Eight months, two people and every expense we wrote down along the way.
World tour · 2017/18Budget the world tour
How we planned eight months for two, what we really spent and why we want to compare every number with our next family journey.
See the real numbers including every receiptThis total covers 17 October 2017 to 20 June 2018. The equipment we bought before leaving was not included in our list.
Start with the route,
not the calculator
“Budget — how to plan it knowing that you will exceed it anyway.”
Before we started with the finance part, we had to narrow our lifetime travel bucket list to a realistic selection of places we could visit in eight months. Countries, transport and the way we wanted to sleep shaped almost every number.
We chose cars and campervans wherever possible because we wanted to travel independently. Cooking for ourselves saved money, and we kept writing down every expense so we would know what this way of travelling really cost.
Where the money went
All figures in EUR
October 2017 to June 2018
The road was never
one straight line
Our costs changed with every part of the route. These monthly totals cover everyday spending only, without flights, rentals, insurance, visas and cruises.
What each destination cost
Daily costs exclude flights.
Based on what we spent in 2017/18.
Very different daily costs. Our daily costs · 2017/18
Keep it.
Write it down.
Add it up.
We checked the budget regularly before and during the trip. The system was simple enough that we could keep doing it even after a long day on the road.
-
01
Collect the receipts
Keep the small pieces of paper instead of relying on memory.
-
02
Enter the real spend
Use quiet moments on the road to write down every expense.
-
03
Read the categories
The totals show where the money really went and where our plan was wrong.
The same list.
A very different trip.
On the next journey we will track everything again. This time there are three of us, prices have changed and we are very curious to see how far our plan survives reality.