Today I will talk about a subject that for many of you surely is very important when it comes to travel: the budget we need to travel.
How much money I spend? Can I start with a limited budget? How soon I will finish my money and I will have to go home?
Well I am party on August 5, 2012 from Italy, with a very limited budget, and aren't back yet (and I have no intention of going back for the moment)!
I managed, over time, to understand how to avoid spending a lot of money in useless things travelers and counterproductive.
As I explain in the page How to do that?, I discovered a whole new way to travel, which, besides being practically zero fees, leads us to live with the locals, and then make the trip interesting.
Two months ago I started to calculate all the costs that each day I argued, of any kind, and to estimate then the average daily spending that changes every day based on how much I'm spending.
For the moment my calculation gives me an average daily expenditure of 11 euros per daybut I'm quite sure I can still improve, and many more.
It's too? It is cheap? It's not enough?
For me it is too.
(See the grafico at the bottom of the page)
How did I spend a reasonable fee and to keep this low-threshold?
I give you just a few small examples.
- I mezzi pubblici
For example when I arrive in a city to an airport. Usually there are more options to get to town.
You may take the shuttle, that with the written ... AIRPORT – city of ..., which is surely the bus faster, but also the most expensive.
Then there is the option of the city bus, line, what makes many stops, but that certainly costs at least a third of the shuttle.
I never go in a hurry, so any time I can save quite a bit of respect in this way.
Same thing goes for public transport in the city.
I try to avoid like the plague when I can, to take the metro.
For strokes that could be done in less than an hour, in my opinion not worth absolutely worth taking the metro. The metro is sad, I don't like him, and plus it keeps you enjoy a nice walk into town.
When I was in Mora D'Ebre, to Bullock's family home,and I had to reach the city of Valencia, I had to take the bus to Tortosa and then switch to Valencia.
When I arrived in Tortosa, I asked if there was a train to Valencia. I found a train that left 3 hours later but that made me save 10 euros on the ticket.
2. Gli ostelli
Obviously when I am in a city where I have not found Couchsurfing, and are not involved in any volunteer project (where I always room and Board), I try to book a hostel and never a hotel.
Why?
First, because in the hostel are almost always just people like you, who is traveling alone backpacking, curious, sociable, so a lot of potential friends.
Also because in hostels there is the kitchen, and this means that we can buy food from the supermarket and Cook, like we were at home (and this leads to considerable savings).
3. Autostop
I haven't been able to make the hitchhiking my main means of navigation.
I'm starting to practice it for small routes, with the right weather conditions and when they are really really fit.
Obviously I will not explain the incredible economic benefit. Apart from that though, hitchhiking is an absolutely unique and wonderful.
People that makes you climb in your car is predominantly the most interesting people you could ever meet.
I managed to make a very long stretch as 800 km, from Berlin to Lille, alone in hitchhiking, and I swear that I'd do it again a hundred times.
Sometimes you just find in place people who are going in the same direction, and don't be afraid to ask if there is room for one more drive.
4. Barca stop
I thought that was an urban myth, but these last few months around Spain have made me meet a lot of people who explained to me that it is a practice that is used all over the world.
In all the ports of Europe there is always someone who asks to get to his destination by sea and some sailing ship or boat that needs a hand for navigation.
In fact, in La Palma, in the Canary Islands, I was able to find a ride to arrive in Senegal next November on a yacht!
5. Flight
I began this journey with the intention of avoiding planes like the plague, but then in the end I did it and I fell into temptation to spend the month of August on the island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands.
Obviously I try flying cheaper, thanks to Skyscanner, a website and an app that lets you find the best at the best prices.
However in the future I will try and use this medium as little as possible, because I'm realizing how important and nice to travel slowly.
5. The time
One of the most important factors, if not the most important one. If you hurry, you can save a lot of money.
If I have to schedule a shift, whether by public transport, hitch or plane, I try to find the cheapest way to do it (and I can't do that because I have so much free time!).
I think that time is the right ingredient to ensure that you can travel without spending a fortune.
If you are not conditioned by time, we can always find the way to travel on a shoestring, waiting for the right offer, or step right.
CATEGORIE DI SPESA
Below the pie chart that indicates the categories of expenditure, or in plain English where I ended up until now my 11 euro per day.
One of the biggest slices is still that of the bars and restaurants (beers and testing local food mostly), so I think I can definitely improve.
UPDATE
I discovered this year with pleasant surprise that there are companies around bus that let go long enough routes to Europe starting from 1 euro!
Download file budget model that I use to control my expenses and a daily statement: