Tag Archives: Budgeting

RTW Travel – How Much Does It Cost?

How much to travel the world? This post on our costs is way overdue…

To travel around the world was my childhood dream. The restlessness behind such a dream is one of the few personality traits that I share with my husband. We left Ireland in 1995 planning to spend “just a couple of years” living and working in the US before continuing onwards ever onwards. Fifteen years later, as I approached my 40th birthday and we considered high schools for our older son, our settled, normal life rankled.

How Much To Travel The World: Our Research

Our dream to travel for a year took shape slowly. We agreed to research costs. We postponed any decision-making until we had facts, in dollars and cents, to evaluate. The data posted by sixintheworld and 360degreeslongitude was invaluable. (The recent collation of real-life examples of RTW trip costs by jackandjilltravel.com is excellent). There is general consensus in these sources that $25,000 per person is a good baseline approximate cost for a year’s travel.

How Much To Travel The World: Itinerary Choices

To refine our budget further, we needed an itinerary. I read Tim Leffel’s excellent World’s Cheapest Destinations for ideas on where to go to make our money last longer. I pulled per-country budgeting guidelines from the Lonely Planet website and plugged the numbers into a spreadsheet. (Look under Practical Information/Costs for the country you’re interested in visiting. Here’s the entry for Thailand, for example). I used a per-country simple formula of:

(LP’s higher daily budget amount) * (number of days we planned to be in the country) * 4

and then summed that up across all the countries we planned to visit.

How Much To Travel The World: Our Budget

A copy of our initial budget lay on the table. We both stared at the rolled-up total, which came in at just under $80,000. We went back and forth on whether we should or should not go. The conversation ebbed and flowed over a number of days until we faced the decision which we’d probably really made the minute we had agreed to do the research. We had to go. Not to do so would leave a dream unfulfilled.

The decision to make this trip required that we plunder our savings and home equity. Or what was left of them since we’d already seen our savings decimated twice: once with the dot-com crash and again with the market implosion of 2008-2009. Deciding to spend what we had left before it too disappeared was perversely, an easy decision.

Taking this trip is a huge gamble. We’re betting that once we return to Seattle we will be able to get work and continue working for another 30 years to rebuild retirement savings. That we’ll likely need to work past normal retirement age is a price we’re OK with paying for an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

How Much To Travel The World: Our Actual Costs

* Flights have been our single biggest cost. We chose not to buy a RTW ticket, preferring instead to travel overland as much as possible and buy point-to-point tickets as necessary (i.e. to jump oceans). Total cost per person: $3,200.
* We’ve scheduled (and may add) a limited number of Big Ticket Experiences, roughly one per continent: the Inca Trail Hike and the Gibbon Experience so far. Next week the boys will be doing a one-week scuba certification course. I’ll add the total spent when the trip is over.
* Our Daily Budget is $150 to cover food, transportation and accommodation for all four of us. This is easier to keep to in some countries (Thailand, Ecuador) than others (Chile). As I add per-country pages to this website, I’ll include the actual average daily cost – see the Ecuador page for example.

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Photo Credit: LiteForex

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April Is A Fantastic Month For European Travel

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I wrote this post on our way to Ireland four weeks ago with great intentions to post it during our trip. So much for good intentions. I’m posting today because I still think this is good information for anyone considering a summer trip to Europe – it may be worth your while to wait until next April to get more for your travel dollar.

My kids plonked themselves into their seats for the flight from Chicago to Dublin, with their attention distracted by the bright in-flight entertainment screens they started investigating the menu of movies leaving me standing in the aisle with three carry-on bags to put away and a line of impatient people building up behind me – or so I thought. I struggled mightily to lift all three bags into the overhead bins. Once done, I expected glowers from the passengers behind me but all I got instead was a calm “No rush, no rush” from the one person who’d been patiently waiting for me to finish and then I noticed that there really weren’t very many passengers lined up in the aisles waiting to find their seats.

We travel between the U.S. and Europe so that our children can grow up knowing their extended family – most of whom live in the British Isles. We try to spend time there at least once a year and I bargain hunt for airfares to allow us to do so as economically as possible. A number of times in the past few years we’ve opted to spend Spring Break in Europe and I’ve come to believe that this is the best time for transatlantic travel for budget-conscious families planning a European vacation.

