Hacking two month long foreign vacation (even when my salary was Rs. 80,000)

I am not rich but I spent my entire summer vacations in Thailand (with family).

Anyone can do that, but there are two issues that steal away our freedom of long vacations

We don’t have sufficient money for long international travel
It’s damn difficult to get a long leave from the job

I solved both the issues.

A remote job gave me leverage to work while at vacation. (You can learn how to make money online without any investment)

I planned my travel well in advance and applied some travel hacks while booking my foreign vacation. I always use best credit cards for travel & shopping.

Let’s find out how to afford long international trip events with a small budget.

#1. Save for your foreign vacation in advance

Don’t take wrong decisions with your finances. I never spend money without planning my finances.

I saved 2 Lakh rupees for vacation over one year. Our goals are clear. We want to travel and explore the world rather than spending money on a new car or house.

We still live in a rented house. That help us saving money on home loan interest. Some people call us fool for not investing in real estate but we are happy with our stress-free lifestyle.

I did not have a regular job last year. However, I made some money from writing, consulting and selling my shares in the stock market.

By the year end, I got a full time job in a startup as content marketing head (80K/month + Equity)

Our day to day expenses were taken care of by regular salary and we planned our travel with our saved money.

Next year vacation planning

Well, I started saving regularly for my next year vacation.

A 20,000 contribution from my salary every month to my next year travel goal.

I will have 3L in my vacation account by July 2017 if nothing unexpected happened in life.

It’s Sufficient for a small family to spend two months abroad.

Also Read – 11 Best Home Theatre Systems in India 2018 Review

#2. Booking Air Tickets (India to Thailand)

I compared the prices on MakeMyTrip, Yatra, and Cleartrip

The cashback offered by MakeMyTrip and Yatra is virtual cash. It means you have to book other tickets from these portals within a short duration of 2-3 months. That is the reason they offer so much cashback and put lots of terms and conditions.

When you try to redeem cash, you left with disappointment because you can not use entire virtual cashback in a single transaction.

#1. Cleartrip offers actual cashback during the checkout (saved 1400 Rs)

#2. Checkout with PayU money or similar wallet that gives you additional cashback (saved 590 Rs)

#3. Pay with Credit Card to earn cash back or reward points (worth Rs. 240)

My favorite credit card is Standard Chartered Manhattan where I earn more than 1% Cashback (or reward redemption value)

Effective cost of Air tickets for 3 people = 58,200

#3. Book Accommodation from AirBnb (not Hotel)

I prefer AirBnb than booking hotels.

Our apartment selection criteria are

Apartment with facilities like Gym, Swimming Pool, Security and Lift
Kitchen with stove and utensils
Near to Market
Near to Beach
Proximity to Public Transport

Other things to consider if water and electricity are included in the price or not. What are cleaning charges and how often they clean. Is there any security deposit?

We found a decent stay in 38,400 for 50 days.

Most of AirBnb accommodations provide Towels, Bed Sheets, Blankets, and Toiletries.

To save more – Pay by money wallets like PayU (1%) and use a credit card for additional cashback (1%). Enjoy the additional saving of 384+380=764.

Effective cost of accommodation for 50 days is Rs 37,600.

#4. Get Forex Cheap

I tried a couple of ways to get cheapest currency conversion. But there could be issues with fluctuating currency rates.

I did some mistakes on this trip regarding forex which I would fix next time.

From the next time, I will plan my currency like this,

10% Cash Conversion in India
Keeping 30% Indian Cash Currency that can be exchanged at destination.
Spend rest of money on Credit Cards

If the destination country is card friendly (US/Europe/Australia) then use more credit card or a forex card. Read the review of 5 best foreign currency cards while travelling.

Local Expenses in Thailand

It’s difficult to predict local expenses unless you start living. We underestimated the living cost in Thailand.

Everything was almost the double the price as compared to India.

We were buying 1L milk at 100Rs, 1Kilo Fruits at Rs 120-180, and no vegetable was cheaper than 100Rs per Kilo.

We found Indian grocery store in Pattaya. He was also selling everything at the double price.

We spent more than 20,000 rupees on Thai Massage. Thailand got infamous for sex & erotic massages but a Traditional Thai Massage is the best thing you can get in Thailand. They charge just 400-600 Rupees per hour. We enjoyed a massage on every alternate day.

We did not track our daily expenses like we did in Goa. It’s easy to calculate how much we spend by looking at my Forex.

India – 7000
Airport – 30000
Debit Card – 40000
Local Counter – 10000
Credit Cards – 10000

Total – 97,000 living expenses for 50 days.

Expenses in India

We had to pay rent for the home in India while we were away but we saved expenses on electricity, travel, and groceries.

On average, we spend about 30K per month excluding rent and school fees. Let’s say a saving of 50K for 50 days.

In summary : We spent 58,200 on travel tickets, 37,600 on AirBnb stay, and 97,000 on living = 1,92,800.

If we deduct the living cost of 50 days in India then the effective cost of our vacation is 1,42,800 rupees.

Anyone with 80K salary can afford this kind of travel. You can manage your finances but the biggest issue is getting a leave of more than 1 month or asking your boss to work from a remote location.

There is no quick fix for this problem.

But you can start an online business for a passive source of income (either as online part time jobs or full time) and slowly shift from your office job to remote work.

Let me know in the comments, what you think about traveling for a long duration.

About Pardeep Goyal

I love to talk about money saving hacks (Credit Cards, Travel, Shopping, Taxes). I share transparently how I am making passive income and where I spend my money.

