Book Reflections: A Brutal Guide on How to Travel on a Minimum Wage

Recently, I was gifted a copy of A Brutal Guide on How to Travel on a Minimum Wage by Jack, a travel content creator whose no-nonsense approach really resonated with me. His writing is as direct as the title promises, and if you’re someone who prefers straight up honesty…this one is probably for you.

Jack (Giacomo) left Italy at 19 and moved to France for work, and his real life experiences form the backbone of this guide. It’s written in a refreshingly blunt tone, offering insights that feel more like advice from an honest friend than a polished influencer pitch.

One of the things I respected most was his candid take on the world of travel content creation. Jack points out that trying to fund your travels through Instagram or TikTok is unlikely to be sustainable. With algorithms changing, and rising engagement requirements, relying on social media to fund your travels isn’t a realistic plan for most people, and I couldn’t agree more. Personally, I use it as a tool to express my creativity and to advertise my blog, as a lot of my blog traffic comes from Instagram.

This book stands out because it’s not just theoretical advice; it’s also interactive. It includes exercises and practical tools to help you reflect on your current lifestyle and budget and start making real changes. For example:

• 📝 Page 20 invites you to list your current expenses and then rewrite a new budget looking at where you can cut costs.

• 📅Page 50 provides an annual calendar to help plan your travel around quiet work periods, national holidays, and school breaks.

A Quote I Loved

“The truth is, travel doesn’t have to be expensive, you just need to play the game differently.”

This line hit home for me. I often get asked how I afford to travel so much, and this is essentially the answer. You make different lifestyle choices that prioritise experiences over extras.

Jack’s travel philosophy really aligns with mine, especially when it comes to budget-conscious decisions. Here are some examples of this below from the book:

✅ Avoid trendy destinations. If a place is all over social media, prices are likely to spike. Personally, I choose destinations based on either a real desire to visit or simple affordability. My recent trip to Egypt, for example, happened purely because it was the cheapest warm destination outside Europe in February.

✅ Seek city views the smart way. Instead of paying for pricey observation decks, Jack recommends rooftops and hills. I’ve never paid to climb the Eiffel Tower because there are amazing (and free) views from places like Montparnasse Tower or the Galeries Lafayette rooftop.

✅ Eat like a local. Street food or small local eateries often serve better food than tourist trap restaurants. It’s something I’ve repeated often on this blog because it’s true.

✅Live quietly at home. Jack encourages people to scale back their spending when they’re not travelling. In places like London, it’s easy to spend £100 every weekend on dinners and drinks. That could be a whole plane ticket! It’s important to have a social life, but having some quieter weekends at home does help to save money.

✅ Switch to budget brands. You don’t need to always have the most expensive brands of food, clothes, or cleaning products.

In the end, A Brutal Guide on How to Travel on a Minimum Wage is raw, practical, and refreshingly grounded. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to travel more but feels held back by finances. The exercises inside don’t just tell you how to budget, they encourage you to actually sit down and do it.

A big thank you to Jack for gifting me this book, I really enjoyed it and I know it will inspire a lot of others to see that it is possible to travel with little money.