BootsnAll Travel Community

I´m plannig a long trip(10 months), starting in Spain, heading east to Greece, Turkey, India , Thailand.... and get to New Zealand. Then to Chile and then thru South America to Colombia. Most of it by land.
How much money do you think I´d need? I´m planning on doing it as cheap as possible.
8000€???
gracias

I'm planning a similar trip (add in the rest of Europe, Cambodia, and Australia, and add about 4 - 6 months) and I'm budgeting about $40,000 (33,000 Euros) for two of us.

Is that your entire budget? Like, airfare, train, bus, food, lodging, insurance, supplies, everything? Because if it is - that seems tight to me. That's 26.67 Euros per day - I don't know how you could make that work.

Looks as tho it could be a bit light on Simon, particularly if you're looking for it to include your land/airfares that even with budget carriers in Europe and Asia will still ammount to near 1500/2000E I'd suspect as Thailand to NZ and then NZ to SA will not be so cheap.
You'd then be left with say 600E/m which will be cutting it pretty fine and just how fine will depend on your split of time between the lower cost countries like India, Thailand, SA, and to some extent Turkey.
There are organisations like www.wwoof.org where you can do some work in exchange for accomodation and meals to help lessen costs, but you would have little money for luxuries unless you were able to find a bit of paid work for a few weeks here and there.

Thanks guys, as I see i might have to safe a bit more of money, uh? Do you think you could live with 20€ a day in Asia? I´m from Colombia and I know that in South America you can. Airfare and transport are expensive everywhere. I was thinking 1500€ from Chile to Sydney and then 2000€ more for the rest (transport only) that would leave me with 4500€ that divided into 10 month (300 days) is 15€ a day, almost 20 US$.
Doable?

20€/day is fine for India (and the rest of the subcontinent) or Thailand (and the rest of SEA.)

When I was in those areas I spent about C$20/day, so about 15€. This included everything; food, accomodation, visas, overland travel...

You should be fine there, so long as you're not looking for luxury

Oh , no luxury at all!!! I can live as cheap as it gets. And as for golden rule,
the least you spend the longer you travel.
Thanks oswiu, you gave me some hope

I was going to say Ossie, C$20 is doing it tight, but then you say do not expect luxury for that.
Yes Simon, E20 would allow reasonable living, and if you are happy to have basic accomodation, simple meals you'll do it easy enough to have money for a few beers and other stuff.
Your trip now seems to have expanded to include Oz., and on doing Oz cheap, if you have a swag/sleeping bag or whatever, a cheap nights accomodation in the right weather can be had on the beach, there being a couple of english girls sleeping there o/n who wanted to know if I could knock them up some pancakes and a cuppa!
But Oz cities can chew up the $$ just like western europe cities.
I reckon that you might be able to do a little better on your transport costs, but for sure, I'd try and get another E1000 -2000 in the kitty.
Have a look at www.attitudetravel.com for a list of budget airlines in Europe/Asia, www.tigerairways.com having cheap flights Singapore to Darwin, but when in Thailand, see what Charlie at www.travelconnecxion.com can do for you re Oz - NZ - Chile, also listed on www.khaosanroad.com to compare with www.justfares.com and you could a pleasant surprise.
Note that you'll need an onward flight from NZ to be allowed to board a flight to there, and you'll save yourself a few more dollars by having an airline/agent process your ETA (visa) for Australia for free, or it should be.

WOW! thanks gonorth! that´s some information!!! I´ll try to get 1000-3000€ more in my bank! I´m now in Ibiza working my head off to do it. In fact I only have 2000€ at the moment, but I´m gonna work the whole season (until midle Oct.) in order to do it. Those sites are cool, very handy.
I think I´m gonna start travelling in October, so I´ll post some more things and let you know how I´m doing
Gracias mil gracias
=)

My budget abroad is $1,000 a month. That gives me $10,000 a year, plus $2,000 a year for any airfare. I don't know why people spend so much... I think there is just some sort of inherent lifestyle that's hard to shake.

I went to Los Angeles recently and got there, from Alabama, for less than $5, and stayed for two weeks spending around $50. It was not a pleasant experience (pleasure was not the purpose of that adventure), but it goes to show you how cheap you can be if you NEED to be. With that in mind, imagine how someone used to dealing with those kinds of tight situations could handle $1,000 a month? Quite well. I would make that your core budget (excluding airfare, but get good deals!), and use any extra money you have (unless you want to save it) for splurging on drinks and dinners with the friends you will meet.

Hi! Ok so that means I have to safe a bit more. The 12000$ Subnubilus says (=10000€) seems to be ok, that´s taking the 2000$ extras for Airfare.
I think as well, that for many people is hard to give up their life style, the one the have at home, and start living cheaply. I have done it , may be not at that extent, t I think I´ll be ok.
Thanks =)

quote:

Originally posted by subnubilus:
My budget abroad is $1,000 a month. That gives me $10,000 a year, plus $2,000 a year for any airfare.

