Jannell has joined Career Break Basic Training to help with her planning and blogs about this preparation stage on her site Traveljunkies World Tour. Here she shares how her plans are coming along.

What inspired you to plan a career break?
I knew from an early age that I loved to travel and have gone on some wonderful vacations that allowed me to unplug from reality, but I always longed for more. Wanting to travel around the world has been a dream of mine for a long time, but I never thought I’d get to a point when I had the money or the time to go. Last year, the dream resurfaced as a way to celebrate my 40th birthday in 2012. Then, two weeks later, I attended a Meet, Plan, Go! event that gave me the courage to go for it!

What inspired you to join Basic Training?
I felt alone in my career break pursuit because I didn’t have any friends with the same vision of long-term, around the world travel. I REALLY wanted to meet other aspiring or veteran travelers and Basic Training provided a platform for that. Also, I seriously needed help with my travel ‘information overload’ problem and this program practically spoon-feeds the details. I found out about Basic Training from attending Meet, Plan, Go!. I was impressed with how the event was organized and the number of vendors and travel veterans that attended, so I knew that Basic Training would also be a quality program (I wasn’t wrong).

Before I found Basic Training, I was stuck in a sea of information with no easy way to sort through it all.

How were your plans coming along before you joined Basic Training?
Before I found Basic Training, I was stuck in a sea of information with no easy way to sort through it all. I had come up with a general itinerary, but I wasn’t really sure what to research next. Ten years ago I worked as a travel agent and I was trying to dust off those skills, but coordinating packaged vacations is very different than putting together long-term independent travel. Even though the desire to go on the trip was there, I had a lot of doubt that I could make it happen.

What has been the most valuable aspect of Basic Training in your career break planning?
The step-by-step program is awesome. Not only did it give me the basic information I needed in an organized manner, but ideas to make my trip even better! Being able to communicate with others that feel the same way about travel and have the same goals as me was a turning point. Also, I have become more confident with my decision to take a career break by having Basic Training’s resources and support at my fingertips.

What concrete plans have you made since joining Basic Training?
I now have a better plan for saving money, a budget for the trip AND a plan for handling money while on the road. It’s now easier to think outside the packaged tour box and I’m getting comfortable with the tourist to traveler transition. Additionally, the tools in Basic Training helped me set up a schedule for the coming year so I know when to get visas, vaccinations, insurance, etc.

Did you attend a Meet, Plan, Go! event and are now planning your career break? Let us know and register your career break with us!

For other couples preparing for an adventure of their own, here are some important insights and tips they learned.

If you’ve never taken an extended trip before, you’re bound to have tons of questions. How do we begin planning for something like this? Do we just up and quit our jobs? Is a sabbatical possible? How do we choose where to go? What do we pack? What about visas? Certainly all important questions. But what some fail to think about is what it will actually be like out on the road, especially in regards to traveling with your partner.

THE JUDGEMENT AND QUESTIONS

“Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourselves into?”

“Aren’t you afraid you’re going to hate one another after an entire year together?”

“Oh my God! We could never do that! We’d literally kill each other!”

We heard all the above statements when telling people our plan to take a year-long trip around the world together. We initially dismissed those questions as ludicrous, having confidence in our relationship and previous travels that this whole venture would be a walk in the park.

Our trip did indeed include many walks in many parks, but it was hardly the same as the metaphorical meaning of that statement. Something so many people fail to realize about extended travel is that it is really hard work at times. It’s not all puppies, rainbows, and unicorns.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TRIP AND A VACATION

We all love vacations. They’re great. Whether it’s lounging on the beach, taking a road trip, or renting a cabin in the woods, vacations give us a chance to get away from the daily grind of life, to forget about our worries for a while, and just relax and unwind. When on vacation, we feel as though we could stay forever.

Let’s set the record straight before we delve any further. A career break, RTW (round the world) trip, or taking off on an open-ended adventure is NOT the same as a vacation. We learned quickly that there is a HUGE discrepancy between a vacation and a trip. There are so many things to know, learn, and consider, particularly if you are traveling with your significant other.

PERCEPTION VS. REALITY

I envisioned sitting on beaches all day, sipping cocktails and eating great food. I saw ourselves hiking to famous sites we had always read about but now got to see in person. I pictured a year of not working, not having any stress, and simply not worrying about much of anything.

While our trip did include all of those fantastic and memorable experiences, there’s another side of long-term travel that doesn’t get talked about enough. Our trip was actually much more difficult than I ever thought it was going to be. I’m not trying to scare you here. Don’t worry – a trip around the world is everything it’s cracked up to be, and more. It’s a dream come true, a life-changing experience that will absolutely change you and your significant other forever. It will help your relationship grow and get to a place you never imagined, but to get the most out of your experience, there are so many things to consider.

ANALYZE YOURSELF AND YOUR RELATIONSHIP

Take a good, long, hard, honest look at yourself. What are you good at? What are your significant others strengths? What about your weaknesses? Think about both in regards to situations you’ll be in while traveling.

Do you enjoy haggling over everything you purchase, from a scarf to a taxi ride to a massage to a room in a hostel? Do you think the idea of having to spend an afternoon in an internet café researching flights and hostels and buses and trains doesn’t sound like a big deal? Do you yearn for that next famous piece of artwork in that next famous museum?

All seem like easy-to-answer questions about yourself and your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, or best friend. But really think about it. Remember, this is not the same as a vacation. You’ll be doing these things every single day for however long your trip is, whether it’s 6 months, 9 months, a year, or more.

Sure, while on a week trip you may be able to compromise on an afternoon visit to the museum. But what about five museums? Ten? A new one in each new city? Of course you don’t mind haggling over the cost of some souvenirs to bring home, right? What about having to agree on a price for nearly every dollar you spend (hello, India!)? Have you really thought about sitting in an internet café for three hours (that you have to pay for, remember?) with a painfully slow connection researching the best way to get from point A to point B, while the guy next to you smells like he’s trying to re-create the smell at Woodstock?

FOCUS ON WHAT DRIVES YOU CRAZY ABOUT YOUR PARTNER

It’s absolutely crucial to be honest with ourselves about our relationship. We all have pet peeves. No matter how well you get along and how perfect your relationship is, there is at the very least one thing that drives you absolutely bonkers. While at home these pet peeves annoy you, but you learn to deal with them. Besides, between work and other obligations, you may only see each other for a few hours a day during the week.

24/7. Every hour. Every day. Take a minute to ponder that. If you decide to take an extended break and travel with your significant other, you will be spending nearly every minute together. Sure, taking breaks here and there to do your own thing happens, but you’ll be together the vast majority of the time. That means every pet peeve you have is amplified. It may be cute at home, and you may be able to let it roll off your back easier when you only have to deal with it every so often. But when you’re coming face to face with something that annoys you on a near-daily basis, it gets to you a whole lot easier.

My wife is terrible about picking up after herself. Seriously, it’s like having a teenager around (sorry, honey, you know it’s true). It annoys me at home. But we have a house with many rooms, so it’s easy to overlook some clutter here and there. But when we’re staying at a hostel and have a room the size of a closet, something like clutter isn’t easily overlooked. It would drive me insane sometimes to see her haphazardly take stuff out of her pack and toss it around the room.

On the flip side, I know I’m not without my faults. I tend to complain here and there (I’d be curious to see Megan’s description of the frequency with which I express my opinions). For her, it’s much easier to accept my little personality flaw when she only has to hear 50% of the complaints. At home, when I complain at work to a co-worker, she doesn’t hear it. When I’m at a bar with my buddies waxing poetic about some wrongdoing, she’s not there. But guess what? She is there while on the road. For all of it. Every annoyance I express my displeasure about, she hears it.

HOW TO HANDLE IT

So how do you deal with these little irritations while together all day, every day? As simplistic as it sounds, you communicate. Now I’m no Dr. Phil, but even I can advise that communication is key to any relationship. So before you ever hop on that first flight, talk about each other’s pet peeves. Sure, it may be difficult to hear, but if you can find methods and strategies for dealing with these situations before they pop up during a stressful situation, it will much be easier to deal with when they do.

Having a plan in place will limit so many arguments and unpleasant situations. Will it eliminate every fight? Of course not. But addressing possible situations before they pop up will drastically reduce those petty disagreements about each other’s quirks.

HOW OUR TRIP CHANGED OUR RELATIONSHIP (FOR THE BETTER)

While traveling around the world and spending nearly every waking moment with my wife was challenging at times, overall, it was the best thing that ever happened to us and our relationship. We were forced to deal with every obstacle we came across together. We were truly a team, and while we met some great people along the way, most of the time we only had each other to lean on.

It taught us patience (especially me – another one of my character “flaws”). We could feed off one another, help one another, and have each other’s backs. Sometimes one person just has to step into a situation and take charge. Sometimes one person has to take a step back. After a while, it just becomes instinct. You get to the point where you anticipate the other’s moves, the other’s thoughts, what the other will say and do next.

When in a completely foreign place, with unusual and unique customs, dealing with people who don’t speak the same language, it can be intimidating and challenging. That is when the strength of your relationship truly shines through. During those tough times is when I truly realized how lucky I was to be taking this life-changing journey with the only person I could, my best friend and partner for life.

You gain an appreciation for the others talents. The flaws and pet-peeves discussed earlier start to seem insignificant after a while. You get into a flow. You don’t always have to make every decision together, and you realize that you can put 100% of your trust in your travel companion to make the best decision for both of you – whether it’s bargaining the price of a cab ride or researching and purchasing a bus ticket to your next destination.

Honestly, I don’t think I reflected on the true strength of our relationship and changes in it until after we came home. After being together all day, every day for an entire year, it was very weird to come home and be apart. During the work day, I missed her. And it was never the big things I missed. Sure, I missed walking through the Sun Gate with her and seeing Machu Picchu in person for the first time. Of course I missed getting up with her and seeing the sun rise at Angkor Wat.

More than those amazing experiences, I simply missed spending so much time with her. I realized that I like to share everything with my wife. When she’s not with me, I miss her. When I experience something without her, I wonder what it would be like to have her there.

Many questions and concerns pop up over the course of planning a trip of this magnitude. If traveling with your significant other, it’s crucial to analyze the true state of your relationship, your strengths, and your weaknesses. You don’t have to be two peas in a pod to work. The fact that we have so many differences was a good thing. One person’s weakness is another’s strength.

The pictures, blog posts, and memories of all the amazing places we went, people we met, and experiences we had are all fantastic. All are things I remember every day and will reminisce about forever. But more than anything, I am grateful that I created all these memories with the woman I love most in this world.

STEP 1: Plot Your Escape

A perfect start to a career break or sabbatical is to successfully negotiate one with your company. Impossible you say?

Well Barbara and Elizabeth Pagano are here to help with their eBook: “Negotiating Your Sabbatical: The Ultimate Toolkit for Writing and Presenting a Killer Sabbatical Proposal Your Boss Can’t Refuse”.

STEP 2: Announce it to the World

Now that you’ve decided to go (and not afraid to keep it a secret any longer) say it loud and wear it proud with our very own Briefcase to Backpack-inspired t-shirt. “I Prefer Real Views to Screensavers” – a statement that every career breaker can embrace.

Comes in Mens and Womens sizes.

STEP 3: Find Travel Inspiration

The next step in your career break planning is deciding where to go and what to do! And Career Break Secrets video travel guides are the perfect inspiration source. The Season One pass features episodes in Spain, New Zealand, Patagonia, and Colombia, plus a bonus from South Africa.

STEP 4: Learn Photography & Writing Skills

Now that you are inspired where to go, you’ll want to make sure you capture your memories in the best possible way.

Why not a MatadorU Travel Photography Course or MatadorU Travel Writing Course?

STEP 5: Blog About Your Travels

If you feel that budding travel writer coming to life, you may consider blogging about your travels.

Travel Blog Success will help you build a better travel blog!

STEP 6: Realize Your Travel Dreams

Finally, if you are truly inspired to make your extended travel and career break dreams come true, Career Break Boot Camp can help you get there. Designed by certified travel coach Tara Russell and career break travel gurus Michaela Potter and Sherry Ott, the course will provide you with inspiration, structure, community, resources, tools and motivation.

Registration for the January course opens on December 8. So make this your resolution for 2011!

Want even more ideas? Visit BootsnAll for their 13 Gift Ideas for Career Break Travelers.

Phase one is complete. You have decided which volunteer project will benefit from your enthusiasm, expertise, and time. Congratulations!  Take a short breather because you are about to enter phase two – preparing to leave.

TELL ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE what you will do, where it is, and when it will happen. Help them imagine it by giving them glorious details of what you will see, hear, taste, and smell. Describe what it will be like to do the work and how wonderful you will feel upon completion. This is done, of course, in a non-smug way because your intention is not to instill envy, but gain enthusiasm for your volunteer work.

CREATE YOUR TO DO LIST of everything that needs to be accomplished, not only before you leave, but also while you are abroad. Decide how you want your affairs handled.  Immediate family can do many of the items if you are only gone for a month. If you will be gone for an extended period however, you may need a team of people to keep your home life rolling while you are away.  As this topic is covered in detail through the Briefcase to Backpack program, I suggest a preliminary list of topics to be considered:

• Job
• Legal issues
• Bills
• Insurance
• Mail
• Home – Possessions, Pets and Plants
• Car
• Special Events
• Commitments to others.

Brainstorm other issues specific to you and your trip with your family.

ENLIST YOUR “A” TEAM by enrolling your family and friends in your passion for the volunteer project. They will want to feel connected to your experience even from a distance. When they ask “HOW CAN I HELP?”, show them your list. They may have suggestions on additional things needing to be handled or other ways to be helpful.

When your “A” Team is in place, make a contact list with names, contact information, and what they will do for you during your absence. Distribute the list to your entire team and take a copy with you.

GET PHYSICALLY FIT and plan a training schedule at least six months before your trip, or as soon as you decide to go abroad.

Start with your doctor.  You may need a check-up based in the project selected and possibly shots and medicines specific for our destination. Many routine shots are available from your doctor.  Certain shots come in a series that can take up to six months to complete.  Ask your doctor for strategies for how you can stay healthy overseas.

Specialized vaccines and travel related prescriptions are usually available from the local travel clinic.  These clinics have up-to-date information on health issues abroad, and offer great advice on how to stay healthy. They may also know which medical supplies should be carried from home versus what brands are available abroad.

Consider your current level of fitness and what will be needed for your volunteer work.  Begin any exercise or fitness program WELL IN ADVANCE of departure.  If you will need a certification such as SCUBA, or will work with equipment you haven’t used recently, check it out, clean it up, and get comfortable using it before you go.

Figure out what you do to stay healthy at home (diet, exercise, vitamins, yoga, rest), and find ways to incorporate those practices when you are away.

GET MENTALLY PREPARED and start building momentum for your trip before you depart.  Find out as much as you can about the city, country and culture you will enter.  Begin to explore while you are still at home with as many senses as possible. See if you can speak with people from the actual country, as they can be a great resource.

• Read – Magazines, guidebooks, novels, blogs and newsletters about the specific country
• See – Documentaries, movies, TV shows or travel presentations
• Listen – Take language lessons or use language tapes. See if there are recent émigrés to your area and volunteer to be an English coach.
• Smell and Taste – Locate a restaurant that serves the cuisine. Work with the waiters and the chef to find dishes that fit your dietary preferences or allergies.
• Touch – Go to global markets and fair-trade shows to find products from the country.

The time you spend with due diligence on both the logistics for your home life and researching the new culture can have a huge impact on the overall quality of your foreign volunteer experience.  The more prepared you are as you leave home, the easier it is to move your home life to the back burner when you are away. The more cultural research done prior to departure, the faster you will assimilate and begin making a difference to yourself and the world around you.

I wish you the best and trust you will have an amazing time as an international volunteer!

Additional Resources for International Volunteers

For additional information on how to prepare to be a powerful international volunteer, check out the articles KNOW THYSELF and VOLUNTEER ETIQUETTE.

Other resources that “would be” international travelers and volunteers have found useful include:

Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation by Jane Stanfield – This workbook provides a sequence of steps to follow to find, plan, prepare, pack, go on, and then return from an international volunteer trip.

Journeywomen – A marvelous free newsletter with suggestions from women who travel.

Jane Stanfield has a huge passion for animals, volunteering and international travel such that she quit her job to travel around the world completing 12 volunteer jobs, seven with wildlife, within one year.

Upon her return, Jane established her company, Where Is She Heading, which offers presentations, workshops, coaching and classes on how to find a volunteer vacation to suit your heart, interest, time frame and budget.

Jane’s first book, Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation, assists prospective volunteers find, create, plan, pack, and return from an international volunteer vacation.  Jane offers a class based on the book at Arapahoe and Front Range Community Colleges and teaches an introductory volunteer vacation class at Colorado Free University. Her chapter,  “The Color of Poo”, was published in The Voluntary Traveler in August 2009. Currently, she is getting ready to publish a series of E-Books for international volunteers and is planning her next international volunteer vacation for 2011.

Our New York City panel for Meet, Plan, Go! share how they looked at financial concerns during their own career break plans.

Brook Silva-Braga (A Map for Saturday)
Travel requires savings but not much; you can travel for less than you pay on New York rent, and you can always save more by indulging less at home. Money and time are commodities with an inverse relationship, you can only acquire one by spending the other and travel taught me free time is more valuable than additional money.

Jennifer Baggett (The Lost Girls)
Since I made the decision to travel about a year and a half prior to departure, I was able to properly budget and save for the money I’d need in order to spend a year on the road.  And I was definitely not making that much money considering I was paying Manhattan rent and living expense (about $65K – I’m happy to be completely transparent) nor did I have financial help from anyone else.

The biggest money saver, honestly, was that I literally stopped purchasing anything frivolous (clothes, shoes, electronics, expensive dinners, etc.) and socked away a percentage of every pay check (including 100% of my annual bonus), cashed savings bonds from childhood, even sold books/CDs on Amazon and most of my furniture on Craig’s List. Amanda, Holly and I also chose to visit predominately third world and developing nations where you can easily live off of $20-$30 per day.  Of course traveling as a group definitely helped as everything from lodging, taxis, food and other items (travel guides/books, some toiletries, etc.) could be split up and shared. Other big ways we saved:  Round-the-world plane tickets (ours took us from Kenya to Australia – with multiple countries in between for only $2200), eliminating almost all bills/expenses back home (rent, cell phone, electric bills, cable, etc.) penning the occasional travel article while on the road, crashing at friend’s (or friends of friends) places overseas and keeping costs fixed by doing a structured volunteer program/staying in one location for multiple weeks.

The biggest thing to remember when planning a trip is sitting down to figure out how much time you have to save/when you can comfortably leave, how much you’ll need total if you’re not working at all while traveling (factor large upfront costs – vaccines, flights, equipment, travel insurance and daily average cost by country), if you can earn money on the road by working and how long you can afford to be gone. It’s a lot easier to do than you think and although it’s been said a million times, cutting out your daily Starbucks or earmarking a small portion of your pay check makes a huge difference.

Michael Bontempi (Briefcase to Backpack)
One might often think of my approach to my personal finances as a bit extreme, but I have been an avid saver and planner since I began my first job. Not to say I do not enjoy spending money, but I do know where every dollar is coming from and going to.

At the time of my career break, we forecasted not only the money we would have available to us during the trip, but the planned expenses upon our return – giving us the window of time before we would need to return to the working world.

All in all, it does not take a lot to sustain yourself on the road for an extended period of time.

Sherry Ott (OttsWorld)
I saved up bonuses for 3 years diligently and used that as my travel budget originally. That money is long gone yet I’m still on the road. It doesn’t cost as much as you think to live when you strip away car/house/insurance/house supplies/electricity/NYC social life and replace with hostels/travel insurance/airline ticket. Your major monthly expenses really disappear. Other ways to travel on small budget – Slow travel– staying put means less money on transportation, find work on the road (ESL/web/marketing) – You’d be amazed at how easy it is to market your skillset in some countries. Travel to less developed countries (SE Asia, India, Nepal, Africa)

Brian Peters (No Debt World Travel)
I used savings to travel after I was laid off. The three main things I used to save money on the road were 1. A round the world ticket 2. hostels 3. eating well but cheaply (the two words are not mutually exclusive). A round the world ticket can be had for $2500 US which is shocking to most people who think that that type of ticket is only for the wealthy. Hostels are much more refined, clean and accessible to everyone from singles, families and older travelers. If you spend $50 a week for lunch and Starbucks, you can afford a round the world trip!

Michaela Potter (Briefcase to Backpack)
I knew early on that I would be incorporating career breaks and travel into my life on an ongoing basis, so I’ve always set aside money and savings for them. And most of my working life I’ve been in the non-profit world, so I never had a large salary. But because travel is so important to me, I live a lifestyle that is comfortable for me and my priorities.

It does bother me when people assume you have to be rich in order to travel b/c I’ve saved and done it while living on a $30,000 a year salary.

How have you financed (or plan to finance) your career break dreams?

Far from the truth.

A round the world ticket can cost LESS that $2500US. A year of Starbucks or cigarettes can pay for RTW air travel. Really. It all depends on the locations you pick and the times of the year you travel.

There are two options for purchasing a round the world ticket.

The first is using an airline alliance. OneWorld, SkyTeam and StarAlliance are the three alliances that cover the majority of the world’s airlines. For instance OneWorld has American Airlines, LAN and British Airways as members. Traveling with OneWorld could mean using one of these airlines or the 8 other partner airlines. Going from Sao Paulo to Miami to New York to Paris could mean taking LAN to Miami, then transferring to American for the MIA to NYC leg and then transferring to BA to get from New York to Paris. Going around the world would mean using only airline members in that particular alliance.

THE PROS OF AN ALLIANCE

Frequent flier miles on one carrier get carried over to carriers within the alliance
Miles received from a carrier can be used with any other carrier in the alliance. That is a great reason to use an alliance, since circling the globe would be at least 20,000 miles.

One ticket means one point of contact for any problems as you travel
Benefit in terms of rescheduling. If you need to stay in Tokyo 2 weeks longer, than you may be able to shift other carrier dates automatically. Note that some airlines charge fees for rescheduling, so find out what those are before signing up.

THE CONS OF AN ALLIANCE

Carriers in the alliance may not go to a particular location or not have a direct flight
OneWorld can go from Sao Paulo, Brasil to Sydney, Australia using LAN Airlines in 2 stops and about 24 hours going west, the more direct way. StarAlliance and SkyTeam take over 30 hours because of the easterly routes their flight take.

Alliance have restrictions on where you can go and how far
For instance, alliances want you to travel one direction around the world, east to west or west to east. Also alliances have set pricing depending on your total mileage or number of continents covered on one ticket
OneWorld – number of continents | StarAlliance – total mileage | SkyTeam – total mileage

This can be a pro or con depending on where you want to visit during your around the world travel.

The other option is to use a ticket broker, like Airtreks or Airbrokers. These are essentially travel agents not affiliated with any one airline or alliance. They work with you to get the best pricing on wherever you want to go without the restrictions imposed by the alliances.

THE PROS OF A TICKET BROKER

Personal service to find out your travel needs
You’re generally assigned an agent who knows your itinerary and is a traveler themselves who can recommend stopovers, particular airlines and other tips to make your trip the best it can be.

Brokers find the best price possible regardless of the airline used

No restrictions on where you can go or what direction you can travel in
With an alliance you can’t travel from Hawaii to Japan, then back to Hawaii to Australia. You need to keep going on in one direction and not revisit a particular continent or location. This is not a problem with a broker. You design your travel plans exactly how you want it.

THE CONS OF A TICKET BROKER

No accumulation of frequent flier miles
You may travel a total of 30,000 miles and have nothing to show for it but memories. For some that is fine, for others you may want to use an alliance so you can get bonus points, a future free ticket, etc.

Separate tickets for each leg of the trip can mean problems if not booked properly
Changes in one leg means that cascades down to all the other departures, which mean you may have to contact each airline and change dates yourself.

I went with a ticket broker on my own round the world trip and used Airtreks because it allowed flexibility that the alliances didn’t.

After I chose the locations I wanted to go, I worked with Airtreks to figure out the best ways to get there. They even suggested that I NOT include Siem Reap, Cambodia in the RTW ticket. They recommended that I take a quick flight or cheap bus from Bangkok, Thailand to save myself cash.

But remember that is my particular case. An alliance RTW ticket might be the right option for you. You should investigate BOTH the brokers and the alliance when pricing your ticket.

Actually, the hardest part of a round the world ticket is picking where you want to go. If you had six months to live, what would be your top 10 places on the proverbial “bucket list”? Once you figure that out, it is a matter of giving your proposed itinerary to the alliance member or ticket broker and letting them figure out what you can do with your price range and time constraints.

It’s the dream of many to travel the world, but most don’t even pursue it because they think the price is out of their reach. It is entirely possible with a round the world ticket with a price is much less than you’d expect. Pick your locations, get your ticket and get out there!

They share many of the ways they managed to get out of debt AND save in their free eBook, “How we saved enough money to change our lives (and how you can, too!)”

Among the chapters include:
How We Saved Half Our Income in One Year | Creating a Lifestyle to Support Our Dream | Selling Our Possessions | Determine How Much Money You Need | Find out Where Your Money is Going | How to Have Fun on a Tight Budget | Making Money off Your Junk | and Online Tools for Managing Your Money

Betsy shares with us why they decided to take a career break, some more insight on how they saved money, and their plans during and after their travels.

What are your current careers?
Warren is a Director at Microsoft, and I consult with solo entrepreneurs on planning and projects for their small businesses. Warren also started a side business last year developing WordPress websites, which has been very successful.

Why did you decide to take a career break and why travel?
Like most people – we worked too many hours and thought that when we both retired (in 19 years) we’d slow down and enjoy life a little more. Then my brother had a heart attack in his 30s and a good friend – also in her 30s – had a brain hemorrhage all within 4 months. We were saying all the usual things about how life is short over dinner with some friends, and then after a steady stream of margaritas the topic of our life dream came up. The more we talked the more we wondered what was really standing in the way of all that. (Thankfully both my brother and our friend have recovered.) By the next morning our goal was set, all that was left was the planning.

You have radically changed your lifestyle in order to save for this break. What has been the most difficult thing to give up? What has been most difficult is the change in our social life. When we first started saving we cut out almost all eating out and socializing, and it took us a while to find a way to make that work in our budget. To give you some perspective on that, we realized were eating out 13 times a week (together and separately) including dinner out most nights of the week. Keep in mind that we originally moved from the Boston suburbs to an artsy neighborhood in Seattle in order to have a better lifestyle, and we were fully taking advantage of it! We eventually learned to appreciate happy hour in lieu of full dinners, game nights at home, potluck parties with friends, and even the search for a good bottle of wine under $10 (“Menage a Trois” has won the honor of the Talbot house wine).

One of the funniest money-saving stories was early on when Warren decided to save money by cutting his own hair. He bought the clippers as an investment ($50) and thought he would save $25/month for the remaining 24 months before our trip (total savings = $550). When it came time for the first haircut, he asked me to help him cut the back, and he became frustrated that I wasn’t pressing hard enough with the clippers to give him a uniform “buzz”. He finally got frustrated and grabbed it from me to show me how it was done. He then dug a 2-inch bald spot into the back of his head as my eyes went wide and I started to laugh. Was it really worth it to save $550 over 2 years? We both agree the story alone is priceless.
One of the reasons I love him is that nothing ever seems like the end of the world. He just laughed and said it would grow back, and from then on he never asked me to help him cut his hair. He’s continued doing it ever since then and never had another incident. And we are almost $550 richer (which is another 5-1/2 days on the road!).

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned in saving money that you want to share with others?

• If you have debt, pay it off. If you can’t pay your debt off right away, at least stop buying new stuff. You will never be able to freely follow your dreams if you owe money to other people. And you’ll never pay it off if you keep adding to it.
• Keep track of your spending for one week. You’ll be shocked at where your money is going. I would have never thought we ate out 13 times a week until I saw proof of it myself. And guess where most of our savings comes from now? That same money we were spending on restaurants. You probably have the money you need to at least get started on your dream. You’re just spending it somewhere else.
• Break your savings goal down into bite-sized pieces. For instance, we have figured that our budget for the trip is $100/day. It makes it really easy for me to say no to a new pair of shoes if I know it will gain me an extra day on the road. Figure out your number, and it will be much easier to save a little every day than thinking of a big overwhelming number that you can’t wrap your head around.

How much have you saved for your travels and how long do you plan to travel?
We’ve saved $100,000 so far, and we’ll have even more by the time we leave in October. We plan to be gone for 3 years, longer if we can bring in enough revenue creating websites, writing and consulting. We’ve learned a lot by reading the blogs of other travelers, and we plan to travel slowly to both save money and fully appreciate what life sends our way.

What are your plans after you are done? Do you plan to go back to similar careers?
We’d love to continue a traveling lifestyle with a small homebase, and we’re open to having that base in another country. We figure that the worst-case scenario will be that we come back to our regular lives and get regular jobs, but we hope not. Just the planning for this trip has changed our thinking about what kind of life we can live, and we cannot even imagine how much more that will change as we begin traveling. We expect our creativity to blossom on this trip and open up options we can’t even imagine. For us, the key going into this process is that we must learn to open ourselves up to the possibilities, which is not natural for most of us. If I could write about life, meet people, and finally learn to play the guitar I’d consider that a very successful career. Warren is a born connector, and with his background I could definitely see him working with venture capitalists and startups around the world, especially in “do good” fields that mirror his beliefs.

How do you plan to use your career break to reach those “post-travel” goals and do you have a savings plan in place for that period of time?
We actually have a separate savings fund for “re-entry” and would love to never have to use that money. We will be actively working every day during our trip to make it into a permanent lifestyle, so it is more of a permanent career restructuring than anything.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could all pursue our talents and interests and have a great time doing it?

You can follow Betsy and Warren’s travel preparations and future travels on Married with Luggage, and also on Twitter @betsytalbot. And get a copy of their free eBook here!

]]> http://b2b.meetplango.com/2010/03/married-with-luggage-saving-money-to-change-their-lives/feed/ 4 http://b2b.meetplango.com/2010/01/let%e2%80%99s-go-with-no-debt-world-travel/ http://b2b.meetplango.com/2010/01/let%e2%80%99s-go-with-no-debt-world-travel/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:46:05 +0000 MeetPlanGo http://briefcasetobackpack.com/?p=3576 If you’ve decided to take a career break or sabbatical, you’ve already faced a big hurdle. And if you are new to long-term and round-the-world travel, trip planning can seem incredibly daunting, especially if you have other things to take care of like leaving your job, leasing your place, packing up your life, and even preparing for your return. (I know – you haven’t even left yet.)

There is a plethora of information on the web for RTW travel, but Brian Peters has made it easier by putting many great resources in one place with “No Debt World Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Traveling the World”.

Brian is a fellow Briefcase to Backpacker and transitioned from working a white-collar 9-5 job to traveling the world. As he says in his e-book “Admittedly I was not such a big travel fan, even up to a few years ago. I was busy living life, mainly working and playing my part in Corporate America. Travel was for people who had money, or had the free time. I had none of these…or so I thought.”

