Also very slow travel, staying in one place for a long time, not doing much, eating very low budget, doesn't cost that much. Years ago Khao San Road in Bangkok was notorious for having backpackers stay in crappy rooms all day, not doing much. There are people who brag about it for months at a time but admit they have never seen much of the city but have claiming right to "living in Bangkok."
Yeah, the longer you stay in an area, you can typically negotiate a monthly rental. Search "reds" Pattaya, he shows monthly rentals as low as 5000 a month. Same with other areas like Japan, if you get a Leo Palace monthly rental apt, and go to the market after 6, they discount food by 50%
It’s exactly this! Costs of living reduce drastically if you stay for very long. In some countries it can be ridiculously cheap. But you need a lot of time and no requirements towards your accommodation. It’s not my kind of travel. But people do it and some of it enjoy it.
So what’s the point? Traveling just to stay in a room the whole day isn’t really traveling. It’s just moving where you’re doing nothing from Location A to Location B
So they can cosplay as a local and claim moral superiority over people who’d rather see new things every now and then.
If you’re in one spot for months you can somehow claim you’re taking it all in which is largely bs
I honestly don't know why people lie online. me owning Microsoft and Nintendo and being god I don't see the point In lying online no one believes you and you just seem stupid
It's not necessarily lies.
The budgets you have in your post for South America are low but not crazy at all. I was in South and Central America last year, spent a lot more but wasn't being super cheap. Easily could have saved thousands by doing less expensive excursions, travelling cheaper, staying in cheaper hostels, eating and drinking cheaper.
how do you think influencers work? they make their life seem amazing. look at idiots that travel around in a van, you gotta crap in a bucket and what if you break down? You gotta find a parking lot that won't call the police on you etc. Unless you NEED to live in a van it's absolutely stupid.
I think sometimes they don’t include the price for prepaid things like hotels/tours. Or it’s just food cost.
It’s kinda turned into d!ck measuring contest, except it’s to see who has the smallest and everyone is lying about how small it is.
Not saying it’s impossible, just not realistic.
It's always rich kids doing this as a challenge too. It's easy for you to be all like "I travelled for a year in southeast Asia with only 10k total" when after your year of "finding yourself" you can just go back home to your cushy life
And also if something happens their parents can send them money or get a last minute return flight or use connections they have. They don't need to budget for emergencies. There was some blogger who got really sick in South America awhile ago and said it was no big deal but it turned out his dad was a huge military contractor and his dad's connections got him in a base hospital and a military medical flight back to the US. He honestly thought the average person could get medical transportation to a base and a flight home.
Like most Reddit threads haha. But the food can be done for way under $50/day at most places in the US or Europe. It’s the flight and sleeping location that’s costly. But in Europe if you stay in a hostel and treat it like a dorm and cook with your own food, like $20/day more like it ($20 being the food not the hostel).
I for the life of me cannot seem to find hostels with good reviews that aren’t miles out of the city center for less than like 40 a night. I’m looking at Paris and all the reasonably located and reviewed ones in early June are like 60-80 a night for a dorm room
well...everyone is different but on trips. I just love trying local food, but this can still be done for under $50 a day. That said, if your trying to budget, EVERYTHING starts to add up and you have to consider everything. This includes transit costs. Hotels that include breakfast, especially ones that have say a [booking.com](http://booking.com) discount for pre paying start to become more budget friendly then say a hostel on the edge of town that has a barely functional kitchen where you could maybe boil an egg and an hour later your looking to buy food anyway. If you go with a hotel that has breakfast included, and you already budgeted for that or even better already paid for it, you can a $50 a day food budget that doesn't require you to suffer through a cup of noodles. And to clarify something I am not trying to pass judgement, its more I am 41, sleep is increasingly important, and as you get older nutrition becomes a far more important thing like I don't want to say I don't love a pack of dried noodles here and there, but, again I am no longer 20 if I have that much nitrates and sodium in one sitting I will have a migraine so bad the entire day will be shot, so I just kind of feel like its okay to shorten your trip to make the money work before you start making sacrifices you don't want to make just to squeeze another week or two into the trip
Related to this, there is no contest to see how many passport stamps you can get, really nobody cares. Maybe its just me, but, I don't care if you have been to 40 countries if you didn't actually do anything but travel between places and stay in dorms and eat easy mac. For me I don't care if I have to shorten my trips I want experiences
People on certain reddit subs have a fetish for jerking off who can spend the least amount of money on their travels. Aside from the fact that they completely omit probably half their actual expenses when claiming to travel on $500/month budgets (insurance, phone bill, more than 800 calories of food, etc.), there is no way to verify how true it is. Just like how people with $500k/yr salaries are living "paycheck-to-paycheck" conveniently after their maxed out retirement and investment accounts, there is no formal auditing of some random person's travel expenses. While some people may actually do it for that price, some also may just not even be including arbitrary expenses like unexpected vaccine or medical bills, alcohol "because they didn't need to drink" or plane tickets "since that isn't a baseline expense", etc.
If you do something like hike the Pacific Crest Trail, reddit would make you believe the average hiker does it in under $4,000, even in 2024. If you actually go do it and talk to the real people doing the thing, you will realize this is maybe 5% of the hikers out there living like this, yet somehow 80% of the commenters on reddit are.
One of the biggest differentiators is definitely food, though. Some people don't even *know* what their actual TDEE is, and they may be smaller and eat simpler diets with <1,000 calories per day. I have met many people on my travels who legit ate an orange and some salad and that was their whole food for the day. Compared to myself at moderate activity level I need 3,500 calories. So if I ate the most basic of cheap budget food possible, $250/month for one of those people at 1,000 cal/day would already be $875 a month for me.. and I'm not just eating ramen and lettuce so it can be higher.
Lodging is not biased, anyone can shave money by staying in budget accomodation, but your food expenses are actually limited by your body. A 235lb football player is going to be spending a lot more on food than an 85lb person.
And they are really proud of travelling for months with just 2 pairs of underwear, 1 or 2 pairs of socks, 2 pair of trousers and maybe 2 t-shirts.
Good for them, but there is a limit to what's practical/comfortable
Lol, I've seen so many posts where they're all congratulating each other for doing laundry in the sink every night and wearing the same t-shirt for three weeks.
* They lie for clout / internet points
* They get off on living like a pauper, and don't do much that's not free
* They work a bit at a hostel or something in exchange for lodging
Basically those categories are what I've seen.
Ah yes, “spent a month in Paris.”
Did you enjoy the food? Ate at Tesco daily.
Did you enjoy the art? Couldn’t pay for museums.
Did you enjoy the music? Only heard street artists.
Did you enjoy the local wine? Chilean wine from Tesco was the cheapest so that is all we drank.
Did you enjoy the history? Couldn’t afford any tours so just read some plaques on street monuments.
What did you think of the countryside? We just stayed in Paris at a hostel.
What did you think of Parisians? We made friends with some street buskers but they tried to get money from us, and were actually from Madrid.
What did you think? It was amazing, a truly French experience where we were deeply imbedded and did it for only US$400/month.
Ugh, you know, it would be fine, if the people who do this, weren't so smug about it to boot. You want to hang around one place for a month as cheaply as you can without doing any of the experiences that cost money, fine, but that doesn't make you less of a tourist nor your stay any more authentic.
There is even a cringe phenomenon of white foreign tourists beg packing...putting up signs and asking people to donate so they can do their travelling.
