Travel Tips: Money Matters
I wrote a nice long post about how much I saved (or wanted to save) for my 6 month trip to Asia based on where I was going, but there are a few general budgeting tips and recommendations I have no matter where you go:
Be realistic: If you’re the type of person that doesn’t like slumming it in $5 hostels, don’t create a budget that gives yourself an unrealistic budget for accommodations. You’ll end up miserable and vastly underestimating what you need to enjoy your vacation.
See how you can save on ATM fees
When you see your hard earned dollars going down the drain with $5 fees at the ATM and an additional $5 from your bank, you start to only see what you could have done with that money. Research credit card companies that cut down on those fees and when you do take out money take out as much as you think you need plus a little extra so you limit your ATM trips.
Shop around
Don’t settle for the first thing you see. Tours, bus tickets and experiences often times have more than one place to buy tickets, so shop around a bit and see what the best price is. Sometimes going to the bus or train station and booking your own ticket is well worth it. In Vietnam, I had the hostel book my train ticket from Hanoi to De Nang and ended up paying almost double than the cost of just arranging it myself.
Know yourself
Like I said above, arranging transport is sometimes a better deal, but do you get stressed while traveling? Know yourself and your boundaries and know when to just pay the extra $5 to have someone else take care of it for you, or skip the hassle. Case in point, paying a tour company to take us from Chiang Rai, Thailand to Luang Prabang, Laos. The company took care of the transport in between which consisted of 3 buses and a boat. We paid an incremental $15 CAD to have someone help us along the way.
Keep an eye on your spending
I check in every couple weeks on my finances. Money matters, and you want to keep track of your budget so you can adjust accordingly. Maybe you spend more than you thought and you need to cut other places. For example, turns out Laos was more expensive than I thought, and I ended up shifting my budget around a bit to make sure I still stayed within my overall budget.
Check out my other travel tips below to answer all your travel questions!