I’ve heard it, you’ve heard it—the world economy is going to hell in a handbasket, and all our money is going with it.

Whether you’re listening to the news, podcasts, money gurus on TikTok, or all of the above, many people are preaching posterity—stay in your job, save your salary, don’t make risky investments at the moment.

I’m not going against that advice—I trust financial experts more than I trust my limited knowledge of international markets. I figure that following this advice can only help—after all, what’s the worst that can happen? I’ve got more money saved for a rainy day, and it doesn’t rain?

But bigger picture, scaling back isn’t always possible and/or smart. I knew by the end of last year that this year would include a trip to Canada to see mine & my partner’s family, a wedding in Portugal at the end of the summer, and a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see Italy with a best friend.

I don’t want to limit myself, and look back on a year in my life where I said “no” to opportunities I won’t get again to see the world with people I love. But I also don’t want to go broke doing it, or put myself in a situation where I’ll be worse off. Travel is definitely a want, not a need. So how am I trying to be responsible with my money while I’m travelling?

Start with a budget. I feel so strongly about this that I’m including one here—it’s a basic template, but it has all the must-haves. First, I plan what I think I’ll spend. Before the trip, there will be many lines you can fill in right away; for example, you’ll have accommodation booked, a mode of transportation booked, and you might have already taken out money in the local currency before you go.

Look for discounts wherever you can. Sign up to email lists for percentages off hotel or airlines; use tools like Skyscanner and Google flights to figure out what days are cheapest to travel on. If you find a hotel you like, call them up and see if they’ll give you a better rate—it never hurts to ask!

There’s one thing I wouldn’t suggest, and that’s signing up for a high-interest credit card that promises lots of miles for a sign up. If you’re doing this for the long-term, I think it could be a smart idea—but if you’re doing it for an incoming trip, the offer they’ll give isn’t good enough to actually take you anywhere. Increasing your debt for a trip isn’t a good idea!

Research is a must. My favourite way to plan a trip is to make a mini-map in Google, and put pins all of the places I might like to check out. This is honestly—for a nerd like me—so much fun, and I might write a blog post about my process later. But doing this research means that I can get specific with costs. Some questions I ask myself include:

-Based on the restaurants I want to go to, how much should I expect to spend on food?

-How much will I use public transit? Is there a daily or weekly bus pass I can get? When does the service start and end—will there be any need to take taxis for late nights (like clubbing) or early morning events (like flower or flea markets)?

-What museums, walking tours, and exhibitions do I want to see? Will I need to get special tickets, and is it cheaper to book ahead of time?

-Who do I need to buy souvenirs for? What’s my budget for gifts?

Figuring out where your money will be going is a great way to estimate costs, and make it much less likely for unexpected costs to pop up.

Then—SAVE. You’ve got your budget, and you know what it will cost. If you can’t save the full amount, aim for having at least half of the total trip cost in your bank account before you go. You might tell yourself you’ll pay it off later if you put it on credit cards, but why give yourself that stress as soon as you arrive at home?

When I have my numbers, I give myself a “per diem”. Let’s say I’ve figured out that, on average, I’ll be spending £300 for 3 days in food, transportation and entertainment. That means that I’m not meant to go over £100/day. Just being aware of how much I’m spending helps me not go overboard—and even if I have an expensive day, where I go beyond my per diem, it means I’ll choose something the following day that isn’t too expensive.

Use a currency converter to curb overspending. It’s pretty easy to spend recklessly if you don’t know what the local currency is worth. Even if it’s just having Google up on your phone, double-check the price before you buy.

If you don’t speak the language spoken where you are and are trying to haggle, learn how to speak the numbers one through 10. This comes from a personal anecdote where I was trying to lower the price of items at a flea market, before I realized I was using the wrong numbers in Spanish. Haggling is hard, and it’s embarrassing to pay more than what you wanted because of a lack of knowledge. If all else fails, use your calculator to show the number you’re willing to pay.

When you come back home, fill out the budget. This step is important! I know that it’s boring. But recording the expenses is an important part of the process; recapping what you spent, and if you over- or under-estimated what the costs were, is so important. It means that next time you plan a trip, you’ll be more likely to accurately predict your spending habits.

Will you be travelling this year? How do you think an upcoming recession will impact on travel & tourism? Would you consider using my travel budget? Let me know in the comments—and as always, happy travels!