How Much Do You Need to Save for Your Trip?
Last updated: August 2026 | Tom Solo Travels
Most people need to save between £20 and £70 a week to fund a solo trip, depending on the destination and how far away the departure date is. A two-week budget trip to Thailand needs around £19 a week saved over six months, while a three-month Southeast Asia trip needs closer to £104 a week over the same period. The calculator below gives you your exact number – enter your trip cost, departure date and what you have saved so far, and it builds a weekly savings plan with milestone dates and an honest feasibility check.
I built this because “just save more” is useless advice. When I was saving for my own long trips, the thing that actually worked was a specific weekly number and a date – so that is exactly what this tool gives you.
Trip Savings Calculator
Enter your trip cost, departure date and what you've saved so far - get your weekly savings target, milestone dates and an honest feasibility check.
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A planning guide, not financial advice. Rates are daily mid-market reference rates - budget a few percent extra for card and exchange fees. Figures assume a steady saving pace. Trip cost estimates come from the Solo Travel Budget Calculator, built from real on-the-ground costs across 20+ countries.
Trip savings at a glance
Saving for solo travel comes down to three numbers: your trip cost, your weeks until departure, and what is left after dividing one by the other. Here is what common trips look like as weekly savings targets, using the same verified daily costs as the Tom Solo Travels Budget Calculator (all figures in GBP, before flights):
| Trip | Est. total cost | Saving over 6 months | Saving over 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks in Thailand (budget) | £504 | £19/week | £10/week |
| 1 month in Vietnam (budget) | £780 | £30/week | £15/week |
| 2 weeks in Portugal (mid-range) | £1,806 | £69/week | £35/week |
| 3 months across Southeast Asia (budget) | £2,700 | £104/week | £52/week |
Two things stand out from the table. First, time is your biggest lever – doubling your savings window halves your weekly target, which is why starting a vague savings habit today beats starting a perfect one in three months. Second, the weekly numbers are smaller than most people expect: a month in Vietnam costs roughly one takeaway coffee a day, saved for a year.
Add your own flight estimate on top – flights depend entirely on where you fly from, which is why the calculator keeps them as a separate field rather than pretending to know your airport.
How does the Trip Savings Calculator work?
The calculator takes four inputs – your total trip cost, what you have saved so far, your departure date, and what you can realistically put aside each week or month – and turns them into a plan. It shows the amount you still need, the weekly and monthly savings required to hit your departure date, and the exact dates you will pass 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of your target at your current pace.
It also gives you an honest status. If your saving pace covers the plan, you are on track. If you are within about 15% of the required pace, it flags a small stretch. If the numbers do not work, it says so – and the fix is always one of three things: push the date back, trim the trip cost, or raise the weekly amount.
If you do not know your trip cost yet, start with the Solo Travel Budget Calculator, which estimates real daily costs for all 195 countries across three travel styles, then bring the total here.
Which currencies does the calculator support?
Over 160 currencies, converted automatically using daily mid-market reference rates. Pick your currency from the dropdown – pounds, dollars, euros, Thai baht, Vietnamese dong, Philippine pesos and everything in between – and every figure in your plan converts together, including the milestone amounts. Rates update once a day; the calculator shows the date they were last refreshed so you always know what you are looking at.
One honest caveat: mid-market rates are the “true” exchange rate you see on Google, not the rate your bank or an airport exchange desk gives you. Budget a few percent on top for card fees and spreads.
What is a realistic savings timeline for solo travel?
For most people saving from a normal salary, six to twelve months is the realistic window for a meaningful trip. Shorter than three months and the weekly numbers get painful for anything beyond a short city break; longer than eighteen months and motivation tends to fade before the departure date arrives.
A pattern I have seen work repeatedly – and used myself: pick a departure date first, even a provisional one. A date turns “I want to travel” into a deadline with a weekly number attached, and the calculator’s milestone dates give you checkpoints along the way. Hitting 25% is the hard part; after that, the habit does the work.
Frequently asked questions
As a rule of thumb: take your trip cost, divide by the months until departure, and add 10-15% as a buffer. For a typical solo trip that works out between £80 and £300 a month. A £780 month in Vietnam saved over six months is £130 a month; a £1,800 mid-range fortnight in Portugal over the same window is £300 a month. Enter your own numbers in the calculator above for an exact figure rather than a range.
At £50 a week, a one-month budget trip (around £780 before flights) takes about four months to save; a three-month trip (around £2,700) takes just over a year. Southeast Asia is one of the most forgiving regions to save for because daily costs are low – £20-36 a day covers hostels, street food and local transport in most of the region.
Not by default – flight prices depend almost entirely on your departure airport, so the calculator lets you add your own estimate to the trip cost instead of guessing. Search your route, add the fare to your total, and the weekly target updates to cover it.
You have three levers: push the departure date back, trim the trip cost, or raise your weekly amount. In practice the date is usually the easiest one – moving a trip eight weeks later can cut £15-20 off a weekly target. Trimming cost works too: dropping from mid-range to budget style roughly halves daily costs in most destinations.
The calculator uses daily mid-market reference rates – the same midpoint rate you see on Google or XE – refreshed once a day, with the update date shown under the currency dropdown. They are accurate for planning, but remember that banks and exchange services add a margin on top, so treat the converted figures as mid-market and budget a small buffer for fees.
Automate it. A standing order into a separate account on payday – before you can spend it – beats willpower every time. I use a dedicated “trip pot” so the balance maps directly onto the calculator’s milestones, and I move the money the morning I get paid. If the weekly target feels heavy, the FAQ above applies: more time, cheaper style, or find the money – in that order of ease.
Tom Solo Travels has been publishing solo travel guides, budgets and tools since 2019, built on real on-the-ground costs from 20+ countries. The Trip Savings Calculator is part of the free solo travel planning tools on tomsolotravels.com.