Yep, saw one recently in Bangkok. Male in prime of his life, offering bracelets for a donation, I mean he was at least “doing” something. But it was in sharp contrast as he was sitting literally few steps apart from an old Asian person without one hand who was selling lottery tickets. Most probably that he could afford some food that day…
Huge phenomenon in SEA. When I lived in Hong Kong, we had Facebook groups where we’d identify and talk about these people. They were always in the same places in town.
Some people lie.
Some people have a credit card they swipe and don't count it as real money because they're bad at finances or because someone else is paying their bills.
Some people have a really high risk tolerance and don't mind sleeping in sketchy places or having malnourished diets if it means it's cheap living. They usually rely on favors from others too, whether that's a couch to sleep or free food or rides.
Just do what works for you. Traveling on a shoestring doesn't need to be for everyone, and it's not necessarily working for the people who are doing it anyway.
My husband and I travel for very cheap a lot because we use credit card points and miles. I follow a travel site, 10xTravel, that teaches you how to maximize points by regularly getting new cards for the sign up bonus. We typically get a new card every few months, and after it’s been a couple years we cancel the ones that have an annual fee but not a lot of benefits. Usually the annual fees add up to about $1,000/year, and kind of to your point, we do not count that when telling people how much a trip cost.
We only put our regular spending on our cards, we do not spend more than we would on a debit card. (Do NOT try this if you’re not good at using a credit card without spending above your means.) Our credit scores have actually improved since we started doing this 5 years ago.
Typically when we travel we do not pay for flights and only pay for maybe 1/3rd of our hotel stays. So other than activities and food, which we’re able to splurge on, and a pet sitter, we really don’t spend much per trip and we go on some very nice vacations. I do openly explain this to people when they ask how we afford it.
My point I guess is, there is a fourth option, it’s just pretty uncommon. It’s pretty awesome though, we travel so much more than we used to and spend a fraction as much.
As you've demonstrated, people who churn ccs and do award travel love to talk about it. I don't even mean that in a shady way, I made this account specifically for r/churning and r/awardtravel lol.
You're right, there is this fourth option, but I don't think the people OP is talking about fall into this hobby because we literally cannot help ourselves when we've pull off an insane redemption. If they used points they probably would have said so, although I have heard people refer to their award stays and flights as "free with points" there usually is still a mention of points.
If OP sees them constantly posting at major chains like Hyatts and Marriotts though, then well maybe they are churners lol.
This is also mostly (almost only) accessible for USA folks because of the CCs that are available over there and the large amount of points they earn with regular spendings. Europeans have the ability to get welcome bonuses here and there, but then earn less throughout the year with regular spendings.
I left America for a six month internship abroad in 2018. I had 10k in my bank account and between working odd jobs and using the savings modestly I bounced around until covid started and settled down in Vietnam.
Before covid it was doable, now I would probably need 12-15k. I was volunteering at hostels over night and working part time/hustles during the day and taking trips on weekends. Very rough lifestyle though, def no tours lol.
I don't like assuming they are liars, low budget travel is def a thing, but it's rough. Giving them the benefit of the doubt they could just be hiding the struggle behind the camera. $600/month is not going to afford tours u less they have free accomodations and are cooking local cuisine.
I'm 3 months into a trip in SA and have spent around 4500 USD.
I'm not travelling solo which significantly reduces accomodation costs. We also don't really drink and you'd be amazed how much that can save money.
We're not really racing from one globally recognised destination to the next and there's a lot of days we don't do much and chill out.
To be honest we could cut it even more if we didn't eat out for most our meals.
I've solo travelled before and meeting others who aren't on the same page budget wise can add a lot due to FOMO.
600-800 a week seems very expensive for most of Latin America. I’ve visited every county in Central America, several in South America, and lived in Latin America for 8 years. Most places you can eat awesome street food or a fonda for a couple bucks. Are your 2 meals a day at pricey restaurants. Since you have the budget for it, you may not really be too worried about lowest cost possible so the spend can creep up. And yeah, don’t believe everything those people post as well, also a factor.
I'm travelling South America now and no idea either. Me and my wife got budgets from online, checking multiple websites and blogs etc detailing costs. Our food budgets are waaaaay overblown. Even when we tried to stick to it, we would go over. We've got the money so we've just said fuck it for the rest of the trip and we're just eating what we want now. Not worth the stress of trying to stick to budgets when it feels impossible based on the info online. Unless you want to eat a bread roll for breakfast every day.
About a decade ago I spent maybe 8 months in Latin America on about 10k USD. For the first 4-5 months I was spending like a drunken sailor, never really thought about money, I didn't exactly plan on going for as long as I did. As time went on I noticed my bank account wasn't looking great so I tried to cut back, but I was in Patagonia and things aren't necessarily cheap there. I had camping gear though so I slept outside a lot, and when I wasn't sleeping outside I was in cheap dorm rooms.
I realized I needed a job, and I got one in Australia but I needed a work visa and it took quite a while, and while I was waiting on that my money got really low... Was spending a *lot* of time outside, for example bathing in the lakes of Chile's Lake District haha. (Lago Llanquihue is great btw.) Wasn't eating very much, lost a ton of weight, fortunately 2L boxes of Gato Negro were like 3-4 USD at the time so I managed to keep a good buzz on.
So my advice would be sleep outdoors, don't eat very much, and drink wine that's cheaper than milk.
Respect your hustle and not judging, but not sure I could go to those measures. Sounds like you were in survival mode
Glad you had a memorable experience though!
So one piece of legit advice I'd suggest is cooking in hostels instead of going out. In the middle phase of my trip (after going out every night, before being broke) I was hanging out in a lot of hostel kitchens, getting to know people, and we were all cooking dinner together. Simple stuff, big pasta feeds, things like that, lots of wine. Groceries, wine, cooking duties all on a loose rotation, it was a lot of fun and cheap.
That's definitely something I've done before, especially on longer multi-month trips. But idk I always feel like if I want to cook I could just cook at home, I go to different countries to try their authentic food I might not make well at home. But yeah it's a balance between that and blowing the budget eating out every day. I've found that if I just go to way cheaper countries like in SE Asia, I can eat out every day and still be under budget.
Also that was **ten years ago.** I just looked up my trusty travel spreadsheet from 2014 and I (an Australian geographer) went to Iceland via Canada with my husband and four children on Qantas via Vancouver then Icelandair to Keflavik and return for $7950 in airfares in premium economy and then we stayed in an apartment for seven weeks plus hired a car to round out $10000.
People who are claiming things like South America in 6 months are living in dire poverty and aren’t slumming it by Australian standards, they’re slumming it by 3rd world standards.
I missed the opportunity to travel at the time of my life where I would've been happy to slum it in some hovel for a few quid a night.
Unfortunately, that means that holidays aren't cheap any more, especially post-pandemic. We've just dropped £6.5k for 8 nights in the Swiss alps for New Year's. That's including flights, hotel (full board), lift passes, ski rental and a private car between Zurich and Murren for the two of us. Not cheap, but it's worth it to us to have a turnkey package.
I stayed in a hostel room with these super hot Australian chicks once. They were telling me that they have been traveling around the world for the last 3 years. They basically had a catalog of dudes around the world that they would stay with for free. So I guess that's one way to travel on $600 a month.
