Five ways to budget time for travel

Image credit: Maryland GovPics/Flickr

Money isn’t the only barrier to travel. Even if there is plenty of disposable income to splash about with, you have to allocate a certain number of days, weeks or maybe even months to venture away from home. That’s not always a realistic possibility – especially if you have a demanding job.

Or so you might think.

Of course some people may not work at all, and if you have enough money that you don’t have to work, yet still have enough money to go away then lucky you!

But for those who grind away for a living, there are ways around a busy work life that can create time to satisfy anyone’s wanderlust.

Here are five of them.

Why not escape the monotony of the office and take a flight somewhere? Well, you can if you organise your time.

1) Use holiday days

This may seems like an obvious one, but if you want to go away then you can use some of the holidays you should be entitled to.

Heck, you could even use them all. Some people take days off to go shopping, or to attend to other commitments, like meeting with a financial advisor or decorating the house. Why not try and fit those things in around work and your normal days off, and use your holidays exclusively for travel purposes?

2) Take unpaid leave

I get it. The main reason for most jobs is the pay check that comes at the end of every month. Money is precious, but so is enjoying life and its experiences.

So you could take unpaid leave. Even if just for a day or two, talk to your boss and see if they can arrange for you to take days off without pay.

Some companies may also offer a ‘career break,’ which essentially allows you to take an elongated period of absence, whilst allowing you to return to work at the end of it all. This could be good if you plan on taking off big chunk of time, say to travel to south-east Asia or Oceania.

3) Have consecutive days off

It’s highly unlikely that many people work seven days a week throughout the 52 weeks of the year. A lot of people will work no more than five days out of seven, allowing at least 48 hours to take a short break away.

People working ever-changing rotas can take full advantage of this, and if you plan ahead you could always ask your manager well in advance to give you days off together. This way you don’t burn up any holiday dates, nor lose out on any money.

If working hours are set ones, then you could try and get consecutive days off by requesting them, or even travel late one day after work and/or come back on the morning or afternoon following your usual day off. As long as it doesn’t overlap with the job, of course!

4) Swap shifts with a co-worker

Doing favours for work colleagues if they need you to do so is a good idea, so that they will be more likely repay you in kind later on.

If you can’t get consecutive days off, then you could always swap shifts with a co-worker. Perhaps you work Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. You could then swap to work Saturday instead, and suddenly days off Sunday and Monday open up for a travel opportunity.

It’s also important to reciprocate throughout the year so that when you come to ask a favour, you’ll be held in high enough regard for them to be happy to swap.

5) Cut your hours down

This will be easier said (or written) than done, but if you feel like you can afford to drop some hours to open up your schedule a little more, then why not?

Even if it’s just a couple of hours or a day a week, that time can be utilised to go gallivanting off to wherever you want.

If you don’t think that cutting hours is feasible, then why don’t you take a look at my tips to make travel more affordable? That way you can make the most out of your potentially reduced pay.