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Threadstarter southkakkatlantan appreciated all the wonderful answers and wants you to know that they are actually sponsoring the entire trip, including airfare/lodging/food, for everyone who gave a coherent answer. We'll get the details out shortly, and no it does not include alcohol not to name names *cough* Hefe *cough* lieqiang* cough.
Congrats to everyone.
What a wonderful offer to make on southkakkatlantan's behalf! I'm standing by ready to wear the sponsor's clothes & signage. But sorry to say I don't drink anymore.
Interestingly enough I don't think many have given a rough estimate of how much they think they'd spend; this is something I'm actually considering doing one day and have no clue what it would cost. I am in the beginning stages of looking into vlogs, blogs, etc. for people who have done and included their expenses out of curiosity.
We traveled full time for years, average about 45k annual spending with cheaper countries offsetting the expensive countries. That's all in, so not only in-country costs but flights to/from USA (we visit elderly parents twice a year), travel insurance, health insurance, and other monthly costs like VPN, Netflix, virtual mailbox in USA, etc.
That's a mix of flights/trains/buses and all private rooms in guest houses, airbnbs, and hotels. Nothing luxury but nothing scummy. Cheapest daily costs were (from memory not 100% sure) Thailand, Myanmar, Albania, and Macedonia. Most expensive were Israel, Singapore, and Japan. Technically there were some countries with higher avg daily costs in Africa but that was mostly from big game viewing which is hard to do well on the cheap.
Technically we're still on the road but it's hard to compare since these days our stays are usually measured in months instead of weeks and we're turtled up in Mexico until this covid thing shakes out.
We traveled full time for years, average about 45k annual spending with cheaper countries offsetting the expensive countries. That's all in, so not only in-country costs but flights to/from USA (we visit elderly parents twice a year), travel insurance, health insurance, and other monthly costs like VPN, Netflix, virtual mailbox in USA, etc.
That's a mix of flights/trains/buses and all private rooms in guest houses, airbnbs, and hotels. Nothing luxury but nothing scummy. Cheapest daily costs were (from memory not 100% sure) Thailand, Myanmar, Albania, and Macedonia. Most expensive were Israel, Singapore, and Japan. Technically there were some countries with higher avg daily costs in Africa but that was mostly from big game viewing which is hard to do well on the cheap.
Technically we're still on the road but it's hard to compare since these days our stays are usually measured in months instead of weeks and we're turtled up in Mexico until this covid thing shakes out.
Cool...do you mind speaking to your health insurance costs specifically?
We have travel insurance that runs about $120/month for both of us. We also carry an ACA policy in USA, costs for that depend on a lot but since our income needs while traveling are well under the $70kish annual threshold for subsidies it's pretty affordable for us at about $220/month. We also carry a driver policy as a non car owner that's pretty cheap about $20/month, we maintain it mainly because our umbrella insurance policy required an underlying anchor.
So we have three layers for medical:
1. Pay cash for anything up to about $2k
2. Travel insurance above $2k
3. ACA policy in USA that we'll very likely never use but want to have because we don't want to get medivac to USA by travel insurance and show up needing to pay cash for treatment. It also serves for emergencies when we're back in USA for more than 2 weeks, which is the most the travel policy will cover in USA per year.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RubyandPearl
Our weekly costs when we travel are about $1000 a week for accom, food, entertainment, car. Air travel costs separate.
Working on that basis a year would be $52000. Plus travel costs: planes, trains and automobiles.
Plus expenses back home would have to be covered.
Our expenses were similar (including air, which was quite cheap).
Our most significant expense was rental cars, campervans and fuel. Since we usually stay rural on farms, it is usually important to have a car. By doing hub cities and using metro public transit, one could significantly lower your costs. Just depends on where you want to stay and what you want to see. If you have a flexibvle schedule, public transit can suffice. Next long trip to western Europe, I will probably buy a car or bring our small MH. Or possible my vintage MC's (which are collector value in Europe, but very inexpensive to buy in USA.) IIRC there is a pretty restrictive time frame for keeping a personal car in Western Europe. Friends from Canada shipped their MH to Europe and it stayed for 10+ yrs. They kept MH in Europe and flew back and forth from Canada. Fuel and tolls can eat a lot of dough in some countries.
Well, if you believe the experts (I don't), all of this is a pipe dream because travel won't return to normal for decades until humanity gains herd immunity to the novel coronavirus. In the meantime, lots of masks, physical distancing and quarantining at every location you travel to, assuming they let you in to begin with. That physical distancing is going to sink the food and entertainment industries, which are half the reason to travel.
Not my opinion. Just what I've read.
A vaccine would of course bring us back to normal relatively quickly. If it is effective. If it is developed in a year or two. If 60% of humanity gets vaccinated. That's a lot of ifs.
