Week ending July 17 marked the halfway point for our 2021 Travel Savings Challenge! I hope you all have been able to keep up and are feeling excited and ready to start booking your end-of-the-year or 2022 vacations because I sure am! If you haven't been keeping up, what's going on? Financial struggles, need more tips, lost motivation, you just forgot??? Let me know in the comments what happened and if there is any way I can help!
For those of you who are on track with the savings challenge and are starting to actively plan for your upcoming vacation, today's post will be focused on vacation budgeting. For many of us, planning for the 3 most common expenses (airfare, accommodations, and entertainment) is a no-brainer. But oftentimes, there are other things that can impact your trip financially. These factors are often forgotten and can lead to one of two things:
You underestimate the cost of a trip and end up scrambling to find money to cover the extra expenses.
You come back home and both you and your bank account are confused about where your money went.
I don't want that for you (or your bank account) so we're gonna talk about all that now.
Airfare
Of course, one of the biggest travel expenses is going to be airfare. The more flexible you are, the better, especially if you are working on a smaller budget. For example, flights from the U.S to Asia or Africa are almost always going to be more expensive than flights to the Caribbean or Canada simply because of distance. Being open to which country you visit can really help keep you on budget. When planning for a vacation, I will sometimes check the "Explore Destinations" tab in Google Flights to see the least expensive location for a certain time period and plan based on that. Being flexible with your time can also play a huge part in how much you spend. Flying outside of weekends or major holidays, flying at inconvenient times, adding layovers, and flying during off-seasons can all decrease your overall airfare costs. The "Explore Destinations" tab in Google Flights also allows you to enter flexible timing (e.g. a weekend in July or a week in the next 6 months). Another great way to decrease flight costs is to use websites such as Skyscanner, Expedia, or Google Flights to search instead of solely relying on airline websites. But in general, airfare can get pricey so this will likely be one of your largest expenses.
Accommodations
Accommodations are another major travel expense. In fact, accommodation and airfare will likely dictate your entire budget/plan. The biggest factor that will determine how high your lodging budget needs to be is your accommodation preference. Do you like a luxury villa or do you feel comfortable renting a bed in a shared hostel? Do you want to be in the middle of downtown or can you stay on the outskirts? Do you prefer Airbnb, mid-range hotels, or an all-inclusive resort? Your answers to these questions will determine how much you should budget for this expense. A few ways to lower this cost are to split with your friends/family ($1000 split four ways is definitely better than paying by yourself), shorten your overall travel time (stay 5 nights instead of 7), split your time between hotels (book the luxury villa for 3 nights and then stay at a more affordable place for the last 4), and search for deals and discounts (book Expedia packages, use sites like Booking.com, or check the hotel website promotions page). Also, consider the location you are visiting because, although the flight to Bali is on the more expensive side, the villas are ridiculously inexpensive (I've seen plenty of one-bedroom private villas with a pool for like $20 a night).
Activities and Excursions
This is where you will be factoring in any big activity costs such as hot air balloons or snorkeling, any tour costs, entrance fees, ticket prices, etc. This category is really almost completely driven by you and your preferences. Do you sit on the beach for free every day? Are you just hanging out and exploring with no big-ticket items on the agenda? Are you more of a history buff visiting museums and monuments that are either free or really low cost? Are you looking for big, unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences that will probably cost more? Is this your luxury getaway filled with spa treatments and yacht rentals? Or are you planning to just go with the flow (at least have an idea of the kinds of activities available so that you can make an educated guess about how much you'll need to set aside)? When I travel on a budget, I typically pick maybe two or three big expense activities and try to ensure everything else is either low cost or, even better, FREE!
Food
I think sometimes we forget to factor in the cost of food because 1. it's mandatory/ no way around it and 2. we don't realize how varied the prices can be around the world. But let me be the first to tell you, please do a little bit of research beforehand! Of course, if you are staying at an all-inclusive resort or meals are included in your package, this may not be necessary to consider. But if everything is not prepaid, this can be very important, especially if you are traveling with a family. I don't recall prices in Spain being on either extreme, not crazy expensive or ridiculously cheap. I feel like you could probably budget the same way you would if you intended to eat out every day here in the U.S (maybe about $30-$40 a day, about $200-$300 per person for a week). In Bali, I recall thinking everything was super inexpensive though! I believe a burger, fries, and a drink delivered to the room was like $8. I think about $15 a day would do the average person just fine. St Lucia, on the other hand, was probably the most expensive destination I've visited so far. I think I probably spent about $450 on food and the craziest part about it was that breakfast was free!!! Every meal at the hotel restaurant literally costs like $30. And some days, we ate only ate twice and I'm not big on alcohol so I probably only got 3 drinks the entire trip. I'm not sure if local restaurants would have cost less but with Covid being a major concern right now, we stayed put for the most part when it came to eating.
