Making Travel a Financial Priority with Guest Danielle Desir

Do you make travel a financial priority?

Danielle Desir takes this idea so seriously that she treats saving for travel like paying a bill. A portion of every paycheck automatically gets put into a special savings account exclusively for travel.

“So similar to your cell phone bill, your gym subscriptions, all the other things that you pay for on a monthly basis, travel is right up there with all of those things for me. It's something that has to get done, which is why I automate it.”

Danielle Desir is the author of several travel books, including Affording Travel and Traveling with a Full-Time Job, and she hosts the Thought Card, a podcast and blog about affordable travel and personal finance.

“I wanted to study abroad. And when I looked into the financial aid package, it wouldn't cover it. I made a promise to myself that the first trip I would take as soon as I got a job would be to Paris. So, after a year of working and starting off sma… — “I wanted to study abroad. And when I looked into the financial aid package, it wouldn't cover it. I made a promise to myself that the first trip I would take as soon as I got a job would be to Paris. So, after a year of working and starting off small at $25 every paycheck, I was able to get myself to Paris and I even added on a day trip to Brussels.” All photos in this article courtesy of Danielle, seen here in Barcelona.

She’s so financially savvy that she managed to pay off $63,000 of student loan debt in just four years while still managing to travel (and she works for a university, not some fancy pants Wall Street operation).

Danielle recently joined me on the Postcard Academy podcast to talk about making travel a financial priority. What I especially appreciate about our interview is that Danielle shares sound financial tips that got her through the Great Recession without being aggressively austere.

“Paying off your debt is not only emotionally draining, it's also a very slow process,” Danielle says. “So you have to have little milestones and things that you could look to.”

We can make smart financial decisions and still invest in experiences, like travel, that give our lives meaning.

I mentioned that Danielle gives some great financial tips in our episode together, but we are obviously not financial advisors, so talk with one of them if you want to seriously plan your money :)

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Danielle hosts the Thought Card, an affordable travel and personal finance blog and podcast. She also founded WOC Podcasters. On Podcasting Step by Step, I spoke with her about how the group is amplifying the voices of women of color.

Resources mentioned in the episode

If you found this article useful, please share it, and subscribe to the Postcard Academy podcast. Each week, expats and adventurers share their insider travel tips on the best food, nightlife, and cultural experiences in the most interesting places around the globe. I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel, an American who's spent the last 10 years living in, and traveling around, Europe.