Money. It doesn't make the world go round, but you need it if you want to go around the world. My number one question I get asked in relation to traveling, is ALWAYS "how much money do I need?". The simple answer is as much as possible, but in all honesty, a bit of planning is needed when working out your budget for a big trip. SEA is without a doubt the best place for a novice traveller to first dip their toes into backpacking life, it's fun, it's easy to get around and it's cheap! As a solo backpacker on a mid-range budget, you can expect to spend anywhere from between €25-€50 a day, which includes accommodation, two meals, day to day small expenses and a couple of beers. Some days you'll spend over that, if you're maybe going on a big excursion or spending the day traveling, but more often than not, you'll actually spend well below your daily budget, so it should all balance out regardless. That being said you can still travel almost anywhere in SEA and tailor it to your desired budget.
Below is a rough estimate of prices, from my own experience as a mid-range, solo backpacker, staying in private rooms, eating cheap meals and drinking as much as I want (or can haha).
Thailand:
Currency: Baht (Currently 36 Baht to 1 euro)
Average Daily Spend: €35-50 Accommodation: €10-20
Meal: €2-5
Beer: €1-2
Cambodia:
Currency: Duel currency of Riel (currently 4,500 to 1 euro) and the United States Dollar (currently 1.15 to 1 euro)
Average Daily Spend: €25-35
Accommodation: €8-15
Meal: €2-5
Beer: €0.50-1.50
Vietnam:
Currency: Dong (currently 26,500 to 1 euro)
Average Daily Spend: €25-35
Accommodation: €8-15
Meal: €2-5
Beer: €0.50-1.50
Bali:
Currency: Rupiah (currently 16,000 to 1 euro)
Average Daily Spend: €40-€55
Accommodation: €10-20
Meal: €5-10
Beer: €2-3.50
The Philippines:
Currency: Peso (currently 59 to 1 euro)
Average Daily Spend: €35-45
Accommodation: €7-15
Meal: €5-10
Beer: €1-2
HOW TO FIGURE OUT YOUR BUDGET:
So before you can begin saving you need to figure out roughly how much money you'll need for your trip. As a rule of thumb my advice is always work out your spending money by multiplying your estimated daily budget by the number of days you are planning on traveling for. For example, if you plan on going to Thailand for 4 weeks and expect to spend 50 euro daily, you'll need €1,400. (28x50 = 1,400)
*However, depending on what 'type' of experience you're after that figure can vary dramatically, meaning a budget backpacker is going to have a totally different spend to luxury honeymooners.
It's also worth noting, your budget can vary from country to country, for example, Vietnam and Cambodia are considerably cheaper than say,Thailand, Bali(Indonesia) and some parts of The Philippines, so try to budget from place to place instead of your trip on a whole. I always try restrict my budget in the cheaper countries to keep back extra money for the more expensive locations.
FIVE MONEY SAVING TIPS:
As someone who has spent far too many adventures, blowing money, losing money and stupidly misspending money (once booked the same flight twice) I have FINALLY learnt a few useful tips on how to manage money more effectively...
1. Pre-booking ONLY essential flights: So this might seem obvious, but pre-booking flights can definitely save you money and help you not to dip into your spending money too much, however pre-book only the expensive long haul flights and maybe the flights you know you'll 100% be taking. All the smaller internal ones leave till you get there. I've lost too much money on flights I pre-booked and ended up not being able or not wanting to take. The prices for flights in and around Asia rarely fluctuate no matter how far in advance, or how close you book to the time you fly. Give yourself the freedom to change you're plans if you want to and not lose money on planes you're not even on.
2. Multi-City Flights: This is something I use every trip without fail. Learning how to use the 'multi-city' option when booking flights can potentially save you cash. Its basically booking flights individually instead of all together... stay with me for the next bit....think of booking to go from A to C, but instead you book from A to B and then, B to C. On average I've found the flights to work out cheaper, you still get to where you need to go, it just might take a little longer.
*I always use skyscanner.com to book flights but I also check directly on the airlines websites to compare prices
3. Transfer Wise: Now this is something introduced to me, that I think is potentially the best money saving tool I've discovered so far. Its a company designed with travellers in mind, with useful saving features, easy transferring options and extremely low rates. You sign up for a borderless account where you can select different countries to open an account in that currency, you can then send money between these accounts at the current exchange rate and then you're free to access that money with only a minimal transfer fee, thus eliminating huge charges you get with your local bank (using you're regular AIB card, can set you back about 15 euro for a single transaction... no thank you) so basically you sign up for their service, set up a bank account, they send you a debit card and you're free to use it without fear of extortionate charges. Capice? lovely.
*transferwise.com
4. Booking Codes: Whats better than getting money back? getting money back for you AND the person you're travelling with too. All made possible by booking codes... What are these codes? they're the pop up window that most people completely ignore when you first go onto the booking.com site. They typically say something like "refer a friend and get 15 euro back each!", ring a bell? Yeah those things are big money savers and they actually work. You send a link to a friend, they book through that link and you both get 15 euro back into your account within a few weeks. Everyone's happy!
5. Research: Ok so this might not seem like a direct way to save money but it does ultimately determine how much money you'll spend. If you have, even a rough idea, of where you're going, the name of some of the airports you'll be traveling through, the name of alternate airports and where places are situated on a map, it means you can logistically plan you're route so you don't end up going back and forth across a country cos you have no idea where anything is. I've seen it happen and I've done it myself. Its very annoying and a waste of money. So watch travel vlogs on youtube, look different places up and for god sake, look at a damn map.
The hardest part of an adventure is making the money to fund it, there is no quick fix and the truth is, if you want something bad enough then you'll have to work your ass off to do it . I know its difficult to comprehend, but a little amount of money at home goes a long way in Asia, So make sacrifices, work hard and I promise it'll all be worth it.
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