FAQ - Budgeting

Well, now that news of our trip is spreading, we're getting a lot of questions concerning logistics, so I thought I'd address some of them here. Probably the most common question of course is, "Did you win the lottery? Are you rich?" :)

As much as we would like to be able to say we just hit the Powerball jackpot, no such luck here. Brian and I have worked hard to live well within our means, buying a 900sf 1936 "fixer-upper" house, keeping our cars for many years, and not buying things we don't need. Unfortunately the consumer culture in the US leads many people to become prisoners to their possessions, which is especially lamentable if it ends up keeping someone from their ultimate goals and dreams. But if you want to travel, it can definitely be done, and the great news is, it doesn't have to be expensive!

Let's take South Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, India), for example, which is where we will be spending a good chunk of time during our trip. The average cost of living per day runs about $20, including a room in a decent guesthouse, and round-trip flights over there from the US are around $800 right now. So a 6-month sojourn could be had for under $5500 ($3600 cost-of-living, $800 flight, ~$1000 incidentals (visas, vaccinations, travel insurance, gear, transportation)). That's less per month than just my rent ever was here in Austin!

On our trip we are planning a couple splurges to more expensive areas (one week in Italy, 2 weeks in Russia, and 8 days in the Galapagos), but the majority of our trip will be spent in much less expensive areas (namely South Asia and Eastern Europe). We also will be using the hotel points we have built up with our reward credit cards, and should garner enough airline miles along the way to get a few of our later flight legs for free. So hopefully you won't see us panhandling on the street corner upon our return... but then again, there's that saying: "Why live in a $200,000 house when you can live under a $2 million bridge?" :P