Splurge

Yep. You read that right.

Splurge.

That’s my next travel tip.

And no. I don’t mean to just ignore your budget completely and go YOLO when you travel…. What I mean here is to do/go to that one thing/place you want to go to but hold yourself back because you don’t secretly grow money on your backyard.

When you decide to go to that country/city you’re going to, surely it was because something attract you to it. Right? Right?

I’m saying go do that thing.

Yes, it might be a lil (or maybe even a lot?) pricey, but if that’s what you really really want? I’d say go do it. As nike says, just do it!

But of course I’m not pushing you to go buy that designer handbag you ‘really really want’ even if you don’t actually have the means to. A little disclaimer: I am not enabling you into debt here!

Let me give you an example: When I went to Japan, I wanted to try out an onsen but afraid that the ryokan would be out of my price range… So I chose that as the splurge of my trip. Of course I didn’t go searching for those super expensive ryokan on those touristy areas. I searched for one that is fairly close to Tokyo (which I will be staying the rest of the trip) and one within my budget (or you can go beyond your initial budget! It’s really up to you!). I booked one along with the dinner and breakfast because I wanted that full experience and while that made a dent in my budget, I’m not going broke over it.

Everything in moderation they say.

The idea here is to make sure that you actually enjoy your trip. Because see, you’ve spent a considerable amount on your flight tickets so yeah, splurge on yourself. Save on other things, but do that thing you really want.

For that trip, I stayed in a fairly cheap hostel and as I already mentioned in my past article, I made sure to have a good budget for my meals but eat moderately. This way I can still keep to my budget while still enjoying the onsen and the even the full course meals at the ryokan!

How to Plan a Trip (part3)

Oof. We actually got to 3 parts…. and would probably be more to come ;;;

Anw! I will link everything in this series at the way down below. Please do check out part 1&2 if you haven’t yet!

How to Plan a Trip (part 2)

So. Now that you’ve answered the when and where, what next?

For me usually this is where I did a rough budget and here’s why. If you’re like me and can’t save up to save your life, here’s a ‘trick’. Rather than saving for a big lump sum, I split my ‘saving’ into 2 parts.

Now I’m not going to tell you how to save, that part you need to figure out yourself. Figure out which part of your lifestyle that is not essential (believe it or not, you don’t need expensive coffee every single day!) you can reduce/eliminate so as to spend less. In this post I’m going to write about stuff you need to be saving for.

I’d say one thing though. I find it helpful to separate my savings for travel. When I have my savings in a savings account, it won’t stop me buying something I want ‘now’ when all I had to do is take my card and swipe it. So if you’re like me and have impulse issue, I suggest you keep your savings in cash and put it in an envelop with ‘TRAVEL $$$’ on the front. This way, when you ‘had to’ take money from it, you’ll know you’re taking money that you could’ve used when you’re traveling.