Trip Budget Planner

How to plan a trip budget

1. Choose the currency and enter the number of travellers and days.
2. Tap Add cost for each expense. Pick a category, describe it and enter the estimated amount for the whole group.
3. Read the summary: the estimated total, the cost per person, the cost per day and the cost per person per day.
4. While you travel, fill in the actual amount beside each estimate to see whether you are ahead or behind.

What to include

The planner has nine categories, and the ones people forget are usually the small, repeated ones.

• Travel and flights — tickets, baggage fees, seat selection, airport transfers at both ends.
• Fuel — for a road trip, work it out with the Fuel Cost Calculator and add tolls and parking.
• Accommodation — room rate multiplied by nights, plus taxes and any resort or cleaning fee.
• Food and drink — three meals a day per person adds up faster than any other line.
• Activities and sightseeing — entry tickets, guides, equipment hire.
• Local transport — taxis, metro passes, scooter or car hire.
• Shopping, visa and insurance, and miscellaneous — SIM cards, tips, laundry, medicine.

Why per person and per day are the useful numbers

A total on its own is hard to judge. Dividing it tells you two things. Per person is what each traveller needs to bring or transfer, and it is the fair figure to quote when you invite someone along. Per day lets you compare options of different lengths: five days at ₹6,000 a day costs less than four days at ₹8,000, even though it is the longer holiday.

Per person, per day is the figure to use as a spending limit while you are away. If the plan says ₹2,500 and you have spent ₹4,000 by lunchtime, you know to ease off without doing any arithmetic.

Keeping the budget realistic

• Add a buffer. Ten to fifteen percent on top of the estimate covers the things nobody plans for. Put it in as its own line under Miscellaneous so that it is visible.
• Separate fixed from flexible. Flights and rooms are fixed once booked. Food, shopping and activities are where you can cut if the total is too high.
• Check exchange costs. Card fees and poor airport exchange rates can quietly add two to four percent abroad.
• Export a CSV before a long trip. The budget is saved only in this browser, and a file is a backup you can open in any spreadsheet.

When several people pay for different things during the trip, record who paid in the Expense Splitter to settle up at the end.