STEP 1 - Deciding where to Go.
Now some people may say you need to pick a budget first, but I do not. My budget completely depends on where I'm going and for how long I'm going. Example, if I'm going to NYC for a week I'm going to need way more money than going to Myrtle Beach for a week.
My main suggestion is you need to make a list. I'm all about lists. Make a list and prioritize what places are your "I HAVE TO SEE BEFORE I DIE" places.
In 2014, My top priority of places would have been:
1. Paris
2. London
3. Rome
4. Ireland
5. Munich/Neuschwanstein Castle
Which is why my first tour was Amsterdam, Paris, and London and my second tour I went to Scotland, London, and Ireland.
Now my priorities have changed:
1. Angkor Wat
2. Egyptian Pyramids
3. Machu Picchu
4. Galapagos Islands
5. Greece
6. Scandinavia
So deciding where to go is really the first thing you must do.
STEP 2 - PICK YOUR LENGTH OF TRIP
Before you make a budget, you need to decide how long that you can actually spend in the location. Now some people will say that it depends on how much money it will cost. I tend to plan out a trip for as long as I can, then if I need to cut down on days due to budgetary concerns I will. But to me, it's better to plan out an entire trip for the maximum length to see how much it will cost, then try to budget day by day.
STEP 3 - DECIDING WHAT TO SEE/DO IN THAT PLACE
Still no budget yet! You gotta now come up with a list of things that you wanna see in that place or places you've picked. Once you have picked out a list of the things you definitely wanna see, you can decide how long you need to spend in each location.
Personally, I use travel guides such as Lonely Planet as my first resource. Then I use the internet and other travel bloggers. They tend to know the best places and some have little-known areas that are wonderful :)
Let's use my trip to Europe in 2016 as an example. I knew that I had 4 extra days before my tour of Spain, France and Italy started as well as another week the tour until I had to be in Disneyland Paris for my race series. I'm only going to use the 4 days before for this example.
I had originally planned to go to Portugal, Gibraltar and Seville Spain for those 4 beginning days. But the more I thought about it, the more I decided I wasn't as excited about those places as I should have been. I started thinking about where I would go if money wasn't an option.
Budapest, Krakow, Berlin and Frankfurt became the plan.
I made a list of what I wanted to see in each location and if it was feasible to do in a day, turns out its definitely was and then some.
STEP 4 - BUDGETING
NOW YOU CAN BUDGET! This is how I do it!
1. Figure out how to get from location to location (example if you are going to see multiple cities how will you get there, etc.) -- This goes into your budget, whether its gas, renting a car or getting a train or bus ticket.
2. Tours/Admission Fees - You've already decided what to do in step 3! Now you can add up the money!!!
3. Food - allot a certain amount for each day! be reasonable. If you know that one day you're going to go big and eat somewhere fancy and expensive. Put that on the list! I normally allow 100 dollars a day for food to be safe. Some days I don't even hit 40 dollars, some days I hit 130 dollars. Depends on where I am and how hungry I am.
4. Souvenirs - don't think you don't want any because we all know you will. 20 bucks is my usual limit.
Now add in hotel costs and airfare (if applicable) and see what you've come up with.
Too much? Decrease your length by one day and see what happens.
Work on it till it becomes manageable.
I try to pay for everything I can ahead of time. Makes it much easier and I normally refrain from using a credit card as much as possible while on the trip. Cash makes it easier to budget your money :)
And thats it!
Any questions, comments, concerns let me know
HAVE FUN PLANNING :)
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