By the end of this week, and since November 1, we will have
taken 34 flights (>160 hours of flying time, not including layovers), 13
long distance trains (78 hours), 12 ferries, 26 long distance buses (190 hours
of transit), and used public transportation in more than 22 cities. We’ve dealt
with 16 currencies, and even more languages and countries. We’ve stayed in 85 hotels, hostels,
guesthouses, and friends’ houses.
Singapore, Spain/Portugal, and Scandenevia (even though we
were lucky enough to stay with friends almost the entire time in Sweden and
Finland) were the most expensive countries of our trip, with Argentina and New
Zealand next in line. Malaysia and the
Phillipines were the cheapest, less than half as much per day as the most
expensive countries, followed by Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Samoa. Morrocco, Turkey, Eastern Europe, and Kenya were
in the middle (but we stayed with friends almost the entire time in Kenya).
We didn’t win the lottery, inherit anything, or go into
credit card debt for this adventure. So, how did we pull it off? A lot of planning, starting long before the
trip. The biggest factor of long term
travel is how quickly (or slowly) you spend your money. We spent a longer time in cheaper countries
so that we could travel for a longer period of time. We also avoided spending about $10,000 by
getting our around the world airline tickets for free, using frequent flyer
miles on Delta (I started unknowingly saving miles more than 10 years
ago!). We only had to pay taxes for the
tickets.
We rarely stayed in American-style hotels, and often stayed
in small boutique hotels or guesthouses. In general, I found that hostels were
rarely the best deal in town (small guesthouses and hotels cost about the same
or a few dollars more per night, but often were more comfortable and cleaner). If I made a reservation for more than two nights,
the hotel/hostel/guesthouse almost always negotiated with us, whether it was
giving a discount, a night free, or a free pickup from the airport. I am not ashamed to say that I heavily used
tripadvisor and booking.com (and the consensus of reviews are usually correct).
I also found that we could get a lot more for our money if we stayed outside
the hotel zones discussed in guidebooks (with usually just a 5-10 minute walk). And we thank the Starwood hotels credit card perks, for providing us with at least 2 weeks of free stays at luxury hotels!
A lot of countries included breakfast with the
hotel/guesthouse/hostel stay (it usually was little more than bread, jam, and
instant coffee, but some places were incredible). We often ate at street stands, small
restaurants or cafes, and regularly bought snacks and food from grocery stores. When a kitchen was available, we sometimes
cooked our own meals. I am sure that we
could have eaten more cheaply than we have, but food is a huge reason why I
travel, so I didn’t want to miss out! In
general, we were able to eat amazing meals and rarely spent more than $10-15
for a meal for both of us. We usually
didn’t buy water or something to drink at meals, and we kept instant coffee and
tea with us so if a hotel didn’t include breakfast, we could make our own. It seems silly, but over 8 months, a few
dollars a day adds up! I have to admit, I
am REALLY looking forward to cooking at home again. It Is very hard to
consistently eat healthy while on the road.
We only rented two cars for two weeks during 8 months. Other than in southeast Asia, where we often
used tuk-tuks and tricycles, we rarely used taxis. Otherwise, we used local
buses, metros, trams and walked many, many miles.
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