I recently started an IGTV Ask Me Anything (#AMA) series. One of the first questions was about my travel budget planning. I started off talking about international trips to developed countries. Followed by domestic travel within India. Will add more as required.

Solo Woman, Digital Nomad, Vegetarian

The travel budget depends largely on our choices. And before you go through my budget figures and details, it is good to set a context.

Firstly, this budget is for my solo trips.

Secondly, I am a digital nomad which means I work on my laptop while travelling. These implies certain requirements from my accommodations and duration of stay etc..

Thirdly, I am a strict Indian vegetarian, which again puts constraints on my food habits.

3 major travel costs : Transport, Stay and Food

I consider these three major cost segments when planning my trip and it’s budget. And try to keep these 3 costs as low as possible but also not compromising too much on the quality of the trip.

There is no point if the trip is low cost, but I have to struggle through the daily food, stay and other basic needs. That’s what I feel. So, I always ensure I am happy with my stay and food choices. Even if that means I spend a little extra sometimes.

#1 International trips to developed countries

Ball park budget is 1 to 1.5 lakhs for 1 month. Plus some buffer amount in case of medical expenses or other unplanned spend.

What helps me keep my costs low is the longer duration of my trips. I typically travel for 1 to 2 months. I don’t go for short trips. So the costs tend to even out and monthly cost comes out roughly at 1 lakh or a little more.

Roughly,

Flight tickets: 20k INR return for Taiwan, Australia, Thailand except Europe where my tickets were 18k INR one-way.

Stay costs: 1500 INR per day is the preferred upper limit. Usually, 800-1000 INR costs. Sometimes I may splurge.

Food costs: 1500 INR daily maximum. Usually, I spend much less because I have kitchen access so I cook. And it comes to be much cheaper. This budget includes supermarket shopping for chocolates, soft drinks and whatever else.

Please see my video for all the dope.

Will try to create separate content around each of these cost segments so I can share my tips at getting good deals in less cost.

#2 Domestic Travel Within India – Short Stays

Here’s my video on the travel budget for domestic trips within India. There is a significant difference in cost depending on our duration of stay at each place.

TLDR:

• 60-70k INR /month for short stays and moving from one place to other
• 30-40k INR /month for longer stays in one place

Reason for this cost is largely the accommodation. Getting a nice place with working kitchen and a somewhat ergonomic space to work on my laptop means a service apartment style. It costs. Almost at par with European rates.

The way to reduce rates is staying longer in one place to avail of monthly (sometimes weekly discounts). And then there is a third option of taking a place for seriously long term (a few months or even years) which makes it a lot cheaper.

Will put up another video about reducing the costs by staying longer in one place.

Any more questions regarding my travel budget? Ask away.

And yes,

how do I earn and find work that lets me travel?

Fairly detailed blog post here: http://travel.priyankawriting.com/2018/03/work-travel-balance-how-i-fund-my-travels.html

And, if you have any other travel questions for me, put a comment here or message me on Instagram – @priyankawriting. 🙂