Since 2010, I’ve published my cost of full-time travel; an uncensored breakdown of all my expenses for the year, demonstrating that full-time travel often costs less than living in one place. (At the end of this article you’ll find links to cost breakdowns for previous years).
What I Did in 2014
Here’s a quick summary of what 2014 held for me:
(See Also: 7 Countries and 34,000 miles: This Was 2014)
- Two weeks in Panama
- Three weeks in south Florida
- A two-week personal retreat in mid-Florida
- Five weeks in north Florida
- A quick trip to Toronto Canada, enroute to:
- Three months in Peru
- Seven weeks in and around Toronto, Canada (with a quick trip to the Florida Keys in there)
- Two weeks in the south of Spain
- A week in Pesaro Italy
- A few days back in Canada enroute to:
- Four more months in Peru
Price Tag for 2014: $28,179
Monthly Breakdown
All amounts have been converted to US Dollars for ease of comparison.
JANUARY
Panama, USA
$2,417
After finishing up a house-sitting gig in Panama, I flew to Miami to stay with a friend for the rest of the month. My accommodation expense (much higher than normal, at a whopping $950) was a pre-payment for the personal retreat in Gulfport I treated myself to in February.
Transportation: $239
Food & Drink: $492
Groceries: $330
Phone: $36
Personal: $250
Business/Banking: $83
Gifts: $39
Accommodation: $948
FEBRUARY
USA
$1,686
After a couple of weeks of personal time in Gulfport Florida, I flew up to Santa Rosa Beach (Florida) to stay with a dear friend of mine. Accommodation was free, so I spent a bit extra stocking up on some personal items.
Transportation: $258
Food & Drink: $280
Groceries: $308
Phone: $13
Business/Banking: $239
Personal: $370
Medical: $110
Gifts: $108
MARCH
USA, Canada, Peru
$3,602
I stayed with my friend in Santa Rosa Beach through mid March, at which time I flew quickly up to Canada to catch a mystery shopping flight down to Peru.
The inflated business expenses include over $100 in withdrawal fees (before I upgraded my bank account to include unlimited foreign withdrawals), and medical expenses included some prescriptions as well as treatments for a frozen shoulder. The tour/activity expenditure included some Peruvian treks including a five-day excursion ending in Machu Picchu.
Transportation: $1,240
Food & Drink: $339
Groceries: $139
Phone: $14
Personal: $54
Business/Banking: $238
Medical: $447
Accommodation: $687
Tours/Activities: $444
APRIL
Peru
$2,038
I enjoyed discovering the delights of Peru in April.
Medical expenses include a series of healing sessions to fix up my frozen shoulder, and tours/activities include hikes, work with plant medicines, workshops, Spanish lessons, and more.
Transportation: $6
Food & Drink: $188
Groceries: $187
Phone: $7
Personal: $134
Business/Banking: $86
Medical: $121
Accommodation: $667
Tours/Activities: $642
MAY
Peru
$1,682
May was another blissful month in Peru, with more healing, hikes, and cultural exploration.
Transportation: $34
Food & Drink: $114
Groceries: $109
Phone: $11
Personal: $103
Business/Banking: $181
Medical: $36
Gifts: $48
Accommodation: $539
Tours/Activities: $507
JUNE
Peru, Canada
$1,611
Around mid-June, I flew back up to Canada to spend most of the summer with family and friends in and around Toronto.
Business/banking expenses included an annual credit card fee and accountant’s fee for filing my taxes. Accommodation was free since I was staying with friends, and tour/activity expenditures took the form of one last Peruvian trek.
Transportation: $222
Food & Drink: $336
Groceries: $177
Personal: $179
Business/Banking: $240
Medical: $80
Gifts: $122
Tours/Activities: $255
JULY
Canada, USA
$1,520
After a quick sponsored trip to the Florida Keys in early July, I spent most of the rest of the month with my Mum at a cottage in Muskoka, Ontario.
The transportation expense was to rent a car for our cottage time, and again, I had no accommodation expenses.
Transportation: $495
Food & Drink: $293
Groceries: $127
Personal: $374
Business/Banking: $104
Medical: $47
Gifts: $80
AUGUST
Canada, Spain, Gibraltar, Italy, Peru
$3,653
August was a big month, with a trip to Spain to visit some friends (and a side excursion to Gibraltar), then over to Italy to visit another friend. I returned to Canada at the end of the month before hopping on a plane back to Peru.
All that continent-hopping explains the transportation expenditure, and eating out in Europe isn’t cheap, hence the food & drink costs. The good news was that again, accommodation was free, so I spent some extra cash on gifts for my generous hosts.
Transportation: $2,152
Food & Drink: $647
Groceries: $375
Phone: $7
Personal: $164
Business/Banking: $145
Gifts: $163
SEPTEMBER
Peru
$2,826
I used September to settle into my new home in the Sacred Valley of Peru, where I would spend the rest of the year.
The insurance expense is my annual premium for international health insurance, and tours/activities included more hikes, Spanish lessons, plant medicine workshops, and more.
Transportation: $12
Food & Drink: $146
Groceries: $112
Phone: $7
Personal: $140
Business/Banking: $155
Accommodation: $530
Insurance: $1,211
Tours/Activities: $513
OCTOBER
Peru
$3,405
I did surprisingly little in October given the amount of money I spent. Transportation was a futile exercise in purchasing frequent flyer miles with US Airways for an anticipated trip that they wouldn’t let me book, and business/banking expenses included internet, annual dues for web hosting, associations, and my newsletter platform.
Transportation: $1,713
Food & Drink: $149
Groceries: $218
Personal: $110
Business/Banking: $535
Accommodation: $527
Tours/Activities: $153
NOVEMBER
Peru
$1,815
If you subtract my US Airways fiasco expense from October, you come up with about what I spent in November, which seems to be my general cost of living in Peru (including business expenses), and leaves me wanting for nothing.
Even so I had hefty business expenditures this month, including an advance ticket to the World Domination Summit in July.
Transportation: $4
Food & Drink: $108
Groceries: $142
Personal: $56
Business/Banking: $820
Gifts: $25
Accommodation: $500
Tours/Activities: $160
DECEMBER
Peru
$1,924
Because my purse was stolen in December, I had to shell out some extra cash to buy a new smartphone/camera combo, which I’ve listed as a business expense. Also, I spent a bit of money on the holidays (both in gifts and personal expenses) but other than that, December was a fairly quiet month.
Transportation: $40
Food & Drink: $200
Groceries: $230
Phone: $22
Personal: $279
Business/Banking: $499
Gifts: $107
Accommodation: $547
Summary Notes
2014 was an interesting year for me, and a continued evolution of my full-time travel journey. $28,000 is much lower than my ridiculous high of $44,000 spent in 2013, which included $20,000 in unexpected expenses like recovering from a near-fatal accident, my $10,000 passport saga, supporting my (ex)partner, and more.
But $28,000 is also more than the $17,000 I spent to travel full-time in 2010 and 2011 (and curiously, it’s almost exactly what I spent in 2012).
This is in part due to the fact that I didn’t focus as much on free accommodation strategies as I typically have in the past. With my online career doing quite well, I’m at the point where I value free time and less responsibilities, rather than trading my time and energy for free accommodation as with volunteering or house-sitting. The good news on this front is that accommodation expenses in Peru are minimal and affordable.
And as you’ll see in my upcoming post outlining my income for 2014, my expenses for the year were more than sustainable – in fact I was able to save money.
This – as I’ve said before – is the art of financially sustainable full-time travel; it doesn’t have to be synonymous with tight budgets and forsaking comfort. It’s about spending within your means, and on the things that are important to you.
For previous annual reviews of my cost of full-time travel, check these posts out:
My Cost of Full-Time Travel for 2013
My Cost of Full-Time Travel for 2012
My Cost of Full-Time Travel for 2011
Thanks for posting this Nora! I’ve never left the US but I hope to next year. Seeing these income reports is inspiring as I work towards my goal of traveling next year. In the past, I would look at your Cost of Full Time Travel reports and feel discouraged thinking ” I could never earn what she does as a freelance writer” but recently something clicked/changed within. This is possible only if I believe it is for me. I just have keeping on keeping on a freelance writer. Thank you!
