HOW TO TRAVEL THE WORLD ON A BUDGET

Hey guys my name is Christian LeBlanc.

And, I’m a 22 year old from Vancouver Canada. So the past seven months my girlfriend. I have been travelling around Southeast Asia.

And during that time, we’ve seen 10 countries, we’ve been able to do amazing things, we’ve learned to scuba dive. And hyaline weigh-in with whale sharks in the Philippines. And we even saw the world’s largest religious monument.

And Bodhi MP over the past two months. I’ve been getting a lot of attention on social media my photos. And YouTube posts have been shared by BuzzFeed reddit imager The New York Times.

And several other news agencies every time my photos get shared. I get the same comments people asking me how I imported it how.

I planned it. And if, I’m rich 12. And to the last point.

I want to start by saying no. I am NOT rich. I actually was able to pay for my full trip on my own other than my flights which.

I thank my parents for you’d be surprised is actually Southeast Asia is very cheap in 10 countries. I probably spent a total of $1,000 u.s.

And the experiences. I’ve had. I would never go back on that incident request every single dollar.

I’ve been able to pay for my whole trip to remind are turned dollar which. I earn through jobs like construction. I was working from my home University.

I used to teach students. So everything. I paid for with my own dollar now letter back from Canada, I’m coming back basically broke but if.

I could do it again. I definitely would you can definitely have an amazing travel across Southeast Asia with only five thousand dollars that’s enough to let you see the selfie stage of circuit which is basically doing Thailand Laos Vietnam. And Cambodia investing in traveling is worth every penny.

I feel like the investment not only repaid itself through countless experiences. And memories but, it’s also an investment in yourself which it is cheesy but, it’s very true because you learn a lot about yourself. And where you want to be there making this posts because.

I want to let people know that traveling is not just for the rich today’s post is going to be broken down into two parts. I would afford your trip. And how to plan your trip to start my post.

I want to explain to you guys how you can afford your own trip sell all your stuff before leaving. I had a car. I had electronics.

And another stuff sitting around the house. I set out on Craigslist posted a bunch of ads. I got my car picked up for a decent price.

I sold my my old iPod. I sold my dad’s old computer if you actually looked around your house, I’m sure you find a bunch of stuff that you don’t even need but put it on Craigslist put it on eBay enter in a few extra dollars my next point is to put money aside. So if you’re working full-time part-time or even just odd jobs start putting a percentage of your money away if you’re working jobs like cash why don’t you sing cashier.

I don’t know how I can take cash here is not if you’re working in a restaurant you’ll be earning lots of tips. So I recommend putting that cash aside it could be really easy to see the cash laying around.

And just spend it. So as soon as you can put your cash in the bank my third point is to spend less than you earn. I know that sounds obvious but a lot of people say it.

And they don’t actually realize what that means for me that meant moving back home with my parents for the last four months of school now that wasn’t always glamorous it wasn’t always fun but it was a sacrifice that. I was willing to make. So that.

I could go overseas that saved me a few thousand dollars just on rent. I also started packing lunches more often if you pack a lunch every single day of the week you’re saving yourself about $40 you multiply that by 52 weeks in a year that’s over $2,000 little transactions add up quickly my fourth point is find a way to subsidize your travels for me. I went on exchange.

And this allowed me to get a scholarship through my school which actually helped cover something to cost there’s other great ways to do this too always the option of just working abroad. I’ve had a lot of friends who’ve actually worked in places like Australia which allow one year working visas quite easily. And this allows them to save up more money than they could even earn at home.

And they work in a different country for about a year less than a year six months. And with that money they can travel through Asia for another six months to a year. So this is a great option for someone who’s just looking to get away from home.

And mix it up great ways actually through hosting. And this is fairly new but basically wealthy family to have extra homes need people to sit their homes. And actually take care of their dogs or pets whatever it may be.

And you can actually stay in their luxury homes. And countries like Bali Thailand my arms are being used it up anything for them is good point is to budget. And I’ll actually show you guys the application.

I use. I use Microsoft Excel. And down below.

I’ve included the link to my Google Drive account. So you can actually download the same excel sheet or simply do it through Google Drive which is totally free. And I’ll just show you guys really quickly how.

