What I'm spending on travel in 2026 as a travel blogger (who doesn't travel full time)

Lengthy title aside, I'm really interested in the financial side of travel and wanted to put this blog post together to share how much I end up spending on travel throughout 2026. While I'm not a full time travel blogger, it is my favourite pastime and all of my annual leave is spent on trips and holidays! 

I'm writing this intro in January after reading a similar blog post from my friend Laura, and I wanted to put together my own little version. Mine will look slightly different, as I'm going to update month by month as I book, pay for and actually go on all my 2026 trips. I know talking about money is taboo for some people, but I'm fascinated and I know there's plenty of nosy people out there just like me...

Also, a little caveat to say I'm including the full cost spent between me and my wife, as we of course share everything between us. At the end of the year I'll split it in half and see what we each ended up spending! I'm also not including the amount we add to our travel savings pots each month, as I'll include that money when it actually gets spent. Hopefully that makes sense, and without further ado let's get into what I'm spending on travel throughout 2026 as a travel blogger who (sadly) works full time.

What I spent on travel in January 2026

January was a month without any physical travel, as it often is for many people. But that's not to say money didn't get spent on travel! Here's what I paid out towards my all time favourite hobby of seeing the world...

£350 - cruise top-up payment. We booked our 2026 cruise with Marella and paid a deposit at the time; we then had to make a January payment before we pay the remainder of the balance in February. We were very lucky to get money towards our honeymoon as wedding gifts, so this came out of that pot.

£25 - cottage holiday deposit. We're going on a UK cottage break in December with my wife's family and I was in charge of the booking, so I paid out for the deposit to book this in.

£90 - new suitcases. My wife and I usually only travel with hand luggage, but for our cruise and our trip to Turkey this year we've got a much bigger luggage allowance so we needed to get some suitcases which we could fill with clothes and check in! I got our new ones from Tripp (in the January sale) which is my Dad's go-to brand so I know they're good.

£120 - deposit for a weekend break to Paris for my birthday in July. This was in fact easyJet credit we had from cancelling a trip last year, so technically free... #girlmaths 

January 2026 total: £585 

What I spent on travel in February 2026

Again, we didn't actually do any travelling in February - my wife did go to visit her parents, but I'm not counting that in this travel spending round up. We're really itching to go away at this point, so we're counting down the days to our cruise! Here's what we spent on travel in February 2026...

£4440.24 - final cruise balance. I think February will win as the highest spending month when it comes to travel... The majority of this payment has been sitting in the bank gaining interest since last year as a lot of it was made up from leftover wedding savings and our really lovely monetary gifts from family and guests. So, the cruise is paid off and we're SO excited!

February 2026 total: £4440.24

What I spent on travel in March 2026

Another month with no *actual* travel, other than a work trip to London, and I'm SO excited to be getting really close to our cruise in May! Here's everything we spent on travel in March 2026...

£5.59 - sparkly top for our cruise. I wasn't sure whether to include things like clothes in this post, but at the end of the day I wouldn't have bought this top if it wasn't for our upcoming cruise; I picked up a sequinned t-shirt on Vinted, originally by 'et vous', and I can't wait to style it.

£17.79 - Maya Deluxe evening dress. Again, this is for our upcoming cruise and was a brand new unworn STEAL from Vinted! It's by the brand Maya Deluxe, and it's a stunning burgundy sequinned number that will really complement my wife's suit for the one formal night of our itinerary! 

£207.38 - Disneyland Paris tickets. In January we booked a mini break to Paris for my birthday in July, and of course we're going to Disney! We opted for the 2 park, 1 day tickets which came in at £103.69 per person - booked through attractiontix. I'm soooooooo excited.

£61.07 - cruise insurance. I am a firm believer in travel insurance, everybody should have it - and for a Marella cruise, you literally have to. You need to submit your policy number as part of your passenger information, so I made sure to get this sorted this month. We went with Leisure Guard, which was the best quote I found via Compare the Market.

£143 - trains to Guildford. We're taking a trip down south in June for my brother in law's birthday, and I've been keeping an eye out for tickets to become available; they finally did, so we booked them this month and saved over £60 using the Two Together railcard discount - so we'll definitely have had our money's worth with just this one trip!

March 2026 total: £434.83

What I spent on travel in April 2026

£43.48 - Disneyland accessories. As mentioned we're off to Disneyland Paris in July, and I'll be making the most of it! I ordered some ears, my outfit, my wife's t shirt and some other little accessories to make the day even more magical.

£341 - hotel in Guildford. For the aforementioned birthday bash down in Guilford, we of course need somewhere to stay; I booked our hotel through booking.com - we're staying Friday, Saturday and Sunday so I didn't think the price was too bad in the end!

£320 - holiday clothes shopping. We're not usually people who go out and buy a whole new wardrobe for a trip, but with our cruise being our honeymoon (and not our typical style of holiday) we had some gaps to fill. This covered everything from stocking up on basic t shirts to buying a velour Juicy Couture tracksuit for 90s night... all of the clothes will be worn again during the summer and on future trips, too, but I wanted to count them here. I've also included things like skincare, SPF, a new portable charger and so on.

