On The Road Expenses and Statistics, Month Nine

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 were always worrying about how much money we would need, so we decided to share our expenses, as this might help other travelers.

Our ninth month of travel was definitely one of the most active so far! First of all, we moved a lot. Second, we tried some physical activities and sports that were new for us (as we usually only walk or swim, and sometimes climb [but not very much!]) So it was kind of a challenge for our lazy bodies! But we survived! This month was also very diversified because we crossed the ocean and traveled to another continent for the first time since we started our aroud the world trip.

The river near Baños

When our ninth month of travel started, we were still in Baños, enjoying the very moderate ecuadorian weather, the atmosphere of the town and its incredible scenery. We experienced for the first time activities such as rafting, canopy tours and canyoning. But we also had time to relax at the very cool hotel we stayed at, meet people and go out and discover amazing restaurants.

Canyoning in Baños

We then came back to Guayaquil, where we spent one day before we flew to Madrid. Upon arrival, we fell in love with the city. We were happy to come back in Europe after two and a half years in North & South America. We could feel and smell the old continent as soon as we arrived at the airport.

We spent ten days in Madrid enjoying food (mainly!), museums, and coffee shops. But we didn’t spend all our time eating. We also met an old friend from Egypt and newer friends we’d met while couchsurfing in the US and Madrid.

Madrid

After these beautiful 10 days we flew to Paris, where we stayed only two days to spend some time with our friends. We then took the train to Bernay, my lovely little town in Normandy.

This first week in France was of course dedicated to family and friends, but we were nevertheless willing to visit my native region and my country in a more professional way in order to share our discoveries with you.

Bernay

It was an awesome month, and below you’ll find the details in numbers.

Travel Statistics:

• Countries: 3 (Ecuador, Spain and France)
• Cities visited: 5 (Banos, Guayaquil, Madrid, Paris and Bernay)

Accommodation:

• Paid Accommodation: 25 days
• Free Accommodation: 5 days

Transportation:

• Number of buses: 1 (Banos to Guayaquil).
• Number of planes: 3 (Guayaquil to Cali, Cali to Madrid and Madrid to Paris).
• Number of trains: 1 (Paris to Bernay).

Activities:

• We did 3 out-door activities while in Banos, including Canopy, White-Water Rafting and Canyoning for only $60 total. That also included lunch in one of them and free refreshment drinks for the others.

Spending by City:

• Banos: 6 days on an average of $41/day and 33/day if we excluded the gifts factor.
• Guayaquil: 2 days on an average of $70/day and that will be $47/day if we excluded the gifts factor.
• Madrid: 9 days so far, on an average of $65/day.
• Paris: 2 days on an average of $128/day but it will drop to $64/day if we excluded the train and subway passes.
• Bernay: 12 days on an average of $37/day and goes to $12/day by excluding work related expenses.

Money Spent: We ended up spending $1,822.

Our major spending for this month went to food & outings at 36% of our spending, followed by accommodation (at 21% of our spending) and finally transportation at 16% due to Madrid and Paris expensive subways and rail tickets.

Next month…

We will stay (in accordance with our travel plans) in France for another month or two, where we intend to explore different parts of the country. From France there are different discussions on where will be our next destination, will it be Africa?