Diary 20. Buying Happiness
When we see other blogs of people travelling, they seem to be fortunate enough to be able to work online while they're away, which funds their trip. Granted, they don't have as much freedom as we do, but they have a constant income stream- a luxury we don't have. We've given up our jobs and are funding our entire trip from the profit we made selling our flat. For that reason, we planned on following a strict budget so that we could see as many places as possible in the time that we had allowed. To calculate what we can spend each week, we divided the amount of money we have allocated to the trip (£4500) by the amount of weeks that we could be away (36). That gave us an average weekly allowance of £125 that we record on a spreadsheet. Food and diesel consume most of the budget, only allowing us around £20 per week for leisure activities, which we consider to include eating out.
For the first month or so, when we were enjoying the novelty of van life, that worked great. We were sticking to the budget as planned and didn't need to spend much money as most of the time we were camping in the middle of nowhere anyway. However, at times we would wander around a city and pretty much observe the architecture and the vibe, resisting the urge to buy anything from a restaurant or bar.
Then boredom and reality started to sink in. We were catching cabin fever, missing home comforts, and getting bored of just walking and observing. It started to feel like we were just surviving - "getting by" - which is exactly the feeling from home that we wanted to escape, only this time we're in a different location every day and we smell worse than normal.
On a wall in our van are post cards and paper souvenirs that we're collecting from the cities we visit. This week we realised the places that mean most are the ones we have a souvenir of, which represent an experience. Like the label from a bottle of wine we bought in the Bordeaux vineyard, or the Polaroid photo we had taken by our new friends we met in Salamanca, or the paper fan we picked up at the Pride Festival in Badajoz.
We enjoyed these places so much more because we actually did something or met someone. Most of the time that involves spending money, but it doesn't have to be much. In Cáceres we stopped to have a beer in a nice looking bar where it was interesting to observe the other locals, taste a strange beer I have never heard of, and soak up the sun (something we've not seen much of so far). It cost €6 and was the first time that I actually felt like we're on holiday. I think we keep forgetting that's what this is - a glorious, once-in-a-life-time, very long holiday.
What's the point of making all these sacrifices and driving all these miles if we don't enjoy what we're doing, just because we're being money conscious, living how we would normally? It's money we've set aside for spending anyway!
So, the leisure part of the budget is out of the window. We can still be sensible with our weekly food shop and where we buy diesel, but if we fancy eating out or doing an activity, then do it we shall! If it means we don't travel as far or have to come back sooner, fine. I'd rather have a shorter richer experience than be away longer and not think much of it. If we're only away 3 months instead of 8, we'd have still seen more than most.
It probably seems so obvious, but our old habits were stuck in our heads, thinking we needed to be able to survive for the rest of the year, forgetting that we can come home whenever we like and that this is supposed to be a break. We've been living this way for almost 2 weeks now, and our weekly spending has dramatically gone up (mostly due to celebrating J's birthday) but we're feeling much happier and enjoying ourselves more, which is what matters most!
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