January/February Australia and New Zealand. Warm to hot. Do some diving, sailing, exploring, and hang out with cockatoos. Maybe try to find my old college friend Peter. Maybe spend a week or so in China. I would like to see the great wall and the terracotta army.
March. St. Marys city Maryland (visit Daughter and catch her spring break. Possibly run south for a couple of weeks, Charleston SC, Scavannah and maybe outer banks. All are places I love. Maybe visit some friends in Raleigh-Durham area. Hiking in the Smokies. Possibly a week or so in Florida and Alabama since I have never been to either. I would leave that flexible. No burning desire to go there and I will get there eventually anyway. Weather should be in the 50s and 60s and generally nice.
April. Austin Texas (visit Son). Hang out on the lake. Visit wife's relatives in North Texas, look at used motor homes, See the Alamo. Maybe a couple of days in El Paso. Just getting warm. 60s - 80s
May Denver Colorado (visit Daughter). Maybe go on a couple of 14er hikes if it is warm enough. Warmish. Maybe some skiing at Beaver Creek (assuming your magic fixes my knee). Sneak over to Zion Canyon Utah for some extreme hiking. Maybe Bryce Canon too if there is time. Anywhere from 70s to 90s, cooler up higher.
June Grabenstatt Germany (visit my brother and his family); Salzsburg Austria, whatever else they want to show us. . Pretty similar to Michigan. Warm but not hot.
July. Schleswig Germany; a small town in the Netherlands (I forget the name); Copenhagen Denmark; Ven Island, Lund and Bornholme, Sweden; Talinn, Estonia; Rugen Germany. research for my book. Fairly hot.
August - Halifax Nova Scotia (another book). Marquette and area - Michigan. (explore, camp, relax, hiking, cliff jumping.). Comfortable 60s to 80s.
September/early October. Road trip to Alaska in a motorhome. Might switch October and august - have to check the weather.)
October - Maine and Upstate New York (color tour). New England is really pretty in the fall.
November Belize and Southern Peru (diving and exploring ruins, maybe a cruise, my wife wants to take a cruise - i don't).
December - Southern California (Visiting friends. Maybe some snorkling/diving, side trips to Vegas, Joshua tree, possibly visit a friend in Michoacán Mexico.) Maybe ten days in Hawaii since we have never been there.
I would bring my wife. I would invite our kids to come along on whatever parts they can or want to.
Cost: about $50,000. Not including lost income.
I need another month to visit friends in Oregon (and mark off another state I have not seen) and Louisiana (the last that would remain to mark off)
I do not like to have strict plans and deadlines. I like to leave things open and go places if I feel like it at the time, or not if I don't. I do not want to feel like I need to hurry, or I cannot take some side trip becuase i am scheduled ot be elsewhere.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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January - I'd bounce around Australia with my focal points being Tasmania and Perth with the coast of southwestern Oz around Cape Le Grand National Park
February - Exploring Patagonia and base myself around Ushuaia, Argentina to explore the glaciers, fjords, landscapes, seascapes and wildlife. Seems like an optimal time to be there when the rest of the southern hemisphere is roasting.
March - A combo of Buenos Aires, Montevideo, the Uruguayan coast, the beaches of Florianopolis, Rio, and maybe Iguazu Falls.
April - Exploring the Andes in Ecuador and Peru, with Machu Picchu included of course. My budget has no limits on this exercise () so I'm going to throw in a cruise around the Galapagos for good measure.
May - Late spring sounds nice for exploring Europe. I'd devote to time to explore Portugal extensively, Bordeaux, Paris, and southern Italy (Naples to eat, Almafi coast, & Puglia).
June - Long days around solstice time are best spent in the far northern towns. I'd explore the landscapes of Iceland and Norway, and I have a particular interest in visiting Tallin, Estonia.
July - I'd spend this month exploring parts of Atlantic Canada I've not yet explored including Cape Breton National Park, Prince Edward Island, ÃŽles-de-la-Madeleine, Gros More National Park.
August - Western Canada in late summer with horseback riding and a ranch vacation in Alberta, Banff & Jasper, and Vancouver Island. I could hang out with the surfers in Tofino for weeks and be happy.
September - I'd devote a month exploring Japan including Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, Osaka, Kyoto, and the island of Hokkaido.
October - Southeast Asia with stops in Kuala Lumpur, Chang Mai, Bangkok, & Angkor Wat
November - All this global exploration has me tired and weary, so I better recoup and recover somewhere. You'll find me in a over the water bungalow in the Maldives somewhere. I think I'll include the Seychelles too.
December - I'll spend the holiday season enjoying the Christmas Markets in Europe with a focus on the Rhine River valley (Strasbourg, Cologne, Heidelberg). Going from equatorial islands in the Indian Ocean to northern Europe in December is leaping from the frying pan to the ice box, but it will help me transition back to reality after a year of global travel.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 12-05-2022 at 07:43 AM..
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) so I'm going to throw in a cruise around the Galapagos for good measure. 