That is essentially my budget. Average of 30 USD/day. Half that for SE Asia. Twice that for Western Europe. You gotta pinch some pennies, but it is worth it.

quote:

I went to Los Angeles recently and got there, from Alabama, for less than $5, and stayed for two weeks spending around $50. It was not a pleasant experience (pleasure was not the purpose of that adventure), but it goes to show you how cheap you can be if you NEED to be

Now that is some black belt nonspending.

quote:

Originally posted by go girl:

quote:

I went to Los Angeles recently and got there, from Alabama, for less than $5, and stayed for two weeks spending around $50. It was not a pleasant experience (pleasure was not the purpose of that adventure), but it goes to show you how cheap you can be if you NEED to be

Now that is some black belt nonspending.

Why thank you! I wasn't planning on doing anything of the sort, but my plans died early. I had to spend my first night in a hurricane, so that roughed me up for the rest of the trip. Santa Monica is really cold on September nights though. It was definitely a good experience to have under my belt (and I was just eighteen at the time).

Skimax, you really think $2,000 in Western Europe is necessary? I'll be in the United Kingdom later this year and I hope to stick to my budget. I figure it will take some doing, but shouldn't be that bad. If I stay in London for any amount of time (and I will), I'll be sure to stay with someone for free or for cheap. Accomodation and alcohol are the two things which eat my cash up if I'm not careful.

The only place I've been out of the country is Japan, though, so I guess I haven't tested my budget abroad except for there (but supposedly Japan is really expensive)... and honestly, I think it'll be easier to live cheaply (or at least more comfortable to live cheaply) abroad than it is here in the US.

i'm fairly new to this site, but i have noticed that most people are planning on taking more for a 6 month trip than i make in a year!! excluding airfare, you could probably go with nothing and be able to survive if you're willing to work!!

good luck!!!!

Yep, I'd agree with you, subnubilus. If you're willing to do things the non-customary way in a homogeneous society (like Japan) then you can often get by for much cheaper. It's been painful to readjust to living in the states where it's a hell of a lot harder to find corners to cut w/ respect to expenses, they've already been cut by so many other people that the price goes up! Harder to learn cheaper ways to do things as a traveler too b/c it takes time to learn what corners there are to cut.
Something that also figures in is how long people are willing to search for the cheaper routes to take as opposed to coughing up some cash and just enjoying trip. It took me a while to realize that not all societies are accommodating to squaters who are willing to pup their tents anywhere for a free nights sleep (perfect if your touring on your bike..). Stubborn me finally stopped searching for the squat spot and decided to abide by norms in some places, just put down the bills for cheap accommodation.
I have to admit, I wonder how long those who make it by on super small budgets spend looking for their bargains...wish I could fess up to living off of $5/day in the states! that's a feat.

SimonUribeConvers, don't worry to much. Oz, New Zealand, Europe and Western Turkey are expensive, but Eastern Turkey can be done on 10 Euro's a day (excluding Bus's) the huge added bonus there is that hitching is pretty easy! Pakistan, India, Nepal and parts of China can all be done on $10 a day. Thailand was about $15 a day, because I went out a lot.

I just got back from a trip that started in Indonesia and went by land (with the exception of two short flights) through S.E. Asia, Asia and Europe, where I ended up in Biarritz, France. The whole trip, 22 months, costed just over $9,000.

Have fun brotha...

WOW Bear, you really did give me hope. I´planning my trip with a 8-10.000 € for 10 month , as I said before. I´ll try to do it all by land or at least what it can be made. Just a question though, the 9000$ include Visas, airfare, transport etc..??? If it does
I´m willing to do anything in my power to do it as cheap as it can be made.
gracias

quote:

Originally posted by subnubilus:
Skimax, you really think $2,000 in Western Europe is necessary? I'll be in the United Kingdom later this year and I hope to stick to my budget.

I haven't been to the UK, so I cannot really comment. But from what I have heard from all the English I have met on the road $2000 USD/month in the UK is a reasonable estimate.

If it gets too expensive, you can always run east to cushion the budget.

quote:

I think it'll be easier to live cheaply (or at least more comfortable to live cheaply) abroad than it is here in the US.

