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        Setting the budget is where you stop dreaming vaguely about the Pyrenees and start looking forward to the N260 between Sort and Ainsa - because you're planning amazing routes that you know you can ride. But whether you have to persuade you wife, your bank manager or yourself that you can afford it, you'll get nowhere without a clear idea of what the trip will cost.
        The major expenses are accommodation, food, drink, fuel and any crossings. If you're looking at a fly-ride trip to somewhere like America, obviously you have the flights and bike hire costs as well. Detailed planning lets you see what's realistic; early planning increases the chances of finding cheap deals.
        How much do you need? In Europe, we'd allow £25 a night for eating out a plus £10 for lunch and drinks during the day. This is important: if you get dehydrated or too hungry when you're riding, concentration will drop and that's dangerous. Our £25 a night doesn't include much for boozing, but then that's not a brilliant idea if you're riding the next day. Check hotels provide breakfast - if not, add another fiver on to the daily food budget.
        For fuel, you need to know your bike's average consumption and use that to calculate the petrol cost. Budget for doing 100 miles more than your planned daily route, in case of thirstier riding or getting lost. Work on the price of super-unleaded over here - even if UK petrol is slightly more expensive than fuel in Europe. This over-budgeting for fuel then works as a modest contingency fund.

        Putting the trip on plastic makes sense, if you do it right. "A credit card is good for short-term and lower amounts of borrowing," says Anthony Hua of Nationwide. "You need to check how much interest you would be paying and, if using on holiday, you need to check how much your provider charges for transactions abroad."
        This is crucial, as there aren't many cards that don't charge a commission every time they're used overseas - which pushes up costs. Our recommendation is the Nationwide credit card, which charges no commission on transactions withing Europe and just one per cent outside Europe - far lower than the majority of credit cards.
        Other cards worth considering are the Halifax Clarity card and the Saga Platinum card (if you're over 50). The Sainsbury's Gold card also makes no charges for European transactions, but there's a £5 monthly fee - however, it comes with extensive travel insurance that may make it more appealing.
        It's best to keep the travel credit card separate: use it on the trip, but not at home. Then you can isolate and manage the cost. At the moment many cards charge 16.9% APR, which is a better rate than you'd get with a small loan, making credit cards the cheapest way to borrow money for a trip.
        Of course the real trick is to pay the credit card off in full straight away - then it costs you nothing. If you need to phase repayments, the monthly calculation of credit card interest means you benefit more the faster you pay of the debt. At 16.9% APR, taking a year to clear £1000 costs £94 in interest but paying it off over three months costs only £29.
        "It's worth shopping arounds," says Paul Lawler of Moneysupermarket.com. "Sometimes banks will introduce a low-rate card with an APR of four to five per cent - there will be a monthly fee but the interest will be lower which can make it attractive if you're paying it off over time.
        "The other way is to look for a card that does nought per cent on balance transfers," he advises. "Transfer the bill to that and pay it off within the interest-free period."

        There is only one place to get cash: the Post Office. No fuss, no commission - no argument. Work out how much you want to take in cash, pop to the Post Office a few days before you go and it's sorted.Euros and US dollars are never a problem, but if you want a large amount or a more obscure currency, contact them first to check they can provide it when you need it.
        If you need to get more cash once you're on the trip, never use your credit card in cash machines, as that piles up unnecessary interest charges. Your bank debit card should let you withdraw cash overseas - but check the charges. Again, the best deal seems to be from Nationwide, with FlexAccount cards being charged only two per cent commission plus a £1 fee (so try to make only one withdrawal). This is still lower than any other provider. You can set up a FlexAccount just to hold funds for the trip - it doesn't have to be your main bank account for this to work.

        The safe way to do this kind of trip is to have money, so you can take some as cash and have the rest ready to pay off the credit card before you get any interest charges. Which is a lovely idea in theory - but where's the money coming from?
        We wouldn't use a loan to fund a trip. Quite apart from the danger that the holiday money will sleep away on day-to-day expenses before you go, banks aren't eager to lend and rates aren't great-certainly not on amounts below £7500. A decent one year-year loan of £1000 would typically come at about 18.7% APR, with monthly payments of around £92. By the end of the year, you'll have paid back about £95 more than you'd borrowed. And that's a good rate - a small loan could easily cost more, if you'd borrowed. And that's good rate - a small loan could easily cost more, if you could get one at all.
        That brings us back to paying for the trip from savings - which is where the planning and, for those of us with a family, a bit of support becomes important. Costing the trip well ahead allows you not only to afford it but also to demonstrate that the kids don't have to go without school shoes so you can go to the Dolomites.
        Set up a separate account and put a fixed amount in every month by direct debit. To use our example, if we put £100 a month into a Nationwide account between now and September, we'd have £800 of the budgeted £885 salted away before setting off. Leaving just £85 to find on the return. Yes, £100 a month's not insignificant, but it's easier to find than £885 in one hit.
        If the trip involves a group of close friends, nominating one person as the group's treasurer makes a lot of sense. They set up a specific account and credit card for the trip, with everyone paying their money in each month by direct debit. On the road, the treasurer pays for everything with the credit card, which is then paid off instantly from the trip account to avoid interest charges. For this to work, the budgeting has to be spot-on -and everyone has to be ready to pitch in straight away with their share if there is any overspend on the road.
        Though this kind of thingking is crucial for funding big trips, it works well on more modest ones. Even finding a £200 for a camping weekend in Wales can be a stretch sometimes, but it's much easier if you've been putting aside £25 a month for bike trips since the winter. The secret of them as plans. We think of them as dream - properly financed dreams that become real.