I usually do a rough calculation, then I multiply with 2 and that usally does the trick. Be sure to have something on a available savings account as well....

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....

Multiply times 2?
Ouch...

I worked out 150USD per day inc fuel should be fine, so 9,000USD over the 2 month journey. I won't be able to have the extra money.

20,000km - 60 days - sleeping in hotel/hostel/motel 80% of the time, only camping in Mongolia.

What do you think realistically I should have available cash?

Out of curiosity (not ready to go on a big trip yet), last year I created spreadsheet that vaguely calculated a big trip & then asked a similar question on another forum. I was a bit shocked that £150 per day was the average response! I expected a lot less. So your $150 may be about right. However, it does depend on the type of bike you take & your own personal preferences of eating / drinking / sleeping etc.
Remember to set aside a lump sum for emergencies too.

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

i would love to know what the hell people are doing to spend $150 a day. i have done a few big trips and by the end of the trip i am at about 30 pound a day averaged out inc things like tyres oil changes ect

$150?? Are these people staying in the Hotel Ritz every night?

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

I revisited my old thread & found this stuff which may be useful to you:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...rtw-trip-73070

World prices, compare holiday prices, cost of living | MyTravelCost.com

http://www.rac.co.uk/RAC/files/b9/b9...85292283a2.pdf

and these comments from others:
"Chris Scott gives some budget info in the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook: £3500 to cross Africa, Europe to India for £2500, rtw budget £10,000. He qualifies this by saying you could spend more, could spend less."

"Cost me about £8k for Sydney to London, that included bike, carnet, shipping Darwin to East Timor, air freight over Burma, and a week through China. Budgeted £10 a day on the road. Nine months on the road."

"I think we spent about £4000 before we left the Uk on insurance ' visa's and all our Jabs and servicing my bike to make it RTW ready."

"£500 per week will take care of virtually most things you will ever encounter as you cross the world... it depends on shipping costs and a whole load of other factors, that's why nobody can accurately predict somebody else's costs."

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

Well, it is a 4x4 not a bike, so fuel will be a lot more.
I don't especially want to camp unless is it remote and scenic, I don't mind to stay in crap hotels or guest houses. Not especially bothered about drinking and I'd mostly like to eat in small restaurants.

I did forget to mention that there will be two of us which pushes up the cost.

Thanks for the replies everyone, very helpful and interesting.

I think when you see how bad a bad motel can be you may change your perspective on not wanting to camp unless it is 'scenic'.

If your not going to camp, and don't want to sleep in crowded, noisy and often unfindable/non-existent hotels, you may factor in some serious accomodation money!!

Generally the less developed and poorer a country is the more expensive the'nice' hotels are, many years ago in Poland I was quoted 150USD a night for some kind of a travel lodge type affair in Krakow (I mean in the mid 90's), at a time when about 10USD was a lot of money.

This is because they base their prices upon what 3 categories of people will pay
(1) NGO's (famously lavish with your charitable donations)
(2) People on business accounts (again money no object)
(3) The political/mafia elite of whatever country you are in.

If there are virtually no tourists, prices are not based on value because there is no competition from all the other hotels on the strip.

Even today in Europe in places like Podgorica in Montenegro (the capital) that are not tourist destinations there basically are flop houses and high rate business hotels. Pristina (Kosovo) is another good example because it still is chock full of NGO parasites 'helping' people.

150$ a day is maddness,id get by easily on 50$ a day

totally depends on how much your willing to rough it out

$50? That depends on the k's you're doing, doesn't it? That's easily worked out. But on average 50 seems tight on the face of it. Sounds like greasy burgers meals and bread and biscuits for breaky and lunch to me.

To the OP. Be careful accepting advice on costs as truths. I've taken prices of staying overnight on face value before, but it worked out much more. I like to rough camp myself, but sometimes it's difficult or you get called in by the shower. My suggestion is to look at web searches for fleabag place prices on the web, check the date and don't pick the average, but the conservative third. Cabins and camp grounds are good too. For us it's all about a shower and a quick undy wash. Or s....

Daily consumables, both for man and machine, are easily identified and costed. The incidentals are the trick. That's what contingencies are for.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

If you're tenting and cooking your own meals, fuel will be your largest expense. On the other hand, if you want to stay in pricier hotels and take all your meals in restaurants, well, there goes your budget. Of course, all this depends a lot on where you are riding. For example, India is a lot cheaper than western Europe...

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Bruce Clarke - 2020 Yamaha XV250

Hi James:

Sounds like you are planning to do the trip in a vehicle (something that has 4 wheels). My experience is with motorcycles, hence I can't give you any advice about fuel and vehicle maintenance costs.

I budget €100 a day for everything except fuel, tolls, and motorcycle maintenance (I get the maintenance done before I leave on a trip... I don't like having to do any maintenance when on the road).

I stay in hotels (typically 3 star), and I don't drink alcohol. €100 a day is sometimes too much, for example, at the moment I am in Skopje, Macedonia, staying in a first-class hotel that costs €58 a night. Food might be another €15 a day. But, in Western Europe, sometimes the hotels cost €80 a night or more, and food more than €20 a day. All in all, though €100 a day seems to average out OK month after month.

It should be fairly easy for you to budget fuel and vehicle maintenance costs (tires, oil changes, etc.) before you leave... you know what kind of mileage your vehicle gets, and it is easy enough to determine fuel prices in each country via Google. You can also get a rough idea of nightly accommodation costs by looking at TripAdvisor. Be careful, though, not to underestimate accommodation costs. The lower range of hotels and guest houses might only cost €30 or €40 a night, but if you find that the place has bedbugs, and neighborhood security is such that your vehicle might be sitting on concrete blocks the next morning, you're not going to be staying there.

Also, don't forget that you will need to set aside a contingency fund in case you have any mechanical breakdowns along the way.

Michael

Thanks for the great replies everyone.

Yes indeed it is a four wheel drive vehicle. I'm not sure how bad I'm expecting bad hotels to be, I stayed in some pretty rough places in Romania before but nothing I would say was worse than camping. I might even work out a way of removing the rear seats of the 4x4 and putting a bed in there somehow but how much time do I want to spend in that car.

The accommodation costs could easily spiral out of control I think, I'm going through the old Russian states and then into Russia, and then Mongolia. It seems to be that the cheap hotels really are quite cheap and the not so cheap hotels really are not so cheap at all. Seems to be no middle ground, I'm thinking to budget big time for accommodation and hope that when I make it home I've got some left over money that I can put into another adventure.

Really appreciate your views and thoughts, thanks to everyone to replied.