Big News:
- More reports and charts detailing our expenses and giving you spreadsheet geeks out there (like me) a bit more fun to review
- Recommendations on gear and places that we have been good purchases for us
- Mistakes we have made alone the way that you can learn from
- Money saving tips are using while on this adventure
We would love your feedback and suggestions as we ramp up the information on the site.
June Summary:
For the first time since our initial stop in Otavalo, we spent an entire month in one city, Edinburgh. From both an entertainment and budget perspective this was a great choice. Like the rest of the UK, Edinburgh is hard on the traveler’s wallet, especially if you are dealing with poor currency exchange rates (1 GPB = 1.6 USD, yikes). As a result we decided to reduce our daily accommodation rate by renting an apartment for 5 weeks. This was a great opportunity to really get to know the area on a daily budget rate we could work with.
While the city can be expensive, there is a lot on offer that is free or cheap. We walked everywhere we could within the city limits (and sometimes outside of it). We ended up doing all of the hikes in Andrew Hayes’ wonderful book Historic Walking Guides Edinburgh. While the walking is free, it will make you thirsty for a pint so be warned.
In addition to the walking in the city we explored several of the wonderful & free museums. Plus, thanks to the kindness of great friends, we were given passes to several of the major attractions which was a huge savings. Finally, in order to stay on budget we cooked the majority of our meals. When we did go out we typically went to one of the wonderful CAMRA pubs to explore the real ales. While the beer here is not cheap (as evidenced by our alcohol line item) the pubs here are such a wonderful way to meet new people and share stories. After all, that is what we love the most about travel so it was worth a few extra dollars.
Let’s Get to the Numbers
- Total spending to date through June 2011: $17,786
- Total spending for June 2011: $2,432
- Daily average for June 2011: $81.07
- Overall daily average (to date): $65.39
Expense Breakdown:
Lessons Learned:
- Negotiate - when you are on a budget this word is a dear friend. While in Edinburgh, we decided to stay another week. We negotiated a reduced rate by agreeing to clean the place ourselves. It was an easy trade off for the savings.
- Scrimp in some ways so you can splurge in others - eat lunch at home or take a sack lunch to the park. We did this virtually every day in order to enjoy some time at a few local pubs with friends (new and old).
- Research all forms of transportation - in the UK there is a wonderful bus service called Megabus. By choosing the bus over the train, we saved over $100 on just the trip from Edinburgh. Sure it took a couple extra hours, but we were happy to make the trade off for another full day on the road.
About Warren
Thank you so much for posting how much you spend. I recently quit all work and will be traveling soon. While I did not get rid of everything like you guys, I am renting out my place and living on my separate sources of income while my condo pays itself off. It’s good to know I can live in Scotland or Ireland and still be within my budget. When I travel, I always stay in a place for at least a month. It’s so much fun, but one has to pick the place carefully. As a single woman traveling (mostly) alone, it’s good to be in the center of towns where one can get home safely and quickly, but those places are usually more expensive. I really enjoy following your blogs and your FB adventures. I hope we’ll meet someday. I may get to Thailand this coming year, I will look you up.
Sherry, congratulations on making the decision to follow your dream. If you do head to Edinburgh, let us know. We stayed ina wonderful flat right in the midle of the city. It was affordable and perfect location.
We have been able to travel quite well and have not stayed in dorm hostels or shared bathroms for the majority of our trip. It is certainly possible to travel for even less, it just depends on your style.
We would love to see you in Thailand next year. The good news is that it is sure to be affordable. When do you leave for your adventure? We would love to hear more about your plans.
One of my travel partners wants to do a Foodie Booty tour of France and Italy so he’s learning French. Italian will be cake as he already speaks Spanish fluently. He is the linguist, I’m the navigator. I never get lost, he’ll talk to anybody even if he can’t speak the language. We make a good travel team. But next summer, I am hoping to be on my way circumnavigating the world. First stop will be Australia/New Zealand, then Thailand and Vietnam. Should end up in Europe about the time John wants to eat his way through the boot. That is the global plan du jour. (See I can speak some French too!)
Would you consider posting your up front costs? Transpiration and accommodations paid for before you left for the trip entirely? That would help me.
Hi Jan,
Great timing. We have received this question quite a bit, but were not sure the best way to communicate this level of information. We decided to put all the details, information, and tips over on a new site. We created a page focused just on our pre-trip expenses which is available here - http://www.rtwexpenses.com/pre-trip-expenses/.
Please let me know if you would like more details included or any suggestions you may have. We want to ensure the site provides valuable information to answer your questions.
We rented a house in Edinburgh last year and it was wonderful. We typically rent when we travel in the UK and have stayed in some wonderful places in Ireland over the years.
Wow! The RTW Expense site is just brilliant! I am a bit disappointed though . . . I was expecting to be able to click on the “alcohol” piece of of the “pie” and get a detailed run-down of your bar tab-see what types of foo-foo drinks with tiny umbrellas you’ve been consuming.
Seriously though, this such a fantastic idea and a great service for people to get a clear idea of how close they really are to experiencing a world-travel life-style. You guys simply are ass-kickingly cool.
Thanks!
Be Present. Expect Success. Live with Passion.
Tranque
Tranque, thank you for the encouragement and support. We are excited to have the new information out there to help share our experience with others that want to head out themselves. It is great to know you have an appreciation for our alcohol line item. For the last month I am pretty sure that 90% of that line was real ale so the breakdown may not have revealed much. I’ll keep it in mind for the future when we have a bit more diversity in our drinking.
This is extremely inspiring! My wife and I have 10 months left on our lease and we are currently saving for extended travel. You are actually spending less a month than we are to maintain our mundane life (not mundane at all, just not on the road).
Cannot wait to get out!
Thanks.
Hey Derek,
Great to hear from you. I am delighted that you are enjoying the information. We also launched a new site (RTW Expenses) to provide even more details on our spending to date. We would love to get your feedback on that site to add any additional information you may find valuable. It is something we started in June and would be happy to add more information if it can help others in their process. For us, we are also surprised that we have been able to stay well under budget to date. Obviously, traveling slowly is a big help. We are actually spending less than half of what we spent each month in our “old life”. It feels great!
You are going to be shocked at how quickly the next 10 months goes by and how much fun you will have preparing for the big adventure. Have a wonderful time planning your trip and we’d love to hear more about it.
I forgot to come back and comment a few days ago. The RTW Expenses site is a major help. Thank you for doing this. We are probably going to have to pair volunteering, couch surfing, and slow travel to make our trip happen. So we are actually spending this year prior to our trip to do a complete life overhaul, health, finances, work, etc. Taking a lot on but we think it is the best way for us to prepare. Glad I discovered you guys (about 6 months ago), you are quickly becoming my favorite travel blog, for real. Some of the others are getting a bit top heavy and too serious! Keep up the good work!