When I officially assumed the role of wife in our marriage, travel planning was one of the tasks I assigned to myself, with the hubby’s consent, of course. Actually, I’m the one looking into every single thing that involves money in our household. Traveling requires a certain amount of money, and so I have always been the one allotting a budget for it. This set up has been working out just fine for us, so far.
Ever since our wedding in 2012, our travels have been confined within the country. We have not traveled abroad as a married couple yet. (When we were still bf-gf, we got to travel to Singapore and Malaysia together.) Of course, we have plans to see more foreign countries in the future. One of our dream destinations is Japan. We have some friends based there and they’re more than willing to accommodate us during our stay there. I even have a cousin who has been working and living there with her family since the early 2000s and she’s long been bugging me to come over. Right now, we’re still saving up money for it and we don’t have any concrete plans yet.
posing by the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur
Traveling on a budget, especially a small one, entails careful planning. When setting up a decent budget for a travel, I say being realistic beats being ideal. You have to figure out how much you can afford to spend for your trip. If possible, do not travel using borrowed money. Travel now, pay later is a big no-no especially if you are working to achieve financial freedom.
With a big amount of money, anything, and I mean every fun activity there is, can be added to the itinerary (provided there’s also enough time to do all of them!). On the other hand, with a limited amount of money, some activities may be omitted from the list. Hence, a thorough research on the destination is a must to come up with a workable and enjoyable itinerary. You know you don’t want to get too exhausted or too overwhelmed during your trip.
souvenir pic at Universal Studios, Singapore
Checking out and comparing various flight and hotel prices online is also another important part of travel planning on a budget. Sites like Traveloka allow you to do just that and more. You could book a hotel or check available flights through them with just a few clicks of the mouse. I’m all for convenience and choices when it comes to these things. It makes travel planning, and the act of traveling itself, more hassle-free and fun.
Have you been traveling lately? Any travel planning tips you could share with me?
May you choose happiness always,
Ang galing ng planning. My wife does the planning in our family then she “tells” me what the budget required is. Then I tell her how long I need to save up to come up with the budget. Hehe. Perfect match because we both agree na dapat prepaid ang vacation.
http://thesimplelivingpinoy.weebly.com/
Good husbands listen to their wives when it comes to travel planning (budget and all), hehe. Yes, prepaid dapat para wala ng problema after! 🙂
Agree with all you said, sis, especially with “travel now, pay later a big no-no”. When I do decide to travel, I always make sure that I have enough budget to be saved up until travel time. I gave up travel plans in the past (yes, dinagdagan ko yaman ni Gokongwei ng ilang beses na) just because I had to re-prioritize things and re-alot travel budget to something more important. But that’s fine as long as I did not incur debt just to travel.
When I’m the one in charge of itineraries, I include how to get from point a to point b to save time. Stressful kasi yung maghahanap ka at magtuturuan pa kung sino magtatanong hahaha. Plus, I list down all possible expenses so that we have an idea how much the whole trip will cost.
My travel buddies are mostly the backpacker type so it’s easier to control spending because you are all aligned that this is a tipid trip and you’ll only splurge if it is worth splurging for hehe.
Iwas sakit ng ulo, diba? Ako rin, twice na kaming umurong sa travel pero conflict of sched naman ang dahilan. Yung isa, di narefund ang ticket (huhu), yung isa pa nabawi naman yung deposit namin sa van na service dapat namin. Hehe. Splurge when it’s worth splurging for, I agree with you on this! 🙂
Ako naman yung hindi magaling magplano. hehe. Except for our Naga City (our hometown) trips, we seldom travel these days. Medyo takot akong i-travel si Baby C. Besides, we do not have enough funds for it. Kung may sobrang pera naman, I prefer to go to Naga City to visit my parents.
Tamang plano lang ako, sis. At pumapalpak din. Hehe. Importante yang funds talaga. Mas marami kasing pwedeng paggamitan sa pera ngayon kesa travel. 🙂