The Final Numbers Part 3 - Country to Country Breakdown

With 151 days, 15 hours, and 15 minutes of travel from the minute the first plane departed until walking into the door upon return, I collected a lot of numbers during my trip.  From the amount of money spent, to miles traveled and everything in between, I kept track of it all. The types of data collected can be separated into two categories: financial related, and not.  Part 1 into this series featured the final numbers of all things non-currency related as measured by the RTW Tally.  Part 2 into this series got to the bottom of just how expensive long term travel in Asia really is. This entry focuses on a detailed country to country breakdown of daily spending.

In the preceding entry into this series, I pointed out instances on how my decision to come home early translated into increased spending, be it either in souvenirs or site seeing.  My over spending could translate into less spending on the part of someone else.  However, that was only isolating a few major purchases for purposes of justifying my final cost after 152 days of travel (167 including paying for Angie). Looking further into each individual country gives the best highlights of cost, and what travelers might expect to spend on a daily basis while abroad.  

While traveling, there are 6 major spending categories that you will have on a daily basis.  These six are:

-Hotel Cost

-Food

-Site Seeing

-Transportation

-Souvenirs

-Miscellaneous Expenses (Visa, Laundry, Toiletries)

As a part of my RTW Tally, I kept track of my spending on a daily basis such that I could pull out the numbers into each category.  The On the Road Spending spreadsheet has my personal spending data for every day of travel (At the moment updated only through Malaysia, not including Singapore and Angie's visits - updated soon).  To analyze the daily spending on a country to country basis, a summary of spending in each country is listed below.  

When reading the daily spending report, one should keep in mind my personal definition of a budget.  I do not define traveling on a budget as going cheap.  I do not cook meals in hostels, couch surf, or avoid an activity due to cost.  I do, however, plan my activities accordingly to optimize my budget to see, do, and eat it all.  Nearly all hostels stayed in advertised hot water, free wifi, and central location - but were on the cheaper end of their category.

These numbers give a pretty solid breakdown of the daily costs of being in Asia, as well as showing just how much of my budget was spent on discretionary items, such as souvenirs, while on the road.  In destinations like Singapore, Cambodia, and Vietnam, my souvenir spending amount exceeded $15/day due to major purchases and are not likely to be in others budgets.   The large souvenirs were noted and discussed in Part 2 of this series.

It is interesting to see the two different travel styles and the effect on price while being in Thailand.  I spent 30 days in Thailand traveling in hostels on a budget and averaged $63/day.  When traveling with Angie in luxury mode for 12 days, we spent nearly $200/day for the two of us, or roughly $100/day each.   Factoring in extra spending for food, site seeing, and transportation, and a slight increase for accommodation, it should be very easy to travel Thailand as a couple on a budget for $100/day or less.  Traveling in the most popular destinations, at modestly nice hotels and resorts during peak season doubles this cost immediately, with majority of that being room cost.  A $100/night resort in peak season, albeit very nice, compares to a $13/night private bungalow on private beach in Koh Phangan in low season.  Interesting to say the least.

These values can be looked at in one more way, and be dissected based on each category individually over the entire trip, using 167 days as a basis (to include the days that I paid for when Angie visited, while being luxury).

Estimated Spending per Countries Total:  $11,974.69
Total on Accommodation: $3,284.01 ($19.66/day)
Total on Food: $2,462.40 ($14.47/day)
Total on Site Seeing: $2,183.72 ($13.08/day)
Total on Transportation: $2,439.44 ($14.61/day)
Total on Souvenirs: $1,125.55 ($6.74/day)
Total on Misc Purchases: $479.57 ($2.87/day)
Daily Average (167 Days): $75.66/day

The daily average was increased significantly due to the luxury end of the trip in Thailand and Singapore, as well as spending nearly a month in Japan.  When ignoring the costs of the luxury trip at the end, the average daily cost becomes $62.40/day.  Comparably, when also removing Japan, as it is not in most people's itineraries, the daily cost becomes $55.66/day.

Regardless to how you look at it, Asia is incredibly cheap, and those with elaborate budgets who want to see the world can head on over and live like royalty in a meager budget.  In being the final entry of the series, I hope that the dissection of some of my numbers is beneficial for your upcoming travel plans.  As usual, if you have any comments, suggestions, or questions about my spending while on the road, please comment below and I will gladly respond to all queries!