Lesson 1: Budgeting

Budgeting is extra important when you’re overseas and don’t have typical safety nets (like friends and family) to fall back on.

Also, there’s extra math for currency exchange rates, cost of living and lifestyle differences.

So research your core destinations and create a realistic budget based on where you’ll be staying and your typical lifestyle (not your ideal one).

And don’t forget to budget for things like travel insurance, which is only an extra ~$56/month through SafetyWing (affiliate link).

Have savings or enough money for a plane ticket back home (in case things go awry and you need to dip quickly). But if you’re like me, saving an extra $1000 is hard, especially when you’re new and trying to pay bills, travel and work online.

So if nothing else, at least have a decent credit score before you go traveling. This way, you can take out a small micro loan or use Alternative Airlines (and their PayPal credit integration) to finance a ticket home.

Alternatively, if those options are out, find a friend or family member who you can call in case of an emergency.

As a rule of thumb, I always over-budget my monthly expenses.