The Cost of a Year of World Travel in 2022

After I posted my year-end travel reflection, casually including my total expenditure in my rundown of statistics, a flood of emails came in from curious readers requesting further information. Luckily, I keep meticulous records of my travel expenses, so tallying up the totals for the year was a breeze. To demonstrate that travel need not break the bank, I have spent less on trips this year than many people do in a whole year of living at home.

In the past year, I've been to Australia, Cambodia, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam, for a total of 19.

I traveled to 62 distinct locations.

That's a total of 24,613 miles I've traveled.

For my 15 flights,

That's right, I slept in 35 different beds.

Altogether, I dropped $19,640. 73 (£13,747)

The typical cost is $53 80 per day

The details are as follows:

Rent for a night: 62 69
Money spent on travel: $4,619 34
Food: 72 78
Budget for Actions: 9 88
Visas: 00
The cost to participate is $177. 38
Vacation Protection Plan: 6 26
A Variety of Costs: $287 40

Does the price seem lower than you anticipated? This is the first year I really didn't try to travel cheaply, so the amount is much lower than I had anticipated.

So, this isn't a manual for how to see the world on the cheap; rather, it's an argument that even if you stay in nice apartments and treat yourself to a few nights at a fancy hotel every once in a while, you can still see a lot of the world without breaking the bank. and don't go for the least pleasant low-cost alternatives It discusses how, even on a moderate budget, you can still save money compared to staying at home for a whole year.

How much money should you plan on spending if you have a backpacker's budget and plan to stay in hostel dorm rooms, take inter-country bus trips, and visit economically developed parts of the world? A yearly budget of $10,000 is feasible.

Read on if you're curious about where my money went, what kind of hotels I stayed in, and how I cut costs when I travel.

Accommodation

The grand total for my lodgings was 62. For the year, that's a score of 69.

This past year, I had the opportunity to experience a wide variety of lodgings, from an eight-bed dorm in Latvia to a luxury floating hotel in the heart of the Cambodian jungle. I stayed in a luxury yurt and a shepherd's hut in Cornwall, as well as a houseboat in the Netherlands; all three of these accommodations were decidedly out-of-the-ordinary.

Airbnb was also founded this year. For leisurely travelers like myself, it's ideal. My fiance Dave and I have saved a ton of money thanks to the site's monthly deals. much money, and I still can't believe that renting a whole house for a month with a kitchen and a dedicated Internet connection is almost always cheaper than renting a private room in a hostel for the same length of time.

This year, I focused more on spending a few months in a new city rather than a few days, which allowed me to save money and get to know the place on a deeper level than a quick visit would have allowed. I stayed inside for three months in Granada to complete a major project. For two months, I called Madrid home. I was based in London for a total of two months. For four weeks, I called Taipei home, and for a full month, I called Melbourne home.

Dave and I were able to significantly reduce our lodging expenses thanks to the kindness of our many friends and family members from all over the world. We visited friends in Amsterdam and Melbourne, Australia, and stayed with my and Dave's families in the United States. K as well as New Zealand and Australia

Finally, I'd like to point out that if you were to travel more like a backpacker, you could easily reduce the cost of lodgings to half of what I spent.

Approximately 10% of my trips were conducted on a tight student budget, 80% were moderately luxurious, and 10% were extremely lavish. I'm thankful that, after five years of continuous travel, I can now afford to treat myself to a few creature comforts.

The Floating Hotel in Cambodia was the most expensive place I stayed, at $175 per night. It was one of the best trips I took all year, and I booked it for Dave's birthday. When celebrating a milestone, I enjoy treating my family to an extravagant stay at a hotel we wouldn't normally consider.

Munkenhof Hostel in Tallinn, Estonia was the cheapest place I stayed during my trip ($13). The cheapest hotel I've ever stayed in ($39 per night) was also the worst and had the shortest stay duration. The bedbugs bit me, and the hostel attendant kicked me when I screamed. Affordable vacations, how I love thee.

The longest I ever stayed in one location was over three months in an Airbnb apartment in Granada. It was a great spot to focus on getting things done without interruptions.

And the best place I stayed was the Tamu Hotel on Cambodia's Otres Beach. It wasn't cheap at around $120 a night, but the penthouse suite and this view made it all worth it.

Because I am a huge perfectionist and love numbers, I have calculated the average nightly cost of lodging in each city I visited this year. You should now have a better idea of what to budget for in various parts of the world. In case you're interested in the hotels I stayed at, I've provided links to them in the form of the location names. Wherever you see an asterisk (*), that's a place I went to on my own or for Dave's birthday where I paid for my own room.

