But, how do you afford to travel?

The age old question that EVERYONE gets asked whilst they are travelling. Those who haven’t/aren’t travelling seem to think that travelling is some sort of unattainable goal that they could never reach. I got questions before I left and still to this day about how I could afford such a thing. How my Dad must be paying for it. How I must have to so much money. How I am so lucky. How could I ever afford to travel. And honestly, these comments annoy the shit out of me. This blog post I am going to be explaining how I manage to travel without having lots of money. Because I have a very small amount of money.m, and no I’m not lucky, I worker my butt off.

I also hope that this post convinces someone out there that they can afford to go travelling, if you really want to.

Preparation

As most thing do, it begins with preparation. Before I left to come travelling I had been doing some hard core saving. If you really want something you have to work for it, and I did. I would endless hours at a pub and tried hard to only spend money on things that I needed. This meant cancelling my gym membership, having less takeaways (we always used to get takeaway), not buying things that were not necessary. I stopped being a major consumer and tried to not spend a penny.

Honestly, it is as simple as that.

Travel

The next step was the travelling. We always find the cheapest way to do things. Train vs. Bus vs. Plane. We even were lucky enough to get free rides with people such travelling in the back of a van with a couple of dogs. We’ve also used the app BlaBla car and Couchsurfing. To save money on travelling you have to be willing to skimp on a few things. The cheapest way might not be the most comfortable and it might not be the quickest but you will get there, eventually.

Minimalism

Before leaving home I stumbles across this lifestyle that I fell in love with. It ultimately helped me save money as well. Because I stopped living a huge consumerist life and didn’t buy things that were not needed. I donated most of my clothes (except from the ones in my rucksack) to charity which were two huge bin bags, in the picture above. I have been following this lifestyle continuously on my journey. Sometimes it is hard but at the end of the day I am always happy with myself for not buying something that I never needed in the first place. Obviously, it is good to allow yourself little treats and at time I do, for example, finding vegan doughnuts and having to have one. The concept is just to be sensible.

Rucksack

I have one rucksack that I take on a plane with me. This rucksack is a carry on size and weighs 7kg (rucksack tour coming soon) which means it saves me money, and in more than one way. Firstly, if you purchase a flight where you have to pay extra for check in luggage I don’t have to, immediately saving money. It also links back to not buying things. I cannot buy lots of things because I have nowhere to put them. 90% of what I own fits in my suitcase. The last 10% is in my Mum’s loft. I love only owning what is in my backpack because I do not need anything else. I am so happy and content with life that I no longer have that need to buy things.

Work

We are currently in Australia where we hold a working holiday visa. I have mentioned about this in my ‘how to find work in Australia’ post and we have had a few paid jobs which we have done in total from around 8 weeks and then the thing we do the most is Workaway. This is where you stay in someone’s house and work for them in exchange for food and board. We have had so many different jobs doing this and it is such an amazing way to meet people and make friends. Doing this saves money because you do not have to pay for rent or food so your only real expenses come from luxurious purchases.

Those are my easy steps to stay above water whilst travelling. Just because you have lots of money saved up doesn’t mean you need to spend it at the speed of light. I love savouring all my money and only spending it on things that I really want or need. This also means you feel so much more satisfied when you buy things because you know it wasn’t a waste of money. However, I am not claiming to be perfect and there are times when I buy things I don’t need and at time wished I hadn’t but that is all part of learning!

Thank you for reading this blog post, I hope you enjoyed it and inspire you to begin your travelling. Travelling isn’t for everyone but if it is something you want to do you can do it. It is that simple. Check out my previous blog post about my weekend in Melbourne and about setting daily goals.

stay kind  ✿

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