On the Road

What the trip will cost depends on where you go. You can live almost indefinetely on a couple of thousand dollars in third world countries like India or Cambodia. On the other hand, in places like Japan that two grand will be gone in a month.

To extend their time abroad, budget travelers and backpackers have tricks and techniques. Youth hostels with shared rooms are a very cheap way to stay abroad. Lodging outdoors in a tent or just under the stars is even cheaper. Avoiding restaurants and eating fruits and grains from a local market saves money, too.

Tours and classes are expensive, but if you are really interested in something unique to a country it’s foolish not to get involved just because it will set you back some.

Visas can be expensive, and you should really only get them right before you are about to enter a country. This is easy to do in foreign capitals with consulates.

You can extend your time abroad by working or pulling off scams. Popular scams in the past are harder to pull off these days. They included spending your travelers checks and then claiming them lost and falsely claiming to lose your baggage on your travel insurance.

Typical costs per day, staying in hostels, eating out cheaply and infrequently, are approximately (in US dollars):

United States: $40-$50/day

Mexico: $10/day in the south, $30/day in the resorts, Central America (not Costa Rica): $15-$20/day. Costa Rica: $30/day.

South America (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia): $20/day or less. Brazil: $25/day (less in the north), Argentina $20/day, Chile $25/day.

The Caribbean: Cuba: $30/day, DR/Haiti other poor islands $15/day, places like Saint Thomas/Caymans: $50/day+

Western Europe: UK $50/day, Ireland $50/day, most of the EU $30-$40/day. Turkey: $20/day, Eastern European countries <$20/day depending on where. Russia: $25/day (food is expensive)

New Zealand/Australia: $40/day+

Indonesia/Cambodia/Laos: $10/day, Thailand: $15/day, Vietnam: $20/day, China ?

Japan: $50/day +

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