London, UK - $31 For a night
The cost of a trip to Granada, Spain is $15 Prices start at per room, per night.
Spain's Ronda, at $23 .00 / night
Zero dollars (house sitting) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The Netherlands, Utrecht: $40 Only $16 a night
Approximately $37 USD in the Dutch city of Leiden 0/6 per night
The Netherlands, Maastricht: $31 Price: $57 per night
Three-hundred-seven dollars in The Hague, Netherlands Expenses of only $17 per night
A total of $41 in Oslo, Norway 49 per day
Norway's Bergen costs Costing per night
Cost-free (using family accommodations) in London, United Kingdom
St. Ives, UK - $48 3.03 per night
British Pounds Sterling: $34 (Perranporth) There is a nightly fee of .
A total of £44 in Wadebridge, United Kingdom Rates start at per room, per night
The equivalent in British pounds in Liskeard is $44 At per room, per night, it's a
17 USD in Riga, Latvia* For $58 a night
12 USD in Tallinn, Estonia* $15 per night
$123 for a trip to Helsinki, Finland 10.0 USD/night
Traveling to Stockholm, Sweden for only $59 Rates start at $29 per night.
Cost of a $40 taxi ride in Vilnius, Lithuania The average cost of a hotel room is $43 per night.
$ 40 in Warsaw, Poland* For $57 a night
Prices in Porto, Portugal, at $24 USD Nightly rate of $ 37
Price of admission to Madrid's museums and attractions in 2016: $18 Prices start at $49 per night
$32 in Verona, Italy For $55 a night
Prices in Ljubljana, Slovenia, range from $33 to $36. 72 guests per night
No money was spent on lodging at Lake Como in Italy thanks to the generosity of friends.
Thai Baht = $18 USD Rates start at per room, per night
Price per night in Tatai, Cambodia is $175.
*Sihanoukville, Cambodia - $128 USD For $ 23 a night
48 USD in Kampot, Cambodia (*) for each night
Price of a trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia (*): Price: per night
Pricing in Hanoi, Vietnam: USD$12 Nightly Rates of $36
Cost of a night in Hoi An, Vietnam is only $28. Rates start at per room per night
Vietnam, Saigon: $27 100 per day
Price in Taipei, Taiwan: $27 The price per night is $28.
Housesitting for Dave's family in Melbourne, Australia (at no cost to you)
Staying with Dave's family in Christchurch, New Zealand cost us nothing.
Staying with Dave's family in Hanmer Springs, New Zealand cost us nothing.

Transportation

For the year, I spent a total of $4,619 on gas and other forms of transportation. 34

When it came to modes of transport, this year was a little out of the ordinary. I took a lot of flights to get where I was going as quickly as possible and as cheaply as possible due to my slow travel pace.

If you're looking to find cheap flights, the best way to save money is to be flexible with your departure and arrival times. If you are flexible with your departure and arrival dates, you can compare prices across an entire month to find the best deal. If you are flexible about your arrival airport, you can compare prices at every US airport to find the best deal. Typically, I do both, and this year I got some fantastic deals because of it.

I never use any other travel site besides Skyscanner. A great deal can usually be found at one of those places for me. All the other flight-reservation sites are so frustrating and useless.

My flight from Madrid to Bangkok cost $534, making it the most expensive flight I've ever taken. 96 Because I wanted to be on the same flight as Dave, I made the reservation two weeks before departure and had no wiggle room. He was able to save $500 by booking his flight four months before I did.

The flight I took from Hanoi to Hoi An was the cheapest I've ever taken: only $28. 50

To give you an idea of how much I spent last year, I've listed them below:

