Ummmmmmmm
 

Turbocharger & Tmotten 1 question: have you heard of Gillard & Abbott ?bier

The CNN Money website seems to be somewhat out of date.
In Egypt fuel is now twice what it states, as is the UK.
Maybe a more recent one would apply better.

One thing as regards costs that rarely seems to be factored in to calculations is the varied costs of chocolate and ice cream. It may not be important to you, but it is to me.

crazy! doh

You could live a whole year in an expensive city like Barcelona with AUD 25K.

Australia to Thailand
My flights - $400
Motorcycle flights - $1,000 - I was lucky and they only charged me per kg not volume also please note - this is for a 250cc motorcycle.

Cambodia to Korea (from memory)
My flights - $400
Motorcycle flights - $1000 under - once again, they only charged me per Kg.

Then there was the flight home without the motorcycle because I sold it to get the money to fly home with was around $1,500

SO comparing apples with apples ( the rest of this thread)
I spend $13,000 AUS from the day I left Australia to arriving back (includes the money i gained from selling the bike to pay for the tickets) in ten months.

Set up cost would come down to $9,500 (this includes the cost of the bike)

I wild camped a lot when It got too expensive to stay in hotels (ie russia). When it got too cold to camp (again in Russia) I learnt that truck stops were the cheapest places to stay!

Moscow was the most expensive city I had to stay in for a period of time (due to selling my bike). I found a dorm room and a place where I can cook my own meals. I never ate out.

ps - i lost a shit load of weight because if it!!

Especially if you don´t camp & cook your own food, where you are really makes a huge difference in costs.

Generally speaking, western and northern Europe are probably the most expensive places on the planet. Followed closely by other parts of Europe, USA & Oz. But big cities can be very expensive everywhere.

Some places in Asia, you could stay almost a week for the price of what you usually end up paying in Europe. But of course the standards of accommodation, eating out, etc., are not 100% comparable.

:rofl:

I'm glad someone can see the humour here.

IMHO the more details you give about prices on a RTW the more wrong you will be due to inflation, exchange rates, current economic situation of the country, and when you factor in that everyone has a completely different budget and spending profile it is next to impossible to predict the exact costs. In any budget or forecast you must factor in +20-25% and then to be safe have an emergency fund 'just in case'.

Since the topic of Travel Guides was brought up then let's face the fact that all travel guides are only correct at the time of publication and yet they have been publishing for decades so they should know what a realistic budget is for the country in question but still get it wrong. My point is prices are the first thing to go out of date.

A higher estimate is always better than a lower one. With the leftover $$$ buy a few beers or take your hosts (if/when you get invited as guests) out for a dinner, they'll definitely appreciate it.

Dunno if I want to be the Slugger or the ginger. :funmeteryes:

Jees Turbo, we're agreeing here. This is why I'm kind of pushing for an idea on what the individual big picture item cost and what the lifestyle the person allowed for with the daily costs. I've always struggled accepting the guidebook estimate. I've done it heaps cheaper, and heaps dearer. But probably never on par. So I gave up on the whole daily costs and simplified it by taking out the big ticket stuff that I could actually accurately predict. That's the key to me.

Can you remember what the ballpark cost was getting to Russia including the usual getting out of port rip offs? That is my biggest gripe with shipping, but that's besides the point. Massively pissed off when in Australia I got ripped of more than any other overseas place I've ever visited. In the end shipping was as dear as flying.

Losing weight is the biggest upside of living on the cheap. Again, good effort. Shows that if you want to experience something you gotta look at your means and do what you gotta do.

I've struggled organising shipping out of a developing country in the past which ended up in not being able to negotiate lower or reduced fairs. How did you go about organising this in Cambodia? We tried once in Mongolia, but got completely fobbed off. Didn't seem like they needed the business no matter how often we went in to ask how the quote was coming along. This was at a freight forwarder. You'd think it would be bread and butter work for them to work out.

I can live in London on that and probably travel in developing countries for years. But that wasn't the point. The point was to show it depends what you do with it and without this information you're none the wiser. He'd lost a fifth of that (it was for his and his Mrs. Should have said. My bad) in flights to Europe. Stay in 3 star hotels at the max and rent a few cars to go about. Eat out every day 3x/day. Entry fees. But let's keep it about RTW.

I am only planning my trip so don't have any experience to add, but here is how I am planning my finances:

I have planned my finances off an on for almost 2 years now using various methods. It gave me a target amount of money to strive for. But I have come to realize that I really have no clue how long that money will last because I'm not certain how frugal I will be when traveling and how many touristy things I will do along the way.

To complicate this I also have less money now than I had hoped because I lost a lot of money selling my house (but not selling would have lost me even more).

Once I came to the conclusion that my finance situation is less than ideal for the trip I want, I realized I have two choices:

1. Delay my trip until I have such an excess of funds I can guarantee the full trip will be comfortably funded.
2. Leave at the end of May (as originally planned) and see how much of the world I can see on the money I have available.

#1 is a possibility and in fact was my original intention, but is rapidly losing its appeal. So instead I am choosing #2.

