I get asked quiet a lot about I fund my travels. The simple answer is: my student loan. But to be honest there’s more to it than that! There’s a lot of sacrifices to make and sometimes it can be hard to save the money, but if you’re serious about seeing the world, it’s all worth it!!

1. Don’t waste your money.

   If you are serious about wanting to travel more, you need money. So before you buy anything, think to yourself, do I really need this? Do you really need that designer coat? Do you really need a chinese take away every Saturday? Do you need to go out every  weekend? As soon as I stopped going out every weekend, buying take-outs and going shopping every week, I started to realise how much money I wasted on stuff I don’t actually need. Yes, you like to go out with your mates every week, but do you really need to spend £50 a night? Enjoy yourself, just don’t throw money down the drain while doing it.

2. Get a job.

   This is an obvious one. To travel you need money. To earn money, you need a job. Yes, you may have a student loan (which realllyyyy helps) but that isn’t a steady income. My student loan helps me A LOT with covering my rent and all the boring stuff, so that means all the money I earn can go on travelling.  A job may take up your time, but if you want to travel 5 times a year like me, you have to make sacrifices! I have juggled three jobs to fund a road trip around America and juggled two jobs in the middle of my studies so I could fund island hopping around Croatia and have money left over for Budapest.  It was hard work but it was sooo worth it!!

3. Travel on a budget

   Students don’t normally have a large budget, so remember that before you say ‘well I’m holiday, I can treat myself.’ Enjoy your holiday at all means, but think of the bigger picture, if you spend all your money on one holiday, how long will it take for you to be able to afford to travel again? I have wrote a few tips for travelling on a budget before and also my favourite travelling apps to help save money too.

4. Save, save, save.

   All the money you get for Christmas, your birthday, passing exams etc, save it! Use it to travel to destination on your wish list that you have been longing to go to for years. Don’t splurge on an expensive bottle of vodka or a new handbag that, lets face, you don’t actually need.

5. Look at the bigger picture

   Before buying anything I always say to myself ‘I could go to Amsterdam and back with this amount of money’ or ‘I could stay in a hostel for 3 nights instead of buying these jeans’.  This puts everything is perspective. Yes, they may be a rreaally nice pair of jeans, but how much more fun would a night in Budapest be?

And remember guys: Work Save Travel Repeat.

Thanks for reading!
Peace out, my wanderers!

Lisa♥