3 months on the road by Motorcycle - How much does that cost?
 

Hello Folks,

I'm not looking for accurate answers to the dollar, but I'm looking at going from the UK to South Africa or Magadan on a BMW GS in about 3 months - How much approximately might a journey like this cost please (not including getting all the gear, but just on the road)??.

So, the way I intend to travel:
- 30% wild camping, 70% low to mid-range accommodation.
- Cooking my own breakfast or included in the hotel
- Dinner brought in restaurants and shops when available, if not cook my own.

I assume my main costs will be:
- Fuel.
- Accommodation.
- Food and drink
- Visas
- Cooking Gas
- Carnet
- Bike Insurance.
- Bike shipping for return to UK.

If anyone may have done this sort of journey in Africa or Asia, I'd really appreciate a bit of feedback on how you ended up spending to complete your journey.

Many thanks!!!

Jamie

Hi Jamie,
a very valid question but hard to answer since it totally depends on your travel style, mileage per day and the country. But having said that, this doesn't help you right? ;)
We calculate between 15 EUR per day per person (cheapest countries like Thailand) and 30 EUR (expensive countries like Iceland) per day. But we do mostly wild camping 70% and travel on a tight budget. Its also usually way cheaper to stay in a double room then in a single (per person).
In Russia we spent about 25 EUR per day per person.

Here are some ideas to bring the costs down:
- Use a gasoline cooker instead of camping gas -> can burn regular fuel, way cheaper
- try CouchSurfing.org instead of a hostel
- do more wild camping (usually any farmer will say yes when asked nicely)
- ride less per day (gas makes up to 50% of our budget per day)
- eat at supermarkets in expensive countries

Have a good trip!
Cheers,
Sherrie & Patrick

Hi Jamie,

Very little information on costs are reported by folks. It's a touchy subject I guess. This website offers sound advice from a couple who traveled from the UK to South Africa and beyond:

2ridetheworld.com : diary

It offers useful advice on BMW carnets in the UK anyway.
Also useful advice on shipping agents in South Africa although a bit dated.

Solo travel is more expensive for lodging unless you wild camp. But this isn't always possible in built up areas or desirable with inclement weather.

The more money you have, the easier it is. The challenge is traveling on a limited budget. Some can stretch their money further than others. Some costs you can figure out roughly, others differ wildly. On a 12,000 mile journey from UK to South Africa with a bike that gets 50 mpg you will use 240 gallons or around 900 liters of gas. But the cost per liter varies wildly.

The cost to ship your bike home will vary wildly depending on shipping agents, and whether you ship by air or sea. It is a lot cheaper to make a loop that returns to your starting point.

The cost of tires, oil, repairs varies by country and the type of riding you encounter.

Hopefully others who have made the trips you are contemplating will chime in and offer useful advice. Most of my travel has been on the other side of the world.

My guess for a three month ride including a carnet, insurance, ride to South Africa or Magadan and ship back with food, lodging, fuel, visas, bribes, tires, all in would be north of 5,000 pounds.

My last long ride to Panama and back was just over 11,000 miles, took over a month and cost 1200 pounds. But I made a loop tour back home to my starting point, rode a small fuel efficient bike, ate out of grocery stores and cheap food stalls, bought no insurance except what was required, camped a little but mostly stayed in cheap low rent guest houses and still ended up spending nearly 35 pounds/day equivalent. Not sure if you are a tough hobo to travel rough though.

Best luck!

Kindest regards,
John Downs

Hi,

I spend less then 3000 Euro for nine months traveling in Southamerica INKLUDING petrol and baying a used 125ccm bike there. I never payed for Hotel only did wild camping etc. Flights from Europa are another 1000 Euro.

http://www.adventure-travel-experien...uela-brasilien

To travel around Africa wasnt more expensive. 5000 Euro total for two years al the way round. The Visa and ferrys etc where about 100 Dollar per Country but i did not need flights or shiping.

http://www.adventure-travel-experien...en_transafrika

Travel save, Tobi

Costs
 

Although we started our trip back in 2009, you can see how much we spent on our trip through West Africa (and beyond) here. We weren't in fully fledged "Travel Mode" at the start so we tended to spend more than necessary. Should give you a basic idea.

In theory, all it costs is your mileage/gallon divided up by miles traveled and multiplied by price/gallon.

Everything else is what makes your trip super cheap or super expensive.

For me, Africa was the most expensive trip I have ever done. Even crappy hotels are very expensive for what you get. And all activities that make a trip into an experience are super expensive there. (Kruger trips, microlight flights over Victoria Falls, seeing the gorillas, etc)

So you can be the guy who sleeps in a tent by the road and just continues down the road to the Cape without seeing the gorillas and whatever, or you can be the guy who goes on safaris and kayaking trips down zambezi and it will cost a ton.

Totally depends on what travel is to you.

Rough costs 3 months Russia
 

Jamie

Three months travel in Russia/Mongolia last year by KLR650 in roughly the way you described:

- 30% wild camping, 70% low to mid-range accommodation.
- Cooking my own breakfast or included in the hotel
- Dinner brought in restaurants and shops when available, if not cook my own.

Cost me $70 day (this covered food, accom, fuel, bike tyres) or about $6000.

You'll need to add cost of visa's and shipping to that - can't give you figures to UK, but from Australia to Vlad cost me around $5000 for me and bike. If you go to Magadan you also need to add cost of shipping bike and you from their back to Vlad which I think was a bit under a $1000.

Hope this helps the planning.

BTW, You won't need a carnet to do Europe to Magadan.