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What does it Cost to have a Backpacking Adventure?
November 8, 2011
One early morning you are getting out of the sack for your 9 to 5 daily slog when you start to have an idea. Wouldn’t it be great to see something more of the world; to experience another culture, meet people with an entirely different understanding of life to you and to marvel at the sorts of landscapes you currently have set as your laptop screensaver? The idea starts to develop, it is sprinkled with place names of far away lands you’ve picked up over the years; you dream of countries you haven’t thought about since school geography lessons. Eventually, the dream turns into a set of questions to be solved before you can make your backpacking adventure a reality. How much does it really cost to be an independent backpacker? How much do you need to: climb mountains in Morocco, stay in bamboo villages in Laos, visit historic sights in Jordan or sand board in the desert of Northern Chile (or, preferably, all of the above)? Help is at hand! Roam-the-world have created a backpacking budget calculator as well as a world travelling costs map to help you make your backpacking dream a reality. Follow these tips to make the most of these backpacker budgeting tools:
- This wonderful map (yes, we know we’re biased!) shows you at a glance the average backpacking cost by country. The most affordable parts of the world (shown in green) include East Africa and South East Asia. The pricey travelling destinations are made up of North America, Australia and parts of Europe and South America (shown in red). You can use this map to narrow down the part of the world you would like to backpack in. If you plan to travel for a number of months (or even years: you may as well ‘live the dream’!) then you could use the travelling costs map to determine what proportion of time to spend in the different parts of the globe. For instance, a 6 month backpacking trip could be made up of:
- 2 months of adventure in the more cash intensive scenery of Australia
- 2 months chilling in the cheap yet undoubtedly cheerful beach scenes of the Indonesian Archipelago, Thailand and Malaysia
- 2 months exploring the historic sights of the middle-of-the-road priced Turkey, Jordan and Egypt.
- If you are in need of further inspiration about where to take your napsack to then check out our example travel itineraries. Possible 4 week adventures include trekking through the scenery of Peru, Bolivia and Chile or being a culture-vulture on an unforgettable trip through the Middle East.
- Once you’ve decided on the region of the world you’ll be phoning home from, it’s time to get specific with planning how long you want to spend exploring the countries which make up your backpacking area of choice. You may want to keep your plan as fluid as a glass of filtered water so that you can decide how long to spend in each country once you’re there in person getting a feel for the local vibe. That’s totally fine on the backpacker scene! Alternatively, you may be one of those that’s as organised as a filing cabinet who likes to have their days planned to a tee. There’s pros and cons of each style. But however much you want to plan ahead, use our budgetting tool to show the price by country for the information you need. Whether you want to know the average cost per day when travelling in a pair through Vietnam (it’s $21, don’t you know!) or the price of a budget meal in Bolivia (a mere $5): the info is there for the taking.
- Here at Roam the World we are passionate about helping you to plan an adventure! If you have any travelling tips to help other backpackers realise their travelling dreams then we’d love you to contribute by leaving a reply to one of our travelling features. Drop us a comment and share the backpacking love!
Related Articles:
- How Much does it Cost to Discover Morocco by Backpack
- Have a Bolivian Adventure on the Isla del Sol
- Backpacking Inspiration: Take a 6 week Adventure through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia
- Backpacking on a Budget in London: Is it Possible?
- The Highlights of Independent Backpacking in Turkey
- This wonderful map (yes, we know we’re biased!) shows you at a glance the average backpacking cost by country. The most affordable parts of the world (shown in green) include East Africa and South East Asia. The pricey travelling destinations are made up of North America, Australia and parts of Europe and South America (shown in red). You can use this map to narrow down the part of the world you would like to backpack in. If you plan to travel for a number of months (or even years: you may as well ‘live the dream’!) then you could use the travelling costs map to determine what proportion of time to spend in the different parts of the globe. For instance, a 6 month backpacking trip could be made up of: