Expenses – all our travelling costs at a glance

During the first year of travelling (13/01/2006 – 12/01/2007) we have spent $5200, which is about $7 per person per day. These expenses do not only include food, but also the digital Canon EOS camera ($500), which we have bought in the US online auctions, Katja’s visits to the doctors ($600, concerning her back problemish), one local flight in Mexico ($460, urgent matter)…

In the second year of our trip (01.2007-01.2008) our costs were sinificantly higher – $10’700. Including 5 weeks of Cuba, where we exceeded our budget 3 times, 3 weeks “holidays” in Germany and Lithuania in May’07, then new video camcorder, a new telephoto lens for the photo camera, new self-inflatable mattreses from alpkit.com, new only 1 kg weighting backpack for Katja, as well as 5 months living in Cuenca (Ecuador), which becomes more expensive than being on the road…

In more details – year 2007:

Expenses (total $10’900 — $15 person/day):
$1650 – Treatments for Katja, Dentists, Vaccinations
$1400 – Equipment: travel gear, audio-photo-video, Psion repairs
$725 – Renting appartment in Cuenca, Ecuador 5 months
$150 – Border crossings (legal entry/exit fees, visa prolongation)
$110 – FollowTheRoad t-shirts and cards
$270 – two second hand desktop computers for work in Cuenca (still on sale)
$180 – accommodation (70% in Cuba, Jan’07)
$300 – intercity transport (50% in Cuba)

Income (total $5’700):
$600 – Writing articles about our trip (Lithuanian travel magazine and CoolWorks.com blog)
$3700 – Programming websites
$1400 – Other

Year 2007 balance -$5’200

TRANSPORT

waiting already 4,5 hours

Transport relatively does not cost for us, as most of the time we hitch-hike. During the first 2 years (2006-2007) we have traveled around 27000 km by hitch-hiking, and additionally we have spent in total $375 dollars (4700 km) for the buses, trains and boats. $170 (2100 km) out of all expenses for the intercity public transport, we have left in Cuba, as over there the controled political system and rules make hitch-hiking extreemly difficult. By the way, we always pay for the city transport whenever we need to use it.

ACCOMMODATION
Accommodation we normally get for free, as we carry a 3 kg tent. We sleep either inside the tent or inside the houses of local people. During the same two years 2006-2007 we have spent $400 for accommodation, and half of these expenses we had in Cuba (21 days, $260 – Jan-Feb, 2007). After making quick calculation, we see that accommodation roughly costs $0.27 per person per day (5 months appartment rental in Cuenca, Ecuador is not included).

FOOD
In Mexico and Central America most of the time we were preparing food for ourselves. We carry a camp stove, which works with ordinary unleaded petrol for the cars. When we arrived to Panama, we noticed that for $2 it is possible to get rice, beans and a salad (we are vegetarians). So we started to buy such plate in the side street restaurants. In South America, specially in Ecuador, lunch is served for $1.00-$1.50, which makes eating “outside” even more affordable. We are talking about a very local restaurants for local people or hot food served in the markets, no luxury…

Before finishing this article, we will admit, that at the begining of our trip we tried to fit into the $3/person budget per day. Actually, $10/day for a couple of travellers hitch-hiking around and sleeping in a tent in Cetral America should be more than enough. Some of the South American countries seem to be cheaper, so in this case the bugdet might be even lower.

When we were traveling in Africa (2004) for around 2 months, we have spent almost $700 each. As Augustas holds a Lithuanian passport, he needed visas for every country, so the earlier mentioned $700 also includes $200 left in different embassies. Cost for visas over there were typically around $20-$50, and sometimes even up to $100.