£45 - dry cleaning and alterations. Our cruise has a formal night (of course) and we needed to get my wife's wedding suit dry cleaned and pressed, and the dress I bought off vinted needed taking up as I didn't realise I'd bought it from the 'tall' range... oops!

£38 - deposit for a trip to Iceland. We've actually just booked a 3 night trip to Iceland with our besties in February; for the past couple of years, we've had a little savings pot between the four of us, each putting in a fiver per week. We've previously used the money for a trip to York, a night at the darts, and a trip to Lithuania. We're increasing the savings to £10 each per week, and this is more or less paying for our holiday to Iceland. The deposit was £19pp so I've included mine and my wife's here.

April 2026 total: £787.48

What I spent on travel in May 2026

May was another relatively expensive month as we set off on our Adriatic cruise for our honeymoon - and we had the most amazing time! Worth every penny and more...

£15 - 10 day unlimited eSIM. I always use an eSIM while travelling for peace of mind and being connected; while I probably didn't need this much data on a cruise, I prefer to have too much! I used my phone for sending photos to our families, updating instagram (obv) and for mapping our way around ports/during our 3-night stay in Dubrovnik at the end of the trip.

£97 - monthly instalment for our Iceland trip. This is going to be a recurring cost for the rest of the year, as we've booked our holiday to Iceland through LoveHolidays and we're paying it off monthly at a cost of £48.50 per person. I love seeing how affordable travel can be when you break it down like that.

£40 - petrol, snacks & drinks for a day trip to Wales. We recently visited Corris on a lovely sunny Saturday for a walk to Little Italy and a mooch around a little craft centre before stopping for some food in Bala. It was a fab day and a reminder that travel doesn't always have to be about far flung adventures!

£650 spending money - our cruise was all inclusive, our excursions were paid for in advance as part of the final balance, and we also had breakfast included at our hotel in Dubrovnik. However, we put a fair bit aside to take with us as spending money for the trip; we spent £650 of it, with a bit of a breakdown below:

• Souvenirs: £85 on magnets/postcards/stickers, a hoody and a teddy bear
• Food & drink on our cruise: £7.65 on cappuccinos 
• Other: £45 on public toilets, airport drinks etc
• Food & drink in ports: £51 on gelato, ice cream, fresh lemonade, cake etc
• Food & drink in Dubrovnik: £399 on lunches, dinners, mocktails and beers
• Activities in Dubrovnik: £40 on a panoramic boat tour and buses
• Plus another £20 which I can't seem to attribute to anything based on what my Monzo is telling me...

May 2026 total: £802

What I spent on travel in June 2026

£30 - Two Together railcard. We often end up doing a fair bit of UK travel by train, and for our trip to Guildford this saved us over £60 - paying for itself in the first use. Top tip, you can book your tickets without having already purchased your railcard, so it's always worth buying the card just before you're actually due to use it so you can make the most of your 12 months!

£442.40 - Disney trip balance. This was what was left to pay on our trip in July for the flights and hotel portion of the trip, including seats together on the plane. We booked this as a package with easyJet holidays as we had credit with them!

£330 - Spends for a weekend in Guildford. We were visiting for my brother in law's 40th, and this covered things like the tube, food & drink, and taxis while we were there. We had a ball!

£70 - food & drink for our Wales cottage holiday. We went to Wales for my mum's 60th birthday, and my dad paid for the trip so we all chipped in for the refreshments for the weekend. I also made a spectacular cake, if I do say so myself...

£97 - monthly instalment for our Iceland trip, as above.

June 2026 total: £969.40

What I spent on travel in July 2026

Another kind of mammoth month for travel, with our Paris trip and a little staycation in Norfolk as well as paying out for some travel later on in the year - most of this was accounted for and saved in Monzo pots ahead of time, as always!

£460 - Paris trip. This includes food in the airports, all of our transport to/from/around, food, drink & souvenirs in Disneyland and Paris, and tickets for the Batobus which is a hop on, hop off boat along the Seine. I've shared a more in depth post about the cost of our Disneyland trip itself, but this £460 is what we actually spend while we were in Paris across the weekend.

£97 - monthly instalment for our Iceland trip, as above.

£139 - last minute train tickets for a trip to stay with my in laws in Norfolk for a little staycation. We actually paid £184 but we've had £45 back in Delay Repay, and we should be due another £15 back but who knows if we'll get it...

£183 - London hotel for my upcoming trip to see Luke Combs at Wembley with my mum! I booked this way back last year on Booking.com and the balance was due a week or so before the gig.

£1364 - Dalyan trip. We're off to Türkiye with my parents later in the year, and the balance of the trip is due soon so I sent our half off to my dad. I actually paid for my portion of the trip solely through the Monzo 1p challenge from 2025, which was been sat in a pot since January this year. Basically a free holiday for me #girlmath 

July 2026 total: £2,243

I'm really looking forward to seeing how this total climbs throughout the year and working out what a travel blogger really spends on travel in a year!