Trip Funds

My parents (most vocally my mother) worked very hard to drill one way of thinking into my brain: "Find out what you want to do and do it. Worry about the money last". It's an ideology that many might consider irresponsible, but my grandfather's words: "Money is for spending!" still echo in my head. It is after all only money, and this is a life experience.

So true to family tradition, I have left the costs of my round the world trip to the last minute. It's not that I've been financially irresponsible or anything, in fact, I have roughly $12K in the bank for this gig... I just haven't burdened myself with the numbers until now. And now I know that I don't have enough.

Ballpark costs at this point look like roughly $3700 for plane tickets and $2000 for moving. That's just the trip. If I want somewhere to live in Vancouver, I'll need an additional $1500 or so for rent & damage deposit. That leaves $4800 for room & board for 1.5 months in Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Chech Republic, Switzerland and Italy, then whatever I end up spending cash on in Korea (big thanks to Shawna for putting me up while I'm in town).

I figured that that kind of cash would be fine. I do, after all, get by on $1K/month quite comfortably in Toronto. However, I pay rent and make my own food here, while I'll have to endure the costs of hostel fees and restaurants on the other side of the pond. With hostels in Germany running $60 - $90 CAD /night, that $4800 is going to run out fast.

I'm not going to change anything though. I just have to manage my expenses so the majority goes on my low-interest credit card rather than paying in cash (can you get travellers cheques with a credit card? Should I bother?) I'll pay off what I can when I get to Vancouver, saving just enough for a first month's rent payment and worry about the rest later.

When I moved to Toronto, I racked up a debt of roughly $5700 and paid it off within a year. It looks like I'll be doing something similar for this move as well, so those of you who are reading this from Vancouver, please remember that I'll be as poor as a church mouse for some time after I arrive. This is, a life experience, and what's a few thousand dollars of debt when compared to that?