One thing I do that I think works well is I only pay with cash and I take out small amounts at a time from my debit card, such as 60 EUR maximum usually. This doesn't work for everyone but it is perfect for me as I have a TD Select Service bank account that allows me withdraws around the world without that stupid $5 fee every time. Also I have enough in the account so that I pay nothing for the account and get a free VISA card that has 1% cash back which is nothing amazing but it adds up.
So here is the information for accommodations so far. The only things not counted on this list are 4 days I spent in Rhosneigr, Wales at my cousins house, 4 days spent in a hotel that my friend paid for as he wanted to visit me in London, England and I crashed on the other bed as it was a double room, 4 days I slept in a car that I rented around Belgium and Luxembourg and 5-8 days worth of overnight bus travel.
Also please understand that I do not use Couch Surfing as a free hostel and I have actually got to know each of my hosts as much as I could for the time I spent with them. I consider many of them friends and hope to host them some day in my future home town. I post this list of couch surfers and hostels because I think it helps people understand my budget when they realize how many days I did each and the places I stayed.
Couch Surfing
- New Jersey, United States
- worldlytreasure (March 2011) (4 days)
- New York City, United States
- Lisa Tejeda (March 2011) (12 days)
- London, England
- WilliamFromLDN (March 2011) (3 days)
- Isona Shibata (March 2011) (4 days)
- Jaye and Margot (March 2011) (1 day)
- Thom Osborne (March-April 2011) (11 days)
- Manchester, England
- Jamal Sabir (April 2011) (9 days)
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Bryden Firth (April 2011) (4 days)
- MRGUTSY (April 2011) (3 days)
- Glasgow, Scotland
- David Provan (April 2011) (3 days)
- Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Phil Snowden (April 2011) (3 days)
- Dublin, Ireland
- DUBLINGUY (May 2011) (3 days)
- Cardiff, Wales
- Girish Ravi (May 2011) (2 days)
- Paris, France
- Devotion Greg (May 2011) (5 days)
- Brussels, Belgium
- Julie Ferir (June 2011) (1 day)
- Berlin, Germany
- MILANESK (June 2011) (4 days)
- Krakow, Poland
- Stefan Szymanska (June 2011) (4 days)
- Vienna, Austria
- Leni Krichhammer (July 2011) (2 days)
- Fabian Samec (July 2011) (2 days)
- Susi Landgrebe (July 2011) (1 day)
Hostels
- Dublin, Ireland
- Bunk House (May 2011) (1 day)
- London, England
- Phoenix Hostel (May 2011) (2 days)
- Paris, France
- Paris Namdemun Guesthouse (May 2011) (2 days)
- Barcelona, Spain
- INOUT Hostel (May 2011) (7 days)
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Hotel Anne Marie (June 2011) (5 days)
- Amsterdam Hostel Centre (June 2011) (1 days)
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Chili Hostel (June 2011) (7 days)
- Bratislava, Slovakia
- Downtown Backpacker Hostel (July 2011) (2 days)
- Budapest, Hungary
- Budapest Budget Hostel (July 2011) (7 days)
- Rome, Italy
- Tiber Village Hostel (July 2011) (7 days)
Okay so now that you have that information I will give you my budget information. I have kept exact track of every cent I have taken out for every debit/atm/visa transaction. I sadly do not have exact #'s for the cost per place I was in but when your doing round the world travel things average out over long periods I think so maybe I spent more money in London but I spent less in New York so on average it works out to be not to bad. Because of this my budget is not perfect for people just planning trips to one place although if you want to ask me about specific costs I can usually recall the rough cost of everything I have bought everywhere I have been so I can answer specific questions.
Over 141 days so far I have spent $6,228.15 CAD ($6,570.29 USD) which averages out to $44.17 CAD per day. This includes all costs related to travel since I started traveling. This does not include my ticket from Saskatoon to New York or my flight from New York to London. It also does not include my travel insurance or cost of original gear as those were all purchased months before hand. It does include my cost of all new gear and replenishing bathroom supplies and such since I started traveling. If I had to estimate the cost of the things I listed that are not on that price it would be less than $1000 CAD total.
Hopefully this helps someone who is interested in exact prices for someone traveling like me. Since flying to London I have not taken a single flight. I almost always take the cheapest method of transport from city to city which is almost always bus. There is exceptions to this but it usually is for rail and it's rare rail is cheaper. Flights are almost never cheaper when you consider baggage cost and getting to and from the airport but it can happen I suppose. So if you have nothing but time I would usually recommend the bus. I have mainly used Eurolines in Europe except in the UK were I used Megabus.
As far as food costs, I don't deprive myself of food and I have eaten things recommended to me many times. I do eat at grocery stores sometimes but I still get to try the foods that cities are known for. Usually these famous foods can be found at small local places outside the tourist area for half the price and often of better quality. I rarely cook at hostels as I am the kinda guy who screws up spaghetti so don't think that this budget requires eating a thimble of white rice per day or something.
The same thing goes for local transport within cities. I do indeed walk a lot and have lost 12 lbs already by doing so. But some cities are just too big or I am just not in mood to walk everywhere sometimes. So I do buy metro passes, usually weekly passes as they are a better deal and I am often in a city for a week. I don't just get on buses and hope I don't get caught as I have done that before because the machine was broken and of course I got caught, I had no way to pay the guy who wanted me to pay on the spot so I actually just walked away as he wasn't a cop or anything but still didn't like doing it and always try and buy official tickets.
If you have any questions about my travel so far then please post them here and I will try and answer them all. Thanks for reading!
