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5-6 Months in South East Asia. Is £5000 Enough?
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Mangala
backpacker
Posts: 14
Located in:
As my title says really.
I am planning a 5-6 month trip to South East Asia leaving in January 2010.
I estimate I'll have £5k (thats the low side, my highest estimate is nearing £6k) AFTER paying for my flight. (Currently got just under £1000 saved already!)
Will it be enough considering I'd like to spend:
8 Weeks in Thailand
4-6 Weeks in Laos
4-6 Weeks in Cambodia
4-6 Weeks in Vietnam
(Obviously i'd extend visas where I could to manage this timeframe.)
Thanks in advance for any answers.
#1 Posted: 25/4/2009 - 19:03
Mangala
backpacker
Posts: 14
Located in:
Not sure hot to edit (assuming you can), but figured I should mention that I'll be travelling overland for most of the trip, looking at spending an average of $45 a day (£32 or so) on food and accomodation with major sights coming out of a further £500 at most i'll have set aside for such things.
I also dont drink so I know thats helped there.
#2 Posted: 25/4/2009 - 19:20
somtam2000
admin


mahout
Posts: 5884
Located in:
Private message
Welcome to Travelfish Mangala!
$45 a day is a more than reasonable budget - assuming you're looking for backpacker style accommodation you could get away with even less - say $25-30 a day -- especially if you don't drink.
Overall your major cost will be accommodation -- food is the most flexible -- in all the countries you mention you can get three straight meals a day for under $10 -- but you could easily pay $100 a day on food if you wanted.
So, simple answer is, yet, that's enough cashola -- complex answer is, it depends!
#3 Posted: 25/4/2009 - 19:51
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DLuek
adventurer
Posts: 453
Hi,
I'm guessing you'll be fine, as long as you don't go for five star hotels and such. You can find decent accomodation - private room w/ private bath, hot shower, fan or a/c - for U$10 to $15 just about anywhere (cheaper in some places), and if you're alone you could easily go for dorms and/or shared bathrooms and cut well into that if you wanted. Then, it just depends on how much you spend on food, transport and shopping. As for transport, you could afford to mainly travel by bus or train, taking a few strategic flights if you wanted.
If you want to be sure you're within your budget, I would suggest trying to keep a log of everything you spend, rounding up on the exchange rates to account for anything you might forget. It may seem a little tedious, but that way you can be sure. If you're averaging over your daily budget, you'll know it's time to maybe switch to fan rooms instead of a/c, cut back on the pricey meals or whatever. On the other side of the coin, if you're half way through your trip and you're averaging under your daily budget, maybe it will be time to treat yourself a little? I'm in the later stages of a 5 month trip myself right now, and keeping a spending log like this, while being a little annoying, has defenitely given me piece of mind. I was pretty frugile in the beginning, and now it's paying off b/c I've got plenty left for the last month and a half.
Good luck!
#4 Posted: 25/4/2009 - 22:14
travellingg-
oat
newbie
Posts: 1
Hey,
I literally just got back from a 5 week trip around thailand, laos and vietnam. In total i spent £1200 and thats including the return flight (£390) and also several internal flights (around £120 in total). Although i was staying in cheap accommodation and usually eating only 2 big meals a day i did splash out money on expeditions and trips. So i would say £5000 is a very comfortable amount but it would be easy to get the cost down to around £4000. Hope this helps and enjoy your travels
#5 Posted: 27/4/2009 - 01:29
Mangala
backpacker
Posts: 14
Located in:
Thanks for the answers and suggestions guys - very much appreciated. I'll be sticking to overland travel, with the odd Air Asia flight (surprised at how cheap they are even after taxes), staying in cheaper accomodations with fan over a/c (A tip I picked up on this very site!).
As for food, I'll probably mix it up a bit, keep the diet varied somewhat but I have heard so much about the regions food from street vendors and local focused eateries that I know I'll be on that alot.
Regards having a spreadsheet - I have one for watching my expenditure before I go so I can save as much as possible, so having one for while I am there is not out of my view at all, so thanks for that idea DLuek.
#6 Posted: 27/4/2009 - 12:20
alexandra28
longtail driver
Posts: 7
Hey!
I'm planning a 4-5 month trip (Feb-June) that sounds similar to yours. I arrive in Phnom Pehn around Feb. 8th. Will you be around??
Alexandra
#7 Posted: 15/12/2009 - 17:51