Get That Travel Money, Baby!

Get That Travel Money, Baby: How I Found the Money for My Dream Trip When I Was Already Broke

You may not be independently wealthy. I’m certainly not. But that doesn’t mean the places you dream about seeing automatically have to stay on your someday list.

I have traveled the world on a limited income, and I didn’t do it because I discovered some magical secret for making money. I planned. I saved. I got creative. Sometimes I took on extra work. Sometimes I had to change the plan completely because life decided it had other ideas.

And sometimes I made mistakes.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that saving for travel shouldn’t be about punishing yourself. You don’t have to give up every little thing that makes you happy, work yourself into the ground, or feel guilty because somebody on the internet thinks you shouldn’t have bought a cup of coffee.

The goal is much simpler than that.

Figure out what you can do with the money, time, energy, and resources you actually have. Then start moving toward the trip you want.

That is exactly what I had to do when I decided I was going to Japan.

FIRST, I HAD TO KNOW WHAT JAPAN WAS GOING TO COST ME

Once I decide where I want to go and approximately when I want to go, I need a number.

Not a perfect number. Travel rarely cooperates enough for that. But I need a realistic estimate of what transportation, lodging, food, activities, and spending money are likely to cost me. Once I have that number, “I want to go to Japan” becomes something much more useful:

I need approximately this much money by this date.

That’s a goal I can work with.

Having a specific savings goal and regularly contributing toward it—even in relatively small amounts—can make saving more manageable. Read, Get Your Money Right Before You Go on Vacation to help to plan the finances for a trip.

For my Japan trip, however, figuring out the budget was a doozy.

The Star Wars Celebration was going to be held in Tokyo, and once I decided I was going, I wanted to experience as much of Japan as I reasonably could. I wasn’t flying all the way across the Pacific to turn around and come home a few days later.

My travel agent, Lynne Padilla, (lpadilla@dvtravelgroup.com) helped me begin putting the trip together. She had been to Japan herself, but she also connected me with Eri Hayakawa, (eri@travelcenter4u.com) a travel agent who was originally from Japan and still visited family there. Eri helped us plan the Japanese adventure I wanted.

My friends and I planned the first 10 days in Tokyo. Eri planned another 10 days that included Hakone, Kyoto, and Osaka.

This wasn’t going to be a cheap little getaway.

I paid an initial 30% deposit and then had approximately six months to pay the remaining 70%. I also needed money for food, events, and all the other expenses that happen once you actually get where you’re going.

I had my number. I had my deadline. I had my plan.

And then life said, “That’s cute.”

THEN MY $7,000 SURPRISE ARRIVED

In mid-January, Western Washington experienced an unusual cold snap. Apparently, some local rodents decided my one-year-old car looked like a lovely place to move in.

I had never dealt with rodents getting into a vehicle before, so when my practically new car began having problems, I certainly wasn’t expecting to discover that rodents had eaten through hoses and caused more than $7,000 in damage.

My insurance covered the repair, but I still had a $1,000 deductible.

Guess where that $1,000 had to come from?

My Japan money.

That hurt.

And that was just the beginning of several frustrating financial setbacks while April—and my trip—kept getting closer.

This is one of the problems with saving for travel when you don’t have a lot of extra money. You can do everything “right” and still have something completely unrelated to travel come along and gobble up part of the money you worked so hard to save.

A car breaks. The refrigerator quits. Your dog needs the veterinarian. Something happens with the house. It all happened to me.

That’s life.

Today, when possible, I like the idea of having at least a little breathing room between travel money and emergency money. That doesn’t mean you need thousands of dollars sitting untouched before you’re “allowed” to take a vacation. If you’re living on a limited income, that might not even be realistic.

But even a small emergency cushion can help keep one unexpected expense from completely wiping out another savings goal.

My $1,000 deductible taught me that lesson the hard way.

But I still wanted to go to Japan. So I needed another solution.

SOMETIMES SAVING ISN’T ENOUGH—I HAD TO MAKE MORE

I felt the pressure, but I also got creative.

Dogs have always been one of my great loves, and I had already been running my dog-sitting business from my home for 14 years. I also groomed some of my own dogs and a couple belonging to clients.

One of my clients graciously bought me a grooming table.

And I thought, Wait a minute. I know how to do this.

So I started doing some dog grooming on the side.

