How I traveled GOA for 30 days in just the cost of a 4-day vacation

Who doesn’t have a dream of traveling the world without worrying about expenses?

I dreamed it and now making it reality.

I am not rich yet, but I became a smart traveler.

I decoded how to travel for a longer duration in the same budget that we spend on short vacations.

short vacations are hectic and no fun

Short vacations are more like a punishment than a pleasure.

I remember how painful were my vacations a few years back.

I booked a 4day/3night trip, and boarded the flight in the afternoon (or early morning); I did not want to waste my precious first day of vacation, so I always planned my days with a hectic schedule of visiting each and every popular location on destination city.

The result? All I did on vacation was…

• tried to touch all popular places (to checkin on Facebook)
• do all activities in the town (fear of missing something that my friends enjoyed)
• not to miss any chance of clicking photos (to upload on Facebook)

I came back from location with a tired face rather than fresh. It was like if I was on a photography assignment and there was a penalty of missing any popular place.

All my vacation was for Facebook. No Fun. Not a good way of spending time and money on a vacation.

I dumped the idea of short vacations.

I wanted a long vacation but neither I had leave nor I did I have the money. 

I learned the new way of enjoying a vacation with my trip to Goa last year.

Let’s see how much it costs for a typical 4-day vacation (for a small family of three) in a beautiful destination like Goa from a city like Delhi.

Air fare in economic airline = 3 * 4000 * both ways = 24,000
Taxi required to/from Airport = 4 * 500 = 2000
Accommodation for three nights in 3-star hotel = 3 * 4000 = 12,000
Lunch & Dinner expenses for six meals over 4 days = 6 * 1000 = 6000
Shopping and other activities = 5000

An expense of about 45K to 50K for a family of 3

When I tell someone that I am on vacation in Goa for a month long duration, the first thing that came into mind is — “From where he is getting so much money to waste on a long vacation”.

You will be surprised to know that I am poorer than the average Indian IT guy because I am earning less than what I was earning two years back in my IT job. 

Here are the expenses that incurred on my travel to Goa

Going to Goa by Train = 2 * 2200 = 4400
Coming back by Air = 3 * 4500 = 13,500
Accommodation for 4 weeks through AirBnB= 20,500
All other expenses = 19,291

Total Expenses = 57,691

Here is snapshot of my expense tracking app

Wait, wait.. here are some savings also.. we bypassed some expenses that would have occurred had we stayed at home.

Electricity = 3000
Fuel/Travel = 4000
Groceries = 10,000
Savings of total — 17,000

Effective cost of our trip is 40,000.. cool, it’s even cheaper than our last trip that lasted just for 4-days and 3-nights (effectively 2 days of enjoyment and 2 days of hassle)

Key Learnings for hacking a travel in India

1. Book AirBnb rather than hotel if you are planning a long vacation. 
2. Don’t book a package online but make your own travel plans
3. Get ‘Work From Home’ if you can not get long leaves (or Learn how to earn money with leaving your job)
4. Combine train & air travel to save a lot of money (depends where you are traveling)
5. Cook your own food at long vacation (find apartment with kitchen on AirBnb)
6. Long vacation means keep working and enjoying the stay. A balance mix of work & enjoy.

To repeat my long vacation experience, I am staying in Thailand for 50 days now.

We are spending almost the entire summer vacations in a pleasant place because we wanted to avoid the heat of Indian summer. Actually that is the purpose of summer vacations in Schools.

But most people don’t think about spending peak summers in cool places. The first obstacle is job and second is money.

I solved both issues by working on assignments that can be done from any location. 

[Pic clicked right now – I happen to be wearing my rodinhood tee :-)]

I will share more about managing foreign travel trips in pocket friendly budget.

The post was originally Published on CashOverflow

You can reach out to me at my email pardeep[at]cashoverflow.in or via Twitter