REAL TALK WITH DANIELLE - What's the Cost of RTW Travel?
/So many of you have questions about RTW (round the world travel) that I want to use this blog to share some answers! This week, I’ll be discussing the main question I have received.
How are we going to pay for all this?
I’m guessing it has not gone over your heads how expensive a trip like this can be. So let me start by saying how incredibly privileged and grateful I feel to even have the means to go on a trip like this. Most people won’t have the opportunity to do something like this because they can’t get out of the cycle of poverty or they can’t break through the glass ceiling or some other life circumstance has made it basically impossible.
Also, while many people are asking me this financial question, I want to recognize that many people aren’t. Not because they aren’t interested but because the idea of traveling for that long is so beyond what is possible in their day to day lives. Terrance was one of those people. When I first started talking about going on this trip, I’d ask him what places he’d like to see and he couldn’t answer. He hadn’t ever been in a situation where traveling long-term would be a reality. And if you are feeling that way, I see you, I hear you, and I am willing/here to help you in any way I can.
But if you, dear readers, are looking at yourselves and thinking, “I could get into traveling for 6 months at a time”, let’s talk about how to make that happen!
First things first, how much does it cost? I have read articles and listened to podcasts from many backpackers who have done this (or even made this into their career!)
The average number people are budgeting for a 6 month trip around the world is:
$10,000 per person
Some of you may be looking at that number like, “Cool. Nope. Bai!”
But don’t lose hope! If you’re really into this idea, it’s TOTALLY possible to make it happen. If you’re wondering what type of trip that number gives you, think along these lines:
Hostels
Cheap meals
Budget air travel
Budgeting has been a combination of saving money, selling our stuff, and a few other creative uses of our cash. In this blog, I’m describing the main things we have done to cut down costs. As a disclaimer, we have been able to do none of these things perfectly.
Eating out less: Sounds pretty simple, but it took some will power! We started by planning Sundays as a “grocery day” and making lunches for the week. It can get monotonous to constantly eat the same thing, so we try to give ourselves a cheat day to eat out. We also try to mix up our meal prep by finding new recipes or getting creative with old ones.
Make coffee at home: I get real basic around the holidays and go to Starbucks at least once a day... To help with this, I found coffee grinds I love called New England Coffee and started using my coffee maker every morning. Sidenote: I don’t use Keurig. I don’t know what’s in that shit but it can’t be good.
Alcohol/Marijuana: I realize this one’s easy for me to say (see my post: On Sobriety). I stopped drinking because I wanted to change my lifestyle, not because I wanted to save for the trip. Having said that... cutting back has been a huge money saver. Terrance and I used to drink a lot, and it took a while to stop completely, but it’s different for everyone. We had to do what was right for us, and I’m not here to tell you how to live your life. But if you’re trying to cut down or quit, I get that it’s really hard, and I’m cheering for you for wherever you are in the process!
Impulse buying: We all have something we can’t say no to. My thing is rings. I have been about to purchase a ring, and Terrance has taken me by the shoulders, looked me square in the eye and asked, “Do you need this? Or do you need a seaside hammock in Bora Bora?” Shit worked. And I’ve done the same for him when he wants to buy music gear. The buddy system is real.
Selling Stuff: It’s CRAZY how much stuff we accumulate. I don’t like it! I don’t want it! I am hella overwhelmed right now. But we have to get rid of it somehow and your girl loves a profit. The main sites we have used are: Ebay, Facebook Marketplace, and Craigslist. But there’s a couple specialty ones that have been good as well. Poshmark is a good website for selling clothes. My one disclaimer is that I have to use it like I use Facebook. I post my clothes almost every day and share other people’s posts. It can be time consuming, but I sell for higher prices here than almost anywhere. We also had luck with sellbackyourbooks.com. Books are worth basically nothing - we made roughly $50 for 100 books.
We also hit up our local stores to sell items. We brought our whole closet (so 200ish items). Buffalo Exchange and Plato’s Closet took about 20 items, which totaled about $60. We also sold books at Brookline Booksmith and they gave us about $50. This may seem minimal, but selling has become our side hustle and every little bit counts!
Other fun things:
Cash Rewards Cards: Luckily, when I got my first credit card, I was able to get a cash rewards card. I am also able to pay off my credit card bills each month. It takes a bit of organization, but it really helps. We have made $300 in a year of using this card. Plus, I’ve been able to increase my credit score!
