In just one month I’m about to do something crazy.
I’m leaving my job and traveling to Russia for 3 months (late June to early October).
Everything has been pretty exciting and a little so far….but mostly exciting!
Obviously, I’ve never planned a big trip like this before.
In fact, the longest trip I’ve ever planned was only two weeks (which included a visit to two cities – Paris and Copenhagen).
So this has definitely been a good challenge for me.
Here’s what I’ve learned in terms of planning and budgeting for long term travel.
1. Accumulate points
If you aren’t travel hacking you are wasting a ton of money. I booked my flight to St. Petersburg with points.
I’m flying from Seattle to St. Petersburg and I only paid $85 bucks for the flight – which was just the taxes and fees.
I used 30,000 American Advantage points to book the trip. No bad, right?
I also paid with my American Airlines Citi card, so it means I’ll be getting 10% of those points back. Although this feature is going away soon.
The point is, travel hacking will save you a ton of money. These days, credit card companies offer incredible sign up incentives for their cards.
In fact, they’re practically BEGGING you to take their money.
And if you have good credit and are responsible with money, youcan take advantage of these offers.
I have nearly 250,000 points with various airlines saved up!
In fact, I booked my mom a round trip flight to Taiwan so I can meet her there after visiting Russia and see some family together.
Also, I just opened an American Airlines business credit card a few weeks ago.
If I spend $4,000 within the first 4 months, I’ll earn 70,000 bonus points!
I’ve been using that credit card to pay for a lot of things for my trip like domestic Russian plane tickets, train tickets, and AirBnb rentals.
The 70,000 points will go a long way to. The Points Guy (TPG) values American Airlines points at 1.4 cents per point, so 70,000 points would be worth around $980 bucks.
Not a bad deal right? That $4,000 over 4 months would be money I would have spent anyways.
So I’m basically getting a 24.5% discount for opening that credit card and using it on stuff I would have spent on anyways!
Travel hacking is amazing and can pay for a good portion ofyour flights to whatever destination you want to go to.
2. Pack light
To be honest, I’m having a hard time packing for my trip.
Here’s the thing, I want to pack everything into a carry on backpack and my Amazon carry-on luggage.
This means I have to travel light. I really don’t want tolug around a big piece of luggage and have to deal with my check-in luggagebeing lost.
My best advice is to pick the minimum amount of stuff youneed to bring.
Clothes will probably be the bulk of what you are bringing. I plan on bringing enough clothes for 6 – 7 casual outfits and one or two more semi-formal outfits.
No suits for this trip. They’re just too much trouble and having to dry clean them is a nightmare.
Also, if you want to save space in your bag, I’d highly recommend getting the Acrodo Space Saver Travel Bags from Amazon.
These are basically vacuum seal bags without the vacuum.
All you do is insert your clothes in the bag, seal it, and then roll it to push all the air out. This effectively doubles the amount of clothes you can bring on a trip.
And yes, it does wrinkle your clothes a little, but nothing too much.
One easy fix for this is to hang your clothes in the shower in the morning. The steam will clear all of the wrinkles.
Also, shoes take up a lot of space so the less you bring the better.
Speaking of shoes…wish there was a way to vacuum seal them without totally destroying them. Maybe that’s a business idea!
For my Russia trip, I plan on bringing a pair of workout shoes, casual sneakers, and double monk strap boots.
3. Figure out your daily budget
Figuring out your daily budget is super important on yourtrip to make sure you don’t go too crazy.
To be honest, a budget really isn’t necessary for a shorttrip (less than 2 weeks) as it’s really a short vacation.
However, for long term travel, where you’ll be living more like a local, some budgeting will be needed.
I’ve conservatively budgeted for $100 – $120 per day. I’m sure in larger cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow I’ll be spending around that level every day.
But for the cities in Siberia, things should be much cheaper.
In general, setting your budget also depends on where you are going (country wise).
In general, Western Europe (like Paris or Copenhagen) are super expensive compared to Latin America and Western Europe and Asia (outside of Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore).
I would try to prepay for as much stuff (without hampering your trip flexibility) so you already have a good idea of what you’re spending.
Also, figure out what kinds of activities you want to spendmoney on.
Do you want to eat at fancy Michelin star restaurants? Do you want to stay at nice hotels? Or maybe you want to go on cool exclusive private tours.
Personally, I like to spend my money on local food and goingto museums and the occasional tour.
I’m not as picky on my sleeping arrangements.
As long as there is relatively high speed internet and no roaches, I’m pretty easy to please.
Side note:
Creating a budget for your trip is a lot easier on the mind if you have passive income coming in.
That way you’re not burning a hole through your savings.
4. Figure out what you want to do
Figuring out what you want to do is the definition of trip planning. But don’t go down the dark rabbit hole of overplanning.
For a long trip like I’m planning, it’s normal for a lot of people to really dig down and plan everything down to the day or second.
That’s absolutely crazy! I think long trips should have a good mix of spontaneous activities and planned stuff.
I would budget a few extra days in each city so you can justwalk around and do something spontaneous.
Also, prepaying for activities is a good idea as you’ll havea much better idea of the kind of money you’ll be spending.
At the same time, try not to pigeon hole yourself into a schedule.
I know, it’s hard sometimes because if you want to book last minute flights (especially in the summer) it can cost a pretty penny.
So far, I’ve booked train tickets for the Trans Siberian Railway – you basically have to book those in advance because they sell out quick in the summer.
I’m also planning on attending the Bolshoi Ballet, so I’ll need to get tickets for that soon as they are in high demand.
Budgeting for Long Term Travel: Final Thoughts
Overall, planning and budgeting for long term travel shouldn’t be a chore.
In fact, it should be fun!
If there’s only one thing you can take away from this post, it would be this:
Plan enough to have a flexible schedule, but still be able to do whatever you want.
For my more experienced readers/travelers, do you have any tips that you want to share?
Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email!