I told my existing dog-sitting clients that I was available for grooming, advertised through neighborhood Facebook pages, and started bringing in additional money.

Then I looked for other things I could do.

I began deep-cleaning houses, particularly for realtors who needed homes cleaned before showings.

Before I started doing those things, I was also Door Dashing almost every day.

None of this was glamorous.

I didn’t start some fabulous online company that made me $10,000 while I slept. I looked at the skills I already had and asked myself a very practical question:

What can I do that somebody else is willing to pay me to do?

That’s a question worth asking yourself.

Maybe you’re good with animals. Maybe you can organize closets, babysit, tutor, bake, sew, clean, do yard work, help someone with their computer, or sell something you make.

And you don’t necessarily have to create a whole new business.

Maybe one extra job a month is enough. Maybe you can only work a couple of hours at a time. Maybe your health or caregiving responsibilities make a traditional side hustle impossible.

That’s okay.

The point isn’t to copy what I did. The point is to look at your life and see whether there is something you can realistically do.

And please be careful when looking for side work, especially online. The Federal Trade Commission warns that fake side-hustle offers may promise big money for very little effort, pressure you to act immediately, or demand money upfront.

When you’re staring at a deadline and you’re short on money, a promise of fast cash can sound awfully good. That’s exactly when you need to slow down and check it out before handing over money or personal information.

Your travel fund doesn’t need to be the money that finds out something was too good to be true.

LOOK FOR MONEY YOU WON’T MISS TOO MUCH

This is where my thinking has changed considerably since I first wrote this article.

You’ve probably heard the standard advice: Stop buying coffee. Stop eating out. Cancel everything fun. If you really wanted to travel, you’d find the money.

I don’t particularly like that message.

Yes, look at your spending. I do.

Little purchases can add up, and sometimes I discover I’m paying for something I don’t use or don’t care about anymore. That is money I’d much rather put toward a plane ticket.

But I also don’t believe you have to make your everyday life miserable to earn the right to travel.

If meeting your friend for coffee every Tuesday is one of the best parts of your week, I’m not going to tell you that coffee is standing between you and Paris.

Look for your expendable spending.

Maybe it’s a streaming service you haven’t watched in six months. Maybe it’s an app you forgot you subscribed to. Maybe you decide to cook at home one additional night a week. Maybe you wait 48 hours before making an impulse purchase and discover you don’t want it anymore.

And maybe this month there isn’t anything to cut.

That’s okay too.

Saving $20 instead of $200 doesn’t mean you’re bad with money. It means your trip might take longer to fund.

Those are two completely different things.

Trying to figure out how travel can fit into your real life—not somebody else’s? Join the Single, Sick & Broke Traveler community for practical travel ideas, checklists, and encouragement for people who don’t have unlimited money, unlimited energy, or perfect circumstances.

SELL WHAT YOU TRULY DON’T NEED

Most of us have things sitting around the house, garage, or storage that we don’t use anymore.

Some of those things may be worth money.

Clothes, furniture, electronics, collectibles, household items, or hobby equipment you no longer use might be useful to someone else—and that money can go straight into your travel fund.

But again, I’m not telling you to empty your house.

You don’t have to sell something you love because you’ve decided to take a vacation.

Look for the things that genuinely no longer serve you. If you can turn something gathering dust into $25, $50, or $100 toward your trip, great.

Just remember that used items don’t always bring what we think they’re worth. Be realistic about prices, expect people to bargain, and decide ahead of time the lowest amount you’re willing to accept.

Every little bit can move the travel fund forward.

GIVE YOUR TRAVEL MONEY SOMEWHERE TO LIVE

One thing that makes saving easier for me is knowing that the money has a purpose.

Instead of letting extra money disappear into everyday spending, give your travel money somewhere to go.

That might be a separate savings account. It might be an automatic transfer every payday. If your income isn’t predictable, maybe automatic transfers aren’t practical and you simply move money over whenever you have it.

Maybe it’s $5. Maybe it’s $25. Maybe one month it’s $100 and the next month it’s nothing.

The important thing is that you’re building toward something.

And when that account starts accumulating real money, you may be tempted to raid it for something shiny.

I’ve been there.

Before spending it, I try to ask myself: Which do I want more?

Sometimes the answer will be the thing in front of you. And that’s okay.

But sometimes remembering what that money represents—the airplane, the hotel, the food, the experience, the place you’ve dreamed about—is enough to leave it alone.