Hi Faith,
You got it! It took me many years to develop the freelance writing income that I have today….a nice dose of tenacity as well as….Faith….is required! 😉
Thank you for sharing this REAL information! I would like to travel the entire world some day and it helps to know some actual costs of using this method beforehand!
Thanks Jennifer,
And as you might see from previous years’ reports, the range of money you can spend varies quite dramatically!
Hi Nora,
Thank you for your transparency with these posts–it is really helpful to see it broken down and consider where I could trim or splurge.
I’m really curious what you use for phone/data and how you keep it to $7/month? That’s fantastic, and I want to sign up!
Hi Tiffiney,
I travel with an unlocked phone and insert local pay-as-you-go SIM cards (or International SIM cards) wherever I go. I rarely if ever use data on my phone, so my telecommunication costs are minimal. Sure beats a $100/month plan, huh? 😉
Sure does! Thanks Nora!
Thanks for always being transparent.. I’ve travelled with $10-$25/day as average expenses so it will take a long time for me to grasp the idea of spending $2000/month xD… can’t wait to explore the other side of the world thru your tips though! ^_^
Hi Grasya,
Wow – that’s a great budget to travel with! And that includes your international travel costs and business expenses etc too? That’s all-in?
Hi Nora –
I just can’t help myself from commenting that I LIVE in Gulfport, FL! I found out about your blog & adventures from some post or another that Barbara Winter (author of Making a Living Without a Job which you may or may not know) years ago. Fellow house/petsitter & international traveler myself, working up my resume business to a point that I may do some version of following in your footsteps!
Anyway, just had to say hello after seeing my town mentioned (it’s a cute place, isn’t it?) If it’s not too personal, I’d be curious to hear what brought you here. (if you wrote about it I missed those posts)
Cheers!
Shannon
Hi Shannon,
Small world! I didn’t write too much about my Gulfport adventures as it was a week-long personal retreat for myself, but I did write a little bit here:
https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/2014/02/tale-pics-serendipity-gulfport-florida/
Good luck with your resume business – a great location independent career to take on the road with you!
I so appreciate you sharing this. I was raised in a family where we were taught never to talk about money so to me it seems extremely bold. But it’s so helpful in understanding how you do it and what to expect. Thanks!
Hi Laura,
Indeed, money is a very taboo topic in many places/cultures, which is too bad; why is it that we will talk about the latest anti-depressants we’re taking, or our sex lives, before we will talk about money?
Not talking about money and not educating our kids about it doesn’t empower anybody – it just creates a generation of people who can’t manage their finances and are perpetually crippled by them.
(Sorry for the rant….that vein runs deep)! 😉
I want to stay in Peru, too!!!
Dana – LOL! It’s a good place to stay. 😉
I’m a bit of a money tracking geek and look forward to cost roundups like this every year. Thanks for sharing Nora.
Hi Tim,
Tracking expenses does get a bit addictive, doesn’t it? I actually look forward to reconciling my expenses each month! (I don’t think I’m normal).
This was really interesting to read, Nora! Like others, I find it incredibly helpful and inspiring to see the breakdown. I plan to be location independent too and slow travel full-time, while making trips back to Canada to visit my family. I love how you march to the beat of your own drum. Keep up the fantastic work! 🙂
Thank you very much, Ms. Canadian Expat! Happy travel/lifestyle planning….see you on the road!
Great post, Nora! For me, the realization is that full-time travel doesn’t have to be over the top expensive. I travel 5 months of the year, but always come back to a full time job, so I never really keep a good tab on my expenses. Next time, I will try an make a point of tallying up the ‘bill’.!
Hi Nancie,
It takes some work to track expenses, but I find it to be a very illuminating exercise. If you have an iPhone, this is one of my fav expense tracking apps:
https://www.theprofessionalhobo.com/2013/04/financial-travel-tip-76-tracking-expenses-with-trail-wallet/