How we saved $60K to travel the world for a year and how you can do it too!
If you’re new here, welcome! We’re Katie and Bhavik. In May 2024, we quit our pharmacist jobs to take mini retirement and travel the world for a year. Back in 2022, this dream wasn’t even on our horizons, but one near death honeymoon illness later, we decided to prioritize our travel dreams. But that’s a completely different story.
When we decided to take an adult gap year and travel the world for a year, one of the first things we had to figure out was: how much is this going to cost?
This post breaks down how we approached the budgeting process and all the ways we earned and saved to hit our $60,000 goal. It didn’t happen overnight, it took about two years of intentional planning dedication. But if we could do it, you can too.
Important note: We are Canadian. All figures in this blog are in Canadian Dollars.
Step 1: How We Figured Out Our Budget
Before we could save, we had to figure out how much money we’d need. Here’s how we calculated our budget:
- How long? We planned to travel for one year. Logistically, this made the most sense, we couldn’t take multiple multi month trips, so if we were going to quit our jobs, we might as well give ourselves enough time to fully immerse in the experience
- Where? To stretch our money further, we prioritized traveling in low-mid cost countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Eg. Sri Lanka, Thailand, and South Africa. We included a few more expensive destinations like Japan and Oman, but limited our time in those countries.
- Our travel style: We are mid-budget travelers.We prefer private rooms (no dorms for us) and are happy to splurge on experiences that matter to us.
When you’re budgeting for longterm travel, remember:
- Your budget isn’t just just for flights, accommodation, activities, and food. Make sure you consider Visas, local transit, health costs (eg. insurance), and emergencies.
- We gave ourselves a 10–15% buffer to cover unexpected expenses. You do not want to be left stranded on the other side of the world without the funds to get yourself home.
- Travel medical insurance is a must.
Our budget calculation:
- Using Budget Your Trip, we estimated our daily cost in different areas of the world.
- We multiplied daily costs by how many days we expected to spend in the country.
- We added our 15% buffer.
- We compared our total budget to that of other travellers. We looked at those who have a similar travel style to us. There’s no point looking at the budget of a shoestring backpacker if that’s not your style.
Helpful Websites:
- Budget Your Trip
- Google Flights, Skyscanner, Hopper
- Booking.com & Hostelworld
- Country embassy websites for visa fees
Step 2: Earn More Money at Work
The easiest way to save more money? Make more money.
Both of us are pharmacists and worked hourly roles, which gave us the flexibility to boost our income.
Here’s what we did:
- Katie worked three jobs: hospital pharmacist, remote pharmacist, and pharmacology professor.
- Bhavik picked up extra shifts and took on more responsibilities at his job.
We also:
- Negotiated our pay: This is the fastest way to make more money. Remember to build your case around the value you provide to your company, rather than how the money will help you.
- Picked up overtime & statutory holiday shifts: Katie’s overtime and stat holiday hours were paid at 1.5x. Do not miss out on OT.
- Automated savings: We directed our raises and bonuses into a separate savings account so we wouldn’t accidentally spend it. If you don’t see the money, you don’t miss it. This is a dead easy way to prevent the dreaded lifestyle creep.
We did burn out at times. By the time we were leaving on our world trip, we were absolutely fried. In hindsight, we recommend pacing yourself, even if it takes a little longer to reach your goal. A month’s delay in departure is better than showing up to your trip exhausted and overwhelmed.
Step 3: Side Hustles & Passive Income
In addition to our day jobs, we looked for creative ways to earn more money:
- Rented out our basement: We finished and rented out our basement. If you do this, know your local laws and please be a conscientious landlord.
- Sold our stuff: We sold or donated 95% of our belongings. Furniture went on Facebook Marketplace, clothes on Poshmark, and anything that didn’t sell was donated.
- Sold our cars: Both vehicles were sold to Clutch, which gave better offers than dealerships.
- Online cashback & deals: We used Rakuten for cash back on any online purchases.
- Focus groups: Katie participated in paid research focus groups.
- High-Interest Savings: We kept our travel fund in a high-interest savings account. With interest rates as high as 5–6%, we were building our savings while we slept.. We even hopped banks for promo rates (not fun, but worth it for us). Now that interest rates have dropped, this avenue is not as profitable.
Step 4: Miscellaneous “Income”
A few bonus windfalls helped as well:
- Travel insurance refund: Katie got sick during our honeymoon and we needed an emergency $4,000 flight home. After months of fighting the insurance company (and over 40 hours on hold), we finally got reimbursed. That money went straight into our travel fund!
- Tuition tax credits: Katie used her last batch of tuition credits for the 2022 tax year and got nearly all her taxes back. Again — straight to the travel fund.
Step 5: Cutting Expenses at Home
We made some pretty big changes to reduce our spending:
- Limited alcohol. Costs really add up, especially at restaurants.
- Ate out less. This was hard for us, but we cut back to eating out just once a week. We always brought our own lunches to work.
- DIYed everything. We changed our own tires, cleaned our gutters, and installed ceiling fans (lower A/C bills).
- Shopped at cheaper stores. We got a Costco membership and broke up with our favourite boujee grocery stores.
- Minimal entertainment spending. We kept Netflix but most weekends we would prioritize free activities eg. hiking.
You can have almost anything, but not everything. Don’t cut every joy out of your life, you’ll just end up miserable. Make intentional choices with your money. We love Ramit Sethi’s principle of a “Rich Life.” Give his book a read.
Step 6: Our Most Controversial Save… Skipping the Big Wedding
This one received a lot of judgement.
We chose not to have a big wedding.
- We had a micro-wedding with immediate family only at Katie’s family cottage.
- We DIYed decor and sold most of it after.
- Ordered outfits online and used a local tailor. We sold these as well.
- Hired a photographer only (no videographer).
- Catered takeout for dinner (easy with such a small group).
We didn’t want to go into debt for a single day. And honestly? No regrets. If we’d dropped 30–60K on a wedding, we would not have been able to travel for a whole year.
The majority of people in our lives were supportive. Interestingly, the most supportive were those who had been married 3+ years ago or who had kids. Many of them expressed that they wish they’d spent less on the wedding.
That said, we don’t want to yuck on someone else’s yum. if a big wedding is what you want, no shade at all! This was just the right decision for us.
Step 7: Credit Cards & Travel Points
We put almost all of our pre-trip spending on credit cards.
- We chose cards with good travel perks (no foreign transaction fees, travel insurance, lounge access).
- Planned spending strategically to hit welcome bonuses (e.g. paying for physiotherapy appointments and getting reimbursed later).
- Tracked which card to use when for the most points (eg. American Express Cobalt Card for 5x the points on groceries)
- Learned the ins and outs of points and miles through Prince of Travel (Canadians) or The Points Guy (Americans).
Points and Miles have a learning curve, but it’s worth it. We accumulated thousands of dollars worth of travel credits and airline points prior to our trip.
Conclusions
Saving $60K wasn’t easy. But as our travel fund began to grow, the number in our account became more and more motivating. It’s hardest at the beginning, but feels great once you can see some progress. Saving for travel is the ultimate exercise in delayed gratification. Trust us, it is worth it.
If you’re dreaming of a longterm trip, we hope this post gives you a starting point. And if you have questions, drop a comment below or send us a DM on our Instagram @katieandbhav!
Happy Travels!