There are so many charges on a vacation. Read 17 Hacks to save money on vacation--The ones no one tells you will help you avoid unnecessary charges.

BUT DON’T PAY FOR YOUR VACATION WITH YOUR HEALTH

This may be the most important lesson in this entire article.

I wanted that Japan trip badly.

And in my determination to come up with the money, I pushed myself too hard.

I wasn’t eating properly. I wasn’t resting enough. I was working and working because I had a deadline and a goal.

Meanwhile, my body was telling me something was wrong.

I was slowing down. I was gaining weight. My clothes were getting tight. I was having trouble breathing. My pulse was irregular. I was exhausted.

Eventually, I pressed my finger into my leg.

The indentation stayed there.

Deep.

And it didn’t go away.

I ended up in the hospital and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I spent three days there, and I was very anxious to get back out.

I can’t tell you that working so hard caused what happened to me medically. What I can tell you is that my body was giving me signs that something was seriously wrong, and I wasn’t listening.

I was so focused on the goal that I kept pushing.

I wouldn’t make that choice today.

There is nothing wrong with being determined. There is nothing wrong with working toward something you desperately want.

But a dream vacation is supposed to add something to your life. It isn’t supposed to cost you your health to get there.

If you live with chronic illness, disability, unpredictable energy, or simply a body that doesn’t cooperate with the schedule you’ve created, your way of earning and saving travel money may look completely different from mine.

Let it.

My article, How to Plan a Trip When Your Energy Is Unpredictable will help you plan your vacation that works for your needs.

Maybe someone else can pick up three extra shifts. You can’t.

Maybe you can do one dog-sitting job. Do one.

Maybe you need six more months to save the money. Take six more months.

The destination isn’t keeping score.

YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE THE PLAN

This is something I wish more travel advice acknowledged.

Sometimes the numbers simply don’t work.

If the trip you originally planned requires $3,000 and you can realistically save $1,500, you haven’t failed.

Now you have choices.

You can give yourself more time. You can shorten the trip. You can choose less expensive lodging. You can change the destination. You can travel closer to home this year and keep saving for the bigger trip. Or you can postpone the whole thing until your life is in a better place for it.

Changing the plan isn’t giving up on travel.

Sometimes changing the plan is exactly how you make travel possible.

That is particularly important when you’re single because there may not be a second income to fall back on. It’s important when you have chronic illness because earning more money may cost you energy that somebody else can afford to spend. And it’s important when money is already tight because one unexpected bill can change everything.

Your travel plan has to fit your life.

Not mine.

Not the travel influencer’s.

Yours.

Make travel fit your body, your budget, and your life. Your trip doesn’t have to look like anybody else’s to be worth taking.

AND THEN I GOT TO JAPAN

After all of it—the planning, the saving, the rodents, the $7,000 car repair, the $1,000 deductible, the dog grooming, the cleaning, the Door Dashing, the setbacks, and the hospital—I eventually got on that airplane.

And I landed in Japan.

Me after landing at Narita Airport in Japan

There I was.

I had made it.

And then I got to experience the reason the whole crazy adventure had started in the first place: the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo.

Me and Boba Fett at the Star Wars Convention in Tokyo

Was the road to Japan smooth?

Absolutely not.

Did everything go according to my original financial plan?

Not even close.

Was I independently wealthy by the time I got there?

I wish.

But I got there.

And if I could go back and talk to the woman who was frantically trying to replace that $1,000 the rodents ate out of her Japan fund, I wouldn’t tell her to work harder.

I’d tell her to pace herself.

I’d tell her that the goal matters, but so does the person trying to reach it.

I’d tell her that it’s okay if getting there takes longer.

That’s what I want you to know, too.

Your travel fund doesn’t have to look like mine. Your side hustle doesn’t have to look like mine. Your budget, health, timeline, and destination don’t have to look like anyone else’s.

Set the goal.

Look at what you have.

Get creative about what you can do.

Save what you reasonably can.

Protect yourself—and protect your health—while you’re doing it.

And keep moving toward the place you want to see.

You don’t have to get there somebody else’s way.

Get there your way.

Medical disclaimer: This article shares my personal experience and is not medical advice. If you develop new or worsening symptoms while working, traveling, or preparing for a trip, contact an appropriate healthcare professional.

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