I will be visiting the United Kingdom in the Spring of 2013 as a well-deserved treat for myself. I won’t be handing out birthday party invitations that time as I would be gone for a two-week backpacking trip to England, Scotland and Wales. That’s roughly two years from now but just enough time for me to REALLY save up. (Year 2012 is London Olympics, not ideal for a budget trip with prices expected to shoot to the roof with the influx of tourists from all over. And spring is usually the best time to go budget-wise.)
The best thing about this trip is knowing that I can maximize my budget up to a certain extent. Let’s see what I can make out of P100,000.
To travel across the UK, less Northern Ireland, I would need at least P120k (or 1,700 GBP) including miscellaneous expenses. If a trip to Belfast is included, I might end up spending a night or two in a train station. If I’m going to be bent on saving more, I might as well consider cutting my hostel expenditures by staying in my cousin’s place in Chessington and spend an hour of train-ride to central London. I might also stay in a friend’s place in Manchester on my way to Liverpool and Glasgow.
Overall, I am not sure if this is already the ideal budget trip. Anyway, I’ve got a year and a half to figure it out.
Reading through the articles in Lonely Planet website inspired me to go and see the rest of the world. Being able to travel is an admirable thing to do. Life is too short and it would be quite sad knowing that nothing much has been done to change the routine I grew up in.
So I will change some things the way I run my life. I will let go of certain attachments that keep me from doing what I should have done a long time ago – be my own person. It would be this year’s ultimate decision.
1. Get my own place. Somewhere near the workplace and everything else – mall, market, etc. While it would be a temporary set-up (I’ll be renting a small room), it would allow me to save more time, energy and money.
2. Buy a property in the city in two years time and live in there. Part of the plan is to make that property self-liquidating. I will lease out studio units. The income it will make goes to the mortgage. That covers my rent too.
3. If I already have money to burn, visit a foreign destination every year. Like Eastern Europe! There’s so much about those former Soviet countries that is mysterious, quiet and reserved. Like the Bran Castle in Romania. (Creepy.)
4. Keep healthy. I am starting feel my immune system is getting weaker. I easily catch cold and have fever almost on a monthly basis. I need to find out what natural anti aging product or other sort of treatment I would need.
Should done these things in 2-3 years. I guess that would be a reasonable amount of time.
This Irish landscape may not be really different from what we've got here in Batanes. Except for the cold climate, an Irish accent and bagpipers of course.
The idea surfaced last night when my superior and I spoke about our travels in the past. She has traveled so much while I am just beginning to really enjoy it after seeing England, lived there for quite some time and proved to myself that the earth is indeed round. She is excited to see London and do backpacking trips all across the United Kingdom and Europe. I am not really sure how I would fare as backpacker in Europe but I think I have better chances of surviving there than in China where the locales do not speak English or other places where terrorists thrive and rule.
I haven’t really tried backpacking. I got used to being treated like a queen on several trips I made. Airconditioned rooms with comfortable beds, hot and cold shower, itinerary for the day, and delicious meals were taken care of by someone else. I just have to bring my luggage and get on the bus. It’s zero inconvenience. Purely leisure but less adventure.
Backpacking is something out-of-the-box fear factor type of adventure that may not really sound so enticing at first. It is more than just budgeting and planning but getting myself prepared to face the unknown. But I am excited at the prospect of walking on those less-traveled roads, seeing more places and learning more about the people and their cultures and tell you all about it while I still can. A European backpack tour may sound complicated for now due extensive Shengen visa requirements for a member of the Third World – bank account that would sustain you during the entire trip, certificate of employment, invitation letter, etc. So I guess I’ve got to start somewhere here right at my own turf and go back to London few years from now. After all, I still have Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to cover.
