My Cost of Full-Time Travel in 2011
By theprofessionalhobo ~ January 23rd, 2012. Filed under: travel planning.
Every year I summarize my cost of full-time travel. It’s a great exercise in travel budgeting and expense tracking. And believe it or not, with the creative travel strategies I use to get free accommodation, travel slowly, and fly for pennies on the dollar, my cost of full-time travel is less than staying in one place.
Click here to see my cost of full-time travel in 2010.
What I Did in 2011
My full-time travels in 2011 had a lot of variety. The first five months was spent recovering from 2010(!) in New Zealand, then I had five months of hectic travels through North America, Europe, and Asia (including the Ultimate Train Challenge which spanned 10 countries on 29 trains in 30 days), and I finished off the year catching my breath once again on the Caribbean island of Grenada.
All in all I traversed 13 countries and 73,000kms in 2011. (Click here for a more detailed summary and video of my 2011 full-time travel adventures).
Price Tag for 2011
I was surprised to discover that my total expenses in 2011 were almost exactly what my full-time travel expenses were for 2010 (within $400)! This was far from intentional, and even a little surprising given some big-ticket purchases I had to make in 2011.
Drum Roll, Please…
My total cost of full-time travel in 2011 was $17,615.
All in.
If you were to follow in my footsteps, you might have spent more, or you might have spent less. Travel is so very different for everybody (hence the popularity of my week-in-the-life series), and we tend to spend money on the things that are important to us and make adjustments in other areas that aren’t.
I could have spent less. But the end-goal for me is not to spend as little as possible; rather to simply spend within my means. (Which I do).
Because I specialize in finding free accommodation and flying for (almost) free, I am able to keep my overall expenses low enough that I don’t need to earn a lot of money in order to financially sustain my full-time travels.
Something must be working, because it has been five years and counting….
Breakdown
Following is a breakdown of my 2011 expenses, month by month. I’ve converted expenses from native currencies to US Dollars for ease of comprehension and comparison.
January
New Zealand
$524 USD
I started off the new year in New Zealand. January saw me traveling around the North Island, from Rotorua to Keri Keri. But I was exhausted from an incredibly busy 2010, and a desire to slow down the pace of my travel brought me back to my favourite haunt of Mana Retreat.
(I don’t have a specific breakdown of expenses for January, as I didn’t start recording my expenses in full detail until February. The month’s expenditures was largely a function of bus travel, food and drink, and gifts for hosts that I stayed with).
February
New Zealand
$725 USD
I volunteered in trade for accommodation and food at Mana Retreat for the month of February. Most of my expenses were discretionary and entertainment-related, with the exception of some banking fees, and $100 to extend my New Zealand visa.
February Breakdown
Food & Drink $177
Transportation $99
Phone $33
Personal Effects $74
Entertainment $133
Visa $109
Bank Fees $100
March
New Zealand
$467 USD
March was a relatively quiet month, spent largely at Mana Retreat, enjoying the views, the hikes, and the people. I also took a course in Reiki that makes up almost half the month’s expenses.
March Breakdown
Transportation $54
Personal Effects $55
Food & Drink $128
Bank Fees $35
Extras (Reiki course) $195
April
New Zealand
$604 USD
In April I continued to recover from travel fatigue at Mana Retreat, as well as making a few weekend trips to Auckland to “splash out” from my rural routine as well as to strut my vocal cords at a few performances.
$130 of the transportation cost was my plane ticket from New Zealand to Canada (where I would be heading for the summer – North American summer, that is).
Yes. I paid $130 to fly half-way around the world – and in business class no less. (Click here to see how I did it).
April Breakdown
Transportation $238
Personal Effects $40
Entertainment $98
Food $223
Bank Fees $5
May
New Zealand
$1294 USD
By my fifth month of living relatively rurally one place in New Zealand, I realized it was soon time to get moving again. My itchy feet resulted in me “splashing out” whenever I went into town! (I always spend more money in urban vs rural settings). My food & drink allocation is testament to said splashing out.
I also took a gospel singing workshop (that accounts for $130 of my entertainment expenses) at Mana Retreat that I count as one of the year’s highlights.
May Breakdown
Transportation $100
Food & Drink $453
Business Equipment $142
Entertainment $410
Personal Effects $173
Phone $16
June
Canada, USA
$1,641 USD
I’m on the move! With the onset of summer in Canada, I made the shift from southern hemisphere to northern (on my permanent mission to avoid winter). Most of June was spent in Toronto visiting family and friends. At the end of the month I took a quick trip to Florida (accounting for most of the transportation expenses) to visit a friend as part of the No Baggage Challenge.