I am almost certain I have sufficient funds to travel for a minimum of 2 years. I have a route planned that will visit the majority of the locations I most want to visit in that time.

Once I am on the road I should have a much better idea of how fast I am going through my available funds. From there I can do better estimates and alter my route as I go to expand the scope of my trip.

I am also considering options for ways to make money while on the road. As a software engineer I may be able to do freelance work remotely. Or I may be able to work for a few months in Europe.

hi othalan
...my choice would be No 2...."Leave at the end of May (as originally planned) and see how much of the world I can see on the money I have available."

something always works out. if you put it off until you are better prepared financially or otherwise, the time never seems to come as there is always something else to organise/buy/save for...etc.

there are many places in the world where you can get computer work (however general ie fixing networks, or fixing softward glitches) where hospitals or VSO's/NGO's will pay for your accomodations and maybe food in exhange for services. always something to consider. these 'jobs' can not be organised prior to leaving however...it is usually a face-to-face contact whilst you are on the road. meeting the right person at the right time.

go in May as planned.....you will have the time of your life.
note: there will be 'bad' (difficult) times, but without those you cant rate how good the good is!!!

It doesn't have to be that expensive
 

I'm with you Othalan.

My budget got destroyed due to unforseen factors and I now have 21K to spend on my journey from Canada to to Ushuaia.

I figured that I'd be travelling for about a year, so that brings me to about 55 bucks a day. As sparse as that sounds, I'm at a point in my life where I can afford to camp and boil my own rice for days.

Trying to move on the cheap is more "travelling" than "vacation", but better this than just not going.

On the other hand after all the reading I've done here I feel like I might end up arriving on foot if my budget doesn't receive a boost somehow along the way... Still though, it's now or never - and it sure as hell isn't going to be never. What's the cheapest you can make it down the American Continent? I intend to find out!

ElExplorador: I'm planning a trip from BC to Ushuaia and have a similar budget...Only I consider it to be plenty, not sparse!!! I suppose this highlights that whatever constitutes adequate food+lodging for one individual may be 'roughing it' for another.

$55/day? I can travel the USA on that, sleep in motels, and never cook my own food! If I can do that in the USA being careful, it should be easy in South America!

You're kidding?? I certainly can't do that in Australia. Maybe a day's petrol and a lunch and breaky.

othalan, you might be more convincing if you stated what's included in your $55 per day. At $4/gallon for fuel (US gallons) my KLR will go 300 miles/500 km for $24. $31 hotels are hard to find these days, although they exist. That leaves nothing for food, beer, parts and repairs, oilchanges, insurance, park entry fees, mobile phone bills, souvenirs, tolls, splurging....

I could make it add up if I was mostly wild camping, but not otherwise--and it would be difficult to sustain on a long trip.

Mark

First let me note that in the past I have only traveled short trips, 1 month at a time maximum. Some "yearly" costs such as insurance are not included in my consideration at all, but I agree they will change the numbers somewhat.

I also do not include fixed non-daily costs I cannot control such as bike maintenance. Those I plan for separately because I do not have control over when it occurs & how much is spent.

I never pay tolls because I am never in such a rush I cannot take the long way around the toll road. My phone bills are inconsequential because I almost never use a phone while traveling.

As for daily costs, here is how I break down the numbers and why:

GAS: $8/day
50 mpg (KLR650), $4/gallon, 2 gallons/day (100 miles/day)
Averaged over time, I travel relatively slowly because I will stick around a place I enjoy and explore. Even on the "long" days I rarely travel more than about 300 miles, so it doesn't take much to bring the average down.

Food: $15/day
Drink only tap-water (filter if needed), and $5/meal is not hard to find most places if you are careful, the exceptions being California and big cities; but even there it is possible if you are careful and not too picky.

Lodging: $30/day
I have found motels are frequently willing to drop the price a bit if they are mostly empty. Be certain to pay in advance!

Add up all the above: $53/day.

$2/day is not a lot of spending money to have fun with I admit. But in reality, the above does not even come close to representing my travel costs. Here are some examples:

I frequently find free lodging for the night. Friends & relatives are happy to host me for a few days. I recently started using Couch Surfing, which has led me to some great people who provide free lodging and free food. I've setup my tent in public places many times ... but always ask first! City parks and churches are good locations to look for these. Full hotels have allowed me to setup a tent in their yard at no cost. If camping, showers can be found many places ranging from free to $5.

I also look for people to share a fire with at campgrounds instead of spending the night alone. I always travel with a musical instrument (guitar or fiddle so far), and offer music & stories in exchange for a warm fire. It is a fun way to spend the evening, and I have frequently been offered food & drinks even though I never ask. But always have a backup plan for food or you might go hungry!

All the above saves me a lot of money for those days when the only lodging is $65/night, or I have an entrance fee to some activity. I never feel like I am going hungry, nor that I am suffering with only rice. I never feel like I am forced to camp to save money.

Perhaps it won't be sustainable on a long trip. Perhaps I'm in for a big surprise once I leave on my trip this June. No way I can really tell until I get there and find out what type of traveler I am after I'm on the road a few months.