The Truth About Travelling the World: It's Not About Luck or Megabucks

Here are our top 5 methods for increasing our travel funds

Whenever we tell friends or family we're off on another jaunt either abroad or in the UK, some of the most common reactions we're met with are questions like 'How do you manage it?' or comments such as 'Oh you're so lucky, I could never afford to do that'. So we thought it was only fair to put those beliefs about luck and high bank balances to bed once and for all, and explain just what we have to do to be able to see the world on a very limited budget.

1. Time.

Use it wisely

There are 24 hours in each and every day, and how people choose to spend those hours is entirely up to them. When our working weeks are done however, we choose to spend what time we have left on plotting and planning our next escape. It's no exaggeration when we say that some of our trips have involved upwards of 50 hours of planning time, just to get to the point of purchasing flights! This gives us the chance to research every possible route, flight time, airline quality, sneaky add-ons (such as bags and seats), and even airport parking costs, so that we can get the best possible price for our trips. If you're not prepared to put in the hours, then don't be surprised if you find yourself paying top dollar.

2. Sacrifice.

Sacrificing the everyday luxuries

There is absolutely no doubt about it, life is expensive! It always has been but never more so than now. Most of us are really feeling the strain of making ends meet and even just covering the basics like food and heat can feel like an almighty struggle. You might be tempted to think that getting away from it all for even a weekend is a thing of the past and not something to even bother considering going forward. But don't despair yet! If you're not living entirely hand to mouth at this point, then there may still be a few cutbacks and tweaks you could look at making so that that weekend away becomes more of a reality than a pipe dream. Here are just some of the sacrifices we make and things that we do to try to make our money go further:

Home baking: it tastes way better, it's cheaper, and you know what's in it!

DIY: unless it involves electrics or plumbing we do it ourselves. We've knocked down walls, built patios, fitted kitchens, constructed garden buildings, attempted to mend broken pipes (least said the better!) and done all our own painting and decorating. It's saved us a fortune, kept us out of mischief and it's been fun! These days there's not much you can't learn from a good YouTube tutorial too.

Batch cooking: we are big fans of meal planning, so nothing goes to waste and we don't spend more than we need to at the supermarket. Making a plan each week and cooking some meals that can be pulled out of the freezer has been key to money-saving and keeping relatively healthy over the years.

Simple celebrations:|if there's one thing we both agree on wholeheartedly it's our dislike of rampant consumerism. Buying more and more just for the sake of it...why?? Years ago we agreed to stop wasting our money on 'stuff' we didn't need, and that includes Christmas, birthdays and other celebrations. We don't feel the need to contribute to landfill by buying each other gifts just because society (and big business) tells us we should. We don't need designer handbags or fancy meals out to show our love for each other. Instead we save our money to put towards our trips, and celebrate the life occasions with simple low cost pleasures such as making pizzas together or going for a hike in nature. (Just a side note: if you really must buy designer handbags, maybe buy second hand? Think of the planet. PLEASE think of the planet!)

Self-care: Again, this is entirely a personal choice and some people absolutely adore a trip to the hairdressers or beauty salon, and that's fine! But we don't particularly enjoy those things and take the view that if we can do it ourselves and save some money then we will. So here are some more ways we save money for our trips: cut own hair (there are some fabulous YouTube tutorials out there!); colour and style own hair; do own nails; make own home skin treatments using natural oils etc; do own DIY fake tan applications; use everyday items for weights so no gym memberships here!

Home grown produce: you don't need to be green fingered or have loads of available space to grow a few veggies or herbs of your own, nor do you need to spend a fortune. We often buy small potted herbs such as Rosemary from the supermarket and plant them in the ground. They grow really big if you look after them and they provide us with free treats for our pet rabbit and gorgeous flavours in our home cooking.

Take a hike: day trips can sometimes cost a fortune if you're paying admission charges to attractions and parking fees on top. Fortunately we love a free hike so we can enjoy very low cost outings and it all helps to keep us and our trip fund nice and healthy. Not going to lie, of course we like to drive somewhere for our walks every now and then and this adds to fuel costs obviously, but mostly we try to take different routes from our doorstep. This helps us to discover new places in our local area and often forces us to walk further than if we'd driven to a national park.

Picnics: who doesn't love a nice coffee and a piece of cake in a cafe on a day out every now and then? We certainly do! But most of the time we try to keep our costs down by taking a trusty flask and a picnic with us whenever we go out. Just by cutting out the bought treats we can add £15-£20 to our trip fund, and in some destinations that's enough to pay for a night's comfortable accommodation!

3. Getting off the beaten track.

Our beautiful town house rental in Andalusia

One of the best ways we've managed to save money is by getting away from popular resorts and immersing ourselves in local life. For example, we've had a couple of amazing town houses with swimming pools in rural Granada and Murcia provinces in Spain for less than £500 for a week...in August! These village locations won't be everyone's cup of tea but we thought there was something really special about being able to drink in local bars, eating FREE tapas, and buying our fresh bread and pastries from the van that brought baked goods to the main square every morning, the driver alerting everyone to his arrival by enthusiastically sounding his horn and he drove through the winding lanes to the village.

4. Budgeting.

   
   

Know your figures

Having a strict budget and keeping track of outgoings is a huge factor in being able to live our travelling dreams. At the beginning of each year we set a budget for all of the trips we intend to take and we make sure we stick to it. Budget-busting just means cutbacks the following year, so there's really not much point to it for us. We also make sure we never do anything we can't afford to pay for outright. Getting into debt for a trip would make it completely unenjoyable for us so it's not something we'd ever contemplate unless there were extreme circumstances at play. It doesn't matter how small your budget, you can always find something fun to do - camping in a borrowed tent or a fun day out with a picnic at a river beach for example.

5. Independence.

   
   

DIY sightseeing

Planning and putting our own trips together gives us a sense of achievement and most of all freedom! Organised tours have their place and they can be brilliant for gaining an insight into local life and a knowledge of a country's history and culture, however, there's nothing quite like being able to turn up at a World Heritage Site before the tour buses appear in their droves. It's so nice to be able to spend as much or as little time somewhere as we want and to have the freedom to stop and explore interesting little alleyways that we may otherwise have walked straight past. We have found that pre-planning our sightseeing and visiting independently has saved us a fortune at times. Never was this more apparent than when we did our one and only cruise in 2022. We had pre-planned a route in to Bilbao from the cruise port that cost us around 2 Euros return on public transport, whereas so many other passengers opted for the cruiseline's coach transfer at £20 a person. That's a hefty saving that was put towards sampling the local beer and delicious pintxos.