You’ll see my food & drink allocation shot up, partly because I was no longer getting free meals (as I did at Mana Retreat), and also because I’ve consistently found that visits “home” end up involving lots of social calls, which in turn means lots of restaurants and cafes.
June Breakdown
Transportation $432
Food & Drink $747
Passport Renewal $117
Business $12
Entertainment $176
Personal Effects $157
July
Canada
$2,301 USD
I took a quick train trip to Quebec City on another No Baggage Challenge experiment, then spent most of the rest of the month in northern Ontario’s cottage country with family.
The high cost of transportation is made up of train tickets to/from Quebec (over $200), renting a car for the cottage ($300), and visa applications for China, Mongolia, Russia, and Vietnam in anticipation of the upcoming Ultimate Train Challenge in September.
I also got a nasty case of bronchitis (who gets bronchitis at the height of summer, you ask? Me. I do.) which cost me a few hundred dollars in doctor’s visits and pricey antibiotics.
July Breakdown
Transportation $1266
Food & Drink $502
Entertainment $244
Medical $289
August
Canada, Sweden, Portugal
$4,863 USD
August was my most expensive month by far, for a few reasons:
- I bought a new laptop and a pile of related business accessories
- I traveled to Sweden for the last half of the month (which, between airfare and cost of living, wasn’t a cheap proposition)
- I flew from Sweden to Portugal in preparation for the Ultimate Train Challenge start date of September 1st
- My trusty wheeled backpack luggage finally gave up on me after almost four years of full-time travel abuse. I was in northern Sweden at the time with very few shopping options and no time to order anything online. Luckily I found an expensive but great replacement in my new Osprey wheeled backpack
August Breakdown
Transportation $1217
Personal Effects $297
Food & Drink $290
Business $2260
Accommodation $173
Luggage $288
Gifts for hosts $338
Note: Notice a new expense category? August was the only month I spent anything on accommodation! I splurged with a few nights in a hotel in Stockholm.
September
The Ultimate Train Challenge: Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Russia, China, Vietnam
$2,148 USD
Sorting out expenses this month involved converting and reconciling expenditures in nine different currencies! With the fast and furious Ultimate Train Challenge, September’s costs were largely transportation (train reservations with the Eurail pass) and food-related.
September also marks the annual renewal of my expat medical insurance, which provides global coverage in the event of a medical emergency. (Stay tuned for a detailed post about this in the near future).
All in all given the sheer amount of territory I covered, September was a pretty reasonable month. Of course, I had lots of help through Ultimate Train Challenge sponsors like HostelBookers, Eurail, Real Russia, China Odyssey Tours, and more. This is one of the benefits of long-term travel blogging; with a reputable blog and social media outreach, travel expenses can be offset with strategic partnerships.
September Breakdown
Food & Drink $455
Transportation $400
Phone $47
Entertainment $10
Medical Insurance $1128
Gifts for hosts $78
Personal Effects $30
October
Vietnam, Grenada
$1,901 USD
After a little recovery time in Vietnam (where I rode motorcycles, drank coffee, and ate as much as I could), I counter-intuitively backtracked across Europe and across the Atlantic ocean to the southern Caribbean island of Grenada.
And despite the cost of transportation to get there, it was a worthwhile trek across the world, as I discovered a paradise in Grenada in a house-sitting/dog-minding gig that kept my expenses nice and low for the rest of the year.
October Breakdown
Transportation $1193
Food & Drink $260
Personal Effects $51
Entertainment $42
Business $320
Gifts $35
November
Grenada
$538 USD
I spent much of November settling into the relaxing pace of Caribbean life in Grenada, and really enjoyed having my own space, with a kitchen to cook in, beach to walk on, use of a car, and time to just be.
November Breakdown
Transportation $41
Food & Drink $385
Personal Effects $67
Entertainment $11
Business $34
December
Grenada
$609 USD
Despite a slow start in Grenada, by December I had a nice routine and a great group of friends to ring in the holiday season. I had time to reflect on my year covering over 73,000kms and 13 countries, and to plan a few more adventures for 2012. (Hint: I’ll be in the Caribbean for a while, and trying out some travel adventures of the watery persuasion).
December Breakdown
Transportation $100
Food & Drink $328
Phone $18
Entertainment $118
Gifts $45
Summary: Financial Choices
How we choose to spend our money – full-time travel or not – varies dramatically from person to person, dependent largely on our respective dreams, priorities, and income.
