Why I Built SaveToRoam

I'm planning a family trip to Europe.

Thirty nights, some time in 2028. We want to do it properly — not rushed, not budget hostel, actually there. The kind of trip you talk about for years.

The first thing I wanted to know was simple: how much do I need to put away each week?

That's it. That's the whole question. I knew the rough shape of the trip. I knew we were a couple of years out. I wanted one number — a weekly target — so I could set up an automatic transfer and not have to think about it again until the trip got closer.

So I opened a spreadsheet.

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If you've ever planned a big trip, you know what happens next.

You add a column for flights. A rough number, because you haven't booked yet. Then accommodation — a few different stops, different price ranges depending on the city. Then you start wondering whether to include spending money, travel insurance, whether to estimate in AUD or EUR. The spreadsheet grows. You add a formula to divide the total by the number of weeks until departure.

Then you change the accommodation. One hotel is too expensive, you swap it for something cheaper. Now the formula is pulling from the wrong cell. You fix it. Then you move the dates. The weeks-until-departure number needs updating. You fix that too.

An hour later you have a spreadsheet that technically works, but that you're already slightly afraid of touching in case something breaks.

Six weeks later, you've changed the itinerary twice more, the formula is wrong again, and you're not entirely sure what number to put into your bank's automatic transfer.

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That's when I decided to build the thing I actually wanted.

Not a spreadsheet. Not a general budgeting app. Something that understood the trip — the specific stops, the estimated costs, the departure date — and turned all of that into a single weekly target. And when I changed the hotel, or moved the dates, or added another stop, the number would just... update.

That's SaveToRoam.

You put in your trip. Flights, accommodation, whatever activities you're planning. Set your departure date. And it tells you what to save each week. Change something — swap a hotel, push the dates back, add a stop in Switzerland — and the weekly target re-paces automatically.

No broken formulas. No rebuilding. Just one honest number.

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We're still planning the Europe trip. 2028 feels like a long way away, which is exactly why I wanted to start now — the earlier you start, the smaller the weekly number, the less it hurts.

If you're planning something big and trying to work out what it actually costs to get there from here — financially, not just geographically — SaveToRoam is free to start. One trip, no credit card.

I hope it saves you the spreadsheet.

— Matt