Brian finally set off on his travels after he was laid off from his job, and a lot of what he learned in preparing and during his six months of travel he shares in this e-book.

Some of the areas he covers includes:

• Deciding Where to Go
• Cash and Credit Cards
• Method of Transportation
• Travel Insurance
• Passports and Visas
• Your Health
• Your Safety
• Hostels
• Food
• Travel Tech
• Language

Throughout the e-book are some of Brian’s personal tales and experiences. On our site we love sharing peoples voices as it’s best to learn from others rather than being told what to do. So this was a nice touch to something that could have easily been a “how-to” guide.

It is also easy for someone new to RTW travel to relate to some of his fears and apprehensions, especially Americans. The “Travel Myths” he touches upon are ones that keep many Americans from traveling, including needing a lot of money to do so, having to speak other languages, and the feeling that it is too dangerous.

The e-book also comes with several audio interviews including one with me (Michaela Potter) about career break travel and one with co-founder Sherry Ott on getting certified and teaching English abroad. (Note that the audio does have some technical issues and could deal with some editing, but it’s nice to hear other people speak of their various experiences.)

If you feel you are a savvy traveler, or at least understand that a visa is more than just a credit card, then this e-book isn’t for you. But if you are looking for a quick go-to guide on travel preparations for your career break, than this will save you time from hunting down the information yourself.

Editors note: This is an affiliate link and in purchasing this item through our site, Briefcase to Backpack will get a portion of the sales.

No Debt World Travel: The Ultimate Guide to Traveling the World
By Brian Peters

Includes:

• 80 page eBook with various resources
• Nine guest interviews with various travel experts
• Packing checklist
• Video guide and pdf document on picking the right backpack
• Video guide on booking the right hostels

Price: $37
Includes a 60-day money back guarantee

Here Chris Dyer shares with us how he ended up in Changwon, South Korea teaching English after leaving his position as a Brand Manager for a major toy company and selling his house. “I recently decided to give up all of those things to travel the world and experience different cultures. One might call it a “quarter-life crisis”, but I consider my life just beginning. I only have one life and I want to really live it!

Budgeting Money
(Chris originally planned to do a RTW trip for a year)

After researching websites/blogs of people who have completed a round the world trip already, I came to the conclusion that I needed to have $20,000 before I left. I did not live a lavish lifestyle whatsoever, but I still kept a detailed spreadsheet with my debits and credits.

Based off my calculations, I could save approximately $1,000 a month as long as no problems arose. Saving a grand a month equated to $15,000 so I decided to get a second job serving/tending bar at a local pub. This would bring in a few extra hundred dollars a month. A few other money saving opportunities were: less clubbing/drinking (huge savings potential), making my own food at home (my average grocery bill was only $50 a month), cancel my 401k and company stock options, and end frivolous spending in general.

Having a roommate cut down on bills and made my savings account grow, which was an account opened specifically for the trip. My student loans had already been paid off and all credit cards were paid in full every month. I was essentially debt free other than my mortgage.
(Chris was fortunate to have sold his house without a great loss in this tough economic environment.)

Trip Research
Hours upon countless hours were spent researching everything from RTW tickets to how much a hostel was in Thailand.

I started following the message boards on BootsnAll to see what people were saying about RTW travel as well as many blogs where people were currently on a RTW trip or soon departing. I think people’s blogs were the best source of information and most of the authors would answer any questions I had in a timely manner, including Otts World.

Finding a site like Briefcase to Backpack earlier in my planning stages would have made my research less stressful. As a young corporate drone, I was still worried about having a year or more gap on my resume. I was worried about coming back into the corporate world and how difficult it would be. Feeling as if I might potentially be killing my career meant a good deal to me and I needed reassurance I would be okay after my trip was finished.

Test Trip to Mexico
Since I had only traveled to Canada (for work) and Mexico (spring break in college), I decided to do a “test RTW trip” to Mexico at the end of May 2009. This trip was to see if I liked living in hostels, not being able to communicate with people 100% of the time (I speak a little bit of Spanish), and I was comfortable traveling without a set plan.

I flew into Cancun and used Hostel World to book a hostel. I then traveled by bus and went even further south, eating and drinking with locals and other travelers along the way. I only had a week of this lifestyle and after that week I fell in love with traveling. This was a great idea to see if I enjoyed traveling, because if I didn’t, then I could have canceled my RTW plans.

Setting out on a year-long journey without knowing if you will like it at all was a little too much for me. I recommend anyone who is planning a RTW trip to do a “test trip” as well, if the soon to be nomad has yet to do any real traveling. And be sure to travel the same way you are budgeting for your trip.

Stumbling on Teaching ESL
I had been following a few blogs like Otts World, where people were teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) in a foreign country and was intrigued. Come to find out, some countries only require a bachelor’s degree to teach ESL and being paid quite well. I emailed some bloggers and read forums about the ESL positions to obtain information. I applied to a few job postings on websites and had some phone interviews. Then I needed to get all of my documents together for the job and a week later had signed a contract to teach ESL in South Korea.

My plan of traveling the world had abruptly changed and I was happy with it. I could live and explore in South Korea, travel easily to nearby Asian countries and save money as well.

The research, planning and preparation made the transition from ‘RTW travel plan’ to ‘moving out of the country plan’ quick and easy. Maybe in a year I will be preparing to travel the world, but I will keep my plan to a minimum because you don’t know what other opportunities could arise in foreseeable future.

1. Pack Only What You Can Carry
Say goodbye to your wheelie suitcase and business suits – you’re a backpacker now! Which means you’ll be carrying all of your worldly possessions on your back. You’re living on the go – at a moments notice you can sling that backpack on and be off. And it’s extremely useful if you need to navigate through crowds or running late to catch your next flight.

So you will want to only pack what you can carry. One way of limiting what you bring is to get a smaller backpack. If you get the biggest possible backpack available, chances are you will be tempted to pack it full right away. If you are limited in size, you will be forced to really evaluate what you are bringing. Plus, you’ll want to leave room for all the incredible cultural items you’ll want to buy!

In addition, airlines are now charging for overweight bags. This is especially true for smaller, internal flights. That’s just another added expense that you won’t want chipping away at your budget.

When packing it’s extremely useful to lay out everything you plan to bring. By visually seeing everything together, you can step back and evaluate what you truly need. The general formula is to take out half of what you originally planned.