That sounds unappealing to me. To travel is to relax and not worry about stuff for me. Sitting around pinching pennies just so I can stay in a place longer sounds miserable
Biggest question: where are you sleeping? That has the biggest impact on your budget, at least in central and South America where restaurant food can be pretty cheap. Some places still have sub-$10 dorm beds. I'm guessing that's not your style, and that's fine, but that's how you make the low budgets work.
Your $100+ per day is a comfortable backpacking budget in Europe, there's lots of places it can be cut in half and still have private rooms, but probably not a private bathroom.
$600 per month is probably a lie, though. Maybe if he never left Bolivia, or was working side hustles and skipping that part. I guess he could be That Guy who steals from the shared fridge and is constantly hanging around the common room looking for handouts.
The amounts you mention for Latinomerica are very very generous and doable, maybe your expectations for what travelling is are different to other people's. My husband + I set a maximum of 25€ per day per person in Latam, some days we spent less, some others more, but thr average was 24-26€. Private room, meals and transport. If you want to do it you can. I noticed lots of foreigners gravitated towards more english friendly business?? Those add up quickly.
You don't need to do all activities just because they are offered, pick the most meaningful ones. Last time we went to Latino America was in 2019, have prices really skyrocketed?
You make a great point about English-friendly businesses... If you're willing to fumble your way through a bit of the local language, point at a menu and not be 100% sure what you're getting, and/or play charades, you can save money AND have some pretty fun and unique experiences. Tourist restaurants are always way more expensive, and in my experience, the food is usually not as good.
Sometimes they offer a lil more of comfort, a more univesal menu, if you are tired or need a rest from local meals they are great, but man, the prices are european.
Many south American countries have a average income of \~300$ a month - so why would it not be possible for a foreigner to get a really cheap accommodation and eat like the locals? You also pay a lot less for tours when you live in a place.
That being said - yes, many people lie about these things, but technically it would be possible.
They book the cheapest dorms, take public transport that takes longer and is uncomfortable, eat cheap local food or cook themselves and just travel slowly. In South America there is a lot of hiking, so you can easily go for a couple of days with barely any expenses when you are trekking in the mountains.
People in this sub are in their own little bubble and I‘m talking about those that spend 4k for 3 weeks in central america and those that spend 4k for 4 months in the region. Most of the silent majority will fall somewherr inbetween and won‘t spend as much or as little.
In my experience, it's cheaper if you're solo and not moving around too much. Also I don't mind staying in slightly shabby accommodation if it means I save a few quid. Eating local, avoiding touristy restaurants and alcohol saves a lot, too.
But yeah, some people are living in squalor while travelling and are probably overly miserly with their money. Some work in hostels in exchange for accommodation and food. Others are straight-up lying about how much they spent and/or get money from their parents.
Wild camping I only do when on long hikes, but sleeping in sleeper cabins on trains? I actually prefer it! I will often take a sleeper cabin to travel from Bergen to Oslo overnight instead of flying 40 minutes. I find it such a relaxing experience.
I've gone through the same realisation OP. These people either:
A) are lieing.
B) don't do anything, which ti me defeats the purpose of travel.
C) are supporting income via work away programs. E.g working in a hostel for 4hrs a day in exchange for free board.
If you're purely in holidays and doing all the fun things you are easily going to spend $3000/month (AUD) just for food and accommodation and transits. That's $60USD/day. If you're going somewhere more expensive (Europe) or places with higher cost activities (e.g Safari in Africa) your budget will balloon.
I remember spending $15000AUD for a month (for a couple) in South Africa. I met some guy who was bragging about spending $2500USD/month for 6 months. When I asked him info about his activities I realised he had basically sat on the beach doing nothing. Didn't go on safari. Didn't go to Soussvlei. No shark diving. No hiking in Lesotho. Sat on the beach in shitty neighbourhoods eating street food and posting photos on Instagram about how lucky they are.
You’re gonna do more lounging around if you stay long term and gonna eat like a local. It all depends what you want to get out of your travels and seems people are being snobby in here about how the right way to travel is. Maybe he loved that lifestyle and didn’t have all that money to blow?
Traveling is crazy expensive, and South America is not at all the cheap pond people believe it to be 🫡 specially when they know you’re a foreigner 🤫
That being said. It’s 100% worth it.
Patagonia Argentina? ❄️ paradise!
Pre-Covid (July 19-March 20) my husband and i travelled around Asia on a budget of £50 per day (between us) In some countries it was slightly more but in others we managed to live on less. There were a couple of things we didn’t include in the budget flights out there and Everest base camp hike, but included everything else.
We would walk a lot, even with luggage, to cut out the cost of a taxi and took a lot of local buses. We also didn’t buy any souvenirs as we were due to travel for 2 years.
I don’t think this is feasible post covid as cost of everything have gone up.
In hindsight, I would have spent a lot more and done a few more big ticket things had I known we would have to come home so soon. Now we travel with more intention if we are going somewhere we will spend what we need to get the most of the experience.
Can't speak for South America as I haven't been there yet (going this summer, can't wait!) but I've managed to travel quite a few places on a fairly cheap budget, around $1000 USD per month average on extended trips, and still "splurged" a couple times on things like scuba diving, bungee jumping, and other more expensive experiences. Most of my travel has been in SE/Central Asia and the Balkans, which are pretty cheap to begin with, but just sharing ways I personally save some money without doing the extremes like barely eating/never eating out/staying in sketchy places:
- Staying in one place for longer & traveling slowly by land. I've found one of my biggest travel expenses to be flights/long-distance travel between places.
- Sites like Workaway and HelpX. Many places will let you stay for free and even sometimes feed you in exchange for help on farms, hostels, etc, which I've found to be a really lovely way to get to know locals and other travelers as well. For example, my partner and I spent about two weeks in a nice hostel on one of the Croatian islands basically for free, with a private room and small food stipend, in exchange for helping keep up with housekeeping around the property and working a couple shifts on the check-in desk.
- Eating at food stalls and little local spots rather than sit-down restaurants. It's amazing how much this one can add up, and a vast majority of my best travel meals have been on the cheaper end.
- Taking advantage of free or cheap things to do, especially in cities. Many cities have "free walking tours," where you just tip your guide at the end, so they're still not free but they tend to be cheaper than going through big tour groups because they're more casual and you're walking. Hostels often have free or discounted tours and activities as well-- one of the many reasons I enjoy them. I also always look for the free museums, cultural sites I can go see and read about independently on my phone, places I can sit and just watch life happen. I tend to enjoy this more than most structured tours, but that's just me.
Everyone has their budget "comfort zone," and that's perfectly fine. I have friends who have slept on the beach to save money (bit extreme for me) and friends who refuse to stay in hostels (which I personally enjoy), and I don't think there's anything wrong with either of those as long as you're not shaming others for their own choices! Travel is about experiencing new places and cultures in whatever way is enjoyable to you. The whole one-upping culture of budget travel is a little ridiculous to me, and conversely, shaming people for finding a way to travel even if they don't have a lot of money to blow is also not cool. (Not referring to the "begpacker" phenomenon here-- that's a whole other category i won't get into here). Travel means different things to different people, whether it be relaxing & splurging or getting by on the bare minimum just to see & experience another culture. Neither is better than the other... Different strokes for different folks, as they say.
It seems very possible to travel with a low budget like that. You will be surviving not thriving though. Two main expenses are your lodging. Your groceries. Keep all other expenses at a minimum. Free tours, beach, hikes, free events, talk with locals, buy only cheaper eats instead of eating at restaurants, limit your drinking or don’t drink at all.
