 As many of you guys know, my first two months in summer were spent on an internship in Paris where I was completely by myself. With that independence and freedom also came a lot of responsibilities, not only just enjoying the sights of the city, but also just finding three meals a day and most importantly managing my budget. That said, I want to share with you guys my budgeting story and share a few tips that I learned along the way in partnership with American Express. Before I left for Paris, I sat down with my mom and talked through how our budgeting would go for food and transportation, apartments, etc. She was able to give me great advice, as moms always do, and it gave me a lot more confidence before I left for my trip. Luckily, my parents had already added me to their American Express account as an additional card member. With my additional card membership, my mom was able to track what I spent every single day and give me a budget to keep. Living in Paris, I was always on the move, whether it was working at a cafe, my apartment, or at my work. Having the flexibility to check my finances on the go through the American Express mobile app was a huge advantage so I didn't have to do it manually. Having to deal with these real world adult experiences can actually be really stressful, especially when you're in a foreign country by yourself and you and your landlord are both pulling out your translation apps trying to manage the rent. Trust me, it is not fun. However, traveling is obviously such an amazing experience. You get to see some of the most beautiful places, meet amazing people, and see things that you never thought were out there. Through those experiences, and as a student myself, I learned a lot about managing my money and traveling on a budget. So today, we're going to be talking about my top tips for budgeting while abroad. All right, tip number one, keep track of your money. Now by far, this is probably the most important step of any time you're going to be traveling. If you're not keeping track of just about every expense you've made and not knowing how much you have left, you can be left in some pretty desperate situation. Most importantly, maintain a weekly, if not daily, account of your expenses and your remaining budget. When I first got to Paris, I had about 320 converted euros and every time I made a purchase, I would put it into my notes app and then at the end of the week, put it into a spreadsheet. I began to realize this was such a huge hassle that I didn't want to deal with, which is why I downloaded the American Express mobile app. Since my mom was able to add me as an additional card member, I was able to seamlessly track all of my finances through the mobile app. Within the app, I'm able to easily track recent charges and payments in a timeline of spending. That way, I know how much I'll be able to afford eating out this week or if I need to cut back a little bit on spending. Having the AmEx mobile app is so convenient because every purchase automatically gets logged. That way, anywhere I'm traveling to, I can always rely on the app to track my spending. Tip number two is plan ahead. When you have the desire to go on any kind of vacation, obviously nothing can be done without some planning prior to. While you don't have to have a day-to-day itinerary, you do need to look ahead for problems that will undoubtedly pop up. Whether it's minor things like having to pay for an extra taxi cab or even bigger things like having to pay another $100 to check a bag that you weren't expecting. Maybe keep $50 to $100 wherever your passport is just for emergency purposes, not your everyday day-to-day spending. Make sure you set aside some cash for these emergency situations and I promise you'll thank me later. Now tip number three, know the country you're traveling to. Just about anywhere you go might have a different currency whether it's a dollar, euro, yen, won, whatever it is. If you don't do your research beforehand and you don't know the conversion rate, you could easily get scammed at any local currency exchange shop. For example, when I went grocery shopping in Paris, I was surprised to find that household items like detergent were relatively more expensive than back home, but things like fruits and frozen food were surprisingly cheap. Now tip number four, be frugal. Now for me, frugality was a hard concept to learn until I got to Paris and realized this is the real world and I can't be spending two euros a day on coffee and another five-year-old juice for drinks after work. Obviously, at this point in our lives, we don't have the luxury to live lavishly every time we travel and buy all the things that we want to. When we're young, we have to be smart with our budget and our allowance and spend things on experiences like visiting the Louvre or buying Escargot for dinner. Those are the expenses that are worth it and you get actual value out of your money rather than just buying cheap souvenirs or shopping on the Champs-Elysées. No one is the right time to spend and no one is the time to pass on the crates. Now tip number five, take advantage into your research. When traveling abroad, it's more often than not a game of finding the best bang for your buck. Sometimes there are experiences that are totally worth your money, but sometimes you realize you've fallen into a tourist trap when you actually pay twice the amount for something that it actually should have cost. If you do research beforehand, you'll know exactly how much you expect to be spending and you can also read reviews on whether that museum or the bus package or that travel pass is actually worth your money. Otherwise, you're gonna be so caught up by that salesperson saying it's an amazing deal, one time only offer, and then you just realize you've been ripped off. Take advantage of any free and local opportunities that don't require any money. Soon as discounts are usually offered at museums and going on things like walking tours or just hanging out in the park or seeing some local exhibits are always gonna be free. Another huge thing is make friends with the locals, see if they'll invite you over for dinner or take you out and show you around the city. That way you have an authentic tour guide that can show you the real parts of the city and parts that you normally wouldn't see. All right, that's it for this video. I hope you guys enjoyed this. I know that this can be a super beneficial topic if you guys are interested in traveling. Thank you to American Express for sponsoring this video. Learn more about the additional card membership from American Express. Check out that link in my description. That's it for today. Make sure you guys like, comment, and subscribe, and I'll see you guys next time.