I went overseas a few times this year, mostly short period lasting 1 week to a little more than a week. After every trip, I felt refreshed and enjoyed the trip and break from work. With this, I do see myself going overseas once in a while to have a good break from the environment in Singapore.
Singaporeans tend to travel pretty frequently because domestic travel is not really possible although I am sure we do have staycations or going over to JB but we love winter and experiencing the different seasons in other countries that Singapore does not have. Also, our surrounding countries can provide their different cuisines at such a competitive price that it kinda make sense for us to travel once in awhile to reap the benefits.
I realised that going for a trip, inclusive of air tickets, expenditures, travel insurances and lodging, it can add up to a substantial bill just for a break from reality. There are definitely more affordable options but air tickets and accommodations are already a substantial cost due to inflation.
I have also been exposed to slow travel recently and want to do it at least once where I stay in a country for at least a month or longer.
Save to spend? Never ending cycles
I find myself saving but then spend it all when it is time to travel and then begin the process of saving again. I invest and do separate my savings from spending amount but I do think that it is easy to spend everything out if you do not have a plan or if you are not financially savvy.
I kinda really let loose from about a year ago when I saw my investments grow and realise that I should be spending some to have experience and more so to enjoy especially after working hard. The pandemic of course, helped me save as I was able to keep my job and even moved on during that period for a better paying job. I saved more during that period as I ate home cooked meals and wasn’t even spending much.
But now that I have loosen up, online shopping, buying good food and travelling have been adding up. I don’t mind it but I also don’t want to lose control over it so I have been trying to improve it by creating some rules.
Making sure a bucket of wants is being accumulated
Having a separate budget for it is also one way I cope with the extra spending. Of course, some times, it is not as easy if you have a tight income, I would even say that it is not easy to set it aside and not touch it.
I used to save in one bank account and when I had big expenses, I would dip into that, it proved not too good as my saving and spending were together and would get mixed up. Spending some of your hard earned money is nice and I think it is good to loosen up especially if you have adhere to your savings/investments.
Travel is an amazing experience and best to do it when you are young to maximise it
I think travelling can be a tiring and a grueling experience depending on where you travel to and how you plan, you also want to make sure that you are maximising your time overseas and so often than not, you pack your days with activities and places to visit. Just based on that, being young is an advantage because you would have more energy.
I do also realise that being spontaneous can make a trip more exciting, of course, age is not a factor in that but being young means you can do much more activities without being weigh down, especially when you are not travelling with kids.
However, on the other end, travelling is not a cheap expense and some times, you don’t even know the limit because once you are overseas, there might be experiences that will be outside of your budget or if unforeseen circumstances occur eg, faults of systems or breakdown of certain infrastructures or getting ill. So making sure you have sufficient cash before having that trip is equally important. With that, I will be travelling soon for a week long and been looking forward to it.
As to my plan for a slow travel experience, I will need to plan it or be able to work on something as it is not easy to be doing that with a 9-5 job. I am definitely very privileged and grateful to be able to travel frequently.
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