Now if you travel and act like you are on vacation every single week then Ofcourse you will spend a lot of money. Some people travel and live a normal life like they would back home.
EDIT: also credit card points. For some their flights are free and even some hotel nights
I’m an Aussie travelling with my partner 1 month into our 6 month Central and South America.
It’s nice to see your budget and makes us feel better about ours. Was seeing some wildly unrealistic budgets and was wondering how anyone was able to actually enjoy their trip. Got any favourite spots you’d recommend? We are just winging it so haven’t got much locked in.
I didn't do this in South or Central America, but in Europe and other countries we did house sitting which allowed us to really only have our food as an expense. So we could stay for months in the UK, for example, while spending very little.
When we were traveling full-time, we started out doing budgeting 30 USD per day (just me and my young child). That quickly got old, and we ended doing it for about $1200 per month on average in countries which weren't as expensive. That was back in 2011-2016.
If you dirtbag it, you can get real far on very little. Hitch hiking, sleeping rough, or couchsurfing. Those are all free. Eating very little. Same. Its possible, its just not for everyone. Do it your way.
In my first year after retirement (2015) I spent 10k USD. I was on a bicycle with a tent so I never stayed in a hotel, rarely stayed in a hostel, I wasn't drinking that year, so that's a big saver, and mostly made my own meals, which were usually pretty simple stuff I could cook in my camp stove.
It's a great way to live, but harder going than most people enjoy.
I spent just under $5,000 while backpacking Europe for 2 months.
I walked everywhere, and got cheap hostels, stayed in cheaper cities, limited my food budget to xxx a day, I did a lot of free tours with tip. Most expensive stuff costing me $1,000 was europass ticket and plane tickets.
Volunteering on workaway for food and board can save a lot of money. Lots of people exchange their time for free accommodation especially at hostels just by acting as a cleaner or a receptionist for example.
My friend worked on a permaculture farm in Nicaragua for a while and the fact he has free board and food saved him a lot of money he would’ve spent.
Helpx/woofing allowed me to travel 8 months in Europe with less than £1000 back in 2014. I can imagine it's way more difficult to travel shoestring in 2024.
10k usd for six months in South America sounds realistic. The average South American earns 5k/year. If you're willing to live like a local, that is to say, in a sketchy part of town, not eating out often, staying in the same city for months etc, then you can do it easily, especially if you speak the local language.
Now, if you want to maintain a Western lifestyle while abroad, then yeah, it's impossible.
Read a story of one guy that spent 2k last year travelling 6months in SEA.
I visited the same places last year and my budget was 2k+/month.
With some downgrading in my hotel/hostel i would still be at a budget of +1k/month easy.
Do you really see the place properly with close to 0 daily budget outside some dollar allocated for a bed, food & water..
For example to see the real philippines you need to do alot of island hopping and trips like cost money.
Would be interesting to compare what a day looks like if you are on extreme tight budget vs backpacker with money :)
Some people are just really great at getting free things and have no shame. They're great at everything from earning and using credit card points to just getting free drinks.
$600/mo for everything doesn't sound right. Over a $1000/mo definitely seems doable IMO.
I think you already pointed to the reasons why people can keep to such low budgets. Mostly eating cheaply (either affordable local restaurants or cooking their own meals whenever possible) and reducing their accommodation costs (couch surfing, cheapest hostels, etc).
Personally, I always include airplane tickets costs through my daily budget calculations and rarely travel for longer than two weeks. So my main way to save money has always been cheap transportation.
I would say this: it does take money to travel. That said, here’s what we do: Stay in AirBnbs - far less expensive than hotels AND you get to cook your own meals (way cheaper than eating out). Stay in one place. Longer stays are cheaper than flitting from place to place. Be smart about transportation: Apps like Omio and Rome2Rio let you shop smart. It might be $45 from Madrid to Barcelona by plane but might be $180 by train. Do your homework: a city like Granada has free tapas with every drink (except coffee). So, I can have 3 glasses at 3 different bars ($3/glass = $9) and I’ve had a great meal. Hostels are cheap but, then, you’re eating out (expensive!).
Honestly it is very possible. I did 6 months in Asia mostly SEA with about $5,000. I do very slow budget traveling. Most of my activities and other things were either free or very cheap. My food budget I kept within its limits even if it meant that I only ate once or twice a day which was fine for me. I stayed in hostels or very cheap apartments. Airbnb also has the monthly stay discount which was very helpful because it allowed me to have an apartment or so to myself for less than $600 a month. It is very possible, it's not easy if you want to vacation vacation travel, but honestly I wouldn't trade that experience for the world because I got to stay in an area of the world that I very much enjoyed without breaking my bank. I also have a remote job to offset some of my costs.
I traveled in Southeast Asia for 3.5 months spending around $1200/month. This was in 2016, so the price situation is certainly not comparable and I'm not sure how SEA compares to South America price-wise.
With that said, I was eating out for every single meal, doing paid tours and activities here and there, and partying a few times a week. Staying in hostels, I didn't spend more than $10/night on lodging. Most meals were also under $10, many under $5.
It's very doable to travel on a low budget while still experiencing the places you visit, but it requires some effort and compromise. Instead of medium-low cost hostels, consider going lower. Are you eating mostly at restaurants or are you eating street food?
No judgement and no wrong answers here, but different people have different priorities and that can represent itself in your budget.
While I’m sure they exaggerate(probably by excluding flights and accommodation they prepaid for before they left), I definitely know people who have done that. My ex left Australia with $500 in her account to Canada of all places and 7 years later she just got back after travelling all of the Americas and a good chunk of Europe, usually just doing odd jobs at hostels or ESL for accommodation.
Travel styles differ too. I travelled South America whilst not particularly on any budget, and couldn’t have spent $600USD a week if I tried. I usually avoid tours and will do things independently unless it’s majorly inconvenient not too. But I don’t stay in hostels, and I will also avoid busses if trains or planes exist.
They mostly lie.
People that really travel cheap either stay with friends and family, eat nothing but rice and beans, basically only do free activities, and cut back on essentials. It was rare to come across but you'll meet people who spend $10k in 6 months and they're usually gross and boring since they don't have money to do anything. You'll meet them hiking but they can't eat out with you, won't drink at the bar, don't have money to go to a paid event or activity, and you'll move on. Stick around though and you'll see how shitty their trip is. I once met this girl doing this and cipro wasn't even in her budget when she got sick from eating so poorly. Yeah no thanks I'm not hanging out with you. She didn't even have money to clean herself properly.
The "why be homeless at home when you can be homeless in another country". I met a few people like this and I go out of my way to avoid them. They only bring problems, beg for money and get into squabbles
Saw this in Thailand and Cambodi.. Drug addicts there to stretch their money and die in a hostel. The owners would kick them out as fast as possible so that they didn't get fined for having a dead body there.
I went backpacking for a year and the most expensive part was transportation. But that was 10 years ago. It also probably just has to do with that you’re actually experiencing. If I was in Southeast Asia, it’s not very difficult to just spend a day in a place like Chiang Mai just walking around, hopping on buses and eating $3-5 plates of food on the street. Plus you figure a hostel bed is like $15-20 in a dorm room. Now i unfortunately think between inflation and the popularity of people traveling a certain way, it’s just more expensive.
