On the Road Expenses and Statistics, Month Three

Is it expensive to travel around the world? How much would you spend while traveling? This series of posts is aimed at helping travelers plan their budgets before hitting the road. When we started traveling we always had to worry about how much would we need, so we decided to share our expenses, as this might help other travelers.

Our 90-day anniversary, or 3 months of continuous travel…

Full-time travel is incredibly rewarding. It puts you in different situations and affects you both mentally and physically. We have had our ups and downs, but in general, traveling full-time is a blessing.

View from San Diego

This month we traveled according to our six-month plan from , and journeyed from Los Angeles to La Paz, jumping from one continent to the other and visiting the highest city in the world (La Paz) at an altitude close to 3,640 m (11,942 ft.).

Before flying to La Paz, we spent most of this month in Los Angeles with my uncle and his family, where they spoiled us to the maximum. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, drinks…you name it! They did everything they could to make us feel comfortable and happy. They drove us from one place to another, and even took us to San Diego!

View from San Diego

So after being spoiled for about two weeks, traveling to La Paz was bit of challenge (if you know what I mean!). In La Paz the culture and way of life is totally different from what we experienced in the United States. But you have to love the city, with its landscapes, mountains and old buildings.

La Paz

After spending around 10 days in La Paz, we traveled to the fourth biggest city in Bolivia, Cochabamba. Within a few days of our arrival we rented a flat for the whole month in order to catch our breath and work a little.

We finally have our own flat for a whole month!

On our second night we experienced the first curfew of our travels—the census day for Bolivia. It seems that the government decided to shut the country down to see how many people are living on their soil. But it was to our benefit—we slept for around 10 hours each, and it was so quiet outside that we didn’t hear anything!

Breaking the law and running in the empty streets of Cochabamba

To summarize what we have done this month, let’s take a look at some numbers…

Travel Statistics:

• Countries: 2 (we travelled from the United States to Bolivia
• Cities Visited: 4 (we traveled to San Diego, Los Angeles, La Paz and finally Cochabamba.

• Accommodation:

Paid accommodation: 14 days. We used Airbnb to get our own room in La Paz with a Bolivian family, and we spent four nights in a hotel in Cochabamba prior to finding our flat.

Free accommodation: 16 days, spent at my super awesome uncle’s house.

• Transportation:

Number of Buses: 1 (from La Paz to Cochabamba).

Number of Planes: 3 (Los Angeles to San Jose, San Jose to Lima and finally Lima to La Paz. This was the longest travel day in our journey so far. The cost of the plane travel was calculated in the second month of our travel expenses

• Money Spent: We ended up spending $2,726

This is the total we spent this month, but it includes a new MacBook Air 2012 we bought in Los Angeles for $1,580.00, as well as the rental of our flat in Cochabamba for $350. So if you subtract this amount, you get a total of $793, which is great!

Our major spending for this month went to outings, including eating in restaurants & spending time in cafés. Our next biggest expenditure (at 21%) was on accommodations (calculated after excluding the $350 for our Cochabamba flat).

Spending by City:

• Los Angeles & San Diego: 16 days on an average of $19/day. If you add the price of the laptop, the number goes up to $118/day
• La Paz: 9 days on an average of $39/day. It seems high, but this amount also includes the cost of visa renewal ($30 for Bassel) and a yellow fever Vaccine international certificate.
• Cochabamba: 5 days on an average of $106/day. If you remove the cost of the flat rental (which should be reflected in next month’s expenditures) this will goes down to $36/day.

• The Next Month Travel Plans:

We will be spending the next month in our flat in Cochabamba, enjoying the all-year spring weather and wandering the city’s streets. We will also visit some of the great attractions the city of Cochabamba has to offer, such as Cristo de la Concordia. And you can always check our travel plans for the next six months for more info.