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My walkabout 2005 budget
Time for another walkabout, time for another budget. Lessons lived, lessons learned. I'm spending less on insurance now, much less on gear (I have a lot from last time). The original plan was to do a Divemaster program on Utila and then stay on and work. But after three months, I came back home and decided to go work in Egypt.
Total expenses: $817
Partially related expenses: $239
1GB compact flash card (for mp3 storage on my PDA) - $72
Underwater case for camera - $167
Pre-trip expenses: $473
Dive insurance (with full med-evac and $10K travel insurance)
- $70
DAN membership - $29
SCUBA gear and training supplies - $269
Clothing - $32
Miscellaneous travel stuff - $53
Traveler's checks fee - $20
Trip expenses: $105
| Country | Total days | Travel dates | Average exhange rate | Total spent | Per diem |
| International travel | 2 days lost | 10-11/4/05, 4/7/05 | N/A | $105 | $infinity |
| Honduras 1 | 0 days | 11/4-4/7/05 | X lempira/$ | $0 | $0 |
| TOTAL - 1 countries | 86 days | 10/4/05-4/7/05 | a dollar is still a dollar | $0 | $0 |
1 - I went to Honduras with the plan to dive and that's exactly what I did. The diving school cost me a grand total of $1158, adding about $15 per day to the cost.
My walkabout 2004 budget
When people ask me about my trip, one of the most commonly asked questions is how much is it costing me. Here on this page, I'm keeping track of my overall trip budget, which I'm breaking down into expenses by country visited, and the pre-trip expenses and recoverable expenses (i.e.: stuff I purchased specifically for my walkabout that will hopefully serve me for some time afterwards). So those of you who are planning to take a gap year yourselves, will have some idea what kind of costs you're about to incur. I'm planning around $50 per day, not counting pre-trip costs.
Total expenses: $20,869
Partially related expenses: $1,011
Digital camera and accessories - $650
Pocket PC PDA - $234
Website hosting service - $127
Pre-trip expenses: $1,092
Travel insurance for 12 month - $408
HI membership - $28
Clothing (pair of sandals, 3 pairs of hiking socks, thermal undergarments, gloves,
fleece hat, Superfeet insoles) - $143
Backpack - $152
Miscellaneous travel stuff (DEET, pack towel, sleepsack, first-aid kit, stuffed
animal) - $82
Vaccinations and prophylactic medicines - $200
Trip expenses: $18,766
click on a link to read special footnotes
| Country | Total days | Travel dates | Average exhange rate | Total spent | Per diem |
| International travel | 5 days lost | 17-18/12/03, 4-5/1/04, 17-18/2/04, 1-2/7/04, 19-20/9/04 | N/A | $2667 | $533 |
| USA (transit) | 1 day | 16-17/12/03 | N/A | $56 | $56 |
| Poland (4 visits) 1 | 106 days | 18/12/03-4/1/04, 25/1-17/2/04, 24/4-24/5/04, 27/5-1/7/04 | 3.8 zlotych/$ | $3125 | $29 |
| Finland | 9 days | 5-14/1/04 | 1.25 €/$ | $868 | $96 |
| Estonia | 2 days | 14-16/1/04 | 10 krooni/$ | $80 | $40 |
| Latvia (2 visits) | 5 days | 16-19/1/04, 23-25/1/04 | 0.52 lats/$ | $139 | $28 |
| Lithuania | 4 days | 19-23/1/04 | 2.8 litas/$ | $137 | $34 |
| Belgium | 9 days | 18-27/2/04 | 1.25 €/$ | $481 | $53 |
| France (2 visits) | 19 days | 27/2-16/3/04, 24-25/3/04 | 1.25 €/$ | $1093 | $58 |
| Spain (3 visits) 2 | 38 days | 16-24/3/04, 4/7-2/8/04, 13-14/8/04 | 1.25 €/$ | $2513 | $66 |
| Turkey 3 | 28 days | 25/3/04-24/4/04 | 1,200,000 liras/$ | $1184 | $42 |
| Czech Republic | 3 days | 24-27/5/04 | 30 koruna/$ | $88 | $29 |
| Germany | 2 days | 2-4/7/04 | 1.25 €/$ | $185 | $93 |
| Morocco | 11 days | 2/8/04-13/8/04 | 9 dirhams/$ | $415 | $38 |
| UK 4 | 36 days | 14/8-19/9/04 | 0.54£/$ | $2369 | $65 |
| Hong Kong (2 visits) 4 | 14 days | 20/9-1/10/04, 13-16/12/04 | 7.75 dollars/$ | $637 | $46 |
| Macau | 3 days | 1-4/10/04 | 8.0 patacas/$ | $122 | $41 |
| Thailand (3 visits) | 30 days | 4-17/10/04, 25/10-5/11/04, 7-13/12/04 | 39 bahts/$ | $1086 | $36 |
| Malaysia | 5 days | 17-22/10/04 | 3.8 ringgit/$ | $182 | $36 |
| Singapore | 3 days | 22-25/10/04 | 1.8 dollars/$ | $115 | $38 |
| Cambodia | 11 days | 5-16/11/04 | I used $ and bahts | $327 | $30 |
| Vietnam 5 | 13 days | 16-29/11/04 | 15,000 dong/$ | $719 | $55 |
| Laos | 8 days | 29/11-7/12/04 | 10,000 kip/$ | $178 | $22 |
| TOTAL - 21 countries | 366 days | 16/12/03-16/12/04 | a dollar is a dollar | $18,766 | $51 |
1 - My stay in Poland for 3 months included free
accommodations for the entire period (family, friends and staying at a hostel
for free in exchange for entertaining guests). However, there were a lot of
expenses relating to my family, I bought and kept a mobile phone for the entire
time and while working in the hostel, I spent a lot of money on "fun".
So all in all, per diem spending should be approximately what you can expect.
2 - Spain is actually one of the cheaper EU countries, but I was studying Spanish
here for a month, with the cost of school alone being about $500. If not studying,
per diem would be around $40.
3 - I indulged myself in Turkey a lot, so per diem costs here are NOT representative
at all.
4 - Had free accommodations in UK for two weeks and in Hong Kong for the whole
time, so keep that in mind. In UK daily stay at the hostel goes from $15 to
$30, in Hong Kong: $8-$15.
5 - I had $200 stolen from me in Vietnam skewing the figures up. If not for
that per diem cost is $40.
All content on this website, my-walkabout.com - © 2003-2005 Bartlomiej K. Kwieciszewski. All rights reserved. Contact me.
