How To Save For a Round the World Trip

In September 2015 I put a £49 down for a round the world trip, starting in June 2016 and ending late August for about two months. It was something I had wanted to do for a very long time and when the opportunity arose I was excited beyond belief! It took us a while to decide just where we wanted to go on our flight ticket, but we eventually decided on the countries to visit. We decided to head to Dubai then straight on to Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, California, USA
France. When Bill and me first met we discussed it a lot in passing, but after we got together we realised the distant dream of seeing the world wasn't as distant as we thought. It was during my cousin's wedding when a family friend mentioned that such trips were possible through certain travel agents. We found STA travel online at about 2 in the morning and the day after, we went and discussed a trip. A few days after that, we put down the deposit. Shit. It was happening. We were doing it. The flights are costing £1400, and everything else will cost us around £1500 each. To us that was a hell of a lot of money (and still is, though our flights are almost paid for thanks to lots of extra shifts and family generosity at Christmas) and as of now we have 5 and a half months to save the rest of the money. Although saving the money hasn't been easy we've learned how to budget effectively for the future and our recent trip to Morocco proved to us how great we were as a team. If you're looking to undertake a similar trip around the world or any other adventure which will be costing you a fair bit, fear not! Here's some advice :

•  Mindmap - Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? How long for? Who with? Make sure you have a general idea of this first, it makes it much easier to budget for and you can start looking at accommodation relatively early on.
• Get a job - This can be anything, as long as you enjoy it! Working however many hours a week at a job you can't stand is all good experience but the process of earning your travel money should be enjoyable too. After all, it's all part of the journey. Print out 20 CVs and take them to bars, restaurants, cafes, garages, cinemas, Tesco, wherever you want, just get yourself out there. If you've already got a job, ask for extra shifts! Between us in 2015 Bill and me worked 6 jobs between us, all of which were, luckily, jobs we loved.
• Do what you're good at - Teach yoga for a few extra pounds a week to friends and family, dog walk, make cakes, offer to clean for people, busk, teach guitar lessons, YouTube. Every little helps and if you're committed, no doubt your family and friends will be too. Be positive, optimistic, think outside the box and you'll manifest money in no time.
• Fun doesn't have to be expensive - Tiny things like replacing coke or beer for tap water in a restaurant once a week will all add up (though don't do this all the time!), maybe walk to work instead of getting the bus. Have a look in the charity shops if you need some new clothes - There are some insanely good bargains in charity shops as we found out. 

These are just some of the things we have done to save for our trip, and even though we are still a way away from having all our funds, the flight tickets are firmly in sight. As long as you have the enthusiasm, perseverance and determination for it, saving for a big trip is much easier than many people believe it to be.

Happy Travelling!

Jo Goes Walkabout