2. Dress in Layers and Neutral Colors
No matter where you travel, chances are you will face multiple climates – even in the same day! So dressing in layers is a great way to be prepared for any moment. It’s also smart to layer and wear your bulkiest items when you’re flying.

Dressing in neutral colors also allows you to mix and match multiple items in your limited wardrobe.

One of the most difficult things new backpackers experience up front is the clothing issue, or lack there of. But keep in mind that as you will be living on the move, chances are most people won’t know that you are wearing the same things every other day. And more than likely, so are they!

I personally find it refreshing not to worry about what I’m going to wear. Depending on the situation for that day, I most likely only have one or two options of what to wear. So it’s one less thing to decide!

3. Evaluate What’s Most Important To You
I have to admit that my daypack for the most part generally weighs twice as much as my backpack when I’m traveling. And that’s because I’m a photographer and can’t travel without my various cameras and lenses. For me, that extra weight is worth it. Not everyone needs to carry that much equipment, especially with the compact sizes of digital cameras these days.

But perhaps there is something else important to you that you can’t leave home without. If you’re an avid diver, you may want to bring your equipment. Michael and I knew we’d be doing a lot of snorkeling on our break, so we packed our own masks as rentals tend to be pretty beat up.

A fervent runner? You’ll want your running sneakers for sure. Or maybe you are going to do a lot of hiking and want to bring your walking sticks.

What you pack doesn’t always have to be limited to your activities. I’m always amazed when I meet other backpackers and they have on full makeup and jewelry. Even though those items may take up a minimal amount of space, they are not important enough for me to take on the road.

4. Keep Toiletries Light
Toiletry items can easily become the heaviest part of your backpack, so it’s best to try and keep the weight and bulk to a minimum. One way to do this is to only pack what you need for the immediate weeks. Most items like shampoo, soap and toothpaste can easily be picked up on the road, so starting off with smaller sizes is a great idea. Plus, if you pack a large shampoo bottle, the bulk of it will still take up more space even as you use it up.

Michael and I actually discovered a great item from Lush, an all-natural cosmetics company. They have bath soaps that can be used for both hair and body. At first we were a bit doubtful that they would work, but they quickly proved both useful and compact!

There are some items of your toiletry bag that you may find it bit more difficult to find overseas. If you wear contacts, you may want to bring extra lens solution as that may not always be available. And for women, I found it extremely difficult to find feminine hygiene products in other countries – especially tampons. Unless you are comfortable with OB-type products, you will want to pack extra tampons.

In addition to any travel medications you might be on (such as malaria pills) perhaps you have a regular prescription for something. You will want to make sure you have enough of it to get through the trip. It is very important that you bring your doctor’s prescription with you as well.

Another item that will take up a lot of space in your backpack is a traditional bath towel. Instead, use an ultra light towel! They are small, lightweight, soak up water in an instant, and dry super fast. And if you are worried about a towel for the beach, use a sarong! Again, these are small and lightweight and can even be used as a wrap if you find yourself using a communal bathroom.

5. Use Stuff Sacks for Separating Gear
Over my many years of backpacking, I’ve seen countless number of travelers with “exploding” backpacks – while digging through their bags looking for a particular item, everything is removed and thrown about. This can be extremely frustrating, especially if you are on a train or on your way out.

I’ve been able to keep my backpack and items in order by separating them in individual stuff sacks. If I need a new t-shirt, I know which sack to open. And even if it’s placed at the bottom of my pack, I only have to remove two or three items to get to it. Same thing goes for bottoms, toiletries, socks/underwear, and miscellaneous items like sarongs, bathing suits, and Swiss Army knives.

A key to packing in stuff sacks is to roll your items – this saves space and keeps items somewhat wrinkle free.

Cubes also make it easier to repack. It won’t take long for you to figure out the best configuration for items in your backpack and will soon become an automatic function for you.

6. Pack For the Immediate
If you plan to be in various climates during your extended travel, pack for your most immediate. Warm climate destinations obviously require lighter clothing than cold weather destinations so you won’t want to be lugging around down coats and boots while in the tropics.

And I hate to sound like a broken record but you can always pick up these necessary items when you get to your destination. When I found myself in Nepal having packed for the heat of Southeast Asia (see Letting Go: Preparedness entry) I was able to pick up the necessary hiking clothes in Kathmandu. And when I was done with that part of my trip and heading to a warmer climate, I was able to donate my warm clothing to the porters and sherpas who so greatly helped us.

7. Be Culturally Sensitive
It’s important to keep in mind the cultures that you are traveling to – after all you are a guest in their country and you should be respectful. Sure Thailand is hot, but they are a very conservative country in the way that they dress. You won’t see many Thai people in skimpy tops and shorts. You can certainly dress this way, but be prepared to attract unwanted attention and don’t expect to enter Wats (temples). Make sure you have a top that covers your shoulders and long pants or a skirt below the knees (for women).

While volunteering in India, Sherry decided to dress like the locals and had a salwar kameez made. By doing so she showed respect to the community she was living and working in. An added bonus – she didn’t have to pack as many clothes before going! 

Other Quick Tips

• Don’t bring dry cleaning
• Dry-fit clothes are great items as they breathe, dry fast, and don’t wrinkle
• Fabric softener in your pack is a great way to freshen up your wardrobe
• Are you a runner? Sherry finds that deodorant balls are great for keeping her sneakers from smelling up her pack

We Don’t Leave Home Without:

• Extra passport photos (you never know when you’ll need them for visas)
• iPod (great for listening to travel podcasts and keeps you company on long road trips)
• Water bottle (hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!)
• Straps and carabiners (great for strapping/attaching extra things to your pack)
• Leatherman or Swiss Army knife (make sure to pack in your checked bag
• Dry bags (great for keeping valuables such as cameras and computers safe when on or near the water)
• Plastic bags (great for separating items in your pack, especially wet items)
• Headlamp (see Our Favorite Gear entry)
• Sleep sheet (you can always trust your own bedding)
• Visor/Baseball cap (keeps the sun off your face)
• Knit cap and scarf/wrap (even in the warmest of climates it can get chilly)
• Journal (you’ll regret in the future not documenting this incredible passage in your life)
• Camera (no explanation needed)
• Photos and/or postcards from home (a great way to share your culture and life with the people you encounter)

Shop the Briefcase to Backpack Store for our favorite travel gear:

Cash:

I really don’t recommend traveling with a lot of cash – unless you have a black belt. Not to scare you, as most countries are pretty safe, however, there’s just no reason to be carrying around large amounts of cash. This certainly isn’t feasible if you are on a trip longer than two weeks. If you are carrying cash with you in any amounts, I highly recommend only taking what you need with you as you explore a city. Lock the rest up in your suitcase or in a hotel safe. Trust me, you really can’t outsmart a pickpocket.

