If you are going to be on a trip for any extended period of time, you will need to consider how you replenish your cash. There are a number of ways to do this, but I have learned (through some tough lessons) what works best.

Cash:

[singlepic=1237,175,,,right]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.

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[singlepic=1239,250,,,right]Budgeting – the fine art of determining how much you have, how long it will last, and how can you stretch it. I come from a business background, and I have managed million dollar budgets for fortune 500 companies, but sitting down to plan my travel budget for a year was quite a task. Somehow it’s easier when you are planning with other people’s money.

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.

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