BootsnAll Travel Community

My boyfriend and I are having a difference of opinion in the "how much we need to save" category. I say at least 20,000$ He says that's way too much. So far we have only a very general itinerary for the year. Here it is. Let me know your opinion.

Europe 3 months
Africa 2 months
Asia 2 months
Pacific 2 months
North America 1 month
Latin America 1 month
Caribbean 1 month

Like I said, very general. But any advise would be welcome. Thanks.

PS...this may determine how long we have to live with his parents! hehe

20K each or for the both of you? Will that include plane tickets, or have those already been taken care of. In places like Europe, where will you be spending your time (west or east)?

From what I have read in the forums, 20K for one may be enough, but I don't think for two, given your itinerary. There are a ton of threads on this subject, they may help give you an idea, as well.

Hmm... it really depends on your travel style... hostels, couch surfing, out to dinner a lot?

The part I'd be concerned with is Europe. It is soooo pricey. If you each spend $50/day, which is tight, in Western Europe for 3 months, that's $9000 right there. Brian and I are constantly debating which part of Europe we can handle skipping on our trip so we can cut costs. So far, no luck, we want to see everything. But when the time comes and we have a set amount of money, we'll be making some real decisions as to what is worth the cost to see now.

You might want to make a budget/spreadsheet and put in estimated costs and daily expenses to see where you stand.

Hey thanks you guys. I've been checking out your site quite a bit Brooke, it's been very helpful=)

The 20,000 was for both of us. Just lodging food and local transport. I've been doing most of the research so I have a tendancy to think I'm right=P

We might be able to cut some of Europe down. I am looking forward to spending some quality time in Italy, southern mostly. And Chris is into the UK route and Ireland. We could probably do two months instead.

We probably won't do the dorm hostel thing, but cheap private rooms, en suite bathrooms not required. I plan on eating out of the markets a lot, cause I'm a cook and like trying locally grown foods, maybe one really nice meal a week.

Hehe, maybe we should just cut the trip down to 6 months!

Yeah, it is necessary to go to Italy on my trip as well... I mean I have to show Brian Italy. So I'll be going through and showing him all the must-sees and then going SOUTH. I have a need to go as I've been to Sicily and the furthest on mainland is Pompeii, so I have to see the rest of the boot. I think Bari and Lecce sound nice, and hey south is less touristy and cheaper. Sicily was way cheaper when I was there.

But I would definitely tell your bf that you at least need that 20k goal. As for the rest, I haven't been on my RTW yet so I can't help too much ther :-\

Italy is a big one for me. My mothers Maiden name is Nicoletti. Our family came from Santa Caterina, Sicily. The big cities don't seem to interest me as much so that might save us some money. I love ruins and small towns.

I'm gonna look up Bari and Lecce. Thanks for the suggestion.

First of all..congratulations on your plans to go RTW!

Our plan looked similar to yours until we sat down and realized just how much farther our money would go in some places compared to others. Ultimately, we cut out much of Western Europe and we dont regret it. The few days we spent there quickly blew our budget, and although we weren't traveling on an ultra tight budget, we extremely were thrifty.

We did spend time in Eastern Europe - much cheaper & very beautiful.
This is how I figured out our budget and it worked for us (note: we did this 5 yrs ago so adjust prices)

I took budget recommendations from guide books, websites, etc. for each country we planned to visit. I came to the sweeping conclusion that if we spent a max of $80 a day for the entire trip we'd be within our budget. It worked for us. We spent as little as $15 a day in Asia and maxed out at $150 one day in Vienna (note: that's just a hostel stay, one museum visit, and dinner from a street vendor).

In total, we ended up spending about $35,000 USD for two people but that included our airfare, gear and health insurance back home.

happy travels

That's like asking how much a car costs.

You know your habits better than anybody on this board. So go to the bookstore, figure out what a typical day in a location would be, and then do some math.