I used to be a skydiver, spending every weekend and vacation on a drop zone, jumping up to 10 times per day. Skydiving is a very expensive sport. And yet, I managed to sustain this lifestyle for many years with my entry-level income and meagre savings. How? I made conscious choices about how I spent my money so that I could budget for the things I really wanted to do.
Full-time travel is no different. I don’t make a lot of money with my location independent career as a writer, but I also don’t need to – and frankly I don’t want to either. I make up for the small income with creative travel strategies and a slow travel style that keeps costs low.
I am financially sustaining my life-long dream of full-time travel; living around the the world. For this, I feel so grateful – almost incredulously so – every day.
On to the next adventure!
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:31 am
Hey N.
I don’t think I had the chance to wish you a happy, creative and beautiful new year.
Got back from London last night and have a new post on my (very belated) resolution for this year.
hugs and hugs
d
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:35 am
I am intrigued….amazing and unbelievable numbers!
January 23rd, 2012 at 11:21 am
Just found your site and love it! We’re following along a similar path .. working to sell our home and everything with it so we can live and cruise on our 30 ft sailboat. We also don’t have a lot of money, but we know we can do it!
January 23rd, 2012 at 12:14 pm
@despina – Happy New Year to you as well! Glad London treated you well.
@Candy – Unbelievable….but true nonetheless! Every cent of it!
@Mid-Life Cruising – Welcome! What an amazing life path you’ve chosen! I’m learning that cruising on a boat can be a very sustainable – and exciting, and satisfying – way of life, so good for you! Woot woot!
January 23rd, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Thank you so much for talking about how much you spent in such a detail, it’s so handy to see how other people are doing it and helps us in our own planning.
January 23rd, 2012 at 5:08 pm
I’m amazed by how smart and resourceful your approach to travel is. In addition to demonstrating how possible it is to travel with limited monetary resources, it’s also a nice testament to some of the skills that can be acquired from a life of travel.
January 23rd, 2012 at 9:05 pm
Great wrap up, totally inspiring. Plus I bet it’s kind of nice to sit down and review your year.
And your right about different people spending money on different things. I don’t buy clothes or stuff, but I can’t help but splurge on tea. It’s my total downfall! Ha ha!
January 23rd, 2012 at 10:12 pm
Impressive, Nora! Thanks so much for sharing and breaking it down in such detail. It really helps me believe I can do the same.
January 23rd, 2012 at 11:51 pm
I completely agree! It’s all about your priorities. I still think it is amazing that you only spent $17K for the entire year of traveling. Great job!
January 24th, 2012 at 12:00 am
Hey Nora,
Great post, shows me I really need to start recording expenses! Any tips you recommend that help keep track?
Btw, someone that is very close to me, like family, is a level 3 (I think ) Raiki healer, that practice is fascinating and I’ve seen it work in person!
I am in New Zealand for a year, well another 10 months, where is that Mana retreat? Looks magical. I am just starting to understand the art of sponsored trips and travel hacking, and I’ll definitely have to start following you more!
Awesome travels!
January 24th, 2012 at 12:11 am
I’d love to do something like this! I’ll have to think of a way to do it. Thanks for the inspiration!
January 24th, 2012 at 12:30 am
Wow, I’m impressed and inspired by your expenses. Definitely cheaper (and way more fun) to travel as you do instead of working 9 to 5 to pay for an overpriced apartment!
January 24th, 2012 at 2:42 am
[...] on traveling. Unfortunately, I don’t have it documented in a way that I can easily track it. But the ProfessionalHobo does. Total cost for all of [...]
January 24th, 2012 at 6:52 am
Thank you for all your support and enthusiasm, people! I’m thrilled that this post has struck a chord.
I’ve spent the last two years officially tracking my expenses (prior to that I only recorded my deductible expenses), and I find it quite illuminating – even empowering.
@Ryan – I have a financial travel tip coming up shortly about tracking expenses with a few suggestions on how to do it. Right now I’m using my iTouch to do it, and I use Travel Pocket (an inexpensive app that tracks different currencies and exports as a .csv file for further analysis etc).
As for Reiki, I have my Level II now, and it’s quite rewarding. It’s great for both self-healing as well as helping others.
And lastly, Mana Retreat is on the North Island of New Zealand, near Coromandel. Totally worth a visit! But there’s usually quite a waiting list of volunteers, so you’d best send in an application sooner than later!
http://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/2010/05/living-at-mana-retreat/
January 24th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
I’m so impressed. Way to go on making your dream a reality. And a hearty Amen! on making your priorities a priority. It’s a basic concept that many people have trouble grasping.