Comments

AK Anand says
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Nice article Pradeep. I also like to book accommodation through airbnb. They are good. Nice to know about Cleartrip.
Would love to do this type of trip myself. Thank you very much.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Welcome to new style of long travels 🙂
  Would like to learn few tips from you as well.
  Please write to me over email whenever you have something to share.
  Reply
Soumitra Sengupta says
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Totally inspired reading this. Have been thinking of getting onto the location independent lifestyle for a long time and this just inspires me more.
Love the honesty in your posts.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Soumitra. I also got inspired to complete this article after speaking with you over phone 🙂
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Manoranjan Paul says
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Mind blowing ideas!! I even could not thought in this way.
Thanks Pradeep, I will try to follow you.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  I am glad you liked my article, Manoranjan
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PK Khurana says
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You are absolutely honest, transparent and open.You have also described various tools in a way one can easily understand and execute. You are an ‘open source’ of wonderful ideas. But please mind it, this is ‘financial planning’ and not ‘a journey to financial freedom’. Financial freedom is when you don’t need to look out for coupons and small savings. Nevertheless, the article is brilliant and will inspire a lot many people. You are really wonderful. Don’t change. Stay this way. God bless !
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thank you Mr. Khurana.
  If you see on left side, I wrote few articles on earning passive income. That is beginning of financial freedom 🙂
  And sorry, I could not visit your restaurent till date.. Every day if busier than previous day. Will see you soon…
  Reply
Yashanki says
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Awesome ideas given by you. In this fact paced life everyone needs a break.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Yashanki. Glad you liked it.
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pramod jodhani says
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Just the kind of thing I was looking for. One question though, how were to able to focus on your work when you were not at your work desk? Wasn’t it a challenge to travel and work at the same time?
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Infact, the work productivity increased during my travel.
  No visitors.
  No household shopping.
  No birthdays, no marriages, no outside disturbances.
  Only family time and work time.
  🙂
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Abhinandan says
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Just wonderful and awesome, definitely well planned trips helps you enjoy more and spend less. I hope you let your wife shop around in Thailand which is not to be counted :).
One compliment I would like to give you that after reading your inspiring articles I make sure that I also go atleast once a year to enjoy my vacation with my family be it a small or long which ever my job and salary allow me. Thanks.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks buddy!
  We did some shopping around Thailand and also visited surrounding places over weekends.
  You must plan a vacation, let me know if I could help.
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Nitin Sharma says
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A great insight… it is always nice to read something like this which gives you something to think about and since it is coming from a friend makes it more special.. Read your Goa article as well. Hoping to read more such stuff.. Cheers
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Nitin. I will be sharing some articles on building online businesses soon..
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Jitendra vaswani says
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Hey Pradeep you shared wonderful ideas here for having amazing trip. Thailand is my favorite destination till date for fun. I am single so I can go with friend and have great fun. I have lot of affiliate marketer friends there in Bangkok and we all have lot of fun while making money.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thailand is the best place for singles.. [but my wife allowed me to enjoy Thai Massages 🙂 Lucky me]
  I heard that Thailand is favorite place for SEO and Affiliate experts.
  Would love to explore more on that front.
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Jeno says
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This is simply amazing, Pardeep. An eye opener to find the way out from our daily stressful life. I agree it will be difficult to get this implemented, but it can be done with careful planning. You have proven that, thanks for sharing.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  I also thought that long vacations will be difficult to implement. It took me a while to convince my wife 🙂
  First we travelled for a month last year in Goa.. got confidence and travelled for two months this time.
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Sudhakar says
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Great effort and you have all brought all possible expenses to the table.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Sudhkar. Glad you liked my efforts 🙂
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Saurabh Mukhekar says
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Really nice and great insights Pradeep, u proved smart work never replace hard work rather it supplimemt it ! Im going to try this hack for sure !
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Saurabh. Where are you planning your next vacation?
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Kuldeep Singh says
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Thanks Pardeep for sharing such a nice informational article. As I am planning to travel around the world, it will be very beneficial for me.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  I am glad my article is helpful 🙂
  Please share your journey experience with me over email.
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Amit Garg says
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Thanx for sharing wonderful experience 🙂
can you elaborate more on looking for job with work from home
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Hi Amit,
  We have written a couple of articles on work from home jobs, please check Earn section of blog.
  What kind of work you want to do from home?
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Sowmay says
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Really! An awesome piece of content. Enjoyed reading it.
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Sowmay. Glad you liked it.
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Nisha Prakash says
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Wonderful article Pradeep. It is our absolute pleasure to republish it on our blog. (http://blog.covetlo.com/?p=58)
Thank you for the permission!
Looking forward to more insights such as this.
Best always!
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Nisha.
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Rocky says
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Great stuff Pradeep.
I just opened one article and got hooked to your blog. I have read atleast 10 posts in a single day. This is now on my favorites list.
Simple, short, relevant and informative articles.
Cheers!
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Awesome!!
  Rocky, you are inspiring me to write more (and better).
  Will come up with more exciting articles in the future. Thanks for your kind words.
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raghav says
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simply amazing
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Raghav.
  Reply
abhinav says
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hi pardeep ,
my income is around 4 lakh per year
and i have sbi elite credit card , can you suggest me any other card for which i can get approved like american express gold or standard chartered manhattan card ,i want it for online transactions
please reply
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Replied to you over the email.
  For other reader’s information : Apply for Manhattan card in such cases.
  Reply
Ajay says
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Just One Word..
IMPRESSIVE 🙂
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- Pardeep Goyal says
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  Thanks Ajay.
  Reply