Before I get to share my experience of all the countries that I visited this summer, I want to answer a question that I was asked many times: How did I afford the trip?
Let’s start at the very beginning. It all happened about a year ago when I decided I want to go on this trip. A trip like this was always in the back of my head, I had thought about it so much. However, I didn't do much planning for it, even though I knew I wanted it. It was towards the end of the fall semester, sometime between November and December, when I was talking to my best friend/roommate about an adventurous trip I've been thinking about taking. I told her how I wanted to visit Europe and explore as much as I possibly could. At the end of our talk, she exclaims: “I’m down for a trip like that!” That’s when I knew that this trip was happening.
We were officially going, but we had no plan! Where do we begin? We immediately started working more hours so that we could save up. We also started looking at the map and planning on which countries we were going to and in what order. We finally narrowed down and “settled” on 14 countries by Christmas time. From there, we started looking for advice online. Google knows everything, right? We read stories about people who visited or even studied abroad. We read books, blogs, magazines, etc. We got tips and advice from relatives and friends.
After weeks and weeks of watching tickets to find the best deal possible, we finally booked our one way ticket to Stockholm, Sweden. We found that it was the cheapest to buy tickets in advance, 3-4 months before departing. Also, we found out that the cheapest tickets would be on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Ironically, Sweden was not on our list of countries to visit. However, flying to Sweden was cheap and we found a nonstop flight that perfectly fit our schedule. So of course, we did not mind adding one more country to the list! Now that Sweden was added, we had to completely redo our itinerary. Our plan was to meet every week to talk about the trip and plan some other details out.
In mid-January, we moved into the same bedroom to cut our rent in half and to see if we could survive in the same room with each other for a long time. Traveling with a friend is always fun, but when you’re choosing someone to go with for three months, it’s necessary to make sure you will be compatible, therefore moving into the same room was a good start. So here are the two major points that helped my dream become a reality: working more hours and cutting my expenses in half.
We printed out maps of Europe (fill in the blank type) and calendars. Those were our tools for planning potential routes. We never stopped looking at ticket prices for trains and flights within Europe. We tried to plan our route the cheapest way possible.
Just a heads up, do not fly with Ryan air if you have more than one carry-on! There will be fees that will make your day miserable and your flight more expensive than half the other airlines. Also, Baltic air will charge you extra if you don't check in online and your bag will be 10 euros extra. So if you're flying with Baltic then make sure you pay for a bag and check in online. Try booking your flights through a website such as www.cheapoair.com, www.kayak.com, or www.cheaptickets.com. Those were the only websites we used. Most of the time, you aren't required to pay for a bag when booking if you are using these websites. Baltic air was the only one that charged us.
We started watching the prices of tickets to fly home. After months of debating when and from where to depart, we ended up booking a ticket home from Sweden. Once again, that wasn't the plan. We didn't really want to go to Sweden twice, but the ticket prices flying out of there were absolutely unbeatable. A one way flight from Stockholm to Oakland was $360 and it had one stop of an hour and a half. A one way flight from Stockholm to Los Angeles was $420, and it was nonstop. We spent a few months shopping around for the flights so we didn't book those flight until May.
When May came around I applied for a new credit card. I chose Capital One. It was an easier credit card to get and it had 0% APR for 12 months, as well as no foreign transaction fees. I used my credit card for most of my trip, so I got rewards points as well. The cash I saved was left in my bank account to be able to start paying off the credit card when I was finally back.
Undoubtedly, I did spend more than I was able to save. Obviously I am coming home with a credit card that I won't be able to pay off in one payment. On the other hand, I am coming home with unforgettable memories, countless adventures, and an experience that has made me a different person. I don't regret getting in debt because I know I will pay it off in the next few months. At the end of the day, I feel that life is a repeated cycle of constantly buying something and paying it off until you buy something new, which then you have to pay off. (Unless, of course, you're that 1% of Americans, in which case you wouldn't need to know how to afford a vacation)
That is the story of how I was able to afford a 3 month vacation which totaled 16 countries.
Our hard work of shopping for good deals and having some kind of a plan paid off because my entire trip ended up being under $10,000. According to many, many travelers, that is nearly impossible for such an extensive trip. Our goal was to spend less than 10k, and with no plan and no idea what to expect, we succeeded!
Of course this may not apply to you, but having no set plan helped my trip financially. I had no particular direction of where I wanted to live after my trip, so I ended up selling all of my furniture. It wasn't much, but at least I didn't have to worry about storage fees.
Now I'm back from my trip and still don't know where I will end up. For the next few months or so, Midtown Sacramento will be my home.
As Always,
Stay Classy My Friends. <3
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