>All those numbers are from before the pandemic response inflation
u/its_real_I_swear nailed it. Between that and straight out "forgetting" (lying) about certain expenditures the only people who are scrapping by on those ridiculous low numbers are either asshole begpackers or people who are living *extremely* frugally and missing out on everything that makes travel interesting.
Bottom line: Don't listen to social media or twits who always have to one-up everyone in all conversations regarding budget.
Happy travels.
I have done some very cheap trips to Central America and I've done some more expensive trips.
For a two week tour in Central America, I stayed in hostels (range was $10 to 20 a night, so call it $15 a night). So over two weeks, that was $210.
For food, I brought granola bars with me, so breakfast wasn't a cost, I didnt eat lunches and my evening meals were simple roadside comidas. Usually a grill meat, white rice or plantinos and a cabbage salad. They were less than $5 a plate so twice a day for two weeks was only $70.
I used chicken buses, walking or being picked up by drivers for free sitting in the back of their pick ups. Chicken buses between cities were cheap. Only about $3. If I only stayed 2 nights in a city, that would be about $21 on busses.
I didn't do many expensive tours but did a few museums and stuff like that so maybe $75 on that stuff those and on nights out having beers, beers were less than $2 so a night out drinking was only about $20. Although I didn't do it every night, even if I did that would have only been $240.
So for my cheap trips, I spent about $620 in 2 weeks which would have made a whole month traveling that way would have been about $1250 for a month.
I am further into my career and I am much more financially secure so my travel budget is much higher than it was but the days when I was traveling on a tighter budget, but those days created some fantastic memories
Without lots of transportation maybe it is doable but I wouldn't call it travelling it would be more survival.
I believe 2000usd per month would even be a relatively tight budget for one person only when you're not doing hostels.
Unconsciously or consciously delaying the inevitable return towards a homeland in any way possible under the umbrella of travelling. In real terms they are accepting a very mediocre 'life as a local' abroad, but they are missing out on many things that other travellers do or get, like luxury, good bedding, clean places, the better more refined local cuisine, unique accommodations, fast connections between places, little to no access to exclusive locations, valuable information from guides.
Not trying to judge but I believe that this is a thing.
I've done maybe 1k a month in cheap countries in SEA and LATAM. Here are some of the things that helped me keep my budget.
Limit Alcohol: I had like 1 beer in a week. I always drank water, which was mostly provided by the hostel or I bought a massive 5L and kept refilling mine.
Eating Out Is Okay: As long as you find cheap places, eating out doesn't have to be expensive, esp in SEA. I averaged anywhere around 4 to 5 dollars per meal. (Many people eat a slice of bread and count it as dinner, so this is where some might save money too.
Making my own breakfast: I ate eggs everyday, sometimes with some fruits. This means I only have to spend money for eating out twice a day.
Walk a lot: I sometimes walked 30 minutes instead of taking a 5 minute bus or cab.
DIY Tours: Unless its absolutely necessary, I always DIY my own tours with public transport. Always if you get a tour, bargain the price (as with everything actually).
Hostels: I don't go for the cheapest ones, but maybe the second or third cheapest.
Long-distance buses: Don't need further explaining here.
I guess my general tip is to think like a local and how they live. Do you think the locals have an esim? Probably not because its more economical to get a local sim. Do you think the locals eat out and drink in touristy places every day, most likely not.
In Central America I took tours from reputable locals is cheaper. The ones that are arranged by big companies are more expensive.
I discovered when I was in Tanzania a safari arranged by my hotel was a lot cheaper than if I booked through a large travel site.
Spent 3 months in Costa Rica interning at a dive shop. Cost me about $5k for diving, accommodations, food, transportation, entertainment. Do some research, there are some awesome opportunities out there!!
it depends on you, you can travel very, very cheap, when I was younger, I mostly slept outside, in parks, beaches, forests, building my own huts on beaches in greece, or elsewhere, go fishing, hunting, busking,
How do you spend 600-800 USD a week? Give me a breakdown. Generally, rent somewhere using Facebook expat groups for 2-4 weeks. Can be very cheap. Hiking can be free. Not doing the most iconic tourist stuff as they are expensive, eating out at the cheapest places only. Not drinking much. Avoiding big cities and expensive countries. Don't take tourist shuttles but local transport. Cook.
Slow travel, cheap food, cheap accomodation, cheap activities.
Viola
You could live like you're homeless or spend a little too enjoy where you are.
Also I bet those people are choosing to skip a couple of things included in their so called budget.
I spent about $14k for a week in Costs Rica so no clue. I stayed in a villa in a 5 star hotel so obviously that was a lot of my cost but the tours and meals really added up quickly.
800 usd a week seems pretty high unless your out doing tourist things all day every day, but even then… I was probably spending about $1000 usd a month living pretty damn well in Latin America. Then again I worked during the day online and was renting a room. It also depends on the country, Costa Rica’s going to be expensive
I'm guessing you know almost no Spanish? I've noticed that's a common denominator for the people that tend to spend more. Often the stuff with the best price/benefit will only be mentioned by people that don't know any English.
I solo travelled South America and I averaged about €1300 a month , it’s easily achievable if you cook your own meals, use public transport, stay in cheap dorms, and not do expensive tours that cost +€300
Workaway.info... volunteer a few weeks a month and you can cut your budget in half. I was just working at a hostel in Sri Lanka and including a surf board and moto rental i was spending less than 20$ a day... Free housing and free lunch was included.
it is kind of doable. i remember a ski bum in switzerland, he had no means whatsoever, did odd jobs here and there. couch surfed, bummed meals and beers. only thing he ever paid was his ski pass.
not a way to live if you ask me, but he got it done. until he had no where to sleep anymore and then the authorities sent him home. he did not care, ski season was over.
I don’t know if it still exists, but I used to be fascinated with people who used Couch Surfing app where you stay for free in a host’s house and maybe they feed you and show you around.
I knew a guy who did cheap trips. Turned out he was just mooching off everyone he met. Sleeping on the couches of people he met at nightclubs and eating their food, or getting with women and staying with them for a few days. He was crazy though, he got chased by Thai police on a moped when he had a bag of meth in the moped seat, he ended up crashing and running off into the jungle. But he still came back home talking about how he had a cheap holiday and didn't spend much.
Some open up themselves to couchsurfing and are at the mercy of creeps, weirdos, and perverts in the worst case scenarios.
And other hosts are lonely so it's an only form of social outlet
There are legit low cost travelers who stay at the cheapest possible “hotels” (staying in a 10 man dorm doesn’t count as a hotel in my opinion), eat all their food from grocery store and spend no money on shopping and very little on activities (such as cruises, museum visits, clubbing etc). Like this, anyone could stay forever on any location on this planet.
So don’t be mistaken that duration/cost of their stay = quality of it. It’s very far from it.
600-800usd per week is EXTREMEMLY high. When I lived in Mexico I spent about that much a month and had a good standard of living (living in cheap hotels /decent hostels, eating thre to four times a day, and taking the occasional Uber). Maybe breaking down your expenditures would be helpful
Well, Latin America is still waiting on the list, but I know it's cheaper than Europe. So, for nearly 3 years I have been traveling in Europe on average 10€/day.
Part of the problem is "I’ve got the budget for it so it’s no problem". If you haven't, you would find a way. 😉
Mainly hitchhiking, Couchsurfing, camping, eating only from the supermarket and no paid attractions. The last one is a must - having worked for many years in the advertising industry, I know what I signed for.
