Seeking a Life of Travel? Tip #3

​To help kick start your travel planning, I have listed cost estimates by country that I have used for my travels. Feel free to use this information and adjust to suit your personal travel style.

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These costs reflect independent travel, not tour group packages or all-inclusive resorts.

Estimates cover two people with:

• mid-range accommodation;
• public transport or shuttle buses; 
• a mix of grocery stores and local restaurants; and 
• incidentals such as entrance fees. 

Cuba: $70 per day – assuming $35 for casa particulares
Cambodia: $75 per day – assuming $25 for accommodation
Laos: $80 per day – assuming $40 for accommodation
Guatemala: $115 per day – assuming $70 for accommodation
Argentina: $135 per day – assuming $80 for accommodation
Australia: $210 per day – assuming $120 for accommodation

As you can see, accommodation comprises the bulk of the cost. Consider asking for longer term discounts or rent apartments through websites such as homeaway.com or AirBnB.com. For example, an apartment in Ajijic, Mexico can be rented for about $1,200 per month, an average of $40 per day.

Flights: 
My preferred places to search for flights that cover long term travels include:

• One World airlines: rtw.oneworld.com/rtw/;
• Star Alliance airlines: staralliance.com/en/round-the-world; or
• Google flights using the multi city option.

Flight costs will vary based on your selected destinations and travel dates. As a rough guide, an economy round-the-world (RTW) ticket stopping at three destinations may be $2,000 whereas stopping at fifteen destinations could run $10,000 per person. 

NomadicMatt provides one of the better overviews of RTW tickets with sample prices: nomadicmatt.com/travel-tips/buying-a-rtw-ticket/

Travel insurance:
This estimate for travel insurance assumes a twelve month period and includes $10 million emergency medical, evacuation, trip cancellation, etc.

Prices will vary depending on your home country of residence, countries visited and age.
Estimated cost: $900 for twelve months with World Nomads: worldnomads.com/

Emergency Fund:
Don’t forget spare funds for the surprises that will most certainly creep up. Keep a minimum accessible of $500 per person.

How to reduce the cost?
Destination choices and accommodation style can have a huge impact on the overall cost. South East Asia is one of the least expensive places to travel - consider Sri Lanka, India, Laos, Cambodia or Vietnam.