The budget of our world trip
How did we use the budget of our world trip. (Part 2)
In our previous post we told you the total cost of our world trip. But to give you a better understanding of how we spent that budget, here we will tell you about the way we spent it and how we used to travel during the 10 months of our adventure.
Simple is best
We traveled quite simply and cheap, always looked for cheap accommodation, but in a good location and with good reviews. So not the cheapest, but quite cheap. We normally had street food in Asia, and cooked ourselves where we could. In some countries we had to be a bit more careful, like in Kenya, and used more food delivery or restaurants. And in Japan we didn´t stop ourselves from eating sushi every second day. But again, not the best sushi, but also not the worst. I think the key is to go for the cheapest option that you can still enjoy according to your own standards.
We always tried to use the cheapest way of transport. Within a city, that´s walking. We also used tuk-tuks and uber or similar apps. In many Asian countries we rent a scooter, which went from 4€ per day in Bali up to something like 10€ per day the most expensive. In South Africa we had a rental car for a month and a half for 8€ per day (without insurance, which we wouldn’t recommend anyway).
Traveling from one country to another was the biggest expense. Looking for flights with stop overs also helps lower the costs a bit. When possible, within Southeast Asia, we travelled by bus. This was always very cheap. Oh, and night buses are great, because it saves you the cost of accommodation during that night!
Enjoy the local life instead of the touristic attractions
We didn´t always go to all the touristic attractions. Usually, we enjoyed more the places where local people normally would go. We also didn´t go to many museums or exhibitions, unless there was something very appealing to us. But we didn´t save on those attractions that are really unique and worth it, like Angkor Wat in Cambodia (37€ per person).
Most of our activities were in the nature, like waterfalls, beaches and mountains. Sometimes entrances to some waterfalls were paid, but just a euro or so. The most expensive activity we did was the safari, which was 300€ per person, but again, worth every cent. We also took some surfing and kite surfing lessons. But for example, we didn´t go diving as many travellers do, as we felt that snorkelling was already amazing and completely free.
We also didn´t party and only had a drink every now and then when we felt the place and moment was calling for it. But in general, we neither were in the mood nor wanted to use our money for something we considered an unnecessary cost for our world trip.
With this, I think you get the idea of how we travelled. As cheap as possible, but enjoying anything we like the most. We didn´t waste a cent, and enjoyed everything we did.
The conclussion. Cheap or expensive?
I would say you can definitely travel cheaper if you look for free accommodation on platforms like couchsurfing. You can also do volunteering works in exchange for accommodation, or even hitchhiking. However, this will always limit you. For this experience the one and only thing we wanted is to be completely free. So, for all that we did, and taking into account we also had flights to go back home for Christmas, we were very cost efficient and we even expected the budget of our world trip to be higher!
Indeed, this trip can also be much more expensive if you suffer from FOMO, need to do all activities a place has to offer, want to take pictures at all the Instagram spots, can´t miss a party and won´t sleep at a place without a clean hot shower ever. It´s all up to you, just keep in mind, the cheaper you travel, the longer you can go!
Maybe you’re wondering how to save money faster to go on a worldtrip, so here’s a list of tips and ideas you can easily implement in your life to help you save money!
If this insight information was helpful and you´d like to know more details, or how much we spent in each country, don´t forget let us know! We always kept track of our spending’s so we have a lot we can share.
Cheers!
Blanca & Richard
