how can I afford this
 

The best explanation I heard for affording Adventure Travel,is this metaphor. If you want a house or new car you save for it anyway you can. It is the same for RTW travel. If it is a priority for you then you will find a way to afford it.

Karl

I guess I'll have to take my scissors and clippers with me then :thumbup1:

But seriously, I am surprised at the differences of budgets people have in mind for travelling. This is really helpful for me, thank you :)

I'm planning on a trip around the outskirts of Africa and Europe, I'm wondering whether to do Africa first and see what I have left money-wise for Europe after or do Europe and get it out of the way so I can spend more time in Africa.

I have family in Sudan and friends in South Africa I can stay with, it's just everywhere in between I need to figure out :clap:

Mr. Money Mustache
 

Hmmm, sounds like a lot of people should start reading Mr. Money Mustache!

If you're interested in retiring early (or becoming financially independent), or just saving for a really big trip, definitely start reading mrmoneymustache.com. Affordanything.com (not everything!) is good too.

Last year, I paid $30,000 for my master's degree, while dealing with a fairly large mortgage, all on a small teacher's salary. This year, I've quit my job and gone traveling for a year while the house pays for itself (and then some!).

I think most people in developed countries can do a big trip like this (barring young kids, people who you support, or illness), and still come home to something left over (be it money, a house, or a job). It's just a matter of knowing how to budget, or make the most out of your potential. Even so, just knowing 'how' to save is something a lot of people don't really know how to do. I've learned a lot over the last year, and it's given me a whole new range of freedom.

-Elisa
Travelbugblues.wordpress.com

Finally... I read all the thread
 

Hi!

It took me a week but finally I read it all, was really amazing to hear all you guys, gives me more motivation to do my RTW with my girlfriend (we are about 2 or 3 months from departure.

I wish I had found this thread in the beginning of 2010, when I joined this comunity, that should have helped us to save more and prepare better.

I hope in a year or more I will come back to this thread to tell you how we did it, but now I just can tell how are we planning to do it:

We have been saving for 4 years, and gathering the equipment (funny/sad I had to sell the bike three weeks ago, we will buy a cheaper one soon).

as we are both engineers, in a country as Chile is easy to save, we have a cheap house, we didn't have a car (until we came to Australia, were is a must). Now that mining is doing bad I was retrenched (more money for the trip), so now were are going to take a year off to travel in a bike (we hope the money is enough for a year travelling).

to make the trip for cheap we will avoid hotel, we will camp as much as possible, and restaurants are forbidden (maybe once in each country to taste it).

And I'm planning to try to get a job in any non English nor Spanish speaking country, especially in Russia and China (as china is very expensive to ride probably we will go on foot there).

I don't thing our professions will allow us to get a temporary job while traveling (chemical engineer and computer engineer), but we are willing to teach Spanish, work in hotels or bars


from all the post I would like to recall:

THAT'S THE BEST QUESTION EVER MADE!!

Awesome!!!, I would love to do that, but I cant left mi girlfriend alone such a long time. I work in minning too - well... I used to work in mining - maybe when comming back from the trip I will give a look to the FIFO scheme.


I'm glad to hear that, I was quite stressed because I only have 3 months to plan.

Francisco.
https://www.facebook.com/ThereAndBackByMotorbike

been reading Mr. Money Mustache lately because of your comments here and on Adv. thanks ...

hope your trip is going well .. how's the Super Sherpa?

Interesting to read old posts within this thread. I wonder how the cost of RTW travel has increased over the years.
I recently raised a similar question on another forum & was a bit shocked by the feedback. The average traveller estimated I'd spend at least £20k on a 1 yr trip.

I love being on 2 wheels (been riding for 30+ years) but I could backpack for far less. In many countries it can be fairly easy to hire a small bike (or potentially buy one) which avoids the carnet fees. It makes me wonder whether RTW on a single motorcycle is worth it.