Sort of, but that 20% EU sales tax adds up quickly. And the high price of fuel raises the price of everything.

quote:

Originally posted by sueai:
Yep, I'd agree with you, subnubilus. If you're willing to do things the non-customary way in a homogeneous society (like Japan) then you can often get by for much cheaper. It's been painful to readjust to living in the states where it's a hell of a lot harder to find corners to cut w/ respect to expenses, they've already been cut by so many other people that the price goes up! Harder to learn cheaper ways to do things as a traveler too b/c it takes time to learn what corners there are to cut.
Something that also figures in is how long people are willing to search for the cheaper routes to take as opposed to coughing up some cash and just enjoying trip. It took me a while to realize that not all societies are accommodating to squaters who are willing to pup their tents anywhere for a free nights sleep (perfect if your touring on your bike..). Stubborn me finally stopped searching for the squat spot and decided to abide by norms in some places, just put down the bills for cheap accommodation.
I have to admit, I wonder how long those who make it by on super small budgets spend looking for their bargains...wish I could fess up to living off of $5/day in the states! that's a feat.

For me, I spend a lot of time before my trip acquiring some of the critical info. I actually enjoy planning for my trip, but since I don't plan what I'll be doing when, it mostly amounts to getting the BEST airfare and taking notes about hostels I read about or phone numbers I have, tips and tricks I've heard mentioned, anything like that. I don't use most of the info later, but it's there if I need it.

Once I'm in the country, it's easy to be cheap. Even if I stay in a hostel every night of the month, that's usually going to be less than $600.00. By making sure I live a variety of ways on my trip, appropriate to the setting, I save up to half that money. If I'm in London, for instance, I might stay a few weeks with a friend I knew beforehand or a friend I meet once there (it pays to be sociable and interesting). If I'm in a rural city, I might take my cloak (or find a blanket) and see if staying the night outside works. At worse, I save $20, and at best, I find a neat way to camp and save hundreds. There are so many possibilities, and just be exploring those, you save money. Sometimes it will work out and sometimes it won't, but it'll even out down the road. As for food, I don't overindulge. I enjoy the simpler foods (so easy in Japan, where all the food is wonderful), I take my time with my tea and really enjoy it. By slowing down and doing what you feel like doing instead of following a calendar, you naturally spend less. You just have to acquire some discipline with some of your habits, that's all. It pays off enough that you can STOP WORRYING ABOUT MONEY and splurge with the comrades you meet on some weekends. Some of my best memories were in "cheap" restaurants in Japan which ate a considerable chunk of my wallet, but it was worth it and I could afford it because I was otherwise frugal.

As for getting around, that's an adventure in and of itself! I love trains and planes and boats and stuff, so I take those sometimes, and sometimes I don't feel like paying for a quick trip to the next city so I'll find another way. The options here are so open-ended that I better just leave it at that.

The only thing I foresee being a problem is alcohol. It can be expensive, but it can be nice. When I go to the UK later this year I'll have to try and save the pubs and my flask for mirthy times with newfound friends... USUALLY. You can't make rules like that, you just have to adapt. Exceptions are what makes things interesting.

Morning, working abroad is not as easy as it sounds. I don't have much experience abroad (sorry if I come off like I do, but I'm just a wee lad and getting my feet wet), but I've researched it quite a bit. It really depends on what kind of person you are (same deal with hitchhiking), what city you're in, what country you're FROM, what your skills are, if you're "educated" (I'm not), and so on. I think it's a great idea but I'm just saying it's not quite as simple as it sounds. It takes some doing. For my UK trip, I'm not going to work at all. It's illegal and I have my reasons for abiding by those laws at this time (especially if I want to move there one day). It'll be a relatively expensive trip for me, but I'm boosting my funds by spending the Summer living cheap in San Diego with a job.

I just PMed a guy about my -$5 a day experience so I don't want to get into it again, but it was not me looking for bargains, really. That was just living on the quirky border between misery and tranquility. It was generally an unpleasant experience, but as a means to an end and not an end itself, that's ok. Oddly enough, though, it did turn out to be an end in itself, but that was not the original purpose.

I don't know, I wish I could have said all this more concisely and have made some sort of point. This is a complicated issue, but simple at the same time. I just know what I want to do, then I see if I can do it and how, and if not what am I going to do instead, and at the end of it all you end up do something completely different based on your choices. It all works out no matter what, even if your trip is cut short, it'll affect your character. If fun is all your after, I guess that doesn't mean much, but if you're out to better yourself as well, then anything goes. You have to love happiness AND suffering, and more practically, you have to stop worrying about money. Never, ever worry about it. If you spend a bunch, lose a bunch, get robbed, whatever... it happened, it just changes the circumstances a bit (or a lot). You can't let it get to you. At the same time, if you want to save more, that's great! Find a way, find a way to do it without making yourself miserable or frustrated. It's easier to do when you're not stressing out about the possibility of spending more than you want.

quote:

Just a question though, the 9000$ include Visas, airfare, transport etc..???

Yup, and I like travelling that way. That's what feels comfortable/fun to me...

I was in India for about 7 months, Nepal for 4, and Pakistan for 3 though, so that really brought the average spending down. Depending on where you are in the those countries, you can't spend $10 in a day, but there are plenty of spots where you're money can still go like water.