Total Cost of Our Round The World Trip

[YLTL_Dan]

I've been somewhat reluctant to add this information to my blog as my friends and family would see it all, but I'll share it here on the forum where I'm more anonymous! Let me know if you have any questions, and I can go into further detail.

Trip information:

5 continents
25 countries
52+ flights
250 days

Total Cost: $56,767.92
Per Day Avg: $228/day

Our travel style wasn't the typical "backpacker" trip because we had a big list of places we wanted to see with limited time to do it. Instead of laying on a beach for two months, we averaged a new city every 2-3 days and a new country every ten days. We moved pretty fast, but we did have a few extended stays in countries to catch our breath.

We typically stayed in a range of properties from lower end hotels to nice hotels thanks to my Starwood hotel points. At first, we thought we'd stay in hostels the whole time to keep costs down, but after seeing the price for two people and the conditions of some of them, we opted to stay in hotels instead. It is amazing how far $25/night can go in countries like Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia!

We could've saved a lot of money if we visited fewer countries and had fewer flights. For example, our daily spending average including all flights in Southeast Asia was only $140, but in more expensive places like Australia and New Zealand it was $275 per day!

We were able to cash flow our trip thanks to good jobs and good financial planning. I'm now back to work after a 10 month leave while my wife is currently applying for new positions.

The trip was full of beautiful sites, incredible people, and memories we'll never forget. We have no regrets in doing it, and it will definitely change the rest of our lives. You can see pictures and financial summaries of each country on my blog, or check out my wife's blog where she writes incredibly powerful stories about our experiences.

[disneysteve]

Is there a "jealous" smilie?

My dream retirement trip is the Holland America Grand Voyage circumnavigation cruise. I don't know if it will actually happen but if we don't do the full trip, I definitely want to at least do parts of it. What an incredible adventure you must have had. I'm going to check out your blogs for sure.

[YLTL_Dan]

Is there a "jealous" smilie?

My dream retirement trip is the Holland America Grand Voyage circumnavigation cruise. I don't know if it will actually happen but if we don't do the full trip, I definitely want to at least do parts of it. What an incredible adventure you must have had. I'm going to check out your blogs for sure.

Steve - we'd prefer a "inspire others to do it" smiley! We always considered doing it, but we never thought we'd actually do it. My wife and I would both egged each other on, and neither wanted to say no, so after I found out I could go on leave from work (I probably would've quit otherwise), we booked our first set of tickets, and then it was on! (Ok, it wasn't that easy, we sold our house, put our stuff in storage, had to plan way ahead, etc).

For most people it will be one of those things "you always thought about doing" - it was very close the same for us. However, we decided to go for it and very much figured it out as we went. It's one of those things that seemed very overwhelming, but as you start to bite off little chunks at a time, it become possible.

[cardtrick]

Dan - I had a chance to check out your blog and it helped me make up my mind to do something like this as soon as I'm able to. For years, I've always thought about it but never really took any action.

I still have a bit of time on my side so I'm giving it another couple of years to save up as much as I can. In the meanwhile, I want to research this more. I found a few around the world road trips but I wonder if these would be the same as doing it on your own. There are definitely pros and cons with each but I wonder which one's the better option.

Could you estimate what the total would have been, had it not been for all the rewards points and membership status at some of those hotels - Like the one in Bora Bora...

And how about visas? That seems like a real pain. I'm not a US citizen so it would be more of a pain for me.

Do you have regrets about spending so little time in each of those places? If you could do it all over again, would you have maybe picked fewer countries to visit? The gf thinks it might be better to visit 3-5 countries at a time, maybe spend a couple of months total, come back home and relax for a while and do it all over again. This would certainly cost more but I can see her point.

[Like2Plan]

Dan,
Wow! This is really awesome.

[disneysteve]

We typically stayed in a range of properties from lower end hotels to nice hotels thanks to my Starwood hotel points.

Could you estimate what the total would have been, had it not been for all the rewards points and membership status at some of those hotels

I can't answer for Dan but I can easily see how hotel rewards would play a big factor in a trip like this, especially if it wasn't all booked in advance. If you did your best to stick to one hotel chain - Starwood or Marriott or whichever - you'd be accumulating points along the way that you could redeem for an upcoming part of your journey. That could result in lots of free stays on a 250 day trip, especially if you charged all of your spending to a rewards credit card linked to that same hotel program.

[disneysteve]

Steve - we'd prefer a "inspire others to do it" smiley!

I like that!

As I said, I've got my eye on a world cruise. Personally, I'd be good with the DIY version that you guys did but my wife is far less adventurous than I am and that would not be her idea of a good time. Having the "home base" of the ms Amsterdam always docked close by whether we're in Ft. Lauderdale, Melbourne, Cairo, or Bora-Bora would be the preferred method of travel for us. Plus that eliminates any issues with hotel reservations, plane or train tickets, etc. Of course, we wouldn't rack up a zillion reward points with Marriott but such is life. It is a lot more costly than what you did so you pay for the convenience for sure. Right now, it starts at about 20K/person for an interior cabin but if I'm going to be on a ship for 114 days, I want a balcony. That's 42K/person.

[Like2Plan]

Right now, it starts at about 20K/person for an interior cabin but if I'm going to be on a ship for 114 days, I want a balcony. That's 42K/person.

