Gap Year and Long-Term Travel Budget

Who this is for

A months-long trip, costed country by country. Each stage gets its days and its daily living costs, the one-off costs such as flights, visas and insurance sit in their own table, and the summary sets the whole plan against the money you have.

Gap-year travellers, career-breakers and anyone planning a trip long enough that the question is not whether it is affordable but for how many weeks.

What this helps you track

• What each country or stage costs and what that works out at per day
• A running total of spending as the route goes on
• The one-off costs paid before or between stages
• Total funds, including income earned on the way, against the whole plan
• What is left at the end, or how far short the plan runs

How to use it

1. Write the trip, the start date, the funds you have and any income you expect while away.
2. List the stages in route order with the arrival date and the days in each, then estimate accommodation, food, transport and activities for each stage from your own research.
3. Enter the one-off costs such as long-haul flights, visas, insurance and kit in the second table, with the stage they belong to.
4. The stage totals, cost per day, running total and summary are worked out in the browser and the workbook; on paper, add across each stage and keep a running total down the page.
5. If funds remaining goes below zero, shorten a stage, move it to a cheaper place in your plan or cut a line, and watch the summary change.
6. Once travelling, overwrite the estimates with what you actually spent to see how the rest of the trip stands.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

Where do the daily cost figures come from?

From your own research: accommodation you have looked at, travellers' reports, prices on booking sites. The sheet supplies no typical costs for any country, and costs change, so it is worth revisiting as you go.

Why are flights and visas in a separate table?

Because they are one-off costs rather than daily living costs. Keeping them out of the stage totals means the cost per day for each stage compares fairly, while the summary still counts them against your funds.

What does the running total column show?

The stage costs added up to and including that row, so you can see how far down the route the money reaches. The summary then takes the one-off costs off too.

How do I include money earned while travelling?

Enter the amount you realistically expect in the income field. The summary adds it to your funds. If it is uncertain, try the sheet with it at zero to see where you stand without it.