I use excel all right guys. So as you can see here this is the Excel spreadsheet. I’ve made.

So it says travel budget. And what. I have here is my checking account.

So what. I have in my bank. I have my credit card which.

I go on $1.00. So, it’s in the negative scholarship let’s say $1,000 item one two three what that really means is like items.

I plan to sell I’ll probably get three hundred. And eighty dollars for it they’re just examples. So here.

I have guaranteed funds. So funds, I’m expected sorry that, I’m guaranteed to have. And then here.

I have incoming funds. So I know. I have two weeks of work left that’s going to be bad thousand dollars money Jim owes me stupid Jim he owes me $150.

And stuff like selling your car textbooks basically things that you expect to come in. And then you take the two numbers add them together you get your total funds. So five thousand plus four thousand about nine thousand almost ten thousand dollars.

And then from here you can go to your expenses. And. So I have large expenses.

So flight two ways, it’s going to be about twelve hundred dollars if you booked in advance this is actually a very realistic number if you book last minute you could expect to spend as much as two thousand dollars to get to Southeast Asia from Europe or North America other large expenses you may encounter our backpacks backpacks you want to actually spend around two hundred dollars you want to get a good one scuba diving course for me. I knew. I was going to do that that’s three hundred dollars so.

I I counted for it upfront knowing. I was going to do that. And then so.

I have total one-time cost of one thousand seven hundred. And then. I also have my monthly cost so.

I know every month, I’m gonna face cell phone rent food transportation miscellaneous. So miscellaneous stuff like you know toothbrushes – toothpaste whatever else that comes along the way. And for me.

I had rent because. I was actually renting in Bangkok for my first four months. So you’re gonna ignore this number but you can put something like accommodations which you know for you might be the equivalent of eight dollars times thirty days put that number there instead.

And then from there. I multiply it by the amount of months. I plan to travel.

So if, I’m paying 450 for rent multiply that by seven that’s 3,150 dollars take all your expenses. And add them here. So I have my total monthly expenses of 7525.

And my total one-time costs which came from up here of 1700 add all your costs together my total costs are nine thousand. And two hundred. And twenty five.

So the final calculation is basically taking the total amount of money. I expected to have. And the total expenses.

I expected to have. And then you take the via budget. And – away the expenses.

I now have four hundred thirty dollars left over. And obviously guys a spreadsheet is very basic, it’s just a total example of how I actually did mine and.

So you can either download this excel sheet. And turn it into your own you’ll have to know how do we use Excel a little bit it isn’t self explanatory but you can learn very quickly. And I actually highly suggest using Excel, it’s a great tool you can also do this just on a sheet of paper.

And it all works just as well X point is to travel someone darling with a friend will cut your costs immensely with lots of cops like accommodations of transportation basically anything that you can share with your friend is will cut your thoughts in half. And this can save you a lot in the long run my final tip to avoiding your trip is to make sacrifices. And, I’m not talking about your pets you can leave see you Fred home dogs make seem friendly the kind of sacrifices, I’m talking about are simply cutting out some habits hope your big online shopper put your credit card away if you love your coffee maybe make coffee at home instead.

And while your Starbucks coffee may only be five dollars just remember that five dollars can go so much further especially if you’re going to Asia five dollars is your lunch. And dinner for the day five dollars is the bus ticket to the next city five dollars is also an hour long foot massage with their amazing featherly keep in mind you’ll have to make some reasonable sacrifices but if you really want to travel you’ll make it happen this brings me to my second point of the post this is how to plan your trip anyone who knows me knows that, I’m not a big planner but there’s definitely a few things that you’ll want to plan for going overseas the first thing is quite obvious you need to decide what countries you want to see.

So for me. I really wanted to himself in Sanja. I wanted to see Thailand.

I want to see Cambodia yeah now from there. And you know just add on more countries in the room. So once you’ve decided which countries you want to see you need to figure out when they’re high seasons are.

And they’re low key especially if you go to Southeast Asia there’s certain months in the countries where you will simply get rain on rain. And rain and. So you want to make sure you avoid visiting attention some of those time places like Vietnam Thailand China they get hit with really bad monsoon seasons.

