Travel Affordability

Two freelance film crew members (married to each other)

 attempt to explore Southeast Asia (SEA) in "100 Days" 

on a shoestring budget.

Day 1: Vicky and Mike's last stateside selfie from LAX

We call ourselves "Checkpoint Chanislawski." It's a mash-up of our surnames: Chan and Stanislawski. One year of planning and saving is how we turned a dream into reality. One year that also cost us twelve months of rent in Los Angeles, bills, student loans, more bills, five round trip flights to our hometown of Chicago, nights out with friends, and probably a cumulative four months of unemployment between the both of us. So how do we AFFORD to travel this magnificent Earth? Here’s how WE did it:

SET A DATE

Day 9: Sunlight breaks through some clouds 

over Wat Pho in Bangkok, Thailand

Just like planning for a wedding, we chose a date in the near future that would serve as a deadline for setting aside funding. From our previous backpacking excursion through Europe in 2014, we could reasonably predict that it would take us one year to save up for SEA, especially since the cost of living is considerably cheaper there.

LIMIT CONSUMPTION
As Americans, we’ve been indoctrinated from birth to buy, buy, buy. Starbucks every day. A bigger TV. The newest iPhone. The latest fashion. Instead, we brew our coffee at home. Most of our furniture is bought second or even third hand off of Craigslist. We rarely update our wardrobe, but when we do, we turn to thrift stores. Thankfully, the L.A. scene provides us with a quick turnaround rate on name brand digs for dirt cheap.

BUY ON A TUESDAY, FLY ON A TUESDAY
(or sometimes Wednesday)
From reading travel blogs and being avid travelers, we’ve noticed that airfare tends to be cheaper on Tuesdays. This makes sense because most 9-5ers only have the luxury of taking off Fridays or Mondays to travel rather than mid-week, thus driving up prices on those days. Also, the prime time to buy is 5-8 weeks before the desired departure date. This is what I call “The Golden Period.” It’s the brief window of lower fares offered in between purchases made by the overly-prepared vacationers and the last-minute seat fillers.

Day 10: Silhouette of the majestic Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia

WATCH IT GROW
Our savings account dedicated to our trip, that is. Like a home-grown tomato plant, we nurtured our savings account to fruition. Instead of water and sunlight, though, we used portions of our paycheck. Sometimes we could only transfer $10, other times we were able to throw in hundreds. But the more we invested, the more worldly experiences we could envision. And so we watched our savings grow.


FOREGO LUXURIES WHILE TRAVELING

Day 39: Abseiling next to a roaring waterfall in
  Da Lat, Vietnam

We budget for hostels, street food vendors, and ground transportation. Our goal is to average $30/day/person for our entire trip. A low-key day of walking around, hanging out at public parks, and people watching can help off-set an expensive day of canyoning through forests and waterfalls.

 Accommodations: A hostel bed or budget hotel room can be found for $5-$10 USD/night, even with A/C (for my husband who is covered in fur, it’s necessary in SEA). We occasionally find deals on Agoda.com for accommodations that include a complimentary breakfast.

Food: A hearty meal at a food stall on the street corner can cost $1-$2. Beer can be found for 50 cents in some areas!

Transportation: We tolerated a thirteen hour coach bus ride from Bangkok to Phnom Penh for $9 each, whereas a one-way/one hour flight costs roughly $60/person. As with many things in life, it’s either time or money. Our $49/person open tour “hop-on-hop-off” sleeper bus through Vietnam has proven to be most rewarding. That’s quite a deal for exploring seven cities in one month across the expanse of over one thousand miles.

 

Day 32: A steaming bowl of Vietnamese pho noodle soup
warms the soul!

We booked our Vietnam open tour bus
through TM Camel. We'll hopefully post
 a complete guide to surviving a sleeper
bus before the end of our trip.

LET'S BE HONEST
Through a series of fortunate events and life choices, we can afford to travel because we have fewer financial responsibilities than others and an extremely flexible work schedule. We don’t have dependents or children. We rent, so we don’t pay a mortgage. We are relatively healthy people. But we’ve earned every penny and we live modestly. Some travel articles will boast that anyone can travel the world. Traveling is not for everyone and not everyone can afford to travel. However, by sharing our experience, we hope to encourage the daydreamers to wake up and see that world exploration is possible.

Day 44: Maybe the grass (or rice) is greener on the other side?
Luscious rice paddy fields in Hoi An, Vietnam

And now we leave you with ten more tips that we actually follow...

PRACTICAL POINTERS FOR SAVING MONEY
At home or abroad

1. Sublet your apartment or rent out your house.
2. Suspend your cell phone plan while traveling. Free WiFi can be found most anywhere.
3. Share a meal with your partner/friend when eating out. It's a diet plan too!
4. Get a reusable water bottle with a filter and stop buying plastic water bottles.
5. Do your research. Spending extra time comparing costs can save hundreds.
6. If you like going to the movies, opt for a matinee screening for half the price of a normal ticket.
7. Check up on current exchange rates before you enter a different country. Knowing the value of things can defend you from scam artists.
8. Carpool. It's a great excuse to sing-along together to your favorite guilty pleasure pop songs.
9. If there is something expensive you want to have, whine about wanting it for the next six months. If you still want it, get it. Or don't get it, save the money, and whine for another several months.
10. Volunteer to do something that's enjoyable to you. It's a free activity that also gives back. Play with kittens at a no-kill shelter for four hours? Don't mind if I do!