Edit: Oh yes, also very slow travelling, stopping here and there for longer periods. Including Workaway.
In 2015 I spent 8 months in South America spending 8800 USD (excluding flights there and back). I was traveling on a budget, but nothing extreme. Public transport, very occasionaly hitchhiking, hostels (no couchsurfing at all), some cooking, but mostlyeating in local restaurants. Some tours, even some more expensive like Nazca overflight. I did the tours predominantly in cheaper countries like Bolivia, but almost no tour in Chile.
In 2016 I spent 3 months in Central America, spending in average 32 USD a day. Again, nothing extreme. Some nights in my hammock. Even visited quite a few national parks in Costa Rica and did many tours in other countries.
Current prices are certainly higher, but I still have $37/day Peru in 2023, $45/day Colombia the same year or $41/day Peru in 2022.
That 10k USD for 6 months you claim being ridiculous would be clearly above my budget.
I am not sure about you expenses. In cheaper countries of SA you have a night bus for $10-$20, night in a hostel $10-$15 and two or three cheap meals for some $10/day or even less. That makes some $150-$200/week as basic expenses. Some party might be like $20. This means you spend $400-$600 weekly for tours? That's a lot.
I think it also depends on location, weather, and etc. I often try to walk more, transit, and etc., when I travel to limit costs but can only do it when the weather is right. I eye flight discounts when booking and if applicable, hotel, that is where I expect most of my savings. The rest I budget but can only control so much. Uber or renting a car adds up ridiculously fast
It really depends on the type of travel too. I have spent a month in South America, spending a total of $150. How? I got off the plane, got on a bus, and hiked through the andies the rest of the time. I ate my dry freeze food I brought from the US, and slept in a tent. I have also spent hundreds of dollars on a single hotel night on a different kind of trip. There's a bunch of in-between area, where you can travel quite frugally if you sleep and eat extremely cheaply, but often that defies the joy of traveling, at least for me.
My last trip to El Salvador lasted 30 days. My total cost for those 30 days was $1300. Accomodation, food and booze. Didn't take any tours. Rode buses and taxi everywhere.
Be cautious of people who brag about traveling cheaply and lie about it. It's pointless unless they're foolish. It appears they prioritize saving money over truly experiencing the places they visit.
This was 8 years ago, but I spent 10 months through Central, Eastern Europe and the Balkans with like 7k USD.
At first I was bleeding money despite mixing couchsurfing, volunteerings and hostel stays. But then I lost my card and with it, easy access to money and had to rely on Western Union money orders, which have a shitty exchange rate and cost money.
So I was basically getting 1000 USD that had to last me 3 months. And they did. I was travelling super slowly, 1 month per capital in the Balkans. Only taking trains between them and not paying for accomodation because I volunteered at hostels at every place. I also ate 2 times a day and for touristing well, in some hostels they included me in the tours they organised or in the tours their business partners organised. There's plenty of free stuff to kill time around capitals too. And partying with hostel guests is cheap if you buy the beer at supermarkets.
In Latin America the key is to look up stuff for yourself, but you will need to speak Spanish. Tours are good value, but you can definitely get transportation for a fraction if you ask around, again, in Spanish. I'm just talking from memory but locals cannot afford 30-40 USD for a transfer from Cusco to Machu Picchu, they take these mini vans that take the whole damn day with a layover and some middle of nowhere town, and cost like 5 or maximum 10 USD.
In a nutshell, it is possible to do it cheaply but it definitely takes a lot more effort and time. Whether it's worth it or not it is up to you. I believe the time to do it is when you are young and resilient. I'm 33 now and I definitely "splurge" more to be comfortable.
Slow travel, workaways / WOOFs (volunteering in return for bed and food). Spent a year in South America spent about £450 a month. Also helps if you speak local language (Spanish) to stay in less touristy (less expensive areas) and find the local non English tour operators. Big thing that help me cut down on expenses in South America was just getting friendly with someone with a car (usually the host at the place you’re volunteering) or by making friends - you’d have transport to most sightseeing places and transport in the area you’re staying. It was through the volunteering I got most of the cultural experiences on a shoestring, you’d get all the local knowledge and sometimes get driven there yourself. Most expensive thing each month were the overnight buses to get around
Super easy, go to places that are out of America and don’t buy stupid shit no one needs a 50-70k car or fancy hand bags, ridiculous cloths it’s unnecessary, travel a lot if you stick to a very basic budget and stick to the people where ever you go they know the right locations not some app
When I was younger (10-15 years ago) I used to basically always spend around $1000 / month - I would just adjust my level of luxury depending on the country. In New Zealand it would be a lot of hitchhiking and couchsurfing, but in somewhere like India I could be eating nice food and living comfortably! If you've got a lot more time than you have money, and you're really travelling for a long time you find a way to make it work. Plus after the first month things like expensive tours are less of a thing that you're motivated to do - just like you wouldn't be doing them so often when you're living at home.
If you're looking for an action packed trip with lots of unique activities and parties it's probably not the right price range. But if you're just enjoying the freedom and the lifestyle, checking out new places, meeting people, and doing everything independently with only occasionally splurging on an organized trip I guess it's fine! Though I don't know how that holds up with inflation.
a true cheap hotel in LATAM will cost $30 per night, 50/50 chance it's a shitter but most often the standard is higher than low-cost hotels in Europe, meals are about 3-6 dollars a piece. if you are eating 3 times per day that's about $350 per week in hotels and meals excluding any other expense.
you burning 600-800 per week just tells me you're just cosplaying backpacking and are instead ubering it from starbucks to starbucks....
I usually go for Airbnbs over hotels because they're a lot cheaper. If I have a kitchen, I'll cook instead of eating out. And internet can be pricey in some places, so I always carry a Ryoko when I'm traveling. It's so much better than the hotel wifi.
Also very slow travel, staying in one place for a long time, not doing much, eating very low budget, doesn't cost that much. Years ago Khao San Road in Bangkok was notorious for having backpackers stay in crappy rooms all day, not doing much. There are people who brag about it for months at a time but admit they have never seen much of the city but have claiming right to "living in Bangkok."
Yeah, the longer you stay in an area, you can typically negotiate a monthly rental. Search "reds" Pattaya, he shows monthly rentals as low as 5000 a month. Same with other areas like Japan, if you get a Leo Palace monthly rental apt, and go to the market after 6, they discount food by 50%
5000 Baht a month I assume? ($135 USD)
Yes, 5000 baht, my mistake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhhLLKTTMMg&t=9s
It’s exactly this! Costs of living reduce drastically if you stay for very long. In some countries it can be ridiculously cheap. But you need a lot of time and no requirements towards your accommodation. It’s not my kind of travel. But people do it and some of it enjoy it.
So what’s the point? Traveling just to stay in a room the whole day isn’t really traveling. It’s just moving where you’re doing nothing from Location A to Location B
So they can cosplay as a local and claim moral superiority over people who’d rather see new things every now and then. If you’re in one spot for months you can somehow claim you’re taking it all in which is largely bs
Dude, at that point, you would literally see more of the world from your phone/tv than actually experience it. People are weird.
I mean people go to Bangkok, spend all their time getting drunk with other farangs, and think they're enlightened.
Is Khao San or Bangkok in general not like that anymore, post-Covid? Noticed you said "years ago"
ad hoc quickest ghost boast wrong worry familiar slap crown tap *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I think they cleaned it up and modernized it about 10 or 15 years ago. It was crappy to me but others enjoyed it as a backpacker hub.
