Round the World Preparation (Saving and Planning)

RTW Saving and Planning

Saving your money is always tough. Especially when you are always tempted to buy something else with all the hard earned cash you've already saved! I could foresee this happening with myself as well, which is why i booked the trip and paid for the ticket FIRST. Take Heed!

Saving and Planning

The ticket was booked at the beginning of February and the the flight to Delhi left Heathrow on may the 5Th. That gave me just 3 months to save up for an entire year away from home. (Not wise?) Without planning yes this would have been very irresponsible of me. But before i made that decision my girlfriend and i sat down to make a legendary budget which traveled the world with us until torn and stained beyond recognition.

The best and most accurate way to work out how much money you will need for your RTW trip is to purchase a guidebook for EVERY COUNTRY you visit. (I know what your thinking, that's a lot of weight to carry around!) Very true.

So to avoid this and just for initial budgeting sake go to any big bookshop with a large travel section like Waterstones, borders or WHsmith. Browse the 'Rough Guides' of every country you are booked up to visit, in my opinion the Rough Guide travel books are a travelers bible. You won't believe how detailed they are, so much better than Lonely Planet in layout and content. Check the accommodation prices of every city you will visit, if you've already planned which sub towns you'll pass through check the prices of those locations too. (Believe me its all in there)

Now decide whether you can afford only budget, mid-range or if you can splash out on luxury accommodation. Average out the cost of a room for each country and make a price per day itinerary for your RTW sleeping arrangements, do the same for overland travel costs and the price of food. (All listed in detail in Rough Guide)

This is your primary budget triangle. Accommodation, Food and Transport. Sometimes you can save on accommodation by traveling overnight on sleeper trains and buses meaning you can spend the money you saved on more food or better hotels at your next destination. (More on this later)

Once you have worked out how much you will be spending on average per day in each country you will know roughly how much money you will need to take with you. Buy the first two country Rough Guides you will be visiting at the beginning of your trip and study them thoroughly. They are gold mines of information. When you have left each country there are many places that buy used books from you, but if you are like me, those battered old relics look 100 times better when they've seen action and been placed on your shelf upon your return home. So send them back to your home in the post! Your families will love browsing through the torn, pen marked pages marking your epic journey they wish they'd taken themselves!

When you need a new book head for the airport book stores before you venture into the country, most will have a rough guide. If not, get some public transport to the bigger cities and you will eventually find one.

This budgeting method really works and i would definitely recommend it, especially if you want to last the whole year away.

In the end my girlfriend and i needed £3250 each based on the budget we had planned and including working in Australia for 3 months. The £3250 was allocated to last the beginning part of our trip up until we started working mid year. Then that money became savings while we worked and supported ourselves with our australian money. And then we used what was left for the following months after leaving oz and heading toward home.

The reason why we gave ourselves 3 months to get that money was because we knew we could. My girlfriend had most of it already and i had a motorbike to sell which made up the bulk of it. Weigh up your own situation before you decide how long you'll need to save.



SUMMARY:

• Buy your ticket and insurance before you REALLY start saving.
  
• Give yourself a decent amount of time to actually get the saving done.
• Get an accurate budget by researching the Rough Guide Travel books.
• Remember the RTW Primary Budget Triangle, Accommodation, Food, Transport.

Guesstimate of how much you'll need:

With work during trip- £3000-£5000 (Depending on level of comfort)
Without work during trip- £5000-£10000

Ps For those of you who don't want to work during your RTW trip i reckon i could've done this trip with £6000 spending money each after tickets. Thats the living mid range all the way, (ie always having our own room with bathroom ensuite) No crazy insects on your face in the middle of the night kind of traveling.