Travelers Checks:

I’m sorry to break this to you, but you are no longer in the 20th century – travelers checks are a thing of the past. If you are traveling in places other than Europe, then don’t even bother with travelers checks – they are more of a hindrance than a benefit.   Plus other countries are wary of travelers checks. They especially seem to be wary of Visa backed travelers checks, which my bank provides. When I traveled in South America, I came across banks and merchants in Peru that would only accept American Express. I sat there with hundreds of dollars of travelers checks that I could not use.

When traveling to Kenya, I went to a moneychanger to cash some of my travelers checks and I literally got in an argument with the people there because they would not accept my travelers checks unless I produced the receipt for them. I tried to explain to them that you are not supposed to carry the receipt with the travelers checks; they are always supposed to be separated. I went around and around with them, and finally left without any cash. American Express will never tell you that travelers checks aren’t necessarily trusted or understood in other parts of the world; but I will! There’s no worse feeling than knowing you are holding ‘cash’ and no one will recognize it.

Finally, if you are still on the fence about travelers checks, I have one more story from Morocco. A couple of British friends that I happened to be traveling with had travelers checks and no one would cash the travelers check. They were told that there was only one bank in town that would cash the checks. When we finally found the bank, they had to find someone to translate for them, and then proceeded to sit and wait an hour while the bank went through a mountain of paperwork for each check.

I can’t stress enough that travelers checks are a thing of the past.

ATM/Credit Cards:

Plastic gets my vote! However, it’s not as simple as packing a debit card and heading out. I once again realized the hard way that it’s not simply enough to take one debit/credit card along. When I traveled in Brazil, I had my Citibank MasterCard that served as a Debit card. I had planned on using that to withdraw cash in the appropriate currency. I went to one of the many ATM’s in Rio and was surprised when it was rejected. This continued to happen when I finally realized that the issue was that it was a MasterCard and all of the ATM’s in Rio took Visa backed cards, not MasterCard; so much for being a global card. I was stuck, I didn’t have any way to withdraw cash, which I desperately needed!

When I took off on my around-the-world journey I decided that I would cover all bases just in case of an emergency. I applied for and got a Visa card and an American Express card in addition to my MasterCard debit card. Granted, the Visa and Amex weren’t debit cards, but they did come with a PIN number and a way to withdraw cash (at a fee) if I was really in a bind. There are many countries where certain cards aren’t really recognized for ATM withdrawals so be prepared and take along multiple cards just in case!

Final Tip:

Some of you may be wondering if you can find ATM’s all over the world. The answer is yes – for the most part. However, my typical process was that I would arrive in a new country via air. Before I left the airport I would track down an ATM and make sure that I took out money at the airport. Enough to get me through a week, just in case I had trouble locating another one in the area I was staying. Ninety-five percent of the time there’s an ATM in the airport so it’s a crucial stop to make before you get all excited and leave the civilization of the airport.

After receiving my cash, I would take those crisp new bills from the ATM, go to a currency exchange booth at the airport and have them break down a couple of the larger bills into small bills. Most currency exchangers would do this for free without any issues. Always get small bills or else you may not be able to pay for your taxi. Many taxi drivers and merchants don’t have change for the large bills. This may be a hoax – or it may be the truth. Regardless, be prepared with small bills. Once again, there’s nothing worse than have money that you can’t use!

Hopefully these tips will prevent you from ever being broke in a foreign country. If you have any other great tips, please feel free to share them with us.

We’d love to hear from you!

Do you have any tips on accessing money? Let us know! Share here.

There are many different ways to plan a travel budget, and the key is to adjust it as you go and test your assumptions. Before I took off for my 16-month journey I sat down and tried to create a rough budget of what I thought I would spend. The problem was that I had never really traveled long term before, so I had a hard time determining where to start when I didn’t know where I‘d be staying from one day to the next for a whole year.

In Excel I made a worksheet with a list of each country that I had planned to visit. I decided I would apply a simple equation and not get too detailed since I really didn’t know where I would be every day/week/month, but I did know a few things in general. Here are the elements of information that I collected:

1. Average Daily Costs per Country

• Begin by outlining the number of countries you plan to visit and for how long.
• Factor in the average cost for daily necessities like lodging, food and drinks. You can find this out by doing country-specific research on the web. You can also get an average idea by visiting: http://www.solotravel.org/travel-budget-calculator.htm

2. One-time Country Costs

• Once you have arrived in a country, how do you plan to get around, and how extensively? Factor in the costs of internal flights, buses, boats, trains, etc…
• Include the pricing of any tours, classes, or activities you plan on doing. In some cases these may include lodging and food, so take that into account as well.
• Many countries require that you get a visa (either before or upon arrival) and these costs vary. You can find out visa requirements by visiting the country’s Embassy website or visit Travisa for easy access to all country requirements: http://www.travisa.com/
• Plan on shopping? There is a difference in budget from Paris to Luang Prabang, so realistically think about how much you are going to spend and carry!

3. One-time Trip Costs

• Whether you are on an Around-the-World ticket or flying on various airlines, this is a big chunk of your upfront budget.
• Medical and trip insurance is an invaluable budget item.
• Include items you plan to purchase before departing such as a backpack, camera equipment, and clothing.

4. Miscellaneous Costs

• Depending on your situation, there are a variety of line items you might want to incorporate into your budget, such as storage facilities and cell phone bills. You will also want to factor in the cost of living upon your return home, such as rent/mortgage and COBRA insurance.

Be sure to revisit  your budget often during the planning process as this will evolve over the period leading up to your trip. Plus, one of the most useful things about a budget is that you can run various scenarios, even while on the road.  When I landed in Europe and realized that my money didn’t go very far there, I re-analyzed my budget and ran new numbers to see what it would cost for me to get out of Europe and go to Northern Africa instead. After I ran the numbers, I realized that I could travel for 3 more months if I simply stayed out of Europe – so I changed my plans and went to Morocco, Egypt, India, China, and Japan.

We’d love to hear from you!

Do you have any budgeting tips? Tell us about them! Share here.