Using our trip as an example, here are four concrete ways in which we benefited by spending Spring Break in Europe:
1. Cheaper Flight Costs. As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, Farecast’s 2008 study shows that airfares to Europe are up to 150% higher in July and August than at other times during the year. We paid $770 for return flights from Seattle with United and Aer Lingus.
2. The Flights Are Less Busy . As I mention above, our flight to Ireland was only half-full. There were plenty of empty seats in coach allowing us to spread out and be more comfortable. CAM, who’s almost 14, is currently a gangly mess of elbows and knees. I was not looking forward to sharing the narrow confines of a coach-class row of seats with him. Instead, I had two seats to myself and he had plenty of room to stretch out.
3. Local Spring Events . American Spring Break usually falls on or around the same time as the European Easter holiday. Just as in the U.S., the schools are closed and it’s a popular time for families to take a short vacation. You’ll find fun local festivals in many towns and cities. When we’ve traveled at this time of year we’ve also enjoyed shorter lines at larger attractions and lower accommodation costs.
4. Spring Weather. The weather can make or break any vacation. In April, temperatures are moderate in most of Europe so you need to be prepared for some rainy days. That said, the trees are starting to turn green, spring flowers abundant and, in Ireland anyway, there are sheep and lambs all over the place. I’m finding I’m compelled to photograph “the cute sheepies” every time I see lambs in the field – to my husband’s growing frustration.

connemara-lambs

I’m sure there are other benefits I’m not thinking of. If you’ve traveled from the U.S. to Europe during this time of year, do leave a comment below and share your experience.

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Now Is The Time To Plan Your Family Travel For 2010

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If you have children in school, you’ve probably got a calendar like this prominently located in your kitchen where you’ll refer to it regularly for the next nine months. What you may not have realized is that this is also your key to unlocking a fun year of travel for your family. Surprised? Read on…

Get To Know Your Calendar
If you’re a working mom like me, you’ll already have looked at the next two or three months on the school calendar and maybe added appointments to your calendar at work so that you have a reminder of school closure days ahead of time. As I explained to a friend who doesn’t have children recently, most schools within a district follow the same dates for major breaks such as Winter and Spring but there’s huge variability in when and how individual schools schedule conferences, teacher in-service days and other non-school days during the school year. Finding childcare or coordinating a work-from-home day with your employer can be painful. Picking out some of these dates and planning ahead to take mini-vacations over three or four-day weekends keeps me sane. Putting thought into how we will spend the longer breaks now has consistently helped me save money on my family’s travels and allowed us to keep traveling even though the children are at school.

Coordinate With The Teacher
Let’s say you pick a weekend in January where your child will have no school on Friday and the following Monday and you think a city break in San Francisco would be fun. But, when you look at airfares you find that flights on Monday evening are expensive and flying during the day Tuesday would save you $30-$50 – a decent savings when you’re buying four or more tickets. If you talk to your child’s teacher now he or she will appreciate the advance notice and you will both have ample time to ensure that your child can either work ahead or bring some exercises along so that he stays current with the class. We attended a family wedding in the U.K. this past April. I first brought it up with my child’s teacher when school started the previous September and we discussed how and what to do to make sure that he was in synch with the rest of the class when he returned to school. His re-entry was painless and he had plenty of time to get the required school-work done on planes and trains over the course of our trip.

Start Bargain-Hunting Now
If you plan to travel during the major school breaks – usually busy travel periods – a little legwork now may bring significant savings. Use a tool such as Yapta.com or Hotwire.com’s Trip Watcher to leverage technology to do most of the work for you. If you know where you want to go, start by saving a search for airfares or accommodation on one of these services now. You can configure email alerts on price changes so you know the best time to buy. If you’re not quite sure where you want to go, sign up for email offers from your favorite airline or with a consolidator services such as Travel Zoo for deals on every aspect of travel from accommodation to airfares to tickets to a concert or show. I’ve been using this approach for a few years now even before these tools were available, although manually keeping a constant watch on airfares on a chosen route was time-consuming. However, it meant that when we traveled to Italy in June 2008, I spent $300 less per ticket by buying in January than my friend who waited and purchased at the best available price in April. This year I’ll be using Yapta.com’s automated search since with their excess fare refund I win even if I don’t buy at the lowest price.

