5 Ways to Save for Your Gap Year Travel

by Cheryl
(London)

If you have had enough of the daily 9-5 (more like 9-6:30pm these days!), do not fancy forking out for the hiked up tuition fees or have always dreamed of spending some time abroad, gap year travel might just be the answer. You will certainly need to have some money saved up before you go but there are a number of ways you can make your travel money last longer.

Photo Credit: Oh-Barcelona.com - Flickr

Here are 5 tips for budget-conscious travellers…

Think about where you want to go. If you want to make your currency work hard for you, some countries will be cheaper than others. Flights to South America or South East Asia might initially seem expensive but once you are there, careful travellers can survive on about $26 a day which includes accommodation.

In the past, Western Europe has been costlier than Eastern Europe. But a number of up and coming destinations such as Croatia, have been cashing in on their popularity as a music festival and beach break destination. Dubrovnik hostels and cheap hotels will set you back about €24 per person per night as opposed to Kiev where a dorm room can cost as little as €8 per night.

Check out Dubrovnik hostels

Try a hostel

Whether you are travelling solo or on a tight budget, hostels are cheap and sociable places to stay. They attract budget travellers so staff are always clued up on affordable things to do. Guests tend to congregate in the communal areas where you can share travel experiences or plan a night out together. Most hostels provide self-catering facilities so you can forget about paying to eat out three times a day. Facilities vary from place to place but key things to look out for include Wi-Fi access or internet kiosks, free breakfast, lockers, no curfew and guest kitchens.

Work and play

If you plan to pick up some work en route, you won’t need to save up quite so much. The Australian dollar is very strong at the moment and eating out, accommodation and activities seem dauntingly expensive. But as soon as you start earning the Australian dollar, you won’t notice your savings depleting.

The country offers a great working holiday visa which allows most 18-30 year olds the opportunity to visit for up to one year and seek employment. Fruit picking and bar work are easy to come by and there are hundreds of websites advertising vacancies. There are often job noticeboards in hostels too.

Free things to do

Don’t miss out on top activities that you might have travelled half way around the world to experience: hand gliding in Rio de Janeiro, a tour of the Great Barrier Reef, scaling the Eiffel Tower are just some of the things that might be on your bucket list. But try to mix expensive activities with free events.

A surprising number of museums and galleries offer free admission including MoMa in New York City on Friday afternoons, and the British Museum in London. There is a great atmosphere at local food markets and you can pick up tasty fresh ingredients for a picnic on the beach or in a park.

Tricks with transport

You are probably in no hurry to get anywhere so take things slow: local stopping trains are usually cheaper than fast InterCity services in Europe. You can save paying for a few nights in a hotel if you travel overnight on sleeper trains. Why not see if you can pick up a secondhand bike that you can resell on your departure. This might save on daily travel on tubes or buses, is eco-friendly and a healthy way to get from a to b.

This article was written by Madeleine who works for HostelBookers.