But.. if you pressed me for a number, I'd say anything less than $1250 USD per month in a western country or $900 per month elsewhere, plus a safety cushion and not counting pre-departure costs, will not be enough to do more than sleep, eat, and ride buses.

good luck

edit: ^ for one person

I don't think this is nearly enough if you want to do anything at all. I know people who spent this in Asia for a year, and that includes spending alot of time in the really cheap countries. If you want to spend any time in N. America, Europe or even parts of Africa, depending on what you want to do, you will need more money

I don't think this is nearly enough if you want to do anything at all. I know people who spent this in Asia for a year, and that includes spending alot of time in the really cheap countries. If you want to spend any time in N. America, Europe or even parts of Africa, depending on what you want to d

You need to break it down. You need to budget for pre-departure expenses such as airfares, visas, shots, gear
Then you need to work out a reasonable daily budget per a country or ba least a region. You can do this researching the usual boards plus looking at some quidebooks - add 15% to guidebooks as they are always out of date and prices have already gone up - I usually find the cost of cheap double + food + local transport and sights is usually about 3 X the cost of the double room as a rough rule of thum - might not work in Europe or the Caribean (which is probably more expensive that Europe and a package would be the cheapest option maybe). Also budgt separately for things like scuba, balloons, bungee jumps and local flights.

I have a preliminary budget for EASTERN Europe (much cheaper than western) of about Euro140/2 inc private rooms but not necessarily ensuite and probably mainly having a picnic lunch and only earing in restaraunts in the evenings with a couple of drinks.

My budget for Australia - camping including running costs for a 4WD but not the setup costs is A$140.

Also run your ocsts in the local currency (unless its totally unstable) that way if your currency drops you can easily re-calculate. My gut feel you may need twice what you think!

I think Midlifetravel is on the button there - I have done quite a bit of research into my own trip and came up with a rough breakdown of expected costs per country. You can have a look at it http://boards.bootsnall.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/209091657/m/95700288316 here
Bear in mind that the total there is in euro. By my estimation its gonna cost me 17G (22G USD) to get around the world and thats planning on a shoestring in Non western countries.

To be brutally honest I think 20000 USD is not enough for 2 people by a long stretch. If you are tied to that amount of money why not drop Western Europe for now and do Asia and South America over 6 months. Then do Western Europe again another time

I agree...I haven't done a RTW trip but have been to some of those places...Western Europe is expensive...private rooms alone set you back a fair amount each night...also if you are there in the summer it will be bloody expensive...

I agree with the last poster, I would guesstimate that 20K would suffice for six months with a limited Western Europe trip...You guys are from the US, Western Europe is the most accessible place from US (alright I discounted Canada and Mexico), but Western Europe will always be there. I mean North America will also set you guys back (unless you know people to stay with), our country is really not that cheap if you throw New York, Miami, and LA in there...I mean there is camping in the summer...

I am very jealous and you guys will work it out, but my suggestion would be to overestimate a little and consider your budget after plane tickets...The trip you are talking about, tickets that could run you easily over 2K each...That is a lot of places and many tickets are based on miles or continents. If you go budget airlines once you get to the countries that is a different story.

I would rather give my honest opinion, then give you fluff...

Good luck with your planning, these are just my humble thoughts.

I'd leave Western Europe and most of North America (if you live in the U.S. or Canada) for future trips. This will make the rest of your RTW trip cost a lot less.

We spent close to 10 grand on a 22 day trip through mostly Western Europe, and that included 4 nights in Prague, which is much cheaper than the rest of the places we went. We had private rooms about half the time. Ireland isn't cheap. UK is really expensive, especially with the exchange rate. Switzerland, although awesome and probably the highlight of our trip, is also ridiculously expensive. We are in the preliminary stages of planning our RTW, but I think we are leaning towards skipping out on Europe altogether. Like someone already mentioned, it's the most accessible from the US (besided Mexico and Canada), and it isn't going anywhere. You might wanna wait until you are older and have the means to go there for a few weeks or a month on its own and not part of a RTW.

i did a round the world 4 years ago
june & july & aug SE asia £12 a day
Sept 1/2 Oct Nz £16 a day
Oct- Feb Oz east coast, centre and perth
Mar & 1/2 apr £12 a day south africa
1/2 Apr and 1/2 may Sydney
finally 3 weeks california/ vegas


I spent £18,500 (UK sterling) approx and had the best time..
although i'd say i'd only have spent a third of that if i hadn't drunk

Off that I spent maybe 2k on extra flights to south africa from sydney and vancouver whilst in california, which wheren't originally planned


I know US Citizens aren't big drinkers, compared to us brits or irish but 10,000 dollars sounds like very little, especially with the shocking weakness of the currency, and i can't see any improvement short term..

