How much does it cost to travel the world for 1 year?

How much does it cost to travel the world for 1 year? Read this post to discover exactly what one year’s travel cost us. The total daily spend whilst on the road and all the extras that add up to a total year’s travel cost. Find out what a year’s travel could cost you and where the money goes.

Daily Spend

$8246 or $22.59 Australian per day

£4716 or £12.92 UK per day

$6022 or $16.50 US per day

To see in other currencies visit xe.com Our workings through this post will be in Australian dollars as that is the currency we’ve been using mostly whilst on the road.

Wait a minute… that is just the daily spend. What about the true cost with all the extras?

Well, that is the sum of our daily spend per person over 365 days of world travel. It’s not exactly indicative of the total cost, there are extra expenses to account for. Things like flights, insurance, visas and other miscellaneous expenses that get booked online are an extra expense which we shall also account for below to show the true cost of travel. But that figure is exactly what we each spent whilst on the road in local currencies over the past year. Generally that includes paying for accommodation, travel expenses, food and everyday items. For the exact figures of what it costs two frugal travellers to travel the world, read on and find out…

Shopping in Osh bazaar, Kyrgyzstan, fruit, budget travel — shopping in the markets. A fun way to keep costs down

The end of year financial report is out

It is the one year anniversary of the beginning of our world travels since we left Australia. We have kept a meticulous account of our daily expenses and our overall costs since we hit the road. Being Frugal Travellers we like to keep account of what things cost and how our budget is going along and we thought it would be good to share it with others who are curious to know what the costs of budget global travel are.

We know everybody is different, we all travel in different ways, go to different places and have different needs and expectations. So this is in no account a definitive guide on the cost of world travel for everyone. This is a per person account of what it cost US to travel the world for a year as an example to others of what to expect when they head off on that big world trip they’ve always been planning.

How much does it cost to travel the world for 1 year? Let’s find out…

Russian canteen, stolovaya, budget travel, how much does it cost to travel for 1 year? — A stolovaya. Great value Russian canteens

So what kind of budget are you on?

We consider ourselves to be frugal travellers in so much as we are careful about what we spend in order to get the best value for money out of travel. That doesn’t mean we are total rock bottom travellers. We’ve met people who hitchhike everywhere, who stay in other people’s homes or camp to save money, who only ever cook for themselves and live off rice and veggies to save a dollar. Each to their own, we say. You can travel on a on the smell of an oily rag if that is the way you want to do it but we like to treat ourselves to a little bit more to make our travels comfortable and enjoyable.

Russian train, Platskartny third class, budget travel, how much does it cost to travel for 1 year? — Russian train, Platskartny third class

We use the cheapest public transport available to get about and we tend to walk instead of getting taxis for short distances (the exercise does us good). If we can we chose to go for double rooms over dorms because a bit of privacy and comfort is paramount to staying sane whilst on the road long term.

We eat local food in local cafes and at street stalls, rather than the more upmarket tourist restaurants. We chose what tourist sights we visit, some are absolute must-sees and are worth spending money on whereas others can be overpriced tourist traps that can be skipped. Occasionally we treat ourselves to a few beers but avoid drinking regularly as that can make a huge hole in the travel budget.

Star ferry, Hong Kong, budget travel, how much does it cost to travel for 1 year? — The Star Ferry in Hong Kong. The World’s best value cruise

How to travel the world as a Frugal Traveller

Where have you been in this travel year?

Here is a breakdown of where we’ve been over the year, how long we stayed there and what our average daily spend was in each place per person as an example of the cost of travel there. This is in $ Australian

New Zealand. 41 days. $15 a day

Australia. 17 days. $19 a day

Malaysia. 3 days. $17 a day

Nepal. 67 days. $22 a day

Oman. 3 days. $32 a day

UK. 38 days. $24 a day

Norway. 16 days. $108 a day (including a 12 day cruise)

Finland. 3 days. $18 a day

Russia. 30 days. $31 a day (Including Trans-Siberian train tickets)

South Korea. 18 days. $34 a day

Hong Kong. 7 days. $36 a day

Macau. 2 days. $51 a day

China. 58 days. $29 a day

Kyrgyzstan. 41 days. $22 a day

Tajikistan. 25 days. $19 a day

NOTE: We spent most of our time in Australia, New Zealand and UK visiting family and not spending on accommodation, which explains why the daily expenses in those countries are lower than average.

What were the extra expenses then?

Well this was a mixed year of travel for us as far as expense is involved. Although we spent some time visiting family around the world, we also had to book 12 flights (one of which we didn’t even take but needed to purchase to get a Chinese visa!) which cost us $2,288 each in total.

We treated ourselves to our first ever cruise into the Norwegian Arctic which cost $1,688 each. We took the Trans-Siberian train across Russia which was a very reasonable $347 each (third class, of course). The total cost of our travel Insurance was $782 each. There were a few other sundry expenses as well. Some Visas we bought in local currencies so that cost was incorporated into the daily spend. The Tajikistan visa cost us an extra $95 each.

Old Town Youth Hostel, Kashgar, China, How much does it cost to travel the world in 1 year? — Great budget accommodation in China. the Old Town Youth Hostel in Kashgar