Contrary to popular belief, the most common question EVER in the travelling world is not “how do you crap in an Indian toilet?” nor “won’t you get lonely? Do you want a cuddle, Ant?”. It’s “how much does travelling cost?”. As boringly simple, as that.
In fact I get asked it so much I’ve considered having a t-shirt printed that states “£1k a month + tickets + kit + insurance=RTW Trip. Sponsored by TrailofAnts.com” that I can just nonchalantly point to.
That is, of course a complete blasé response. If say, you were travelling in India for a year it could cost slice that in three, but stumble into Japan and I figure you could double it, at least. It all depends how thrifty you are, what you choose to do with your time and a whole heap of other things. You can, god forbid, get a job while you’re going. Woah! Calm down, it was merely a suggestion. I’m sure of one thing, I’ve never heard of a traveller die from running out of money. But if they did, I’m pretty sure they’d die happy.
So, this page is also going to gradually log the main costs of the trip. It won’t detail the beer I grabbed at the airport or the Big Mac I guiltily devoured. It will be purely things I think you’ll find useful, like the cost of a domestic flight or a stubborn visa, particularly high costing accommodation or costs that I think you need forewarning about. Naturally, I’m just one man on one trail so it might not answer every question but it will give you a good idea. All costs in £GB because I’m English and proud, a rough conversion to the sinking $US is to double it i.e. £30=$60 (gutted, ha ha!). The main cost to consider when travelling is ‘time’, so arm yourself with an abundance of this, and you can pretty much achieve anything.
Main Costs
- Flight from London Heathrow to Moscow- £177
- Visa for Russia- £45 + approx £8 postage
- Trans-Mongolian train ticket from Moscow to Beijing via Ulaanbaatar- £325
- Visa for Mongolia- £40 + approx £10 postage
- 12 months travel insurance (exc USA but inc my Digi SLR)- £250
- Tibet Permit and Train Ticket- 450RMB (£30). Plus mystery tour- 200RMB (£13). Plus train from Chengdu to Lhasa- 700RMB (£46). All sorted in less than an half an hour from Sim’s Cozy Guesthouse, Chengdu i.e. don’t worry about it!
- Overland tour from Lhasa – Kathmandu – 1560RMB (approx £100). A five day tour through the mysterious Himalaya, a minivan bounced us around, and the price also included access to the unmissable, Everest Base Camp.
- Return flight from Chennai to Colombo (Sri Lanka)- Approx £80. Booked through Air India Express, couldn’t do it online as they don’t accept foreign credit cards so this includes a slight commission (nothing extortionate).
- One months Royal Enfield rental in South India - IRS12,000 (£150). This was excluding the numerous costs of repairs, and excluding all the fuel (which was regularly stolen!). One of the best investments on The Trail so far.
- One way flight from Chennai to Singapore - £80. Tiger Airways, one of the cheaper airlines I’ve come across. No frills. No problems.
- A new MacBook – £914. Ok, so not your usual backpacker accessory, but as I’m gone for a while, I need a tool to spin some reddies. Needless to say, the longer I stood in the shop talking to the sales guy, the more I spent!
- New glasses – S$278 (£107). After the Enfield reduced my frames to a knot of scratched glass and chipped wire, I had to replace. And I had to buy designer. And I had to get some fancy lenses.
- Two Month visa for Indonesia – S$75 (£28). Procured at the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore.
- One way flight from Singapore to Padang (Sumatra) – S$98 (£38). Tiger. Grrrr.
- A two day trek in Sumatra to view wild orangutan £TBC. I’d of paid double, no triple, no octuple as much as this. One of the most amazing things I’ve done on The Trail.
- One way flight from Medan to Jakarta – IDR 650k (£37). Mandala Airlines, great price, abysmal after sales service. Fat, ugly Lost and Found staff in Jakarta International and an international call centre who can’t speak English. Oh, that’s the jokers, did I mention the thief?
- Replacement British Passport – IDR2.26m (£130). This went along with my wallet which contained my only cash cards and driving license. Were they insured? Apparently not. Was the passport insured? Marginally. Was I annoyed? You bet.
- One way flight from Jakarta to Bali – IDR 650k (£37). Sriwijaya Airlines. One of the 51 Indonesian airlines banned from flying to Europe. Which is fine, as I was flying to Bali. So there.
- One way flight from Bali to Singapore – S$48 £18. Jet Star whipped me over to Singapore to pick up a new passport and…
- One way flight from Singapore to Bali – IDR 789,000 £45. … Lion Air whipped me back again. Lion Air were memorable, if not for their in-flight prayer cards urging us to bless the plane, then for their slogan ‘We Make People Fly’. Gulp. Due to Indo’ visa fever, you need an onward flight to get in (though in practice, you don’t). I bought the cheapest Tiger ticket going, for £16.
- One month Indonesian visa on arrival – US$25 (£13). The Indonesian immigration system is more corrupt than a Coney Island freak. Smile. Pay. Scowl. Leave. I say this, not because of the cost, but because of a personal experience in the Jakarta HQ.
- Australian Working Holiday Visa – AUS$195 (£98). This excluded a fee of IDR589,600 (£34) for a chest x-ray, required due to my visit to India.
- One way flight from Bali to Melbourne – £289.50. Qantas spirited me away from the sublime sunshine of Indonesia, to the winter chill of south Australia. Prices went through the roof and my tan fell through the grating.
- Room rent in Melbourne – AUS$200pw + Bills (approx AUS$70pm). If you’re sticking around for a while, a roof over your head is a good start. One of the best ways to find it, is through the Gumtree.
