“Travel is never a matter of money, but of courage.” — Paulo Coelho

This quote from Paulo Coelho is never so true at this present time. Will we have the courage to travel again safely? How will travel look next year or 10 years from now? When Paulo Coehlo wrote this, he certainly did not have a pandemic in mind.

Seeing none of us has been able to travel this year, have you created a travel budget for next year? When you look at it, next year’s travel could be one of the biggest travel experiences you may have, but only if the borders are open and we can travel safely again.

By saving this year your travel budget could be equal to two years of travel.

Travel Discounts

We are finding that travel companies are trying to recoup some of their huge losses by offering discounts on travel that can be booked in the future. These discounts, especially if they are for bucket list items, are very attractive.

Just ensure that there are no cancellation fees attached and that a change in dates is possible when booking. We would recommend chatting with the company and checking their Covid policies before making your booking.

A top travel tip is to take out travel insurance when you book. Do your research on travel insurance companies and whether they cover for pandemics or not.

We have all been in lockdown where we live around the world. Our daily living costs, compared to pre Covid, have reduced – have yours?

How Can You Save Money?

We have been working on our travel budget for next year, and we will share with you how we are saving money for our next big adventure.

Daily Travel Expenses

Our daily travel expenses have been reduced since lockdown. We have made savings on public transport and on petrol costs. A good tip is to contact your car insurance company and advise them that you are driving less and that you would like to reduce your car insurance.

Theatre and Other Events

We have saved $$ by not going to the cinema, theatre, concerts, and other events.

Gym Membership

Our local gym froze our memberships for three months and these costs were added to our budget.

Restaurants

A huge boost to our travel budget is our ‘dining out’ costs. We looked at last year’s expenditure and added that to our travel budget.

Beauty Costs

Look at your hairdressing and beauty costs. Since the lockdown, many people have learned to cut their own hair. And we no longer visit beauty salons as we used to.

Travel Apparel

If you update your travel wardrobe each year, you can make savings here as well.

Two Years Sum Up to One

Add your planned travel costs for 2020, i.e., flights, hotels, tours, and insurance to next year’s budget. You will likely end up with twice the amount to enjoy in 2021.

Cast Leftovers

Do you have any extra cash left over at the end of the month? Consider putting this towards your travel budget.

Lots of Unknowns, but We’ll Be Prepared

We can’t make a decision yet as to where we will be able to travel to in 2021.

If we can’t travel internationally, we are definitely looking at ticking off one of our top Australian bucket list items. This could be visiting Uluru in the Northern Territory, the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, or the Kimberley’s in Western Australia – and we are going to do it in style.

We will treat ourselves as we have made the sacrifices this year and we will have a healthy budget by being diligent with our savings.

We are feeling positive and inspired by the excitement of where we will travel to next.

Where will you travel to when it’s again safe to do so? Are you budgeting for your future travel plans? What tips do you have that are helping you save more for travel? Please share with our community!