January 24th, 2012 at 7:02 pm
I’ve been keeping up with your blog for a while now and love some of your posts. But this post is great! It feels like a foundation post for a lot of the other themes in this blog. It makes the goal of travel for extended periods so much more attainable after seeing how you do it
Great work!
January 25th, 2012 at 2:49 am
great post in as much as it reveals what it takes $$ wise to do it…..question is how did you raise the income to do it
January 25th, 2012 at 10:14 am
Thanks for the informative and inspirational post. I love how you presented the info, especially the changing image of you as you changed location.
January 25th, 2012 at 12:04 pm
@Marsha – “Making your priorities a priority” – now THAT’S prioritizing!
@John – I’m planning on doing more “how to” style posts in addition to my roundups, week-in-the-life posts, and random tales of my adventures. My weekly financial travel tips are a start, but you’ll see even more in the near future – like how I got started, what insurance I use, etc. Stay tuned!
@Baron’s – As you should know(!), I make a location independent living as a writer. You know my semi-monthly Roundups? They’re chock full of articles I write that are published around the web (and some in print) each week. Have a look!
@Bonnie – Glad you liked the pics. I inadvertently noticed a lot of ocean pictures…something I’m even more keenly aware of now that I’m living on sailboats…
January 27th, 2012 at 5:21 am
A couple of questions:
1. How did you get free accommodation outside of your friends and family and the retreat? Did you couchsurf all the time?
2. Flights – how did you get them for free for a whole year? Canadians don’t get as many credit cards with free points as we americans do.
January 27th, 2012 at 7:13 pm
@Nomadic Matt – Great questions!
I didn’t couchsurf even once in 2011! I volunteered at Mana Retreat for the first 6 months, then stayed with friends in Auckland, Toronto (with two quick house-sitting stints in Toronto as well), Florida, Quebec, and Sweden, and during the Ultimate Train Challenge I either slept on trains or in hostels courtesy of HostelBookers. Then, I finished off the year house-sitting in Grenada. That’s it!
I didn’t have free flights – not even close! In fact, I spent more on flights (labelled as “transportation” in my breakdowns) in 2011 than I have in previous years. My most expensive flight, however – from Auckland to Toronto (in business class no less) – only cost just over $100 because of my frequent flier miles.
But I paid cash from Toronto-Sweden, Sweden-Portugal, and Vietnam -Grenada.
And Canadians don’t get as many credit cards with bonus points as Americans, but I usually collect my frequent flier miles in other more creative ways.
More info on that here:
http://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/2011/12/financial-travel-tip-8-flying-for-free-or-almost-free/
January 31st, 2012 at 4:46 pm
[...] In fact, in many instances traveling for a year can be cheaper than your expenses would be at home. [...]
February 1st, 2012 at 4:14 am
“Full-time travel is no different. I don’t make a lot of money with my location independent career as a writer, but I also don’t need to – and frankly I don’t want to either. I make up for the small income with creative travel strategies and a slow travel style that keeps costs low.”
Which really means traveling is actually very expensive. It’s good that it’s possible to keep the costs lower by more resourceful tactics. Still, if location independent income is hard to come by, then no wonder most people stay domestic with their location-dependent jobs. And honestly, I do believe that the era of cheap travel is on its last legs: very very cheap plane tickets are now harder to come by than during the previous decade. Then again, with all these crises like sustainability issues, environmental degradation and energy decline, we might have a drastically different picture within next 50 years, if we manage to survive past that point at all.
February 1st, 2012 at 4:49 am
As a fellow travel blogger, I’m delighted to read this post – $17,000 is still a lot of money, of course, but far less than I would’ve expected to spend. May I ask if you have any plans to post on where your incomes come from? It goes without saying the expenses are at least partially balanced out by the income generated from that traveling – I guess I’m curious on how and where that comes from. Cheers!
February 1st, 2012 at 6:56 pm
@Eric – I think you may have misunderstood some of my statements. First of all, I don’t believe location independent income is hard to come by – not any harder than starting any business or landing any telecommuting job is. Skill sets can be acquired; ultimately it’s a matter of desire.
I don’t work full-time hours because I have designed my life that way – not because there’s not enough work to be had. Yes, I’ve worked hard to get where I am, but that’s the case with any entrepreneurial venture. And when there’s passion involved, it rarely feels like work.
As far as traveling being expensive – as with all lifestyle choices and things we spend our money on; it is what you make of it. I eat lobster when I want to eat lobster. So I could spend less. Then again, I could choose to take luxury cruises and spend more. It’s all in the decisions we make and what “travel” means to us as individuals.