So if you go traveling there at the wrong time you’re gonna have a bad time keeping in mind the weather also look into what kind of cool events are going on. So five new years happens in April there’s the full moon party that happens at the end of every month. And those are all cool things that you can actually plan your trip around each country has their own cool points of interest.

So once you’ve figured out what countries you want to you need to start picking out what local attractions you want to see. I like to break it down by cities. So each city has lots of hostels.

And hotels once you’re in that area you can either rent a bike or take a bus to get attractions but basically just have a loose plan of what there is to see in each country in each town my favorite way to travel was actually with various plans. So I show up into a city with almost no recognition or any knowledge of the town. And I simply plan my day as.

I went. I don’t love people don’t like traveling that way if you’re the kind of person that would rather have their trip planned down to the minute then you’ll definitely want to do a bit more planning but my point is you don’t need to stress yourself in thinking that you need to have everything figured out before going make a rough itinerary of what way you’ll be traveling most you can move yourself East Asia will start in Bangkok. And end in Bangkok.

So, it’s really key to plan your trip. So that you’re not doing too much backtracking most people will do Southeast Asia starting in Thailand going north until aus. And then heading east into Vietnam self into Cambodia.

And then back to Thailand by doing the circuit they limit the amount of travel to have to do. And they cut costs a lot that way. So, it’s definitely a good idea to have a rough plan of how you plan to get around the country for the price my favourite way to get around, it’s definitely the sleeper train they’re safe they’re comfy.

And they go by pretty quickly if you’re able to fall asleep you can also book flights locally for under 30 US dollars if you’re able to plan them at least a month in advance if you’re more cost sensitive or not able to plan. So far in advance then buses. And trains are definitely your next best option when it comes to planning transportation.

And accommodations you can almost always book at the same day. So don’t stress yourself thinking that you need to have all your busses in hotels planned out the only time where that doesn’t apply is if there’s a big festival as for day planning whenever. I arrived in a new city the first thing was to always check into a hotel or hostel you’re carrying around a lot of bags.

And the last thing you want to do is carry them around for the rest of the day especially in the Southeast Asian heat never. I booked hotels. I would usually do a bit of scouting using a go TOCOM.

I go to gives you a price matching system that basically looks at Expedia looks at Travelocity it takes all the prices. And gives you the best one. So you’re able to book at the cheapest rate keep in mind though sometimes it can be the same price to book in person.

And I actually like to pay in person because it means all the money is going to the hotel or hostel owner who’s a local. And obviously has less money than the corporate giant like a goat Oh a goat is really great as well because it gives you you’re able to see what other travelers said about hotel or hostel often the hotels. And hostels are in the same areas.

So if you don’t like something you can easily move to the next one. And once. I’ve checked in to my hostel or hotel.

And got rid of my bags the next thing I’ll do is I’ll actually search the best things to see or do in that city. And you’ll quickly find blogs. And articles to give you lots of recommendations only is the internet a great resource but.

So are other travelers. So whether you’re taking a bus a train or staying in a hostel you’ll meet. So many people who have already done what you’re hoping to do.

And they can give you the best advice a lot of the time that’s actually how Abby. And I have found other groups to join. And this is always way more fun than simply travelling in small group basically if.

I can summarize my tips select what country you want to go to what you want to go to them. And what main attractions you want to see in them from their plan a rough route. And start your trip you can plan things on a daily basis including transportation accommodations.

And what things you’re going to go see it’s so easy to rent a scooter for five dollars you can have the scooter for the day. And it gives you basically access to anything in the area thanks.

So much you guys. I really hope these tips on how to afford your trip as well as hot thanks so much you that’s paid for it.

I really hope these tips on how to afford. And plan your trip four helpful if you guys have any other questions make sure to just ask them below. And I’ll try to answer as many of you guys as possible the next week I’ll also be posting another post on travel tips.

So it’ll be everything from what to pack what not to bring. And after that I’ll be posting another post on what cool spots are in Southeast Asia. And what.

I recommend seeing while you’re there. And of course, I’m always posting news blogs of my trip itself East Asia do you guys not to see what experiences, we’ve had for extend who make sure to subscribe you guys. And I see you guys my next view thanks guys.

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