Find The Perfect Vacation Rental Property
Properties at popular resort areas sell out fast during holiday periods. By searching early, you’ll have the pick of the crop – I’ve got a beach house in Florida booked already for Christmas week. Now I can relax and look for the best deal on flights to get us there. The property owner was very happy to confirm a rental so far in advance and told me that in his experience this property is usually gone by early September.

So there you have it. I know you’re still adjusting to the rigor of the school schedule and probably coordinating carpool and sports schedules too. But take a minute and see how you can use the school calendar to your advantage. You’ll be glad you did.

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Four Tips For Finding Vacation Rental Accommodation

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I’m a huge fan of renting vacation properties directly from owners as an economical, affordable and sanity-preserving choice for family vacations. Sanity-preserving because I am a princess with regards to sleep in that I need my eight hours every night, no exceptions and that can be very difficult in a shared hotel room with two children – particularly when one of those children is a night-owl and the other an early-bird.

I recently helped a family member find a property for their upcoming vacation using Homeaway.com. My relative contacted me today expressing her satisfaction “for all my hard work”! I spent perhaps an hour researching and finding a property for them using a method I’ve practised many times when planning trips with my children. I’ve shared my steps below. Leave a comment and let me know if you agree, disagree or have any suggestions to improve this.

Research Neighborhoods At Your Destination
I use a guidebook for this step and if possible, I talk to someone who knows the area in question. In this case, I used the Lonely Planet Buy By Chapter service, picking up a couple of chapters of their guidebook for the state in question. I’ve found that it’s very useful to have some basic information on the neighborhoods in a city or the towns in a resort area before I start looking at property listings. If I can, I pick up a local map (or use Google maps) to get a feel for the geographic layout also.

Research Available Listings
With some information on the region you’re interested in at hand, browse through the property listings for that area. My current favorite site for this is Homeaway.com because I find their search tools very intuitive to use. Using their Advanced Search, I can search by keyword, property size, price, dates amenities and other criteria.

I use a $1,000/week price rule-of-thumb when browsing listings. Using this as my mid-point, I can scan for suitable properties at or around that price range as my starting point for further research. I’ve used this rule-of-thumb for a number of years while renting properties in various countries and so far I’ve had no problems finding comfortable, clean and usually pleasant houses and condos to rent. (See below for my math if you’re interested). It’s always great when I find that the properties at that price point are too big or too luxurious for my needs. If this happens, I re-start my search using a lower price point – usually dropping by $200 at a time.

The next criteria I use to cull the candidate property list is reviews. If there are no reviews for a property, I usually drop it from my list. If you really like the look of the property another option is to contact the owner and ask for reviews from previous customers.

Finally, I examine all the photos supplied critically. I expect there to be clear photos of the kitchen, dining areas, bathrooms and bedrooms. The absence of any photos of a room mentioned in the property description makes me suspicious. I love it when an owner includes a diagram of the floor plan however I have found that this is something usually not shown on the property listing but something which an owner will supply on request.

Contact The Owners
At this point you should have 3-5 properties which look interesting to you. The next step is to contact the owner and ask for further information. Many owners will have their own website on which they provide additional information on the property (and sometimes the area too) over what is shown on the bare listings on a service like Homeaway.com.

It’s been my experience that the more responsive the owner, the more likely it is that you will have found someone whom you can trust and from whom you can be comfortable renting. Owners who don’t answer enquiry emails or don’t answer your questions about the property directly in this research stage are not likely to be helpful if you have problems after you have arrived.

Repeat The Above Steps
At least until you’ve found a property and an owner which you think will work for you. This can sometimes take multiple concurrent conversations with a number of owners and sometimes it can take just one phone call. Keep in mind that your owner-direct vacation rental experience is likely to be more successful more quickly if you start to look early for popular rental periods such as high summer or winter holidays.

