Key Takeaways
- Last December, Heather won our round the world trip contest and was gifted a trip around the world worth $50 a day! In January, she started backpackin
- After over ten months on the road, it’s time to update the community again on my trip! Since the last update, I spent two weeks in Brazil, a month exp
- After so long on the road, I think it’s time to answer the question that really drove the contest in the first place:
Last December, Heather won our round the world trip contest and was gifted a trip around the world worth $50 a day! In January, she started backpacking her way through South America on a budget. Today, she’s written a blog post about how she’s been able to stay on budget for the last 36 weeks and the lessons she’s learned as a new traveler!
After over ten months on the road, it’s time to update the community again on my trip! Since the last update, I spent two weeks in Brazil, a month exploring Morocco, and two months in Europe watching the World Cup.
Now, I’m in Tanzania exploring Africa!
After so long on the road, I think it’s time to answer the question that really drove the contest in the first place:
“Is budget travel possible on Route for Less’s $50 a day recommendations?”
One of the reasons Route for Less sponsored this trip was because they wanted to show everyone that travel is possible on their suggested budget of $50 a day. They wanted a living case study for the ideas in their guides!
After tracking all my expenses — including my flights, travel insurance, and incidentals — I’ve spent $14,450 or $56 a day so far. I’ve not only found sticking to Route for Less’s budget feasible but not at all demanding (especially with a little creativity).
After Africa, I’ll be flying to Southeast Asia, where I’ll end my trip. I suspect that will lower my overall costs even more!
How I stayed on budget
At the beginning of my trip, I went to the Galápagos Islands, which are not backpacker-budget friendly, so I had some work cut out for me to get back on budget.
I saved on housing costs by Couchsurfing and staying with friends. In Chile, I stayed with friends I met in Colombia. In Paris, I stayed with a friend I met in Brazil. I’ve been overwhelmed by the number of kind people who offer me help, especially with accommodation, as I travel, expecting nothing in return. The travel community is extremely warm and open. It makes friends of strangers.
I’ve been balancing out other expenses by also keeping my transportation costs low. I opted to take the longer, cheaper way to get from A to B. In Brazil and Europe, I used BlaBlaCar to save money.
In Morocco and South America, buses were my go-to option — they were cheap and easy. I booked a limited number of flights and tracked prices so I could book them at just the right time if possible.
Food has been the only place I haven’t cut back. I’m a foodie and, as Route for Less always says, what’s the point in traveling if you don’t eat the local food! In South America, this was usually easy. There were tons of lunch specials around and cheap local food so I was able to eat on a budget.
In Europe, it was much harder. Food was by far my biggest expense but I have no regrets. A girl’s got to eat!
Here are my costs broken down by region:
Here’s the breakdown of my spending by category:
- Housing: $2,874
- Transportation: $2,632
- Food: $4,687
- Travel insurance: $1,040
- Activities: $3,217 (such as tours to Machu Picchu or the Sahara, diving, a safari, shopping, etc.)
However, that’s not to say it’s all been super easy. I’ve made a ton of rookie mistakes. Even though I’ve read countless articles and books on traveling, once you’re on the road, you tend to get caught up in the moment. It’s one thing to read about it, it’s another thing to be there doing it!
And that can lead to a bunch of easily preventable mistakes! For example, some of the “doh” moments I had:
- I spent 16 EUR on coffee as I was walking with a friend I met in Rome. It was SO hot and we just wanted to get off our feet before going to the Vatican. Big mistake! We even forgot to ask the prices. Since it was so close to the attraction (something I normally never do), each cappuccino was 8 EUR — and I got two! Oh, man were we pissed.
- When I was in Morocco, just before going to the desert, I went to the supermarket to buy three day’s worth of snacks for lunch. I had heard that lunch was not included in your tour price (already ridiculous, at 86 EUR for three days!) and the tour guide, of course, only takes you to expensive lunch places. I did buy a bunch of groceries — 130 dirhams’ worth ($14 USD). But then I ended up eating at the restaurants anyway because I felt too awkward not eating with everyone and too tempted to order a nice chicken tagine instead of eating trail mix.
- Looking back, I would have done a self-guided tour of the Sahara. I knew that before I did the tour, but I was lazy and tired, and I wanted to get out of Morocco. Being lazy is a quick way to burn money — and often also a quick way to have a less special experience.
