My budget- 30 months worth (34$ a day)
“How did you afford all this travel?”
It’s not really that expensive. About 1000$ a month-give or take. Since not a lot of people post their budget- I thought *I* would! (I’ll probably regret it later).
I used www.WorldNomads.com. It’s basically catastrophic insurance. Not good for day-to-day stuff (as you have to pay something like 75$ to make a claim). Not bad if your grandma dies and you need to cancel your trip and fly back, though!
LAX – BZE | PAC -BAQ | MDE – CTE | BOG – UIO | GYE – GPS | LIM -CUZ | SCL-DAY | DAY – BWI | JFK -SYD | MEL – CNS | MEL – AKL| DRW – SGN| BKK – BOM – BKK | BKK – KLO | CEB – MNL | SIN – DAY| DAY – CAI | CAI – JNB | JRO – CPT | CPT – DOH| DOH – LHR| LHR – JFK I didn’t buy a rtw ticket from anyone. I bought it piece-meal. I did use frequent fliers for a few trips (Singapore to Dayton, Kili to Cpt, etc) But a lot of times I just relied on finding good deals as they came.
Bus tickets, ferries, taxis, tuktuk, trikes, etc.
This includes the Australian work visa (most expensive) and other various country’s visas (India) and bribes (Tanzania).
This is the most expensive by far. Let me clarify what this is: I would withdraw a week’s worth (màs o menos) of money from ATMs (using a AAA pre-paid debit card). I would use cash to pay for food, lodging, small gifts, local transport, entrance fees, etc. This was my “living money”, basically.
This was anything that I was replacing before I left. Shoes, ipods that got water-soaked in the monsoon rains, etc. Anything that was more than my daily/weekly stipend (see above). When you have 100-items, you don’t tend to buy much more.
This included trips to doctors/dentists, vaccines, as well as Crossfit memberships and marathon race registrations.
This was mostly Scuba Diving adventures, Certifications, dives, gear, etc. As well as various tours. Anything that was more than my daily stipend (34$) got taken out of “FUN” budget.
- I slept in hotels so very rarely that when I did- it was a treat.
- I hardly spent any money eating out at restaurants. When I did, it was a treat.
- Don’t expect to shower/shave every day. (Or be clean for that matter).
- Be cautious, but don’t let it run your life- because shit will always happen.
- Check/empty ALL your pockets before dropping off laundry.
Biggest tip I wish I did: Plan less.
How did I save all that? Clicky-click.
ok– here’s the call to action stuff: I’m (finally) getting serious about publishing my book. What, about budget/money, would you like to know? What didn’t I answer ^^here that you want to know? Comment below or send an email to LN.Lurie(at)yahoo.com 🙂
SIDE NOTE! Speaking of book- I need an editor! Preferably someone with audio experience- as I have podcasts and stuff. Who reads this thing and is a content editor? Send me a comment or email (LN.Lurie(at)yahoo.com)
If you’re going to write a book, I would go into more detail about your daily life when you were saving money (how’d you deal with “nights out” with friends, eating at work, etc), how you found lodging, buying/cooking food so you didn’t have to go to restaurants, what kind of planning you did do, and how you figured out your budget so you knew how much you needed to save.
So basically, the nitty gritty details.
That’s my suggestion. 🙂
Good call, habeeb! (clarification: Do you mean when I was still in the states saving money? Or when I was traveling and “just living” (i.e. saving money)?)
LN, I’m so glad to see you’ll do a book! You’ve got a gift for words.