Local Transportation
It's also really important to have an idea of local transportation options and their associated costs for budgeting purposes but also so that you know whether or not you need cash and if so, how much to bring. Walkable cities are the best because you can get to anything you need for free. Brussels, Belgium is an example of an easily walkable city in which case, the only local transportation expense you might have to budget for is airport transfer. I personally love using public transportation abroad if available because it saves money and I also feel like it adds to the experience and can make you feel more like a local. The public transportation system in Tokyo, Japan was great! I do not use public transportation really ever here in the U.S so I'm no expert. But I feel like their train system was really easy to follow and it was really clean and efficient. It actually seemed like it may be a preferred method of transportation for everyone regardless of social or economic class so you don't have to be concerned about it being a "dirty" or "unsafe" option. No rats or pee in the corner LOL. I feel like Soufriere, St. Lucia requires you to rent a car or call taxis to get around and I wouldn't consider this method inexpensive. The 45-minute ride from the airport to our hotel was $70 (a 30-minute Uber ride to the Tampa airport would be about $30 so that's more than double the cost for an extra 15 minutes).
Logistical Expenses
This category is probably most often forgotten when creating a travel budget.
Passports Fees: A passport will typically cost at least $100, more if you need it expedited.
Travel Visa Fees: Luckily, the U.S. passport is widely accepted as the only documentation needed to travel to most other countries for under 90 days. However, there are a few countries that require U.S. citizens to get tourism visas beforehand and these can cost $100+ as well. This website offers a quick list of visa requirements for every country but I would definitely recommend double-checking the official U.S. travel site for your specific destination.
Travel Insurance: Travel Insurance is a great option should anything happen on or before your trip. Many travel credit cards will offer this as an automatic benefit but if you don't have one, paying for travel insurance may help put your mind at ease. Now being honest, I haven't always gotten travel insurance but it's probably the safer option.
Vaccinations: While most countries only recommend routine vaccinations (most of which you probably got at a young age), travel to some countries requires specific vaccinations for entry. Depending on your health insurance, this may or may not be an added cost you need to consider.
Baggage Fees: Now yall know I am the carry-on queen so paying for bags is not usually in my budget. But if you prefer to check a bag or you are flying a low-cost airline that even charges for standard carry-ons, you should probably factor this in. A checked bag on Delta cost $30 each way so you probably won't need to budget more than $60 for your trip. However, I recently looked into checking a bag on an international Spirit flight and they had the nerve to charge $67 for each flight. Because I would have to catch connecting flights, this added an extra $250+ to the trip! Needless to say, I did not book with them. If I'ma pay real coins, I might as well pay for a better airline.
Money Conversion or Foreign Transaction Fees: If you decide to use cash while abroad, you will likely have to pay conversion fees to get the international currency. I recommend avoiding the airport conversion booth if possible! I learned the hard way they charge ridiculous fees when we tried to get some pesos for Mexico (shoulda known better considering everything else is more expensive in the airport). The best option is to convert your money with your personal bank. Bank of America let me put in an order online and shipped the currency directly to my house within 3 business days. If you decide to use your regular debit or credit card, make sure to Google their Foreign Transaction fees so you can prepare yourself accordingly. Many travel credit cards will also waive this fee.
Mobile Phone Charges: Some companies offer international data as part of your regular plan while others will charge you an arm and a leg. People can end up paying hundreds solely because of international data. A few options to combat this are to rely on free Wifi, buy a local SIM card, or buy a portable hotspot (I recently purchased a Skyroam Solis device, I'll update you later on how I like it). Related but unrelated, I also recommend bringing a portable charger and an international plug adapter so that you never have to worry about your phone dying abroad.
Extra Hotel and Resort Fees
I don't really recall this ever being a huge surprise or burden while traveling but it's definitely something to consider. Hotels and Airbnbs sometimes charge separate resort fees, service fees, and cleaning fees that are not necessarily advertised. You may also have to pay for things like parking, maid service, rollaway beds, extra towels, etc. I recommend having a small buffer amount in your budget just in case.
Covid-19 Related Expenses
Of course, this pandemic has changed travel in quite a few ways. This includes your potential expenses. You may now need to factor in Covid-19 testing, quarantine costs (i.e. paying for longer stays and room service), extra travel insurance/flexibility, PPE, paying to print travel documents, increased costs due to limited options (e.g. the on-site restaurant in St. Lucia may have been more expensive than if we ate locally, also unvaccinated individuals cannot rent a car so you must use taxis), paying for higher-cost private options, etc. Depending on your destination, this may nor may not have a large impact on your vacation budget.
Souvenirs
For me, this is not a big expense at all (maybe $20). But if you intend to get large souvenirs or souvenirs for multiple people, this cost can really sneak up on you. T-shirts for your whole family can easily rack up to $100+.
Emergency or Unexpected Expenses
I would never recommend traveling with zero wiggle room in your budget because anything can happen. Set aside some money just in case you forget something at home and have to purchase it while abroad, your flight is delayed and you need to buy food at the airport, your baggage is lost and you have to purchase some necessities, someone gets hurt, your flight is canceled and you need to stay overnight in a hotel, unexpected fees come up during the trip, you need medicine abroad, you come across a random activity that you really want to do, something taste really good and you decide to order more, you are running late and need to catch a taxi instead of catching public transportation, the list goes on!
Now, this post isn't to scare you into thinking you can't vacation on a budget because you definitely can! Instead, the goal is to make sure you are properly planning and don't accidentally run out of money while on vacation or blow your budget and come back unable to pay rent. Many of these factors also change from person to person and destination to destination so they may not even apply to you! Based on this list and your upcoming vacation plans, do you need to reevaluate your budget? Can you think of anything else that I didn't include? Comment below!
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