Feedback appreciated :)

After a recent 3 month trip in Europe, I came to the conclusion that it may even have been cheaper if we traveled in a motorhome compared to a bike. Granted, we were on a Ktm 990, ie gas guzzler, but did get a respectable 16km/ltr.

The experience would obviously have been different, but by no means not enjoyable. To give you an idea, we camped all the time and made our own food 80% of the time and it still cost us about GBP 45 a day for 2 people.

Edit: Our overall distance would've been a lot less though if we were in a motorhome, but would've had the added benefit of maybe some bicycles which means a complete different experience again.

I think one of the biggest mis-understandings about motorcycle travelling is that it's cheap.... It's not !!

Is it one of the most flexible, free and enjoyable ? Definitely.....


Once you price in MPG, shipping, spares & repairs etc , Walking, cycling, canoeing, budget airlines and public transport are far cheaper.

A small diesel van is actually cheaper too if you consider the food and equipment you can carry and also the option to sleep in it. My kangoo gets 50mpg and I can carry enough cheap food MONTHS.

I've weighed up cost of crossing France from uk to catalunya, Spain after doing the trip a fair few times..I think the ancient xt600 done it for the least if swerving some toll roads but riding it for 14 hours in one hit,I did think of the pushbike option...no fuel versus the amount of food one would eat in the time taken to do trip,I think it may have been more than filling xt up twice..
The small van combined with fuel that's not meant to be in it and taking 2 days,avoiding tolls and sleeping in van could be a close contender...just look out for the lot in blue with douane on their vehicles..:thumbup1:

Average £20k in a year on the road? Wow. I can't even imagine how luxuriously those people must be living. In 2.5 years on the road, Europe has been by far the most expensive and even there it was coming out to less than £15k per year! No camping, no cooking, though I do travel VERY slowly, ride a cheap bike (KLR650) and on occasion sleep at a friend's house. I feel I am traveling in luxury at this price. Far cheaper anywhere in the Americas. Cheaper yet with camping, cooking or couchsurfing.

The bike is incredibly expensive for travel in Europe compared to backpacking, but not so bad in north America and south America.

Since you ask for feedback, I came to this same conclusion a number of years ago; never mind the CdP, all things related to any form of travel can be costly once you are in the hands of third parties (shipping vehicles is a classic example).
In contrast, once on the ground in a chosen location then virtually anything is possible.

I well recall a report of some years ago - seen somewhere, but I don't recall where - of an individual who owns and stores a motorcycle on each of the 5 continents; that covers his needs.

I've got a saying...

"Time is cheap , Miles cost money"

Time costs nothing.....Hanging around in one place for a long time can be cheap if you have the opportunity to sleep for very cheapl and shop/cook locally.

Miles cost money as you're paying for fuel, usually pot luck accommodation, convenience food and whatever tolls, taxes you incur etc...

Agree totally. I dislike public transport and I don't want to rely on it especially in remote areas. I love riding a bike so I'd rather be on my bike for 3 months than backbacking and bussing for six. But that's just me.

I have a question....
What you guys are saying is all good and well, but I just spent two weeks riding around Italy, and, if I couldn't afford an espresso breakfast every day, and the tickets to the museums at the Vatican, and the cable car up Mt. Etna, and divine pizza in a restaurant where I was looking out onto the sea directly from my table, the trip would have been wasted.
You're going to a country in order to see what it's like. As a tourist (and let's not kid ourselves, this is what we are) seeing stuff costs money.
So what I'm saying is, I struggle to see the point of pinching every last penny if, as a result, all you see on your travels is roads and campsites.
But maybe it's just me.

I mostly agree with you. We're trying not to spend too much while traveling but indeed if you can't afford anything, what's the point of going? You'll miss out a lot of stuff from place X if you don't have any cash to spend.
But most of guys who do this, spend their money on beer everyday... doh

I think it's all about prioritising like always!

We spend around 1500€ each month when traveling and we can do what we like but we camp a lot and stay at cheaper places, but we definitely don't have cooking equipment with us... :nono:

I would rather go for 3 months on a 1500€ budget a month than 6 months on 750€ a month... but that's just me!