Friday, February 18, 2011

Expenses: How can I afford this?

The most common questions at the end of my trips are those related to the finances:  How much did the trip cost?  How can I afford to travel so often?  Did I have a budget?  The general answer is that all my trips are done on a relative shoestring budget.  However, there is more to it than that.  Firstly, its worthwhile to keep track of one’s expenses, not only so as not to lose sight of one's financial limitations, but also for future reference.   

I learned on one of my first trips that strict adherence to a budget is not always a good thing.  If you set yourself a limit you tend to pass up on things and opportunities that you might regret later on.  As such, my general goal is to travel at a maximum of $50 per day.  Some days this can drop down to $20, but on others I have been known to spend over $100.  It does however tend to even itself out. However, that being said, I tend to splurge on activities, sights and tours as opposed to accommodations and food.  I don’t need much to sleep and many would walk away from some of the “hotels” and “pensions” that I have stayed in.  Couchsurfing is also a way of keeping the budget down while at the same time meeting great people.  With respect to food, I once again don’t tend to be picky and love to try out local cusines in local establishments and if the opportunity presents itself, often cook for myself.  More importantly though, I don’t drink much hence don’t spent $30 per day on booze.  Finally, I tend not to take the convenient tourist shuttles, or fly from country to country or city to city.  Instead, I tend to choose the local form of transportation, whether it’d be a “chicken bus” or a shared taxi.

At the end of my stay in each country, I will provide a detailed breakdown of all the expenses.  This should give anyone interested a general overview of what to expect when traveling to these places.  The charts will be subdivided into: accommodations, transportation, sightseeing & activities, food and miscellaneous.   The PPPD is the per person, per day cost for each country. 


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