Can’t Afford It? 4 Tips for Financing Your Time Abroad

Money is far and away the biggest excuse young adults, whether single or married, throw around for not traveling as much as they would like to. Why? I haven’t run a study on it or anything, but it seems pretty clear. The thought process goes something like this:

Maybe it’s ok for college students to blow their savings backpacking through Europe, but we’re adults now. We have responsibilities, and extended travel isn’t in the cards right now. Frankly, I/we can’t afford it.

Let me clue you in on a little secret. Spending time abroad can actually make a lot of financial sense. Don’t sell yourselves short because you don’t think you can make it work. You can. Like all good things in life, it just takes effort. So, if you’re looking for some solid advice on how to live abroad “wisely,” read on.

1. Extended trips are cheaper than short vacations.

It surprises me how few people seem to figure this out. Say you want to go to New Zealand (and trust me, you do). Weigh these two options and tell me which one sounds better to you:

1)    You could take a 2-week vacation there, during which you will spend $1600 on plane tickets, another $500+ on lodging (yes, even hostels would cost at least $400), not to mention the $500+ it’ll cost to do all the sightseeing and thrill-seeking, and you will be getting over jetlag the whole time to boot. In all likelihood you won’t get to know any actual Kiwis (the people, not the birds… or the fruit), and you have a 0% chance of seeing a significant portion of the country in a meaningful way.

2)    Or you could spend 3-12 months living and working there, either staying in one location or moving around every so often. You will spend roughly the same amount of money on plane tickets and “tourist stuff,” but if you play your cards right, you can get food and lodging for free (see here) and/or make enough money to break even or better (see here). You’ll make a bunch of friends who are actually from New Zealand, and from a bunch of other countries to boot. And you’ll have the time and know-how to see as much of the country as you want to.

So, let’s do the math. With Option 1, you spend $2500 minimum in two weeks. With Option 2, you spend anywhere from $0 to $2500 in 3-12 months. I know, I know, if you spent those same 3-12 months working a steady job at home, you could probably make a lot more than $2500. But my point here isn’t that extended travel makes you rich… it’s that extended travel doesn’t have to make you poor, and experientially it’s more worth your while than “binge traveling.”

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2. Traveling with a buddy is cheaper than traveling alone.

Plenty of “rogue” types out there will tell you traveling by yourself is where it’s at. And that philosophy definitely has its merits; I’m a big believer in the importance of spending time alone out on the road. I even wrote about it once, and you can read my musings here if you feel like it. But when it comes to extended trips abroad, it’s tough to argue that it makes more sense to go with someone, at least from a financial perspective.

This isn’t rocket surgery. It’s not brain science either. If you travel alone, all the expenses fall on you and no one else. If you travel with another person, you split a lot of these expenses (cars, campsites, etc.). You also have twice as much brainpower to research deals, make reservations, and that kind of thing. And if there were some kind of emergency, as it says in the Good Book, two are better than one.

A tip: whether it’s your childhood best friend, your college roommate, your sibling, or your spouse, choose your travel buddy wisely. You’ll be spending a lot of time together.

3. The secret to saving up is… save up.

You already know all about saving money. Chances are high that you’ve had to find ways to put funds aside to pay for education, a car, the latest hot technological commodity, an engagement ring (guys), or possibly all of the above. Which is why I’m a little skeptical when you say you can’t afford to travel. What you actually mean is, travel isn’t high up enough on your priority list to merit saving for it.

Not everyone is in the position to drop everything and jet off to live in some exotic location (though a lot more people are than want to admit it). But if you’re serious about wanting to live abroad “someday,” start preparing for that someday today. Make room in your budget for travel, and regularly set some of your earnings aside for no other purpose. And again, you do not need bags of money to live abroad. I’ve already written four blog posts on different, legitimately affordable options that don’t require much in the way of savings, so go read them if you haven’t yet.

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4. Don’t let career concerns scare you away.

If you’re worried that “wasting” a year living overseas would hurt your future job prospects, don’t be. In fact, spending a year abroad after college will help your career in the long run. I have a lot of good reasons for saying this, and I’ll list the top three here:

1. Taking a year “off” to travel after college will look great on your résumé. Most good job openings will have a number of qualified applicants, and any Career Services counselor will tell you that you need to find ways to stand out. Work experience overseas is the perfect way to set yourself apart and make potential employers take notice. And they should; no matter what you end up doing abroad, you will develop skills that will serve you in any workplace.

2. What you do abroad doesn’t have to be irrelevant to your future career (though in my personal opinion, if it is, who cares?). If “relevance” is that important to you, look for jobs that tie in to your long-term aspirations… they’re out there. Also, if you plan to get an advanced degree, consider studying in a foreign university. You’d be surprised how inexpensive tuition can be, and in many cases, a diploma from another country will look pretty snazzy back in the U.S.A.

3. Living overseas will automatically expand your professional network. Make no mistake, if you spend some solid time studying or working in a foreign country, you will discover all sorts of job opportunities you would never have known existed otherwise. Both your peers (classmates and/or coworkers) and your superiors (professors and/or bosses) will have a host of internationally-applicable tips and connections that could influence your future career.

So there you have it. If you have any other tips to add, or any questions about the finer details of living abroad, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments box below!