This is my very delayed New Year Recap!

When people ask me how many countries I’ve been to on this trip, I say between 25 and 30, depending on how I count. Some countries I was only transiting through – but they stamped my passport. Do those “count”?  I tend not to think so. (Although I wouldn’t particularly want to spend the night in Lichtenstein anyway.)

I settled on the official number being countries that I’ve slept in – 25. The others I will put on the list in parenthesis because I did experience a small piece of them, either on foot or train or bus, and even those experiences are worth documenting 🙂

1. France
2. Spain
3. Portugal
4. Germany
5. (Denmark)
6. Sweden
7. Norway
8. Croatia
9. (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
10. Montenegro
11. Turkey
12. England
13. Wales
14. Ireland
15. Scotland
16. Jordan
17. Egypt
18. Morocco
19. Switzerland
20. (Lichtenstein)
21. Austria
22. Mongolia (I also saw Russia and Kazakstan from the top of a mountain!)
23. (China)
24. Japan
25. Taiwan
26. (Philippines)
27. Thailand
28. Cambodia
29. (Malaysia)
30. Indonesia
31. USA

One of the goals for my trip (one of the few tangible goals) was to document and share how much I spent in each country along the way, and now that I am back in front of my computer for a short time I’m finally able to process the data! I used the Toshl Finance app for my iPod Touch and diligently recorded every purchase every day. I hope this will be of use to someone!

The following is what I spent on average per day in each country that I had a reasonable amount of data in. I did not include airfare or things that I wouldn’t have needed to purchase in a normal traveling situation (for example, a $200 pair of boots after the sole was falling off my original pair).

Bear in mind that I was a conservative traveler. I went where I wanted to, but I went on the cheapest travel days. I stayed in backpacker hostels. I did not buy myself a single keepsake for the first six months, and ultimately only came home with a new purse and a scarf. I restricted myself to one meal at a restaurant a day. Most of the time I would eat granola for breakfast, eat lunch at a cafe, and cook dinner in my hostel. Any given day I was carrying crackers, cheese, carrots, apples, and pasta with me. (Chelsea and Kelly can both attest to my obsession with Swedish flatbread and Digestive biscuits.) And chocolate bars in a pinch. I rarely went out drinking. I did not pay to take the bullet train in Japan. Or eat fondue in Switzerland. I did go into the Sagrada Familia, and I did take a gondola in the Alps. I did what made me happy.

	Avg/Day
Bali	$76.93
Cambodia	$37.67
Camino	$37.35
Croatia	$78.28
England	$50.00
France	$71.80
Germany	$94.98
Ireland	$81.07
Japan	$90.03
Mongolia	$57.53
Montenegro	$95.00
Norway	$137.80
Scotland	$115.37
Spain	$74.38
Switzerland	$141.20
Taiwan	$37.78
Thailand	$69.39
Wales	$63.03

Wondering how the daily costs break down between Food, Transport and Lodging (not including “extras” such as tours and massages)?

	Food	Transport	Lodging
Bali	22%	35%	43%
	$8	$13	$16
Cambodia	34%	29%	38%
	$12	$10	$13
Camino	50%	3%	47%
	$18	$1	$17
Croatia	34%	34%	33%
	$29	$29	$28
England	18%	47%	35%
	$8	$19	$15
France	20%	26%	54%
	$14	$18	$38
Germany	43%	50%	8%
	$20	$23	$4
Ireland	16%	43%	41%
	$14	$37	$35
Japan	23%	37%	41%
	$19	$30	$34
Mongolia	19%	73%	8%
	$3	$13	$2
Montenegro	49%	22%	28%
	$54	$24	$31
Norway	23%	40%	37%
	$38	$64	$60
Scotland	21%	47%	32%
	$27	$60	$40
Spain	19%	26%	54%
	$12	$17	$34
Switzerland	12%	55%	33%
	$16	$74	$43
Taiwan	37%	18%	45%
	$17	$8	$21
Thailand	26%	61%	13%
	$19	$45	$10
Wales	15%	23%	62%
	$9	$14	$38

(The discrepancies between average per day cost and my Food/Transport/Lodging numbers are because of my optional “extras.” For example in Bali I took my host up on a tour of a Volcano and temples. In his rough english he quoted me the equivalent of $15 for the day, which I thought was a great price. Turned out he had his decimal point off and he charged me $150, which I ended up haggling down to $110. But that alone jacked up the average price per day. The numbers in the chart above are more realistic of what you could expect to spend before any extras.)

Have I gone too data crazy yet? I created a bunch of pie graphs, but I thought that might be too much. Oh the glories of Excel! It’s just about the only thing I will ever thank Microsoft for.

SO The Big Question: How much money do you need to do a trip like mine?

I ended up spending about $22,000. Just about what I was planning to put down on a house.

BUT $8,300 + was just airfare and trains. When I left on this trip I was not planning to go all the way around the world. If I had I would have purchased some type of “around the world” ticket. But that wasn’t my style. I wanted to be able to go wherever I wanted to go, and when. But that luxury did cost me. The plane ticket from Munich to Mongolia alone was $839! My month there ended up being around $2,900. That was an expensive decision, but one I will never regret.

I feel confident that I could have done this trip for $15,000 if necessary. I could have volunteered more, like I originally planned. I could have avoided Norway and Japan because they’re the most expensive places to travel. But I didn’t, and they turned out to be places that fed my soul.

Now that I have my peers reeling from dollar signs, a word on how I could afford it in the first place. I chose a difficult career (engineering) which will always be hiring. I lived below my means for years in order to afford this trip. I am eternally grateful that I am not in lingering college debt, which I know is a real restriction to many people. Yes, I did get some money from my Grandmother’s wills which I used to buy a (used) car. But I subsequently sold my car for this trip. I do not own a TV. I rarely eat in restaurants. All of my furniture is made by family members or hand-me-down. I unplug unused appliances to save on my electric bill. I am not addicted to a smartphone data plan.

I have chosen this lifestyle because experience is more important to me than having things, and I NEEDED this time with myself. To be alone with myself. To figure out what was right for me and to feel my heart intuition. If I had found myself in different circumstances I may have made different decisions. But there you have it. No expensive wedding, no house, no car. I’m left with not much of anything except what I know deep down is important: experiences, a deeper love and understanding of myself (the only person we can really have an opinion on anyway), and the people who love me who will never leave me. And deep down, thats enough.

(Wondering how my budget compares to others? http://www.bootsnall.com/articles/11-12/the-real-costs-of-rtw-travel.html)