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I want to go travelling how much should I save

Me and my partner want to go travelling next year but neither of us know many people that have gone travelling, I wanted to know how much we will need to save to be able to do it. I was hoping to go to countries like Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Papa new guinea etc. We would both be happy in hostels as we are people people haha. I think I could only do this for max 6 months. And also, would we need to work at all whilst we were there? I've seen that people go travelling and tend to teach english in places like vietnam but is this more for those travelling for 12 months ? Also what have people experienced travelling? Where would you recommend? What stories do people have etc, did anyone else go with their partner??
make a rough plan for the 6 months, how long do you plan to stay in each area?
what would you like to do do/ see?
how much will the above cost? [estimates are fine]
how much will accomodation cost?
how much will transport cost? [within countries and between countries]
how much do you expect to spend on food?

you don't need to work whilst there if you have enough money (good to have emergency fund as well as a person that could help you out, I.e. a parent that could bank transfer you money). working in countries abroad might make the planning more difficult of you need to still find work and possibly get work visas.

personal example, I'm planning a trip around the Scottish north coast 500 (actually 520 miles) by bike for this coming summer. I know I aim to spend 14 days doing so.
I know the train to and from Scotland will cost me about £100 total. I already know campsites will charge about £10 for the pitch. I know I need to eat a lot and that probably means at least £10 per day. I also know I still need to buy a bunch of kit. those are estimates, but they're good enough for planning. you should apply a similar principle, have a rough plan and know how much things cost, then go from there.
(edited 4 years ago)
Original post by ellycesmellis
Me and my partner want to go travelling next year but neither of us know many people that have gone travelling, I wanted to know how much we will need to save to be able to do it. I was hoping to go to countries like Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Papa new guinea etc. We would both be happy in hostels as we are people people haha. I think I could only do this for max 6 months. And also, would we need to work at all whilst we were there? I've seen that people go travelling and tend to teach english in places like vietnam but is this more for those travelling for 12 months ? Also what have people experienced travelling? Where would you recommend? What stories do people have etc, did anyone else go with their partner??

As you allude, depends what you want to do. Some good thoughts already staying in hostels will save a lot.

Working out there will not pay well at all. One of the major pull factors for these places is how cheap they are, but that applies to both wages and costs! The reason people want to teach English out there is because they feel it'll be worthwhile and enjoyable work, not for the money lol. You might work in say NZ or Australia, but not East Asia!

But it depends whether you're flying to different places, whether you're paying for expensive things, whether you're eating at nice restaurant or having street food/cooking local food yourself, whether you're buying things, whether you already have things like the bag you want to use, cost of travel insurance, etc.

You're probably looking at something like £20-30 per day. Completely random guess, but a ballpark figure.
Original post by Kaspar Ambühl
make a rough plan for the 6 months, how long do you plan to stay in each area?
what would you like to do do/ see?
how much will the above cost? [estimates are fine]
how much will accomodation cost?
how much will transport cost? [within countries and between countries]
how much do you expect to spend on food?

you don't need to work whilst there if you have enough money (good to have emergency fund as well as a person that could help you out, I.e. a parent that could bank transfer you money). working in countries abroad might make the planning more difficult of you need to still find work and possibly get work visas.

personal example, I'm planning a trip around the Scottish north coast 500 (actually 520 miles) by bike for this coming summer. I know I aim to spend 14 days doing so.
I know the train to and from Scotland will cost me about £100 total. I already know campsites will charge about £10 for the pitch. I know I need to eat a lot and that probably means at least £10 per day. I also know I still need to buy a bunch of kit. those are estimates, but they're good enough for planning. you should apply a similar principle, have a rough plan and know how much things cost, then go from there.

Very helpful thank you, think its a good idea to work out the averages, will see how much hostels are likely to cost per night, times that by the number of nights I would plan to be gone and then I'll have a ballpark figure for accommodation and then do the rest with other factors like food travel etc.
Hope you have a great trip in Scotland, thanks for your advice :smile:
Original post by nexttime
As you allude, depends what you want to do. Some good thoughts already staying in hostels will save a lot.

Working out there will not pay well at all. One of the major pull factors for these places is how cheap they are, but that applies to both wages and costs! The reason people want to teach English out there is because they feel it'll be worthwhile and enjoyable work, not for the money lol. You might work in say NZ or Australia, but not East Asia!

But it depends whether you're flying to different places, whether you're paying for expensive things, whether you're eating at nice restaurant or having street food/cooking local food yourself, whether you're buying things, whether you already have things like the bag you want to use, cost of travel insurance, etc.

You're probably looking at something like £20-30 per day. Completely random guess, but a ballpark figure.

You are right about the wages, I didn't really think about that. Mostly I'd plan on going for the adventure/exploration, I wouldn't plan on buying things except for maybe the odd things. I saw a post where someone said they were thinking of taking £50 / day and a lot of people commented saying that was extortionate and that £10 will do but I don't reckon that would include hostels so £20 a day sounds about right I think.
Again, I'm going to try and work out the averages and see what I can find to make a more informed estimate. Thank you though, very helpful!
Original post by ellycesmellis
Me and my partner want to go travelling next year but neither of us know many people that have gone travelling, I wanted to know how much we will need to save to be able to do it. I was hoping to go to countries like Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Papa new guinea etc. We would both be happy in hostels as we are people people haha. I think I could only do this for max 6 months. And also, would we need to work at all whilst we were there? I've seen that people go travelling and tend to teach english in places like vietnam but is this more for those travelling for 12 months ? Also what have people experienced travelling? Where would you recommend? What stories do people have etc, did anyone else go with their partner??


You need to do some detailed research. First work out a rough itinerary and look at the costs of getting from A to B - don't restrict yourself to flights, check trains and buses as well. Then go on sites such as booking.com and Airbnb and find out rough accommodation costs, including discounts if you stay in one place for a week or longer. Finally dig around to establish rough costs of food etc - travel blogs are often a good source for this.
Original post by ellycesmellis
You are right about the wages, I didn't really think about that. Mostly I'd plan on going for the adventure/exploration, I wouldn't plan on buying things except for maybe the odd things. I saw a post where someone said they were thinking of taking £50 / day and a lot of people commented saying that was extortionate and that £10 will do but I don't reckon that would include hostels so £20 a day sounds about right I think.
Again, I'm going to try and work out the averages and see what I can find to make a more informed estimate. Thank you though, very helpful!


Yeah I mean, it's up to you. You can do as detailed research as you like but at the end of the day you won't be able to predict every expense. Nor would you want to - having flexibility is part of the fun of travel.

Whenever I've been travelling I've just made sure I have access to more money than I've needed, and stayed in cheap places and spent as little as possible. I've never done such a large trip though!
Just to add, I've done trips ranging from a long 16 months (Australia, NZ, HK, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia) to an intensive 7 weeks (Singapore, Taiwan, Tokyo, Shanghai, Beijing, Xian, Almaty and Astana in Kazakhstan, Budapest) so ask if you have any more questions.

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