Advice please on daily costs for countries from Australia to UK
 

Hi

I'm planning on leaving Sydney at the start of November for a trip back to the UK. The plan is to spend around 7 months doing this. Second time lucky....I was going to do this the same time last year, but didnt manage to scrape together enough money in the end :-(

I've got a good idea now of the costs involved prior to departure and all the various extras I'll need on the road. What I could really do with some help with is daily spending whilst on the road - its been about 3-4 years since I've been traveling, so am a bit hazy on costs. Additionally, with the exchange rates varying so much over the last year, its confused me even more!!

I know everyone has a different way of doing things, but to give you a gauge, this is how I tend to travel:

I'll stay in cheap places, but not the cheapest - if the cheapest are $7, I'll probably stay somewhere thats $12 for example. I won't be camping or staying in dorms if I can avoid it and won't be cooking for myself, although will eat from road side stalls etc during the day.

In the eve would tend to go to somewhere other than a road side stall, but will still be a cheap place to eat. I do a like my beer...so need to account for this! But will drink cheap local stuff and wont be going to bars/clubs or anything like that.

Below is what I've estimated, but would welcome any comments. All figures are in Australian Dollars. It excludes anything like visas, spares, servicing, shipping etc, but would include the odd touristy thing, night in a slightly nicer place or decent meal once in a while.

Travelling on my own
Australia - $130 per day + $15 per day average for fuel
Malaysia & Thailand - $50 per day + $10 fuel

Traveling two-up with girlfriend (meeting me in Bangkok at Xmas)
Thailand - $40 per day each + $10 per day total fuel
Laos/Cambodia/Bangladesh/India/Nepal/Pakistan - $30 each + $10 fuel
Iran & Turkey - $40 each + $20 fuel
Europe - $130 each + $40 fuel

Would really appreciate any thoughts on this - I should have enough if these are on the mark....but if I dont need as much then I can leave sooner!! Dont want the budget to be too tight though...

Thanks in advance

J

I allowed $1000 a month for south east asia. Staying in mainly $5 a night accomondation, I managed to keep that up through Mongolia and Russia but i was mainly camping. This isnt including shipping my motorbike.

Hi J,

I think your budget is perhaps to small. (Sorry)

You are talking about Australian dollars and I do think you have to change it to at least Amerikan dollars.

For example I drove from Holland to Nepal and did stay in singel rooms in good hotels (if possible). I spend something like 100 euro each day (170 Aus-$) including fuel, hotel, food and drink.
Offcourse it can be cheaper but I think a minimum of 80 euro a day (135 Aus-$) is realistick, Sorry again.

More info, a small diary and small movies you can find on my website Going East - Home
On Life Is Joy - Home you also can see some movies about your country Australia and about Thailand and Europe.

Oeps, correction:

Big differance offcourse is that you will travel 7 months, so if you stay longer time on one place I guess it will be cheaper.

Good luck.

I think the previous posting is a little on the high side. I managed fine on $30 a day in SE Asia, India and Pakistan, even less if I stayed in one place. For example, in Kanchanaburi, I think my room cost $1 and it was a great place! Street food can also be bought for $1-2 too. Petrol is always the main daily cost here.

For Iran, accommodation got a bit more pricy ($10-15) though the petrol was cheaper. In Turkey the petrol prices went through the roof and one day I spent $100 on fuel alone! (I free camped for a while to try and make it up).

Once you're in Europe, things just get expensive, prob quite similar to Australia prices.

Thanks for your help guys - so i guess its probably in the right ball-park then? It is obviously only a rough estimate, and i know some places will be more than others etc.

Mike - great blog buy the way - you're trip was about a year ago right? Do you think is should allow a little more than your $30 now though as the dollar seems to have got weaker, or do you think its all much the same?

Cheers

J

Jimbo

Dont think Turkey is cheap. For some reason my wife and I spent $100 per day when we drove through last year. Petrol is more expensive than Europe, camp sites about EURO15-20.
It still is a lovely country to travel in, especially the East side and Capadocia.

Cheers

Johan

J1mbo,

I think you're in the ballpark. I spent $33 per day total on a four month trip from Canada to Panama and back several years ago, including indulgences like beer, SCUBA diving, language studies, etc. Then last year I spent $50 per day total on a trip through Europe, Middle East (including flight to and from Iran as I had to leave my bike in Syria for a month), and North Africa. This cost ($50 per day) includes shipping my bike from Calgary to Germany, then from England back to Canada, all flights, visas, fuel, food, everything. Like you, I also chose cheap accommodations, but not the cheapest. I stayed in a lot of hostels, but I usually got a private room. And I did cook my own food on occasion...

We did Helsinki>Sydney with my girlfriend 1 year ago, 6 months no camping (didnt even have a tent!) and although I havent counted exactly, I would think the grand total was somewhere in the neighbourhood of 7500 euros per person, and roughly 2500 of these was spent on our flight tickets & freighting the bike (Chennai>Bangkok (by air), Bali>Perth (by air), Sydney>Helsinki (by sea).

The most expensive countries were in Europe, and after that Turkey and Australia. The rest of Asia was a lot cheaper, the cheapest places being probably India and Indonesia. If your going to stay a longer time somewhere, doing it in a cheaper country will save you money. But of course it depends greatly on your chosen accommodation, places where you eat, etc.

All in all, I think it could be done considerably cheaper than we did (freight by sea, eat only where locals do, stay in rock-bottom places and so on).

Was a lot of money, but I think I´ll forget the money sooner than I will forget the trip!!