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.

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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.