Monthly London Underground Pass: $110 00
Pricing for flights from London to Malaga: 59
The fare for a bus ride from Malaga to Granada is $12. 50
Cost of a cab ride to our Granada apartment: 50
Ronda round-trip train tickets cost $38.
Take a bus from Granada to Malaga for only $12. 50
Pricing for a trip from Malaga to Amsterdam: $117 68
Dutch train tickets cost . 16
The price of an airplane ticket from Amsterdam to London is only . 66
Price of a ticket from London to Oslo is $211. 04
Train ticket from Oslo to Bergen costs $50. 97
The cost of a flight from Bergen to London is $140. 91
Cost of gas for my trip to Cornwall: $170. 45
$4 for a train ride from Lelant to St. Ives. 72
Cornwall Parking Rates are $18 per day. 21
Fares between London and Staines on the train are $48 one way. 15
Budget airline tickets from London to Riga cost $203 50
The Riga to Tallinn bus fare is $24. 91
The Tallinn–Helsinki ferry ticket costs $36. 16
Fare for the bus to the Helsinki Airport is . 82
Cost of a Ticket from Helsinki to Stockholm: 64
To and from the airport on a bus in Stockholm will cost you $22 per person. 88
A ticket from Stockholm to Vilnius will set you back $140. 74
$17 for a taxi from Vilnius International Airport to my home. 33
Getting from your Vilnius apartment to the bus station will cost you $3 by taxi. 12
From Vilnius to Warsaw, Poland, by bus: $21 84
Transportation to and from Warsaw's airport costs . 70
Warsaw to Lisbon is a $281 flight. 73
Cheap flight from Lisbon to Porto (only $32) 13
The fare for a metro ride from the Porto airport to my building is $2. 38
Take a bus from Porto to Madrid for only $56. 47
The cost of taking the metro from my Madrid apartment to the airport is $5. 64
Prices for a flight from Madrid to Verona start at 56
Cost of a train ticket from Verona to Venice is only $4. 86
There is a bus that runs between Venice and Ljubljana, and the fare for both ways is only $50. 81
Fare from Venice to Milan: $21 USD 17
The cost of a train ticket from Milan to Como is $5. 63
To get from Como to Torno, take the bus for $3. 39
Price of a flight from Madrid to London is $179. 79
More than one month of train tickets to London will cost you $151. 50
It costs $100 to fly from London to Madrid. 59
Budget airline ticket from Madrid to Bangkok: $534 96
for a flight from Bangkok to Trat 91
$13 for a minivan ride from Trat Airport to the bus station. 95
Fare for a bus from Trat's bus terminal to the border is $3. 35
To get from the border to Tatai, you'll need to pay $35 for the transfer. 00
From Tatai to Kampot in a minivan: $13 00
Kampot to Sihanoukville in a minivan: $10 00
Taxi fare from Otres Beach to the Sihanoukville airport is $10. 00
One way airfare from Sihanoukville to Siem Reap costs $116. 20
An entire day of tuk-tuk service in Angkor will set you back $15. 00
Price of a plane ticket from Siem Reap to Ho Chi Minh City: $135 00
The price of a flight from Saigon to Hanoi is only $48. 21
Pricing for a flight from Hanoi to Hoi An is currently set at $28. 50
The cost of a flight from Hoi An to Saigon is . 25
From Ho Chi Minh City to Taipei, a flight will cost you $183. 72
From Taipei to our apartment via bus: $4 74
The Taipei MRT costs $3 per ride. 25
A ride from our Taipei apartment to the airport costs $15 USD. 00
Taipei to Melbourne is a $268 flight. 50
Pricing for a flight from Melbourne to Christchurch: $300 89

Food

The sum total of my food and drink expenditures was 7.22 (including both restaurant meals and groceries). 78

Because life is too short to eat poorly, I tend to spend a lot of money on food whenever I travel. To save money while staying in an Airbnb, I usually cook breakfast at the apartment and eat out for the rest of my meals. Going out to restaurants every meal is a perk of this lifestyle, but it also contributes to my weight gain, which is something I find both appealing and frustrating.

Italy, London, Thailand, Taiwan, and Australia have been my most hedonistic dining destinations this year. To wit, Australian breakfasts

Activities

The sum of my year's endeavors amounted to a whopping 9. 88

I challenged myself at the start of the year to make better use of my time while traveling, and I feel like I failed miserably. First half of the year I was so absorbed in my job that I rarely left my apartment; then, as I reeled from the stress of my job, I had panic attacks throughout the second half of the year. This year, I wasn't particularly interested in expanding my horizons. Here's what I was able to cram in there:

Granada, Spain: Tasting Menu for $43 04
A $27 running tour of Maastricht, the Netherlands 95
U.K.: London's 5K Color Run, 43 Pounds 34
Tour of Norway's Bergen Fjord for $50
Donation of $10 suggested for Riga, Latvia, walking tour 83
Douro Valley tour and Port tasting in Portugal: 02
Ljubljana, Slovenia $10 suggested donation for walking tour 83
U.S. price for one David Gilmour show; U.K. price for two shows: $278 77
Dengue fever tickets in the UK are $25. 46
Having Afternoon Tea in London, United Kingdom, Will Set You Back $144. 66
Hanoi, Vietnam, Street Food Tour, 00

Admission Costs

The sum total of my registration fees was $177. 2018's total: 38

The majority of the time, I don't mind shelling out a decent amount of money for admission to a tourist When I am in a city for an extended period of time, I am not a huge museum freak and can be lazy about exploring the tourist hotspots. Over the course of my travels, I've learned to place a higher value on free time spent exploring markets, making conversation with locals, and socializing with fellow travelers. The following is a rundown of the annual entrance fees I've incurred:

