For me, a colossal step towards becoming a self-sufficient adult was going on an international vacation for the first time. I’ve gone on many domestic trips and weekend getaways to the nearby islands. However, when my friends got married in Ireland, it was time to take a big step and go abroad. Suddenly, I needed to get serious about saving money for the trip. But that didn’t really go the way I planned.
Long story short, I ended up with a sizeable amount of debt upon returning to real life. Dealing with the aftermath of my vacation was stressful, exhausting, and emotionally taxing. So, when my friend and I decided to go on a trip earlier this year, I knew I’d do everything in my power to make sure I never went through that again.
However, there were a few small things I didn’t take into consideration before I left.
1. Foreign Currency Conversion Fees
When we took off for our trip and I hadn’t saved quite as much as I planned, I thought to myself, “It’s fine, I have a credit card!” … sure, ask me how things were once I got back and had to start paying my credit card bills.
Credit cards charge extra for each transaction you make using foreign currency. While it’s a fairly small rate – most likely 5% – that rate only exasperates the cost of paying for goods and services when you’re using a weaker currency. Paying in Canadian dollars, this added up on each transaction and before I knew it, the small, mindless transactions I thought were harmless quickly became mountains.
Instead: Use cash wherever you can
Not only is it the best way to track how you’re spending, but carrying cash means you’re paying for things at face value. You’ve already converted the currency, so day-to-day fluctuations in the conversion rate won’t affect your cash.
The one big downside of this tip is that a growing number of businesses are going cashless. I found this out the hard way in Stockholm, where I had tons of cash leftover because I was forced to use my card everywhere else. While it’s hard to get around the world moving towards a cashless future, it’s easy enough to convert your leftover cash into another currency – you might just have some coins left over.
Another big downside is that counting cash in a currency you’re not familiar with is hard. Each time I did this, I’d end up using big bills first and have a coin purse full of random coins, and it would take longer than I care to admit counting them up for each transaction. I’m not familiar with pounds, okay?!
2. Vacation Pay
Most businesses pay their employees for vacations when they actually take them. Instead, my pay was given on each paycheque, and left for me to save. This system isn’t bad by any means – it means you get paid more each pay day, so that’s good, right? But, it does take some getting used to.
Saving for this trip, I failed to take into account that I would need a pay cheque to cover my upcoming bills – phone, internet, rent, you name it. So, you can imagine how stressful it was to have nothing in my bank account, and no full paycheque coming in, to help pay some serious debt. I drained my long-term savings, and had to start from square one to get back to a more financially stable place.
Instead: Be mindful to save for several different purposes
If I had just saved 4% of my cheque each pay day from the day I started my job, I could have minimized this mess. However, I didn’t have a clear goal for my savings, and it was always used to eat at debt any chance I got.
Since I started budgeting and saving for multiple different goals, I’ve seen how much of an impact it makes on my finances. Now, I know how much I have saved for my short-term savings, long-term savings, and upcoming goals such as trips, items I want to buy, and other things. I’d recommend getting started on this right away if you can – it’s a game changer.
3. The cost of getting around
So, you’ve landed at an airport, or arrived at a train station. Now what? It’s time to get a pass to use public transit, of course. With so many public transit networks opting into tap-and-pay systems that only require your credit card, using it to get where I needed to go was easy and quick. But, it was also way more expensive than it needed to be.
During our first trip, we bought a pre-loaded Oyster Card for London’s metro network, not realizing that we would run out of money for the train by the end of the first two days. The friend we stayed with told us that you could get a pass for one week for 40 pounds. Even though we were staying there for only 5 days, it was still a cheaper option than our pre-paid cards.
Instead: Do your research!
Every city is different, and the cost of getting around will vary wildly depending on what areas you want to visit, and where you’re staying.
Some of the cities you visit might not even need you to use transit. When I visited Amsterdam, I budgeted a few dollars to spend on 3 days of public transit – and I only took the street car once. If a city is walkable and has a dense urban center that is easy to navigate, it’s worth spending the time walking around and exploring.
We also stayed in a Hostel in Amsterdam’s city centre, so having an accessible home base was very helpful, which brings me to my next point...
4. Finding the cheapest rental
Most accommodations near a city centre are more expensive because they cater to tourists. So, when you’re doing trip research, getting caught up in the upfront cost of those rooms can easily drive you to look for a spot further away to save a few bucks.
We did just that for our first trip, and I realized quickly into each stay that there is a hidden cost to booking a hotel room that is slightly further away. Not only is there a monetary cost that comes with spending on public transit or taxi fares to get back to the home base, but you lose your valuable vacation time when you do this.
Instead: Consider what you really need from your accommodations
Staying in hostels allowed my friend and I to step out and walk to almost all of the things we wanted to check out. I found that extremely liberating to be able to do that.
When you’re on vacation, time is money. If you’re not spending money to stay in a hotel that’s close by, you’re spending money on public transport to get all the places you want to go.
While staying in Airbnbs was nice because we had access to a kitchen, I hardly used it because we were out all day, from morning until late at night. The rental we chose served mostly as a locker for our stuff, and even then, I took a lot of it with me when we were out for the day so we didn’t have to go back for anything.
If finding the cheapest accommodation possible is big for you, I would recommend staying in a hostel. On my second trip, I booked hostels instead of hotels or Airbnbs and was pleasantly surprised with the experience. They are marginally cheaper than hotels, and have everything you need to get by day to day. Plus, if you’re on the go and hopping from city to city, who cares if it’s not the most glamorous space?
Travelling For Cheap Is Doable - But Can Be Hard
At the end of the day, travelling is expensive. But there are ways to save properly before your trip, and make conscious financial decisions that will help you avoid a disaster in your bank account when you get home.