Investing: I meet a lot of people who do not invest. As a long-term way to save money, I’d recommend it. However, I personally would not create a short-term investment in the hopes of “gambling” that I could make extra money for a RTW trip. But there are people who do just that for a living, and do it very well! The cool thing about investing has been that my money is making money for me. My one caveat is that I have been investing for 13 years. The rate of increase has been slow, but I prefer this to a fast rate of increase that holds more risk of losing money. I started with a slow growth investment account to test the waters and have built my investments from there.
Trusted Housesitters: My FAVORITE way to save money! I can’t recommend this service enough if you love pets. It’s $120 per year, but considering that a hostel costs about $20/night, it’s been more than worth it.
Trusted Housesitters is an exchange. We take care of people’s pets while they’re away, and they let us stay at their house for free. Terrance and I already have 33 days booked of our first 60 days away. If hostels cost about $20/night, then we are paying $540 instead of $1200 for lodging in New Zealand and Australia! $660 extra dollars?? That’s a HUGE savings! We had to do a few local housesits before we could travel to the more popular places, but now, we can vacation with dogs for life! What’s not to love? If you’d like to learn more, just use this link! I am also an affiliate with Trusted Housesitters, so if you’d like to learn more from someone who has used this service, a lot, don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly.
Flight Tracking Sites: God bless the age of the internet. There are so many good resources for finding cheap flights! The main ones we use are Hopper, Skyscanner, and Google Flights. Hopper is dope because it notifies us when the low-cost flights are. We did our homework, though. We checked if we needed to fly between our destinations or if buses and trains were less expensive. Or if we could fly cheaper with stops versus one-way flights.
Airline Memberships: At the beginning or end of almost any flight purchase, we are asked if we would like to become members of that airline. (This is also true for car rentals and trains). The answer is yes we do, if it’s free. (It’s usually free). When we become a member of the airline, they begin to track the number of miles we fly with them. As a reward, we get points with the airline. A certain amount of points gets us a certain dollar amount, which can eventually become a free flight.
Here’s an example of how the last two work together. Terrance and I were flexible about the date we wanted to leave. We visited the flight tracking websites in September and found that the cheapest day to fly from Boston to LAX was December 9th on Delta. That night we planned to stay over with a friend, because the cheapest flight from LAX to Auckland was December 10th on Hawaiian Airlines.
But wait, there’s more! We had enough Delta miles to get us from Boston to LAX for $5. The cheapest flight from LAX to Auckland had a 2 hour layover in Hawaii, and was $629 per person. By researching different airlines and using our miles, that meant flying from Boston to Auckland for $634 per person. Hang on, I’m about to go to Hopper and check what the cheapest flight from Boston to Auckland is right now...
$716 for a flight with 2 stops and a 7 hour layover in Hawaii
So, total, we saved $82 per person and 5 hours in layover time. Not mad about that!
Travel Hacking: Travel hacking is a term used in the nomadic, backpacking world for people who are even more hardcore than I am at saving. Travel hackers are especially good at using credit cards to their advantage. Essentially, they sign up for the credit cards that give them the most rewards in the areas of travel that they use most. (I’m talking about anywhere from three to twenty cards). For example, if they fly a lot, they might use a lot of airline credit cards. If they like staying in fancy hotels, they might buy the hotel cards. Unfortunately, (or fortunately?) I had just started my 1st credit card when we began this journey. I applied for a couple of the airline cards, but I had not acquired enough credit history to be eligible for the cards. Otherwise, I’d probably be using this strategy as well! But who knows, maybe there will be another trip. I also feel very grateful to https://www.nomadicmatt.com/ as the main website I used to learn about travel hacking. This is, in my opinion, the best resource out there for travelers!
And that’s it in a nutshell! (Kind of a large nutshell). You may be reading through this and thinking, “this is a lot”. You are RIGHT! It is a lot! In fact, it is literally learning a new skill. But think of it as building muscles at the gym. The only way to go to the gym is to go. So, if this is anxiety-provoking, try one thing that will put you on the path and go at your own pace. It took me 3 years to gather and apply all of this information, and I love helping people with travel budgeting. If you have any questions about these different money-saving tips, leave them in the comments! OR if you have other tips to save money, leave those as well! The cool thing I’ve learned about traveling is that it’s all about building community. Everyone is trying to share information and learn. So let’s be a part of that together!
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I bought my pack 3 years ago!