Additional Info: The Math Behind $1,000/Week Vacation Rentals
I don’t like to pay large amounts of money for the bed I sleep in when I travel, but I do like my bed to be clean. I love the ambiance and luxury – and room size – of a four or five star hotel, but the cost of such accommodations are generally well above my price range. So, stripped to bare bones, I did some research on the price of a bed in a hostel and in general, a private room in a hostel costs between $20 and $25 per night. Since there’s four of us, that’s $80 – $100 per night for the cheapest form of rental accommodation available or $480 – $600 per week. Pretty darn cheap – but it comes with very little privacy. I like having a private kitchen and bathroom and I love my kids having their own bedroom(s). Using $100 each as the value I put on each of these amenities gives a top-line price of $900 for a week for a family of four in a private house or condo, rounding up to $1,000 to account for extras such as air conditioning, cable tv and a cleaning service. As I say, using this as a starting point has worked for me for many years.

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5 Tips for Family Travel Budgeting In Difficult Economic Times

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I am not a fan of rollercoasters, in fact, I think I might go so far as to say I can’t stand them. And just listening to the bad economic news lately is making me feel like I’m stuck on a never-ending rollercoaster ride. But, there has been one good outcome of all this craziness: I’ve picked up some new cost-saving habits (or refined some old ones) so that my family can keep traveling this year. Hopefully this will give you some ideas on how to stretch your family’s travel budget.

Plan Ahead
My sister and I travel together regularly and joke that we never end one trip without a plan for the next one we’ll take together. But planning does not mean booking and I’ve noticed in the past six months that my hyper-planning habit is paying off – I’ve saved significantly on hotel rooms and flights by planning early. If you choose to visit a destination months in advance, you have time to research prices for flights, hotels and other travel services. You will quickly get a sense for typical prices at that destination and that can be powerful information because it allows you to determine whether any deals or special offers you find are really good value or not. For example, even though I’ve known for many months that we needed to attend a family wedding in the U.K. this month, I waited and I watched airfares weekly (or more) and booked when the price hit what I believe is an all-time low fare on the Seattle – London route ($199 return + taxes and fees with British Airways).

Online Tools for Savvy Travelers
If the idea of checking airfares or hotel websites frequently seems like just too much effort to you, fear not, the internet can be your knight in shining armour. If you use tools like Hotwire‘s Trip Watcher in your initial search, you can choose to save the search and Hotwire will keep it active over time, sending you regular updates of changes in prices as they occur or in a weekly email.

Bid Aggressively on Priceline.com
In my trip report on our New Year visit to Whistler, I mentioned that we used Priceline.com to find last minute accomodation and that due to this, we paid peanuts (comparatively) for a room at a four-star hotel in a premium location on a holiday weekend. Wendy Perrin mentions in her article on The World on Sale that 2009 will be a year when stunning travel deals are available and hotels particularly will be managing pricing aggressively, but that special offers and promotions will be targeted to clients with whom the hotel already has a relationship. Our “neighbors” at the Whistler Hilton had booked their room at a steeply discounted rate through a promotion which the Hilton chain had offered only to members of the Hilton Honors program. Strangely, this family’s promotion price was almost identical to the amount we had bid on Priceline. I’ll be using this strategy of bidding super-low amounts for rooms at premium hotels for at least the rest of this year.

Watch out for Deals and Special Offers
I’ve got subscriptions to services provided by Farecast and TravelZoo where I receive an email telling me about deals and promotions on airfares, hotel accommodations and tickets to shows and attractions. The information is customized based on my location – there’s no point in me receiving special offer fares from NY when I live in Seattle! I’ve also signed up for promotional emails from a couple of airlines who I fly with regularly and I’m watching out for deals and offers on emails and mailings from credit card companies. Most of this email I read and delete, but I feel that my subscriptions are a lazy way for me, as a consumer, to keep in touch with what’s going on in the travel industry.

Think Outside the Box
As I mentioned recently, my boys will likely travel as unaccompanied minors to visit relatives this summer. Enough said. When we travel to the U.K., we will be staying with family. If we take some vacation time this summer, we’ll likely spend it in our own state, exploring the parts and places we haven’t yet visited. I don’t consider this a ‘staycation’ – anything but – there’s many parts of Washington I still haven’t visited and I’m sure I’m not the only one who suffers from the “Well I can go there any time” approach to the region where I live – except I rarely do.

I hope you find some of this information useful. For me, I need to force myself to get off the crashing economy rollercoaster so I’m going to take a leaf out of my friend Beth’s book and stop listening to the news for a while

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Budgeting Tips for Family Travel