Planning trip of my life is not easy. Don't take me wrong, I love reading about different places, things to see and do there. I can (and do) spend hours searching through web pages of tour guides, accommodations, and local attractions. But then the reality sets in. And the reality comes in two parts - time and money.
Money is the obvious one. You have to have a budget when planning 1-year long trip. Financially there are three separate issues. The number one is the actual costs of the trip. The number two is the management of finance from the top of the mount in Eastern Africa. And last, but not least, the management of the possessions and debts that I have accumulated over the years, which are not invited to go on the trip with me.
My approach to calculating the budget is that - I should not spend more than I would spend living at home. My justification of this is that although there will be expenses that I normally would not encounter in Canada, the actual costs of living is much less in most of the countries I am planning to visit. Plus some of the expenses that I have now, I will not have on the road.
For example, in Thailand it is reasonable to rent a NICE bungalow on a beach for 25-30$ and have a dinner with drinks for under 5$. It is also possible to rent a tree house for 2.50$/night, but I wouldn't go there, if I were you. Overall, roof + food costs in Thailand is about 70% of that in Canada. As for transportation, the money that I spend on my car, gas, insurance, and parking in a year, will cover my flights and bus fairs easily. For sure though, I would need to have an emergency fund... just in case. How to manage finances while away? Likely, in these days access to Internet allows to do most of the banking and bills payments on line. The tourists' traps, like Mexico and Thailand, definitely easier. But in some other places that I want to go to, it may not be that easy or cheap. For information on Africa's Internet issues see this website - http://www.suvabay.com/ So Internet banking, VISA payments, and transfers may not be possible from anywhere. Therefore, you need to plan these things way in advance. Access to banking machines and cash withdrawals is very convenient, but do not assume that your bank will allow you to do it from anywhere. I remember being left in London without any cash because my card would not work in any of the ITMs there. That was not fun. On the other hand, in Moscow, I had no problems at all - cash is easily accessible in american dollars, euros, or rubbles. No need for exchange parlors. In the end, I would need to research each country separately if I want to avoid being forced in participating in a harvest of new season puppies crop somewhere in the jungles of Vietnam or eating mangoes off the trees on Goa. Although both, I am sure, will make a memorable experience.
Now... what to do with all these things that I have now? I am going to sell my car and the money that I'll get for it will go towards the airfares. The furniture and all the jazz would either need to go to a storage or be sold. I kinda leaning toward the storing my furniture because I would need to store my personal possessions anyway. 'Cause I would not dare to throw my shoes out. With this comes many questions - how much would it cost, how much space do I need? For an estimation of the space requirements I found this very helpful description here . As for the cost, I figured about 2,000$/year. I would need to look little closer into it once the dates for my trip are set. Another major financial question is should I wait 'till I payed off my HUGE loan or should I just go and take up extra expenses of interests payments for one more year. That is a though one. If I decide to wait, it may postpone my trip for 1-2 years... But the timing and scheduling issues are coming up in the next post.
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