3 months in western europe would see all that gone

One way I like to save some money while traveling is by simply not traveling as much. I really like to spend longer times in one place. 2-3 months in a country and staying in multiple places for 2-3 weeks at a time. You can save on accomidation by negotiating a cheaper price/night for your longer stay. It's easier to save on food costs, you get to know some local people. Less bus and train ticket expense. And i just generally like that style of travel soooo much more. I usually travel to 'devoloping nations' and budget $1k per month, all inclusive. $10k per year would be enough for me to travel but that's just my style, I don't mind sleeping outside, and like I said, taking it slow. In fact I'm on my way to $30k and plan on 3+years of traveling and adventuring. Anyway it works I'm sure you'll make it work and have a great time!

now here's a little Maine thing for you. I miss that place!



Friends: Know a few things about you.

Maine Friends: Could write a book with direct quotes from you.

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Friends: Will leave you behind if that ' s what the crowd is doing.

Maine Friends: Will kick the whole crowds ass that left you.

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Friends: Would knock on your door.

Maine Friends Walk right in and say, "I'm home!"

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Friends: Will try and talk to the bouncer when you get tossed out of the bar.

Maine Friends: Will buck up and go after the bouncer for touching you on the way out.

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Friends: Will wish you had enough money to go out that night, and are sorry you couldn't come.

Maine Friends: Will share their last dollar with you, drag you along, and try to steal free drinks all night.

Friends: Want the money they loaned you back next week.

Maine Friends: Can't begin to remember who owes who money after taking care of each other for so long.

---------------------------------------------
Friends: Will say "I can't handle Tequila anymore".

Maine Friends: Will say "okay, just one more..." and then 2 minutes later "okay, just one more!".

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Friends: Will talk sh*t to the person who talks sh*t about you.

Maine Friends: Will knock them the F*ck out!!

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Friends: Will tell you "They'd take a bullet for you."

Maine Friends: Will actually take a bullet for you.

Well, in my experience, western europe costs about 1500$ a month, or did for me.

Asia was much cheaper, about 800 to 1000 dollars a month per person.

Eastern Europe.. I can't say enough good things about it, at least Romania and Bosnia. Cheaper, like Asia.

I also agree with Travis. Why not consider a more relaxed schedule, staying places a few weeks, staying longer in cheaper and pleasant places??

This MIGHT include a stint of teaching English outside of Europe, which could reduce your long term expenses for that period to zero while giving you a very clear picture of one kind of culture while working there.

If you like people, you could even get room and board for working in hostels in some places.

A friend of mine lived on the extreme cheap, but she made crafts with a mexican friend. She saw a lot of the culture, spent almost nothing, but spent her time on the streets selling things.

There are so many ways to do it for that budget, and so few to do it if you hostel and hotel it. You might want to look at couchsurfing or its equivalents for some places.

We only spent about 25K for a family of three our first year of our multi-year trip around the world and all of it was in Europe, except a trip into Morocco.

Europe does not necessarily have to be expensive.

We have managed to even have some quite luxurious splurges on this budget like a great hotel in Provence, one on the caldera in Santorini & one of the best boutique hotels in the world which was in a 4000 year old cave in Cappadocia, Turkey ( Esbelli Evi).

Mostly we camp via RV though which saves lots of money. I know a family of four from France that traveled the world for 4 years via RV and only spent 1500 euros a month including shipping costs for RV and airfares.

So yes it can be done and quite luxuriously at times, if you are frugal, do good research and planning and live like a native.