Traveling On BLOOD Money
The many ways we are preparing for a trip around the world
You must be rich. How nice for you.
I recently wrote about our six month update for planning a trip around the world. It was at the six months out mark that I realized I have not been properly saving for this insane endeavor. Time to get serious!
I went into Canva and created a printable graph shaped like a money jar. It has lines on it in $2,000 increments. The final goal is $20,000. Let me explain the reasoning behind this amount and how I intend to make it happen.
Budget
First off, there is no reality in which I believe our family can travel the whole world on twenty thousand dollars. I may be irrationally optimistic sometimes, but this isn’t exactly one of them.
When I realized I only have six months left, it was time to watch some YouTube videos on the matter. I found a lot of videos of couples who had spent a year traveling the world and had laid out their various budgets and spending realities.
This was something to go on. Most of our trip will be myself, my husband, and our youngest child. The older two kids are in college and may join us from time to time, but are not factored into the budget…yet.
There was a wide variety of numbers being thrown around, but I got the sense that $40,000 will take two people to at least 15 countries over the course of one year. Give or take.
The thing for us isn’t just that we have an extra plane seat to fill or an extra mouth to feed. The real difference in cost, I believe, is that we can’t settle for “just any” accommodation or mode of transportation. Our daughter’s safety and comfort are absolutely priority number one. Which means that things are automatically going to be a bit more expensive.
The second factor in our journey is that we are utilizing a home-base. I have seen many people give up their homes and downsize their lives into a single suitcase to take on world travel. While I admire it, we have tried similar life-purges, and it just isn’t for us anymore.
We love having a home. It isn’t going anywhere. We also have a few chronic health conditions that require the peace and tranquility of our house. Our daughter has friends here. Our doctors are here. Basically, we have a life and we are not giving it up.
So. The plan is to tackle this mission in chunks. A month or two here or there, followed by a few weeks to a month at home. This undoubtedly adds to the cost of travel, but it is non-negotiable.
The twenty thousand dollar goal gets us started on the path. If two people can travel for one year on forty thousand, three people can get quite far for the first quarter to half a year on twenty.
The funds
Our current income and spending ratio isn’t nearly robust enough to simply save this money from existing funds. A fact that sent my husband into a series of doubts.
Have no fear, I have a solution. We are cutting back on spending for sure, but we are also working on ways to increase income to pad the account.
- Writing on Medium — Between this account and another personal one I publish with, I make some spare cash that goes directly towards our travel savings.
- Blog — We have a blog that caters to our YouTube channel as well as to homeschooling while traveling. It has been long dormant, but I’m getting back in gear.
- YouTube — The past (almost) year has been spent on building up a family travel channel. When we started, I had no idea how to even hold the camera let alone edit a video. It was rough. Really, really rough. I think they are finally becoming watchable. No money with this one yet, but I have a lot of faith in the process.
- Plasma — Yep. Here is the blood money. Years ago, we donated plasma a few times for a different savings goal. We are bringing it back. It isn’t much, but every penny counts. Each time I donate over the next six months, I will think about how it will buy us a meal in Africa or a hotel in Asia or a coffee in Europe.
The planning
So. None of these things are particularly fruitful as they stand. The thing about chasing your dreams is that you have to believe they are possible. All of the things I mentioned (except the plasma) have potential for exponential growth.
I expect the savings to be extremely slow in the next couple months, but with hard work and determination they should pick up. I am pushing for a snowball effect here.
In the meantime, I am taking plans a little more seriously.
There is the fun and educational side, which is why we started this in the first place. We are traveling the world to enhance our daughter’s education and life experiences. So there is a lot of study to be done prior to traveling.
- History
- Geography
- World languages
- Currency
- Culture
All things we are working with our daughter on in advance to prepare.
Then there is the logistical side. Blah. My least favorite, but oh so important. The more I look into it, the more I have to figure out.
Some things I am considering at the moment are best times of year to visit places. We are starting in January, so I am focusing on the Southern Hemisphere. I am not really big on winter, so I have no desire to visit places at their coldest. With a few exceptions.
Other issues are potential vaccination updates, visas, transportation, accommodations, and just some of the minutia that comes with travel.
I expect to posting on here much more frequently now that the ball is rolling. Please follow along and comment with tips and ideas, should they arise. I will need all the help I can get!
