Finance and money forum

ltd86

I wrote this to another, but it equally applies...

I don't know the exact details of where/when you are going, what you plan to do, or anything that will define parameters.

I'll answer your question in a roundabout way, some of which may help.

It's not a case of how much does it cost, (and hence, how much one
'needs'). That question depends on where you go, for how long, and what
you plan on doing.

Thus, its how much does it cost per day (on average) to travel around
SE Asia.

There is no set 'amount' that you must plan for, rather, an amount that
reflects the sort of lifestyle you want to live while travelling.

I travel with my wife, and we tend to spend about US$20-25 / day (not
including costs to get there/back). But, we've been there often and
know what/how to avoid spending too much where we can get it cheaper. We
are also what you'd call flashpacker rather than backpacker. That means
we stay in a better quality of accommodation, tend to choose a more
expensive diet than a backpacker.

If You were to to SE Asia as a backpacker, you can easily enjoy yourself
on around US$20-25/day. But, if you don't want to do it on a lean budget, you could allocate (say) an extra US$5 for yourself. This would also help because you have yet to 'learn the ropes'. I suggest you'll have a great time there if you allocate US$25/day - and will probably come home with money if you allocate US$30/day.

Travel itself is expensive, staying in a town and renting a pushbike for
a day to go visit, and eating at streetstalls, the market, etc., will
be the sort of thing to do to limit expenditure.

- - -

Travelfish.org have discussed this matter.

For general pointers to 'fashion' your travel expenses - go read each
post at:

http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/financemoney/4706_travelling-thailand-on-250b-a-day

http://www.travelfish.org/feature/money-finance

For actual daily travel costs, go to these posts:

http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/thailand/182_first-time-in-thailand

http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/financemoney/4776_-3000-us-for-eight-weeks

http://www.travelfish.org/board/post/financemoney/5926_2-people---us-3-500---3-months-

And, then look at some stories at:

http://www.travelfish.org/board/topic/financemoney

These threads are focussed on Thailand (mainly).

- - -

In addition, I suppose there are 2 ways of looking at travel. One, travelling in one's comfort zone merely to see iconic places. Or, two, travelling as an experience to engage with the local culture: which sometimes means roughing it, sometimes means being without English speakers, and almost always produces amazing experiences that can't be 'planned for' or anticipated.

My advice is to ensure that you plan that there is no more than ONE day
of travel for EVERY THREE days (ie. out of every 3 days, only one has
any travel between places in that 3). This is the MINIMUM. If you can
do 1 in 4, that'll be better.

Hope this helps.

Cheers