Where I agree with you is in the idea that we may need to adjust our way of life and approach to travel in the coming years. However I might have a little more ultimate hope for the human race!
@Chris – Just today I considered writing a post on my income sources, and I may well detail that in the near future. For a general summary, my income is derived from freelance writing, affiliate sales, and advertising on my site. Oh – and the occasional donation from a grateful reader!
(and no, that’s not a hint!)
February 6th, 2012 at 9:09 am
I admire your discipline in staying with couchsurfers and volunteering and with friends so much. i would want some space after awhile.
I still don’t see the flights though. I’ve seen the other stuff and the piont bonuses are still not that large.
February 6th, 2012 at 9:43 am
@Nomadic Matt – Yes, personal space has become an issue in recent years, which is why I’m putting much more emphasis on house-sitting. I get my personal space, free accommodation, and an ability to sample local life around the world! So far, it’s working out quite well.
As for flights, I’m not sure what to tell you. Don’t fly as much, and you won’t spend as much money on flights!
And by taking advantage of the occasional big bonus deals for point accumulation, and long-haul flights are covered. I’m not lying about my cost of airfare; and there’s no magic to it…..just some research and willingness to put some dollars on the line to accumulate big miles when the opportunities arise (which are once in a blue moon).
February 9th, 2012 at 9:33 pm
Hi Nora
I’m intrigued like @Nomadic Matt -Is it because you spent the money to get points in 2010 it doesn’t add to your costs in 2011? I’m curious because I’m trying to use some points hacking principles in Australia where the deals aren’t as great, and $100 is surely something to aim for!
February 10th, 2012 at 9:01 am
@Allison – I’m constantly accumulating points with various promotions and sign-ups, so it’s difficult (almost impossible) to properly account for what miles I paid for and when in conjunction with how and when I used them.
So my expense tracking is “actual” and not “accrual”; when I spend the money, I record the expense.
Having said that, in 2010 my cost of full-time travel was also around $17,000, and that included some big long-haul flights as well….so maybe we can just call it a wash….
As for points hacking in Australia, you don’t get quite the same deals on credit cards and such, but I’ve still seen a number of worldwide deals come through that you can take advantage of, slowly but surely!
February 14th, 2012 at 7:23 am
[...] Believe it. (Here’s proof, with a full breakdown of where I went and how much it cost: My Cost of Full-Time Travel in 2011). [...]
February 15th, 2012 at 8:34 am
Love this post Nora! I’ve been thinking of putting one together as well, but I’m dreading all the calculations…
Very impressed with your numbers.
February 15th, 2012 at 11:14 am
That´s a great post!
As you are very familiar with a lot of prices in these countries I wanted to suggest you to enter some prices on http://www.eardex.com.
We are collecting prices from around the world to help travellers to estimate their expenses. It´s like a wiki for prices.
Read about it here http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/eardex-find-living-cost/ or just visit eardex.
It would be great to welcome you on our site!
Fabian
February 17th, 2012 at 5:00 pm
Thanks for the extra tips and clarification Nora – looking forward to a similar report on your income streams, which I think is kind of the holy grail to crack in order to travel indefinately.
You’ve inspired me to record my everday expenses so I can better track my budget. From little things big things grow…
February 19th, 2012 at 11:00 am
[...] The Professional Hobo has been traveling the world full-time for five years now. She’s got a great article on how you too, can travel full time for less that you spend living at home. Photo by Eric FIscher In 2011 alone, I traversed 13 countries and over 45,360 miles. Sounds pretty expensive, huh? [...]
February 19th, 2012 at 12:55 pm
@Matthew – It’s a bit of a project to track expenses, then analyze and compile them at the end of the year for this report (especially when contending with a million different currencies!), but then again I’m also always quite excited and curious to see how it unfolds. It’s an excellent exercise!
@Fabian – What a great resource! I wouldn’t want to put my numbers up on the site however, since my own “cost of living” is skewed, given my plight for free accommodation and budget-business-class flights. But it’s a great way for travelers to gauge what they’ll need to visit different places in the world!
@Allison – I don’t think the amount of income I’ve made is the holy grail….suffice it to say that I make enough to live on, but I’m also good a living within my means. I think the holy grail is in finding your own stream of income that you can earn location independently….
February 20th, 2012 at 6:56 am
@Nora
Thanks for visiting eardex.com. Maybe you can put some objective numbers from your new destinations in our database…
All the best and good luck!
Fabian