We’re still dreaming of taking our masks off in the wild. All while looking forward to a world with no restrictions, so we can realize our greatest travel dreams.

Unfortunately, it’s taking a tad bit longer than we’d like, yes?

So what can we do right now to work on our travel dreams? Apart from vicariously traveling through the books written by envied wanderers?

You could SAVE FOR YOUR NEXT TRIP!

And make sure there’s nothing stopping you from traveling to your heart’s content when we finally triumph over the disease.

Whether you plan to free solo or do it with your friends or fam, you need to start making your individual budget to go execute your wildest travel dreams.

So let’s get our budgeting hats out, and keep our world map ready to start building our travel funds!

1. Choose your vacation destination

We all want to go around the world in 80 days, but unfortunately, we’d need tons of money to do that. And anyway, what’s the fun if you can’t take your time to fully experience each place you travel to, like a true local?

So when you dream of your next vacation, start by choosing a place, and then save accordingly.

Depending on whether it’s within the country or abroad, take a world map and mark the place you want to visit with a big diagrammatic heart. Or whatever you fancy!

This will keep you focused on your goal (especially when you’re working from home for a job you hate.)

2. How much will it cost?

Now that you have the place in mind, do your research. How much is the flight going to cost?

Next step: research about cost of living, food, etc, along with hunting for the best travel deals.

Even though the rates might be affected by the pandemic right now, you can always head to blogs and resources of the pandemic past, to put an estimated cost against your dream vacation. To further optimize your travel budget, consider the advantages of tax-free shopping for tourists. This can greatly reduce the cost of souvenirs and other purchases you make abroad, allowing you to allocate more of your funds towards experiencing local culture and attractions.

However, you don’t have to fix the exact budget now. This is just to know how much you would approximately need.

3. How far can you cheap out?

Now there are two types of wanderers, so you have got to pick your squad.

One is the tribe of luxury lovers, influenced by influencers, doing it for the ‘gram. If you relate to this, you’d want to visit one destination that you can think about for the rest of the year – with #tbt filling your social media handles.

And the other is the type of people who would do anything to make it as cheap as they can, so they can move around like nomads till their feet are tired, and their hearts satiated.

Once you’ve picked the tribe you relate to, plan your budget accordingly.

If you relate to the former kind, find yourself travel deals that will help you travel luxuriously without going broke.

And if you’re the latter kind, head on to travel forums to figure out the possible frugality of cheap travel – think travel deals, couch surfing, au pair, etc.

4. Netflix and chill or travel and thrill?

Another ‘choose what kind of person you are’ game, think about how much you spend on subscriptions like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.

Now think about how much that would add to your travel fund? It’s simply a matter of choices!

While not cutting down drastically, all you have to do is let go of your subscriptions. You will still have Youtube, and netizens can surely hack their way around the internet when it comes to entertainment.

You could also ask your friends and family for their passwords when you really NEED to watch something!

5. Earn more money for your vacation fund

… And put it all into your travel fund.

In this work from the home era, there might be plenty of online jobs (stay aware of scams though) and earn a little bit on the side.

Don’t worry about giving more of your free time to work. Think about the bigger picture and it’ll all be worth it!

Good luck and happy travel dreams to ya!