World Travel Statistics For Vagabonds
This is the intersection where dreams and reality collide. So many have been led to believe that in order to take a year off and travel the world you have to sacrifice everything you've worked for, take out a large loan from the bank, and basically put your life on hold.
And that's if they've sure dared to dream of world journey.
In order to aid you understand the hurdles (both real and imaginary) involved in traveling, let's require a look at my private earth journey statistics.
First, a brief background on the trip. My wife and I recently took a year off and traveled through Southeast Asia, India and Nepal. We purchased a one way ticket to Bangkok, traveled by rail (and occasionally bus or boat) and ate mostly street food (which tends to be healthier as its cooked in front of you). We lived modestly, but not uncomfortably. It is possible, though not recommended, to do what we did for 30% less.
These are out world travel statistics:
Living expenses: $1300. This included private rooms for two, other with air conditioning, and a whole lot of street food. May hap formerly a week we would take in a point, or have a pleasant dinner. Alcohol was fixed, as the relative value is funny in third world countries (a beer costs more than a bungalow in southeast Asia). If you plan on drinking, you should budget one to two dollars for each drink in this part of the world.
Visa fees: $80 each month. Various locates such as Thailand and Singapore don't command a visa for Americans, though various (including Nepal and Vietnam) are quite expensive and accept additional fees for entering into certain areas.
Flights: $2700. We purchased a one way ticket into Bangkok, and a one way return from Moscow, which drove the price up considerably. For this same amount, we could have received a round the world ticket with eight to ten destinations. The problem was that $5,400 was too much money to pay upfront (we worked along the way).
Trains: $2000. I admit this is an estimate, as we did not keep receipts for all our travel. If you were to stay in Southeast Asia, rather than take the train from Beijing to Moscow as we did, you could easily spend half this amount.
Total amount spent for two: $21,260. Not too bad. For less than $1,000 a month per person, we were able to do what most people only dream of. I hope these world travel statistics help you realize that seeing the world is not as expensive as you might think. Sure, you could go to Europe and spend twice this amount, or visit Africa or South America for slightly more, but the lesson learned is this: you won't know until do the numbers. Try to eliminate all monthly expenses back home, and hit the road!