Oh my goodness! (And, Wowie ) Would that be all inclusive or would there be excursion costs on top of that? Then, do you add the tip in on top of that? (Or is that figuring all the extra costs?)

[KTP]

That is a great trip. We hope to go around the world on a sailboat, but probably take 2 or 3 years to do it. I have to figure out how to get our two Yamaha 250cc motorcycles on a 40 foot sailboat first.

I am curious if the amount you listed includes the money you spent maintaining a home, or are you homeless right now? (we plan to be homeless). If we took off right now we would have $10,000 or so in home maintenance plus real estate taxes/insurance.

[snafu]

I too checked out your blog and it brought back a pile of memories. DS, I hope you'll take the HAL cruise sooner than later, perhaps after DD has her first semester done and is comfortable at university. It sounds wonderful and if you book via a discounter, costs 60% less than brochure price.

We take contract jobs are various universities to spend at least a semester in SE Asia countries. While accommodation is a staff benefit in these countries, we get lots of opportunities to travel. It''s incredibly easy and inexpensive to stay in locally owned, businessman class 3-4 hotels whose staff speak at least some English in the larger cities. We feel we can stay in the big American type chains anywhere in N America and prefer to live more like the locals. If you want to see how other people live and participate in their culture, you can travel on their buses and trains, eat local food and make the effort to talk to citizens.

The cost is ridiculously inexpensive by 'western' standard. For example you can rent a small apartment near the Skytrain in Bangkok for about $ 15. [USD] per night, buy street food made just for you, travel all day on the Skytrain, watch free Thai entertainment in the courtyard of major hotels, and buy a pass to swim in hotel swimming pools for less than $ 15. per person, per day. You learn how to bargain for purchases PDQ since that's the culture and it's fun.

Best of all they really want tourists and are incredibly kind and helpful...unlike the resorts we're accustomed to here.

[scfr]

250 days

Total Cost: $56,767.92
Per Day Avg: $228/day

This is awesome - Good job! I assume this includes all of your expenditures, for 2 adults? If you were at home, you would still have had to eat, pay to heat the water for showers, do laundry, etc, etc. So your cost above and beyond what you would have spent anyway is probably quite a bit less ... really impressive, and what a terrific experience.

[rennigade]

This sounds amazing...def something a lot of people consider but rarely pull the trigger.

Im curious what op's finances were? I looked at his blog but it really didnt mention what their savings were? Unless its there somewhere and I just couldnt find it. Im assuming since they worked hard to be debt free...they would have a lot of savings built up.

[YLTL_Dan]

I found a few around the world road trips but I wonder if these would be the same as doing it on your own. There are definitely pros and cons with each but I wonder which one's the better option.

We liked having the freedom to do as we chose. We planned the first 6-8 weeks and had an idea of where we wanted to go, but after the first few destinations we just researched and took the advice of other travelers to figure out where to go next.

Could you estimate what the total would have been, had it not been for all the rewards points and membership status at some of those hotels - Like the one in Bora Bora...

We had about 30 free nights thanks to hotel points. Outside of that, our average spending on hotels was $45 per day, so figure adding $1,500 to $2,000 to the total amount. However, if you directly quantify how much we would've paid to stay in the same places which were more expensive than our normal hotels, we probably saved around $6,000.

And how about visas? That seems like a real pain. I'm not a US citizen so it would be more of a pain for me.

The only two visas we got before we left were China and India because they're a little more complicated. I'm not sure about your country, but most Visas were pretty easy to get with a US passport. There were some we had to get in advance like Vietnam and Myanmar, but we could usually figure it out a few days before we visited the country. This is an area where Google will come in very handy.

Do you have regrets about spending so little time in each of those places? If you could do it all over again, would you have maybe picked fewer countries to visit?

For us, it was the trip to take before we had kids. Also, I took a ten month unpaid leave and she quit her job, so there wasn't really the option to do two months this year and then a few months next year. Overall, I'm glad we did it the way we chose to because we got to see so many places and experience so many cultures. Some would argue that we didn't get total "cultural immersion" because we didn't spend six months in one place, but I don't really agree with that theory. Now we know what places we'd want to go back to and spend a month, and what places we'll never go back to again.

[YLTL_Dan]

Im curious what op's finances were? I looked at his blog but it really didnt mention what their savings were? Unless its there somewhere and I just couldnt find it. Im assuming since they worked hard to be debt free...they would have a lot of savings built up.

We actually paid for the whole trip with the money we made off of selling our house. Outside of that, we had a full emergency fund (12+ months) and quite a bit of cash on top of that from money we'd saved from the last couple of years.

[YLTL_Dan]

This is awesome - Good job! I assume this includes all of your expenditures, for 2 adults? If you were at home, you would still have had to eat, pay to heat the water for showers, do laundry, etc, etc. So your cost above and beyond what you would have spent anyway is probably quite a bit less ... really impressive, and what a terrific experience.

Thanks! Yes, this was pretty much every expense from the day we started planning for the two of us. It includes $1,550 for shots, $1,300 for Visas, $1,370 for gear, and even the amount we spent on shipping stuff back to the US

We ended up spending a little more per month than what we spent in the US, but not a lot compared to the experiences we had.