Asia you can probably budget to around £10 per day but if you want to stay in a nice hotel or get drunk every night double it!

Probably around £5,000 would be a good figure