Will Hatton, the man behind The Broke Backpacker, has been on the road for nine years, visiting far-flung lands and travelling on a budget. He is currently on a four year journey from the UK to Papua New Guinea, but we managed to catch up with him and as part of our gap year series, he’s given us his top tips for travelling the world without worries and without breaking the bank.
If you are hitting the road on a really tight budget, you need to cut down your basic costs so that you can spend your money on what counts – nutrition and fun!
When I first hit the road, I did so with a couple of hundred bucks and a battered tent to keep me company. I camped all across Europe, in India, in Africa, in Central and South America, in The Philippines, Myanmar, Japan, Bhutan and Iran. I love camping and, best of all, it’s free. You simply rock up somewhere and pitch your tent, throw some beans on your stove and watch the sun go down. Whilst hostelling is a fantastic experience in itself, camping allows you to reconnect with nature, to disconnect from social media and to learn some handy wilderness tools to boot. Picking up a decent tent was the best investment I ever made and has saved me tens of thousands of dollars over the last ten years.
The view from my tent on the Deosai Plains, the world’s second highest plateau, in Pakistan.
When I’m not camping, I often find a local host on Couchsurfing. This is also free and is a fantastic way to land in a new town with a social life, your host will often be up for showing you around and taking you to places that many other travellers may miss. Some of my greatest adventures have been thanks to my Couchsurfing hosts. When you have a place of your own, don’t forget to give back to the community and host any travellers who may be passing through.
The thought of hitching a ride with a stranger can be pretty intimidating! The first time I stuck my thumb out by the side of the road, I was pretty damn nervous. Years later and I’ve hitchhiked across all of Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Nepal and most of South East Asia. I have had some truly incredible adventures through hitchhiking and saved a ton of money as well. If you are brand new to hitchhiking, pick up a copy of Kerouac’s ‘On the Road’ for some epic inspiration.
Hitchhiking in Iran
Whilst hitchhiking does carry some risk, pretty much everything you do on the road has an element of risk. Risk management is the name of the game and you can keep yourself safe by trusting your gut and, where possible, hitchhiking with a buddy. Many countries, like India, offer extremely affordable transport for their citizens and you can traverse the whole country with ease and on the cheap – the trick is to avoid the ‘luxury’ bus and train services offered to tourists to keep your transport costs down.
Avoid plush tourist restaurants, which are often owned by international corporations, and instead focus on spending your dollars where they count – with local people. Local food is cheap, so you’ll save your pennies, and most importantly of all you will be contributing to the local economy on a grassroots level. When picking a place to eat – try to find somewhere that’s busy with local people; you can bet your bottom dollar that food here will be delicious!
If you are travelling on a budget long term, you can easily pick up a travel job on the road. Whether it’s working behind a hostel bar or helping out in an organic farm, these are a great way to save a bit of money and slash your costs whilst also meeting some cool people and putting down some roots for a while. There’s a ton of volunteering placement companies online although a lot of them are evil, for profit, companies that will actually charge you hundreds of dollars for the privilege of volunteering. To find free volunteering placements, check out Workaway.
In many countries, the asking price is not the real price and smart backpackers learn pretty quickly that you need to haggle if you are travelling on a budget, especially travelling through countries like India. You can haggle for pretty much everything – rooms, transport, food – and whilst it’s important to tread the line properly and not screw locals out of profit, it is equally important that you remain assertive and do not let people take advantage of you. In some countries, locals will try to charge simply exhorbitant amounts of money for the most basic of things simply because they percieve you to be rich and stupid, don’t fall into the trap! When haggling it’s important to play it cool, act like you don’t really need whatever you want to buy, to be polite at all times and joke around a little bit – this makes it a much more friendly experience and you can find a price that works for both you and the seller. My most important tip though is don’t flash your cash – I always hide my money in a specially made travel security belt and this is WAY better than a moneybelt or a wallet, keep your money safe and haggle for fun on the road, you’ll save a ton!
Wherever you are headed on your next adventure, good luck!
We hope you enjoyed our travelling on a budget post from Will, enter our Lights, Camera, Backpack competition to win your ultimate gap year experience!