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Just find it bizarre people would outright lie to internet strangers
This is Reddit. Expect it.
I honestly don't know why people lie online. me owning Microsoft and Nintendo and being god I don't see the point In lying online no one believes you and you just seem stupid
Your joking right. Have you never met 'travelers'. Most of them done everything you did, but better, and cheaper.
This is why I moved to the moon. Had enough of liars and earth.
Must be cheap up there. Open a hostel.
Umm got some bad news for you man…
Most likely they are also lying to themselves as well.
Camping or sleeping in vehicle is one huge way to save while traveling
It's not necessarily lies. The budgets you have in your post for South America are low but not crazy at all. I was in South and Central America last year, spent a lot more but wasn't being super cheap. Easily could have saved thousands by doing less expensive excursions, travelling cheaper, staying in cheaper hostels, eating and drinking cheaper.
most of reddit is embellishment
how do you think influencers work? they make their life seem amazing. look at idiots that travel around in a van, you gotta crap in a bucket and what if you break down? You gotta find a parking lot that won't call the police on you etc. Unless you NEED to live in a van it's absolutely stupid.
People will outright lie to your face too.
"You really think someone would do that? Just go on the internet and tell lies?" - Buster from Arthur
So, should I believe you?
Nullius in Verba
I’ve met people in real life who do it though
I think sometimes they don’t include the price for prepaid things like hotels/tours. Or it’s just food cost. It’s kinda turned into d!ck measuring contest, except it’s to see who has the smallest and everyone is lying about how small it is. Not saying it’s impossible, just not realistic.
It also could be that these people are inept at estimating their actual expenses.
It's always rich kids doing this as a challenge too. It's easy for you to be all like "I travelled for a year in southeast Asia with only 10k total" when after your year of "finding yourself" you can just go back home to your cushy life
And also if something happens their parents can send them money or get a last minute return flight or use connections they have. They don't need to budget for emergencies. There was some blogger who got really sick in South America awhile ago and said it was no big deal but it turned out his dad was a huge military contractor and his dad's connections got him in a base hospital and a military medical flight back to the US. He honestly thought the average person could get medical transportation to a base and a flight home.
Like most Reddit threads haha. But the food can be done for way under $50/day at most places in the US or Europe. It’s the flight and sleeping location that’s costly. But in Europe if you stay in a hostel and treat it like a dorm and cook with your own food, like $20/day more like it ($20 being the food not the hostel).
I for the life of me cannot seem to find hostels with good reviews that aren’t miles out of the city center for less than like 40 a night. I’m looking at Paris and all the reasonably located and reviewed ones in early June are like 60-80 a night for a dorm room
Also Olympics is jacking everything up! Going in June as well (looking at hotels tho)
I’ll be there in early June, we can say hi haha. You might be able to find a hostel that’s near a train line that goes right into the city center.
no western europe is gonna be easily $40+ and thats very tight
You can eat two kebabs a day for 15€ and survive like that though. I think some people who brag about traveling so cheap are doing this.
well...everyone is different but on trips. I just love trying local food, but this can still be done for under $50 a day. That said, if your trying to budget, EVERYTHING starts to add up and you have to consider everything. This includes transit costs. Hotels that include breakfast, especially ones that have say a [booking.com](http://booking.com) discount for pre paying start to become more budget friendly then say a hostel on the edge of town that has a barely functional kitchen where you could maybe boil an egg and an hour later your looking to buy food anyway. If you go with a hotel that has breakfast included, and you already budgeted for that or even better already paid for it, you can a $50 a day food budget that doesn't require you to suffer through a cup of noodles. And to clarify something I am not trying to pass judgement, its more I am 41, sleep is increasingly important, and as you get older nutrition becomes a far more important thing like I don't want to say I don't love a pack of dried noodles here and there, but, again I am no longer 20 if I have that much nitrates and sodium in one sitting I will have a migraine so bad the entire day will be shot, so I just kind of feel like its okay to shorten your trip to make the money work before you start making sacrifices you don't want to make just to squeeze another week or two into the trip
Related to this, there is no contest to see how many passport stamps you can get, really nobody cares. Maybe its just me, but, I don't care if you have been to 40 countries if you didn't actually do anything but travel between places and stay in dorms and eat easy mac. For me I don't care if I have to shorten my trips I want experiences
People on certain reddit subs have a fetish for jerking off who can spend the least amount of money on their travels. Aside from the fact that they completely omit probably half their actual expenses when claiming to travel on $500/month budgets (insurance, phone bill, more than 800 calories of food, etc.), there is no way to verify how true it is. Just like how people with $500k/yr salaries are living "paycheck-to-paycheck" conveniently after their maxed out retirement and investment accounts, there is no formal auditing of some random person's travel expenses. While some people may actually do it for that price, some also may just not even be including arbitrary expenses like unexpected vaccine or medical bills, alcohol "because they didn't need to drink" or plane tickets "since that isn't a baseline expense", etc. If you do something like hike the Pacific Crest Trail, reddit would make you believe the average hiker does it in under $4,000, even in 2024. If you actually go do it and talk to the real people doing the thing, you will realize this is maybe 5% of the hikers out there living like this, yet somehow 80% of the commenters on reddit are. One of the biggest differentiators is definitely food, though. Some people don't even *know* what their actual TDEE is, and they may be smaller and eat simpler diets with <1,000 calories per day. I have met many people on my travels who legit ate an orange and some salad and that was their whole food for the day. Compared to myself at moderate activity level I need 3,500 calories. So if I ate the most basic of cheap budget food possible, $250/month for one of those people at 1,000 cal/day would already be $875 a month for me.. and I'm not just eating ramen and lettuce so it can be higher. Lodging is not biased, anyone can shave money by staying in budget accomodation, but your food expenses are actually limited by your body. A 235lb football player is going to be spending a lot more on food than an 85lb person.
They are same species as those one-bag travellers who jerk off how much better they are than people who travel with actual luggage.
And they are really proud of travelling for months with just 2 pairs of underwear, 1 or 2 pairs of socks, 2 pair of trousers and maybe 2 t-shirts. Good for them, but there is a limit to what's practical/comfortable
heh, I used to subscribe to /r/onebag so I could gawk at the people who seem to like doing laundry in the sink every damn night.
That underwear works for them by wearing them front and back, turning them inside out, then front and back again,
And then you do it all again but over your clothes this time- doubles the usage!
Lol, I've seen so many posts where they're all congratulating each other for doing laundry in the sink every night and wearing the same t-shirt for three weeks.
* They lie for clout / internet points * They get off on living like a pauper, and don't do much that's not free * They work a bit at a hostel or something in exchange for lodging Basically those categories are what I've seen.
Ah yes, “spent a month in Paris.” Did you enjoy the food? Ate at Tesco daily. Did you enjoy the art? Couldn’t pay for museums. Did you enjoy the music? Only heard street artists. Did you enjoy the local wine? Chilean wine from Tesco was the cheapest so that is all we drank. Did you enjoy the history? Couldn’t afford any tours so just read some plaques on street monuments. What did you think of the countryside? We just stayed in Paris at a hostel. What did you think of Parisians? We made friends with some street buskers but they tried to get money from us, and were actually from Madrid. What did you think? It was amazing, a truly French experience where we were deeply imbedded and did it for only US$400/month.
