My Three Tips For Travel Saving on a Minimum Wage

World travel has been a consistent life goal of mine, but for a long time, I didn’t feel it was within my reach. On my first overseas trip, I ran out of spending money before I got home. A common experience for the novice traveller! But I internalised it, and I didn’t trust myself to be responsible with my finances regarding travel. I fostered feelings of unworthiness toward world travel. I thought that because I didn’t have a job that paid very well, I didn’t deserve to travel the world. But I simply couldn’t accept that. I had to make it work.

I was considering a second trip to Ireland to research for my first crime novel. Working a part-time job on a low hourly wage, there wasn’t much wiggle room for travel savings. I was trying to keep a large chunk of money saved toward my goal, but I always seemed to need to tap into it for some bill or expense.

Through talking with friends about their travels, I realised that I could adjust my savings plan. I had made a list of all the expenses for the trip, from accommodation to transport to food. This helped me work out how much the trip would cost overall and then break each item down into a savings checklist.

I used a travel agent and put my flights on lay-by for just $100. I paid a little off each fortnight and was not restricted to a specific amount, just whatever I could afford. As long as I had them paid off two months before my departure date. It took me six months to pay off $1500. Sometimes it was $50, sometimes $100, sometimes only $20.

I also tried to put aside a little into my savings account for my trip expenses and spending money.

Here is a breakdown of my list of expenses/savings targets:

• Flights
• Accommodation (broken down to each location for multi-stop trips)
• Airport Transfers
• Daily Costs (transport/food/activities)
• Spending Money

I then broke those expenses down to days where I could, e.g., accommodation and daily expenses. For example, I planned to stay in Dublin for three days, so I wrote the list this way:

• Dublin Accommodation: $215 ($43 per night x 3)

Each payday I took out my list and looked at what I could afford to put money toward that fortnight. Sometimes I’d put aside only $43, or sometimes $86, or even the whole amount of a savings category if I could afford it. Alongside the listed expense, I would keep a tally of how many times I’d contributed to that listed item, and take great delight in crossing the item off when it was completed!

When I had put enough money aside for my three-day stay in Dublin, I booked the accommodation straight away, to secure not only the accommodation but the money I needed for it.

So in summary, here are my three tips for saving for international travel on a minimum wage:

• Lay-by flights where possible
• Break down your costs into a list
• Break the list down again into daily expenses where possible
  

Travel is NOT just for the ‘lucky few’. You CAN make it happen, no matter what stage of life you are at, and no matter what your circumstances.