In the process of working hard to save money, Daniel and I also began to gain a clearer understanding of where we were spending it. It soon became apparent that it was time to focus on how we could spend less. Through our new app – Dollarbird, we were able to learn the scary truth of exactly how our monthly expenditure was divided and distributed. Suffice it to say, we are hoping to spend a lot less when traveling.
Here I lie in my bed, waking from a siesta during the astonishing high temps of a freakishly hot Portland summer, doing my best to recover from a party hangover.
Yesterday marked the formal occasion of saying “good-bye” to many beloved friends. Weeks ago, Lisa and Tim, our dear neighbors who have become true friends, offered to host a send off for us. They had special memories of their own good-bye party in New York, and wanted to create a similar celebration for us. Recognizing the extra hassle involved with planning any party, and the chaotic state of our home in these last few weeks of packing up, they handled all the invites, and provided their large backyard as the perfect space for a big group of adults and children. It is a huge undertaking to invite that many people to your home, and I watched them slave away in their garden for long days before our party, weeding, mowing, trimming and power washing. The day of, temperatures soared to 100 degrees! Our party was a potluck, where people could drop-by anytime between 2 – 8 PM. Those early arrivers certainly suffered the worst of the heat, as we all clustered under the shade of umbrellas, while our wise children frolicked in the kiddie pool.
Once you have figured out what a potential around-the-world trip would cost, including airfare, day-to-day expenses, ongoing bills, and how much cash you want to come home to, you will then have calculate a hard number to target for savings. How much money do we need to save to reach our estimated total? How much are we really able to sock away each month? How many months do we anticipate we will need to save before we reach our goal?
When I first started blogging for real, back in 2006, my website was titled “Quality of Light“. I mainly wrote about being a mother and a wife, and all of the new experiences I was having living in Brooklyn, New York. As soon as my second was born, I lost the time and energy to keep up my writing. It wasn’t until planning this next big adventure, many years later, that I became inspired to share again. This new blog will not only be about my feelings, impressions and experiences, but about our whole family. Hopefully I can persuade Dan to write the occasional entry and rope in Stella and Gabriel to share a reflection or two!
Arguably the most difficult part of planning a lengthy trip around the globe is saving enough money. This leads to the next obvious question – how MUCH money? Despite the experience that Dan and I have had with international long-term travel, budgeting for a family of four on the road is completely new to us. We want to be realistic about the day to day expenses, ideally erring on the side of saving too much money vs. not enough.
In the effort to come up with a reasonable financial plan, we have been combing the web for information about the average daily expenditure in the countries we are hoping to visit. This research has been a real eye opener. I will try to be as upfront about the true cost of this trip for our family as possible, and intend to log what we spend on the road on our blog. It will be interesting to see if our calculations meet up!
What type of ticket do you buy?
Daniel and I are travel counselors. We have both been working in the industry for over 17 years. We also specialize in multi-stop, multi-continent airfare.
Although planning an itinerary, and booking flights is inherently complicated and does involve a lot of research to find the best deals, we understand how the system works, and thus have an advantage in this department.
The heated question is always what type of ticket do you buy? – a traditional around-the-world ticket as offered by the airlines, some form of multi-stop flight package, or plan as you go, buying one-way and round trip tickets as needed.