Solo traveling feels scary the first time. It takes a lot of courage to pack up your bag and go to an unfamiliar place on your own. A lot of things can happen on the road. However, the worst thing that you could experience is to run out of money while on your trip. This is why you should make a budget for solo travel.

Mastering your budget for solo travel is the ultimate step to unlocking true-self confidence and feeling at peace on the road. Prioritizing saving for an upcoming trip and budgeting before going on a trip is important. It helps to ensure that you have enough money for your daily basic needs such as food, a place to stay, and daily commute.

In this blog, I will share with you my ultimate budget guide for solo traveling, especially for women. As a woman, solo traveling offers both satisfaction and self-confidence, especially when you know your travel budget very well.

There are a lot of solo travel benefits that you could get in just one trip than you get just by staying at the same place in a month. It may be scary at first, particularly for women. Statistically, women are more vulnerable to danger on the road. However, as Dale Carnegie said,

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy”

Having financial control in every aspect of your life is crucial. I live alone and financial literacy has been my shield towards crumbling into ruins. The same way that you budget for your expenses is to budget for your upcoming travel plans.

Rather than seeing travel budgeting as a restriction, I see it as an opportunity to build skills and improve my decision making. It is a challenging step that may sometimes cause friction for most travelers. However, it is rewarding once you see that sticking to your planned solo travel budget saved you tons of money along the way!

Your budget for solo travel gives you more confidence on the road. This is because you have anticipated most of the expenses that you may encounter for the trip. If you build a 10% buffer for your budget, you will not be afraid to have extra expenses since you are prepared for the unknown.

Fixed costs for traveling are things like international flights, pre-departure costs, travel health, visas, insurance, and sim cards. Whether you are traveling for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months, your fixed costs will remain the same throughout your trip. You will need to account for your fixed costs first before you budget for other things that you may need for your trip.

Remember that everything became more expensive after the pandemic, so in terms of your research for your travel budget, do not rely on guides that were outdated or made before the pandemic (2020 and below) as this may cause you to be short on budget. You want to have a more realistic travel budget that will give you more confidence rather than stress because you underestimated the prices of everything in this new place.

Some of the non-negotiable expenses during traveling are the following

A flight ticket may occupy the biggest chunk in your budget for solo travel pie diagram. Flights are costly, but with a good patience for research and good timing, you can get the best deals to travel for a cheaper plane ticket. Researching for flights in advance is advisable. Booking flights months before your expected travel date will cost you way less than booking a flight at the same month or week of your travel. You may also consider scheduling your trip in the off-season since flights are more expensive during peak season because of higher demands from people who take holiday trips. 

Pre-departure cost – in preparation for your trip, you may need to buy essentials that you will need. These may be gears for an adventure such as hiking or swimming, or your hygiene essentials. If traveling for a long time, you may also consider putting your items in storage which will cost you some money.

You may need to do a one time check up before going to a new destination. Researching recent news about the area can help you prepare your body beforehand such as getting vaccines for certain types of diseases that are common in a particular destination.

If your destination requires a visa, it is important to put this on your fixed expenses including visa on arrival fees. This depends on your country of origin or your passport because visa rules are a matter of reciprocity between two sovereign nations. Some countries also have local tourist taxes or entree fees, thus, you should account for them too. If you are a Filipino, these are the countries that requires visa:

Region	Visa-Required Countries
North America	United States, Canada, Mexico
Europe	All Schengen Area countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, etc.), United Kingdom, Ireland
Asia	China, Japan, South Korea (except Jeju Island and certain transit programs), Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand
Middle East	Saudi Arabia (for tourism, generally)
Other	Chile, Argentina, South Africa

Consider this as an investment rather than an additional cost because this will cover you in the event that something goes wrong or if you’re caught in an accident while traveling in a different country. Travel insurance is way cheaper than the cost of medical treatment in most countries. Experienced travelers has good experience with getting travel insurance and will recommend this as a must to first time or inexperienced travelers.

This is a must have when traveling to a different country for communication purposes. You may either buy a physical sim card or an e-sim, whichever is more comfortable for you. Some travel bookings like Klook offer discounts for e-sim purchases.

A 10-20% travel budget buffer will set you up to be more confident while traveling. This will act as your solo travel emergency fund that allows you to be more at peace and avoid being short on your travel budget. 

How to compute a 10-20% travel budget buffer?

Your TOTAL budget for solo travel * (1+0.2) = OVERALL BUDGET FOR SOLO TRAVEL

Prioritize budget stays that offer community (hostels, co-living). This varies depending on what part of the country you are staying, as well as the level of comfort you need. To budget for accommodation, visit several booking websites and check for hotel rates and compare each one to another. You may use the average price of these accommodations to add to your daily spending budget.

The $10 Rule (One restaurant meal per day, rest is budget/grocery). This is also depending on your preference, whether you want to eat out on fancy restaurants or want to cook meals at your hotel kitchen. You may plan your meals beforehand or just eat whatever is available in the locality to experience more of their culture. Budgeting a reasonable amount of money per day for food is important to avoid overspending.

Using public transit vs. taxis (a real-world confidence test). You can either commute or rent a car to go from one point to another. You may research car rental companies in the area just like what you did looking for accommodations. Just get the average price and factor it in your daily budget.

Seeking free or low-cost activities (walking tours, museums). Let’s get to the fun part! Activities during travel include tours on famous tourist spots, museums. Outdoor activities involve hiking, trekking, swimming, and other extreme activities such as sky diving or free falling from a cliff. These entails costs depending on the activity. These are commonly spread out across the length of travel to avoid losing energy.

With that, just choose your preferred activities and make sure you will be able to pay for it. You may also choose to join package tours. This allows you to save up and visit more places and potentially make friends with other tourists! The only downside is the limited time allotted for each destination.

Traveling entails buying stuff for people that we left at home or as a souvenir for ourselves. You may also do shopping along the road for some essentials. Make sure that you put a chunk of your budget for buying things during the trip.

Changing currencies also entails costs and it also depends on the current exchange rate of the currency. For example, peso to dollar has an exchange rate of around 55 to 58 pesos for 1 dollar. There are several currency exchangers that offer lower exchange rates for a dollar which you may use to save up some money. You may also opt to use a credit card when purchasing items as long as it is a visa type. Some credit cards don’t charge for international purchases. Just inform your bank that you’ll be travelling overseas and will be using the card to avoid the credit card from being reported as scammed or stolen.

When traveling, it is very important to stick with your budget, unless you are a nepo baby that can call daddy or mommy anytime to ask for money! Just kidding!

 There are a lot of budget trackers that are available on the internet. I also made an excel sheet for travel planning that is available here that you can check out and use for your next trip. Tracking your expenses during the trip every day before you sleep can help you know whether you are spending too much or too little from the said budget so you can adjust it accordingly.

Being able to track expenses proves your discipline and independence. This can also give you more self confidence and improve your self-trust that you can rely on yourself in terms of financial decisions.

This just means that being frugal is an extremely valuable skill that can be earned while traveling. It is better to underspend that overspend, because that way, you can still keep some of your unexpended money after the trip. 

When traveling, you can practice being more frugal by commuting from one location to another than taking a taxi or special ride. You can also choose to get groceries and cook meals at your hotel room rather than eat every meal outside. Frugality is power when you are traveling alone. It also validates your ability to explore new places and be self-reliant when you successfully reach a destination through navigating the bus.