Ronda Arab Baths, Spain: $3 Admission 29
Cost of entry to the Ronda bullring in Spain is . 13
The Alhambra, in Granada, Spain, has an admission price of $17. 20
The Keukenhof Tulip Gardens in the Netherlands cost $17 to enter. 88
The Escher Museum in the Netherlands costs 10 US dollars to enter. 61
Norway's Bergen art museums charge a total of $12 per person to enter. 78
There is a admission charge to enter the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, United Kingdom. 08
Tintagel Castle, United Kingdom - admission 08
Eden Project, United Kingdom: $39 for admission 01
Kiek in de Kok, Estonia: $5 Admission 97
Ljubljana Castle in Slovenia costs to enter. 46
An Angkor Temples ticket for three days will set you back $40 in Cambodia. 00
There is no charge to enter any of Hanoi's temples in Vietnam. 89

Visas

The grand total for my visa was . 00

I was fortunate in that my visa fees for this year were relatively low. Most of the year was spent in Europe, though I did spend enough time in Thailand and Vietnam to qualify for free visas upon arrival. Despite the fact that Australian visas are free for British citizens, I had to pay for a expedited visa because I forgot to apply for one.

A visa to enter Cambodia costs $30. 00
Cost of an Australian visa is USD. 00

Insurance for Vacations

If you've read any of my other posts, you know that I strongly advocate for purchasing travel insurance before embarking on any trip. In the past, I've seen a lot of GoFundMe appeals from poor tourists who got hurt on their scooters or were attacked or broke their legs while traveling and now have no money for a flight home or medical care. In a nutshell, you can't go anywhere if you can't afford to cover yourself with travel insurance. A bill in the six figures may be the end result of these expenses.

If your flight is canceled and you have to book a new one, if your luggage is lost and you have to buy new clothes, if you get appendicitis and have to be hospitalized unexpectedly, and so on, travel insurance will pay for all of these things and more. or learn that a close relative has passed away and you must return home immediately Your health insurance will pay for a medical evacuation back home if you become seriously ill.

If you're going to be gone for an extended period of time, like I am, you should get travel insurance. To begin, they are among the minority of businesses that offer insurance against contracting COVID-19. What's more, they offer worldwide protection, don't insist on a round-trip ticket, and let you buy insurance even after you've left the country. It is possible to cancel your long-term trip at any time and only pay for the months you actually use. Last but not least, their pricing is much more reasonable than that of the competition, and they provide a straightforward, simple pricing structure that is easy to understand.

There is a one dollar fee to use SafetyWing. Travel insurance costs $1.50 per day, or $550 per year.

Miscellaneous

The sum total of my random purchases was $287. 40

Protective cream for your skin: $57 09
In the evening: $25 00
Price of insect spray: $15 00
Antiperspirant: $18 81
Expense of a bottle of shower gel: $27 50
Pricing for shampoo: 00
Price of a new conditioner in 2015: 00

Everything That Was Left Out

It was difficult to decide which costs to include and which to exclude, and I recognize that I cannot please everyone with my final decision. There's being open and honest about every dime I spent, and then there's being completely unimportant. To elaborate on what was left out:

In terms of business expenditures, I didn't feel it was necessary to disclose the money I spent hosting Never Ending Footsteps or the cost of my various business subscriptions because they wouldn't be of use to anyone during my year of travel. If you're curious, the cost averages about $100 per month.

The $3000 I had already spent on a trip to the Seychelles, Mauritius, and the Maldives was wasted when I fell ill and had to cancel. Most people didn't find this particularly interesting or important.

Gifts for family members' birthdays: this didn't seem particularly useful to include.

Several hundred dollars were spent this year to replace every article of clothing in my backpack. Few people who leave for a yearlong trip will require this.

To upgrade the quality of the images on this site, I recently dropped $2,500 on a brand-new camera. Most vacationers won't have a use for something so high-tech, and they certainly won't go out and buy one in the middle of their trip.

Yes, I'm in agreement with those of you who have commented that you could do it for much less money. In retrospect, I wish I had kept better tabs on my spending, but you can learn that my first year of travel cost me around $13,000 here. I mainly traveled by land, stayed in hostels with other travelers, and subsisted on fast food and shared bathrooms.

However, after five years of continuous travel, I began to long for the comforts of home and made the decision to upgrade my travel strategy from a more frugal one to a more luxurious one. To me, the upgrade is priceless:

And those are the costs of my trip. I'm glad you found this post helpful. Is $20,000 more or less than you anticipated when planning a year of travel?

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