How to Create a Travel Budget (and stick to it!)

Yay! You’ve finally decided to take the step to start travelling and you’re all excited, but then you think, how much should I budget for my trip? The answer to this depends on how you like to travel. It doesn’t matter if this is our first trip or your 40th, it’s important to take time to create a travel budget. Here are a few steps to help you create a travel budget that you will stick to and help you not break the bank!

1. Consider how you’ll get there

When creating your travel budget, you should always start with considering how you’ll get to your destination and this will, usually, be the biggest expense of your trip. However, it could be accommodation for example if you get a bargain return ticket within Europe for £20 but we’ll come to that later! Your flights will largely take up the biggest chunk of your budget, so knowing how to find cheap flights will help make sure you’re getting value for money!

2. Then Estimate the cost of Accommodation, Meals and Transport

Once you’ve decided on your destination, use Budget Your Trip to find the average daily cost in your destination based on your travel style. I love this website, it’s a really good place to start to get a rough idea of what to budget. There’s also Expatisan to use for research. When looking to book accommodation for less, there are lots of sites to use such as booking.com, hotels.com and trusty Airbnb to get an average daily estimate of your accommodation based on what’s available.

For meals, budget more if you are eating out in fancy restaurants for every meal. A great way to save on food is to get a hotel that offers free breakfasts and if not, get pastries from your local grocery store or deli. Also, look at getting lunch from street food stalls, you get a local experience and save more for a fancier dinner. You could save yourself a lot by grabbing good deals on public transport. Most tourist hotspots, big towns, cities, offer a wide range of public transport options to get you around.

3. Don’t forget Visas, Travel Insurance and Spending!

If you have a passport that requires you to get a visa to most places, the cost of visas should also be included in your budget. You can find out if you need a visa from your county’s foreign office website or on Do You Need A Visa. It can be quite expensive depending on your destination so don’t leave this off your budget.

Travel insurance is something a lot of people (including me) overlooked pre-covid but it’s an important part of your travel budget. Insurance is not a luxury, it’s a bare necessity. For single trips in Europe, I’ve never paid over £10 and I always use Compare the Market to find the best deals. If you’re a frequent traveller, an annual travel insurance policy might be the best option long-term. Just ensure you have adequate coverage in your policy for your trip.

P.S. Remember to put money aside for emergencies!

4. Decide a number in your mind

Start with a number in mind and work your way back. This could make your budgeting easier as you have a number in mind that you’re starting with that seems sensible with you. For example, I usually budget £200 for flights and accommodation for weekend city breaks and I find fights and accommodation that fit into that budget. Then I budget about £100/day for spending, food, transport and other things so that gives me a rough idea how to plan my trip.

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READ MORE : 10 TIPS FOR AFFORDABLE LUXURY TRAVEL

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5. Consider your Activities

Now might be a good time to start planning a rough itinerary to get a vague idea of what you want to do on your trip. The type of trip and activities you want will determine how much you have to budget for activities. So with your rough itinerary in hand, you get an idea of the major activities you’ll be spending on. Then you can do some research on entry fees or costs for the activities to get an idea of what to budget.

Deciding what your priorities are will help you decide how and where you want to spend your money. Would you rather go on a three-day tour in the Sahara, or splurge on a day on a Yacht? Consider this and budget accordingly.

Top Tip: Lots of countries offer tourist city cards with discounts and offers on museum entries, exhibitions, activities and travel. so if you have an idea of what you want to do, it’s worth checking if a city card works out cheaper for you!

6. Track Your Spending

The best way to create a travel budget and stick to it is to track all your spending so you know exactly where you are against your budget and how accurate it is. You also get a better understanding of your spending habits for your next trip and then budget your future trips better. The best way to do this is to use apps like Trail Wallet or Trabee Pocket for an easy way to track your travel expenses. If you don’t want to download yet another app, just use the Notes App on your phone and note what you spend.

7. Be a little Flexible

You have a travel budget so you should stick to it as much as possible so you don’t run out of money. But, you should also allow for some spontaneity that adds to your experience. Your budget isn’t supposed to stop you from enjoying your trip or stop you from having some must-have travel experiences. Like, have you really gone to Zanzibar if you don’t do a Blue Safari or Egypt without visiting the Pyramids?

As long as you’ve spent some time planning your trip, it’ll save you from worrying about missing out and enjoying your trip!

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I hope you’ve learnt how to create a travel budget that works for you and see that it’s not that difficult when you break it down. Hopefully, you will realize that that trip is actually very possible and if not, you can still use your budget to see where you can make savings to make it more affordable. I’ll be creating a spreadsheet to help with this very soon so keep your eyes peeled!

Don’t forget to sae and share this post, as we all know, Sharing is caring!

Until Next Time xx