How I Prepared for a Year of Backpacking
I wrote this post in December 2017 and have updated it since then. I’ve also added new related content, including:
The only packing list you’ll ever need for a big trip | Lessons learned six months in
Comment here or send me a note if you have further questions or topic ideas!
If we know each other in real life, and you’ve had the chance to ask me about my trip, I’d take any odds that you’ve asked me one or more of the following questions:
- Where are you going?
- Why are you going there?
- How much are you going to spend?
I am nothing if not full of answers (often overconfidently so), but I have to tell you: I don’t have many specifics for you. I knew I wanted to go on this trip for almost a full year before leaving, but somehow real life + my own principles for this kind of adventure kept my plans even looser than I’d thought they’d be.
I will try to tell you how I approached at least the broad arcs of my trip:
First: some overarching principles. When I decided I wanted to do this trip and set my goals for it, I came up with a few guiding principles for how I’d think about all of the logistics & planning:
1. Maximize for flexibility.
Don’t lock down all the details ahead of time. Give myself time to explore, to make last-minute decisions, to know what I don’t know about a place and let myself slowly discover it.
This goes for budgeting, too—come up with a general sense of how much I should be spending, but give myself enough buffer to make choices as I go
2. Do plan a general sketch of places I’d like to make it to.
I did this both to make sure I didn’t accidentally spend my entire year in one place and to make it easier to plan meet-ups with friends who want to visit.
And now, a few common questions and the answers I have for you:
How did you pick where you were going?
I knew I wanted to go somewhere far away, somewhere that would be difficult to visit later in life during a long weekend or a week-long holiday. That disqualified Europe and North America; almost everywhere else was fair game.
I didn’t want to go somewhere, at least not first, where everyone spoke English. I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, and part of that meant not being able to speak my native language all the time. That meant Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa were out at first. (Editor’s note: I did make it to New Zealand, though I can’t recommend it.)
I needed to be somewhere that was relatively affordable—somewhere I could survive on $50/day or, ideally, much less. That meant no Japan or Korea.
I was then weighing the relative benefits of India, southeast Asia, and South America. SE Asia seemed wildly overdone as a backpacking / gap year / reflecting journey circuit, India seemed like too much of a change in every way (language, climate, food, infrastructure), and South America seemed Goldilocks perfect: an affordable place with beautiful nature, fascinating history, and a language I could eke out conversations in.
So to South America we go!
Where are you going?
Specifically, I plan on visiting Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Columbia, in roughly that order, for roughly a month each.
Those are the countries with non-prohibitive entry requirements for Americans (Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay all have entry fees of $130+ and lengthy visa processes—I may still visit those, but didn’t want to invest in them just yet, considering how many other places I want to see).
(Editor’s note: I did end up making to Brazil, actually, with Diego in tow; I went when they’d dropped the visa to $40, though they just made it free recently. Damn.)
No, but specifically, where are you going?
I don’t know yet! I have a Google doc full of research and recommendations and a Lonely Planet guide to South America tucked into my pack, and while I hope to visit some of the places I’ve been reading about, I don’t have a set itinerary.
I’m excited to build it as I go—to have the freedom to meet people and link up with them, to stay longer somewhere because I feel like it, to seize opportunities as they come up.
How long will you be gone?
To be determined. I initially thought I’d travel for a year (and I still might), but then revised my commitment to 6 months. That should give me enough time to travel slowly through the countries I’ve chosen, to go through some highs and some lows, and to step back and reflect on what I’m learning and what I want to do next.
After those 6 months, I may decide to stay in South America, to head to a new place and keep exploring, or to head back to the States.
(Editor’s note: I very much stayed. I moved to Buenos Aires and kept exploring from there, and then decided on another year of exploration.)
How much did you save / how did you save that much?
When I started sketching out what I’d need to make this trip a reality, money was a big part of it. I started with my goals:
1) be able to travel for a year comfortably (not living in style but able to indulge in good food + fun excursions) and
2) be able to easily reintegrate back into the life I have now (have enough to find an apartment / car / wardrobe / job etc. when I come back).
For my first goal, a year of traveling, I figured I’d want $25,000: ~$4,000 for upfront costs (flights, health insurance, equipment) + ~$18,000 for a year of $50/day traveling (should be less everywhere but Chile) + ~$3,000 for a few bigger trips / investments (i.e. flights to Patagonia or a visit to Machu Picchu).
For my second goal, easy reentry back into my current standard of living, I earmarked $20,000: enough money to move myself / my stuff back to wherever I settle next, a few months’ rent, any needed investments in clothing / transportation.
My financial goals post-grad had been:
1) pay off debt ASAP,
2) max out my 401k annually, and
3) make good choices with what’s left,
and once I had achieved goal 1, I put the money that had been going to Nelnet every month into a separate savings account as to not lose the habit. I didn’t know what it was going to be for, yet, but I was remembering something my dad often says (“What is money? Choices.”) and optimizing for having the maximum amount of choices. When, in January 2017, I realized I wanted to travel in 2018, I had a purpose for that money. I kept adding to it through all of 2017, and at the end of the year, as my bonus check hit my direct deposit, I met my goal.
So there we are! Some answers to some questions. Have more? Send them my way!