good god. $100 day? $200 a day. Jeeeeeeez! A decent bottle of wine at a medicocre eatery is going to cost me $40-$50 - add gas, lodging, food to have with that wine ;-) and we might be close to Werner's budget... but I've planned on $100/day RTW... should cover it but might have to settle for cheap wine once in awhile....

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Our budget for crossing Africa was +- 1000 GBP per month for 2 people each on their own bike. That covered for all visas enroute, fuel, food etc. We did spend a couple of nights in a pricy hotel in Nigeria, and splashed out on a few game park trips in East Africa which left a few teeth marks in the budget. Also we didn't have any big mechanical problems on the way. Our trip was over 8 mths and covered 26,000km.

hi folks
my wife´s and my budget was some 35$ a day a head going to Central Asia and back. 4 1/2 months, 25.000 km, quite fast. Some 8-9$ a day was only to pay the visas. (Maybe it´s the reason why so few people go there by bike).
The slower U go, the less you pay.
Werner, you went fast. I read all your books and we met personally at TTT ´04.
And it´s true, the "old" buggers do need more dough. We are in our 40ies.
If we´d go to the Americas, I´d reckon on less a head a day.
Whatever style we ride, let´s just ride and go there.

Goetz

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ïóòü = öåëü

Hello to everybody

Just thought I would contribute before you all go off the deep end about costs!

As a prospective RTWer I was interested in this string. This information is often hard to come by in terms of the 'rough' cost of trips. I know that it is a bit like 'how long is a piece of string' but all information is useful.

I am interested in the costs as I will be separating from my wife in a few months (house sale etc.) and will have a fair (probably £30-40,000) amount.

I have been on motorcyles for 30 years (am 49) and need to spend some time on the road to work through events.

Thus I am interested in everybody's wide variation / experience along with comments on how long they were away and how much you all got through - whether sleeping beside the bike (more like me) or splashing out (probably occasionally!)

Thanks for any posts which pick up this question.

Hi Boxerman,
I'm in a similar situation as yourself (no emotional ties)/ age bracket/finances. I'm planning my RTW for after june 2006 (when my contract in singapore ends). Presently, in the process of planning route, organising stuff etc. If interested in exchanging info. give me a bell (email). JS

I've always averaged about USD $100 a day. I don't drink, but I like to sleep in clean places - not luxury at all, just clean. I don't camp. I find that the $100 a day budget works just about anywhere in the world - some places cost more, some less, but that's the average for everything, fuel, food, lodging, visas, sightseeing, everything except motorcycle maintenance costs (tires, etc.).

Renee,

How is it? Still stuck on the CA?

I travelled Africa in 2001 on approximately 500 quid a month plus a 2 grand (pounds sterling) in-the-pocket-bonus and that was sleeping cheap but drinking heavily.

And Werner - 'I'd rather sleep under 5 stars' - brilliant. As the League of Gentlemen Hooligans says - 'Ride like a hooligan, eat like a gentleman'.

Cheers, suerte, Dan Walsh

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hey guys, this is just my tuppence worth -

Look at how much money you will have in your pocket when you start the trip - that is X Work out how long your trip will be in days - that is Y.

Divide X by Y and you have your daily budget.

It will be enough.


Personally - I have found that $100USD a day is too much, but $700 USD a week is just right.

Did West Africa South last year on about $20 per day. Had to camp quite a bit as there wasn't always a place to stay. Of course on 4 wheels with a tent on top we are really a mobile hotel, so don't need any stationary ones. ;-) The $20 included food, fuel, visas etc.

I would think that the East coast of Africa may be a bit more expensive as they get more tourist traffic.

cheers

Graham
www.africaoverland.org

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Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

talking on budgets.Therese and I went home overland two up on a R65 BMW in 1994. I know awhile ago now. London to Sydney via asia. all up costs including shipping of the bike and flights for us ,mix of camping and hotels ,site seeing ,chitwan, xmas in Kathmandu[gifts]carpets and nic-nacs for 6 months we spent just under $10,000 Oz dollars between us, around $55 Oz aday for us both.

Why Fly when you can ride

steve treloar

This has always intrigued me, the cost of travelling on a bike, no one has broken down the costs of "per day" against the actual living costs PLUS the bike costs. Almost 12 months on my GS650 thru Asia and sticking to the Manufacturers recommendations for servicing, plus replacing, tyres,chains and sprockets. I believe alot of your budgets leave the bike maintenance underdone.
In my travels I have seen many RTW bikes in pitiful condition, after all thats what your life depends on. After asking them about how much they have allowed for bike maintenance, every one of them had not allowed enough.

Safe Riding costs more than a cheep hotel.

Being very rich but also miserly I spent 6 eur per day for the 4 of us!!! in a VW transporter. We travelled for 4 months through Maroko, Mauritania, Senegal (no carnet just a very lucky border blag), Gambia, Gunea Bisseau, Guinea and back to Europe.
We slept out ,ate with the villagers, supplying the rice and condiments, and learnt a lot about the people and countries we visited. How did we do it. We bought fuel where it was cheap, drove at carefully. We ate every other day and took the advice of our Gambian friend who "smoothed" our border crossings, village visits and various "dash" situations. In fact an altogether an African travel experience.
On our return we were slimmer, wiser and yes richer....
Rather good eh.....

Since you are in Germany and you seem to know the tricks for cheap travel. What do you think it would cost per day to travel from Frankfurt to Armenia through Poland, Ukraine, etc?

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Alec in Calgary

For the scheduled services wouldn't you be able to plan ahead and do them by yourself along the way? For example cleaning carbs, changing tyres, wheel spockets + chain, oil and other small maintenance tasks can all be done roadside by yourself if you have the right bike and tools. If you don't want to carry a pair of tyres half way across Africa or Asia you can always get the parts sent in to a designated location or source a supplier before setting off.

I mean it's not like you wouldn't be eventually performing these tasks if you stayed at home anyway. Unless you're only a weekend rider in which case it's cheaper than car maintenance hey

One of the things I found most appealing about using a motorcycle for a RTW trip is just that - it's so much easier to work out glitches along the way and take care of the routine maintenance by yourself. Changing chain and sprockets on a bike seems a lot easier that changing the belts on a car. Also with a lot of bikes still running with carbies and only on 1-2 pots (for those hardcore adventure bikes :P) it's easy do do those "tune-ups" and oil changes on the road that would cost a pretty penny if done to your car in a workshop back home.

Anyway I'm rambling.

Ride on guys!

-Roadhawk

Roadhawk,
The question you answered is 5 yrs old now ! He could of been RTW
3 times now and has answered his own questions re:budgets.
Has you said ride on.

Cheers
Paul

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