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Taking a gap year is a fantastic opportunity to explore the world and discover fascinating countries and cultures. While you can have fun deciding where you go and what you do, unfortunately you also have to do the less exciting task of working out how you’re going to afford it! Budgeting for your gap year properly can help you make the most of your trip. There’s nothing worse than running out of cash halfway through your gap year and having to make an embarrassing phone call home to your friends and family!

Below our some good tips on how to budget for a gap year abroad that will save you from stressing about cash flow:

Work out how much you’ll need

Sounds obvious, but if you already know some of the costs involved then you can add them up and work out a rough budget for your gap year. Start with the biggest expenses (usually flights) and work your way through everything else until you have an idea of what you’ll be spending day-to-day. Research the average cost of accommodation in each destination as well as rough prices for local food and attractions, including any ‘must-see’ activities – you won’t enjoy your gap year travel half as much if you miss out on all the best experiences! Of course, you can’t account for everything and there are certain to be unexpected costs, but at least if you have a target budget then you’ve got something to work to. If you’re halfway into your budget within the first week of your gap year then you know you’re going to have to start cutting back!

Spend wisely before you go

No one travels half way around the world without first buying some travel essentials. The trick is to limit yourself to exactly that: essentials. This will include visas and vaccinations, as well as travel insurance, which in itself can save you huge amounts of money if you get into trouble. Most other things are optional so make sure that if you buy something you’re going to use it and it will last further than the first bus journey! Buying a good quality backpack is a good start, but don’t go overboard buying travel kit. Spending too much before you go could blow your budget and anyway, it’s always best to travel light!

Get saving!

Carte Maps are a combination of travel guide, city map and piece of art: The concept is simple: Imagine you had a local friend in exciting cities all over the world. Not only does this friend provide you with the most important information about your city, he or she has also revealed the city’s best-kept insider tips by writing them on a beautiful hand-drawn map.

A la Carte Maps come in a handy format (42x70cm) and can easily be folded to 10x21cm. All maps are made of high-quality material and are additionally matt-laminated which makes them moisture-resistant and durable. This goes “back to the roots” as everyone nowadays focuses on mobile internet/iPhone Applications. All the maps are designed by talented young artists trying to capture the spirit of the city making each map unique in its appearance.

All the maps are designed by talented young artists trying to capture the spirit of the city making each map unique in its appearance: London, Munich, Vienna, Zürich, Barcelona, Paris, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Vancouver, Washington, and San Francisco.

Would you like to hang out with some “neighbourhood uncles” in an authentic

 Singaporean coffeeshop?

Where can you find the most beautiful, customized Guayaberas in Miami?

Want to go on a “Tour de Chocolate Cake” in Shanghai?

Have you ever thought about going to a cemetery in Zurich for educational reasons?
How about joining an extraordinary dinner, where 50 strangers from all over the world meet every Sunday in the City of Lights − Paris?

A la Carte Maps aims at “flashpackers” – backpackers that love to journey in style. Flashpackers don’t backpack because they have to, but because they want to. They don’t have a fixed itinerary, love the uncommon and are not afraid of the unknown. Instead, flashpackers seek an authentic travel experience off the beaten track: Wherever they go, they never go there as “tourists”.

Imagine you had a local friend in exciting cities all over the world. Not only does this friend provide you with the most important information about your city, he or she has also revealed the city’s best-kept insider tips by writing them on a beautiful hand-drawn map.Imagine yourself relaxing, kicking back and saving time for the most important things in life. No more browsing the internet for days. No more carrying heavy guidebooks. No more circle-drawing on ugly maps. No more worrying, as your new friend now worries about gathering the best ideas to make your visit unforgettable. A succinct summary of the city’s not-to-be-missed’s is already on its way to you… while you’re still sleeping.

If you have the time and leisure to travel, there are many fascinating alternatives to the traditional package tour. You can plan a culinary vacation for example, where food and wine is the major factor in choosing your travel destination. The experience may cover attending a food or wine festival, visiting farmers’ markets, sampling artisan products or driving through a food or wine area with tasting along the way.

Cruise ships have been famous for their eight meals a day and now a number of them offer cooking classes taught on board associated with the ships gourmet restaurant, with top chefs giving demonstrations of their culinary skills. In Italy and France, residential cooking schools are often held in lovely old villas in the countryside, with side trips around the local farms in cheese and wine-producing areas.

The urge to do something different and have a new skill or marketable talent to show for it, provides a new twist when planning to travel. Someone who has taken this to a whole different level is the treasure hunter, Stan Grist. Visit Stan’s website to get his secrets to traveling with a purpose, to discover treasure in new lands and take it from a hobby to an all-absorbing way of life.

He is happy to share his online guide, “Creating Wealth Through Adventure with the Stan Grist System”, to whet your appetite for adventure, discovery and treasure hunting. He gives the adventurous traveler an enormous amount of detailed advice, for example, he explains how gold diggers can start their own gold rush and cash in on the current high gold prices. He reveals in his Ecuador Gold Report how he discovered millions of ounces of Inca gold. If you are inspired by his enthusiasm to take up treasure hunting and exploration you will find on his site special resources, training courses, treasure guides, out of print adventure ebooks and report packages created to help you. All of this unique valuable information is not available anywhere else and is based on Stan’s lifetime of experience.

Stan’s website also details adventures you can experience as well as the pursuit of gold, such as hunting for raw diamonds, lost cities, buried treasure, ancient tunnels, sunken galleons, meteors, unexplained mysteries, and unknown animals (cryptozoology). You can find out more through online research if this level of exciting adventure stirs your imagination.

Darjeeling, a hill station located in West Bengal, widely renowned for its tea estates and the extremely fragrant Darjeeling tea enjoys massive popularity among both the Indian as well as the foreign tourist circle. However, of late, a new aspect of Darjeeling, previously unknown has been luring a new breed of tourists to the region. This new-found aspect of Darjeeling is its adventure sports activities that are attracting adventure lovers from all over the world. With the mountainous terrain of the region increasing the risk factor, the more thrilling do the adventure activities get.

Some of the adventure activities offered in the region include trekking, camping, kayaking, canoeing, mountaineering, hang gliding, ballooning, river rafting, archery and more.

The most popular adventure activity of Darjeeling by far is trekking, and the most popular trek route is probably the one that goes through the Singalila range. An advantage of trekking in Darjeeling is that tourist cannot only enjoy the thrill of the trek but also marvel at the natural beauty of the place.

For tourists interested in aerial sports, the cliffs, valleys and hills provide the ideal place for trying out activities such as hang gliding and ballooning. The local terrain of Darjeeling adds to the thrill of these activities making it even more exciting for adrenaline junkies.

Besides aerial sports, water sport like river rafting is another activity that can be thoroughly enjoyed out here. The strong current and deep gorges of River Teesta provide the perfect setting for an exciting experience. For canoeing and kayaking tourists have to head to Mirik, a couple of an hour ride from Darjeeling as the lake, there is best suited for these kinds of activity.

Mountain Biking, probably one of the most loved activities of adventure enthusiasts can also be enjoyed to the hilt out here. However, if you want a little more adventure a biking trip from Martam to Gangtok in Sikkim passing through Rumtek Monastery on the way is probably what you are looking for.

Darjeeling also offers an exciting site for rock climbing enthusiasts. The Himalayan Mountaineering Institute should be the destination that every rock climbing enthusiast should head to.

Besides that you can also enjoy elephant rides at Jaldapara and also check out Bengal Tigers and one horned rhinoceros.