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 How to Afford an Extended Journey |
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One of the most common questions we’re asked is, “How can you afford a journey like this? How much does it cost?” It’s a hard question to answer.
Trying to say how much an extended journey costs is a bit like trying to say how much a house costs. Or a car. Will you be satisfied with a small house in North Dakota? Or do you demand a mansion in the middle of Manhattan? Will an old, beat-up Toyota be sufficient to get you to work, or do you need a Rolls Royce? I will say that we spend around $20,000 per year on our journey. That translates to roughly $50/day with a bit left over for incidentals - and we live quite comfortably. We are expecting a total cost for our entire nearly-three-year journey to come in at approximately $70,000. John and I are, by nature, quite frugal. We’ve never had extravagant needs or wants and have always lived beneath our means. Now that we are on this trip, that hasn’t changed at all. We camp a fair portion of the time in order to keep costs down, and stay in cheap hotels ($15 – 20/night) the rest of the time. In the USA and Canada, we very, very rarely stayed in hotels due to the costs. One thing we do not skimp on is food. We demand a lot from our bodies, and have to provide good food for fuel. We eat a lot, and we eat well – lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, plenty of meat, and tons of beans & tortillas! I suspect we spend more on food than most travelers, but it is worth it to us in order to maintain healthy bodies. Supermarkets are our best friends as we buy the vast majority of our food from them rather than eating out at restaurants. We are also of the belief that it is cheaper in the long run to buy good equipment in the first place. We spent a pretty penny buying quality gear before we left home, but that investment has paid off many times over. We’ve had very few equipment failures and haven’t had to replace much at all – despite putting it all through extensive use in demanding conditions. So the question then becomes: How much will YOU spend? Only you can answer that question. Will you ride a bike and spend nothing on gas? Or will you put thousands upon thousands of miles on a gas-guzzling SUV or RV? Will you stay in 5-star hotels, RV parks, or camp in the wild? Cook your own food or eat in restaurants? Stay in one country or region for extended periods of time or flit from one country to another in planes every few weeks? Only you can answer these questions. But one thing is sure – there is a way of traveling to fit nearly every budget on earth!I’ve written an article for Examiner.com about how we (and other traveling families) can afford such a journey :
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