My Journey: Funding Adventures in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia with Cash

My Journey: Funding Adventures in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia with Cash

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to travel to Singapore to visit her friend and her friend’s husband. We thought it would be a fantastic way to see a part of the world we hadn’t explored before. Besides Singapore, we wanted to visit Hong Kong, a place I’ve always wanted to go. However, we didn’t want to go into debt to make this trip happen, so we created a plan to travel debt-free.

The Countdown Fund

Our plan revolved around what I call a countdown fund. You decide how much money you need for your trip, then divide that total by the number of months until your departure. You then save that amount each month into a separate bank account or a dedicated envelope if you’re using a cash envelope system.

For our trip, we needed about $7,200 and planned to travel in two years. So, we set a goal to save $300 a month for two years, which required a lot of planning and discipline. After two years, we had the necessary funds and were able to go on our trip without incurring any debt.

During the trip, we also paid in cash for all our expenses like food, tourist attractions, and other activities. Though using cash can be expensive due to currency conversion and ATM fees, my Schwab brokerage account reimbursed ATM fees, which helped us save. We withdrew $300 to $400 every few days in local currency, taking advantage of favorable conversion rates through Schwab. It’s beneficial to look out for accounts that can help you save on international travel costs.

How We Saved the Money

To fund trips like this, you need to have extra money each month. We managed this in two ways. First, we kept our monthly expenses low by canceling cable TV, limiting our entertainment budget, and eating out less. However, it was our side hustles that significantly boosted our savings.

I took a second job delivering pizzas and did some freelance writing. Kim contributed by selling unused or unwanted items from our house on eBay and Craigslist. All the money from these side gigs went straight into our countdown fund.

Another crucial step was paying off all our consumer debt. Before saving for the trip, we had $52,000 in consumer debt, a surprise to both of us just after getting married. We didn’t want to spend our lives struggling with debt, so we made a plan to pay it off fast. Using the same strategies for our vacation fund, we worked hard and paid off the entire $52,000 in 18 months. We made significant sacrifices, like selling our newer cars and buying quality used ones with the leftover cash after paying off the car loans. These were tough decisions, but they paid off. Paying off our consumer debt freed up more money for our vacation fund. We’re still consumer debt-free, and we’ll have our mortgage paid off soon. Being completely debt-free will allow us to save more for future dream vacations.

Well Worth the Effort

While in Singapore, we decided to explore nearby countries. We visited Indonesia and were amazed by its forests and wildlife. We even went on a river excursion, seeing monkeys hopping from tree to tree and snakes hanging above us – experiences quite different from our daily life back home.

The trip was absolutely worth all the planning, extra work, and sacrifices. If you want to travel more, I hope our story encourages you to start planning now. This way, you can enjoy all the wonderful experiences the world has to offer sooner rather than later.