How Much Money Do You Need to Travel Full-Time? Here’s a Breakdown (2024)

FAQs

How Much Money Do You Need to Travel Full-Time? Here’s a Breakdown? ›

If you want a relatively average lifestyle with the occasional luxury, 2,000 USD per month should be enough. If you want a more opulent lifestyle, you'll need a budget of at least 3,000 USD per month.

In general, you should expect it to cost between $25,000 to $35,000 per person to travel around the world for a year. This rough estimate comes from reading travel budgets of other bloggers, various travel planning resources, and our own experience. This is just the midrange.

As an approximate guide, I generally allow about $2,000 (£1,000 / €1,500) a month when backpacking around the world. Cities tend to be the most expensive places to stay so allow more if you are spending more than a few days in major cities.

I'd put the estimate of the second half at somewhere around $80,000-$120,000, depending on which expenses you'd assign to the quest and which you'd assign to other things. Even if we consider the highest possible cost ($150,000 to go to all 193 countries), I think it's still a fantastic value.

Cynthia Matthews von Berg, founder of the travel blog Sharing the Wander who is currently traveling the world, recommends saving $100,000 to travel the year as a family of four. “This should be more than you need if you are careful, but it allows you a cushion,” she said.

With 2.5 to 5 times as the recommended multiple to spend on vacation, we should aim to spend closer to $10,000 recommended ($4,000 X 2.5), and up to $20,000 ($4,000 X 5) maximum.

A thousand dollars can get you far — no matter where you want to go. While there are many ways to travel cheaply (like using points and miles or extreme budgeting), this concept is about something more middle-of-the-road. It's not about going away with no money or traveling on $10 or $20 a day.

While it's possible to travel on $100 per day in Europe, it can be challenging, especially in larger cities or during peak seasons.

Deciding where to go and what to pack is stressful enough, let alone trying to determine how much money you need to bring. The general consensus is that you should have $50 to $100 in cash per day for each traveler.

If you are traveling with an excess of $10,000, you must report it to a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer when you enter or exit the U.S. But there is no limit to the amount of money you can travel with.

Is $20000 enough to travel the world? ›

Just take that $20,000 and divide it by 12 months to set your monthly savings goal. You'll need to save a bit more than $1,600 each month to make that happen. Or, if you're looking to travel for 6 months, you'll need about $9,000, which means you'll need to save about $750 a month for a year to achieve your goal.

Forty-seven percent of all respondents were planning on staying put this summer, avoiding taking a vacation, with 65 percent saying they couldn't afford it.

The most common scenario where traveling with over $10,000 could get you into trouble is if you don't declare it during international travel. That isn't the only risk, though. While it's technically legal to travel domestically with this kind of money, it can arouse suspicion from law enforcement.

How much cash should you travel with internationally? “I would say that anyone traveling for more than three days in a country should have the equivalent of at least $300 with them,” Granite said. He suggests the equivalent of $500 for families, adding that it could be less for destinations where the dollar is strong.

$100k goes furthest in El Paso, TX.

With no state or local income taxes and a 12% discount on cost of living, a $100k income equates to $88,840 of purchasing power. Four other Texas cities made the top 10, including Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Lubbock and Houston.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to give a precise cost breakdown for one year of travel, but it is possible to give a rough ballpark idea. If travelling low-budget-style in the cheapest countries, then consider a minimal budget of around $16,000 for one person.

Takeaway. The world is much more accessible than people believe. Using work and culture exchange programs, taking advantage of credit card rewards, picking the right countries, and slow traveling makes it easy to travel for under $1000 a month. You'll even be able to travel for less than what you spend living back home ...

How much cash should you travel with internationally? “I would say that anyone traveling for more than three days in a country should have the equivalent of at least $300 with them,” Granite said. He suggests the equivalent of $500 for families, adding that it could be less for destinations where the dollar is strong.

If managed carefully, a $5,000 budget is more than enough to eat and drink your way across the continent on a 10-day or two-week trip –or perhaps even longer.