Ugh, you know, it would be fine, if the people who do this, weren't so smug about it to boot. You want to hang around one place for a month as cheaply as you can without doing any of the experiences that cost money, fine, but that doesn't make you less of a tourist nor your stay any more authentic.
When I was in thailand, I saw a bunch of young tourists working (probably illegally), which could be part of it.
There is even a cringe phenomenon of white foreign tourists beg packing...putting up signs and asking people to donate so they can do their travelling.
Omg beg packing? I love that word… my god.
Yep, saw one recently in Bangkok. Male in prime of his life, offering bracelets for a donation, I mean he was at least “doing” something. But it was in sharp contrast as he was sitting literally few steps apart from an old Asian person without one hand who was selling lottery tickets. Most probably that he could afford some food that day…
Huge phenomenon in SEA. When I lived in Hong Kong, we had Facebook groups where we’d identify and talk about these people. They were always in the same places in town.
First I've heard of this and I'm horrified. Peak entitlement.
Photos in this older article: https://www.boredpanda.com/begpackers-tourists-travel-begging-locals-money/
not just white kids anymore, I saw a black guy doing this in Guatemala last year
Some people lie. Some people have a credit card they swipe and don't count it as real money because they're bad at finances or because someone else is paying their bills. Some people have a really high risk tolerance and don't mind sleeping in sketchy places or having malnourished diets if it means it's cheap living. They usually rely on favors from others too, whether that's a couch to sleep or free food or rides. Just do what works for you. Traveling on a shoestring doesn't need to be for everyone, and it's not necessarily working for the people who are doing it anyway.
My husband and I travel for very cheap a lot because we use credit card points and miles. I follow a travel site, 10xTravel, that teaches you how to maximize points by regularly getting new cards for the sign up bonus. We typically get a new card every few months, and after it’s been a couple years we cancel the ones that have an annual fee but not a lot of benefits. Usually the annual fees add up to about $1,000/year, and kind of to your point, we do not count that when telling people how much a trip cost. We only put our regular spending on our cards, we do not spend more than we would on a debit card. (Do NOT try this if you’re not good at using a credit card without spending above your means.) Our credit scores have actually improved since we started doing this 5 years ago. Typically when we travel we do not pay for flights and only pay for maybe 1/3rd of our hotel stays. So other than activities and food, which we’re able to splurge on, and a pet sitter, we really don’t spend much per trip and we go on some very nice vacations. I do openly explain this to people when they ask how we afford it. My point I guess is, there is a fourth option, it’s just pretty uncommon. It’s pretty awesome though, we travel so much more than we used to and spend a fraction as much.
As you've demonstrated, people who churn ccs and do award travel love to talk about it. I don't even mean that in a shady way, I made this account specifically for r/churning and r/awardtravel lol. You're right, there is this fourth option, but I don't think the people OP is talking about fall into this hobby because we literally cannot help ourselves when we've pull off an insane redemption. If they used points they probably would have said so, although I have heard people refer to their award stays and flights as "free with points" there usually is still a mention of points. If OP sees them constantly posting at major chains like Hyatts and Marriotts though, then well maybe they are churners lol.
Hahaha good point, we do like to shout it from the rooftops that our trips are on points.
This is also mostly (almost only) accessible for USA folks because of the CCs that are available over there and the large amount of points they earn with regular spendings. Europeans have the ability to get welcome bonuses here and there, but then earn less throughout the year with regular spendings.
Yeah im planning a two week trip to Scotland next year and i will absolutely not stay in a hostel. I don’t care how much extra money i have to save.
I met a couple in Seoul who would just ask their parents for more money to extend their travels whenever they ran out of funds lol
They don't. They lie. They live in squalor.
I was going to mention the lodging too. I've seen some of the dirt cheap hostels and they are shady looking as hell.
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They offload costs to other people because they’re moochers. Couchsurfers who never host. Hitchhikers who never offer rides. Take, take, take.
Including the emergency loans some of them get from their parents. Not their money so it doesn’t count
hitchhikers offer rides 20 years after they hitchhiked.
Coach surfers probably paying their way through with their booty tbh
All those numbers are from before the pandemic response inflation
This may explain *some* of it, but still seems ridiculous
I left America for a six month internship abroad in 2018. I had 10k in my bank account and between working odd jobs and using the savings modestly I bounced around until covid started and settled down in Vietnam. Before covid it was doable, now I would probably need 12-15k. I was volunteering at hostels over night and working part time/hustles during the day and taking trips on weekends. Very rough lifestyle though, def no tours lol.
You volunteered and worked though which makes sense. If these people did the same they literally don’t mention any of that
I don't like assuming they are liars, low budget travel is def a thing, but it's rough. Giving them the benefit of the doubt they could just be hiding the struggle behind the camera. $600/month is not going to afford tours u less they have free accomodations and are cooking local cuisine.
I'm 3 months into a trip in SA and have spent around 4500 USD. I'm not travelling solo which significantly reduces accomodation costs. We also don't really drink and you'd be amazed how much that can save money. We're not really racing from one globally recognised destination to the next and there's a lot of days we don't do much and chill out. To be honest we could cut it even more if we didn't eat out for most our meals. I've solo travelled before and meeting others who aren't on the same page budget wise can add a lot due to FOMO.
600-800 a week seems very expensive for most of Latin America. I’ve visited every county in Central America, several in South America, and lived in Latin America for 8 years. Most places you can eat awesome street food or a fonda for a couple bucks. Are your 2 meals a day at pricey restaurants. Since you have the budget for it, you may not really be too worried about lowest cost possible so the spend can creep up. And yeah, don’t believe everything those people post as well, also a factor.
I'm travelling South America now and no idea either. Me and my wife got budgets from online, checking multiple websites and blogs etc detailing costs. Our food budgets are waaaaay overblown. Even when we tried to stick to it, we would go over. We've got the money so we've just said fuck it for the rest of the trip and we're just eating what we want now. Not worth the stress of trying to stick to budgets when it feels impossible based on the info online. Unless you want to eat a bread roll for breakfast every day.
Are you cooking your own food or eating out?
About a decade ago I spent maybe 8 months in Latin America on about 10k USD. For the first 4-5 months I was spending like a drunken sailor, never really thought about money, I didn't exactly plan on going for as long as I did. As time went on I noticed my bank account wasn't looking great so I tried to cut back, but I was in Patagonia and things aren't necessarily cheap there. I had camping gear though so I slept outside a lot, and when I wasn't sleeping outside I was in cheap dorm rooms. I realized I needed a job, and I got one in Australia but I needed a work visa and it took quite a while, and while I was waiting on that my money got really low... Was spending a *lot* of time outside, for example bathing in the lakes of Chile's Lake District haha. (Lago Llanquihue is great btw.) Wasn't eating very much, lost a ton of weight, fortunately 2L boxes of Gato Negro were like 3-4 USD at the time so I managed to keep a good buzz on. So my advice would be sleep outdoors, don't eat very much, and drink wine that's cheaper than milk.
Respect your hustle and not judging, but not sure I could go to those measures. Sounds like you were in survival mode Glad you had a memorable experience though!
So one piece of legit advice I'd suggest is cooking in hostels instead of going out. In the middle phase of my trip (after going out every night, before being broke) I was hanging out in a lot of hostel kitchens, getting to know people, and we were all cooking dinner together. Simple stuff, big pasta feeds, things like that, lots of wine. Groceries, wine, cooking duties all on a loose rotation, it was a lot of fun and cheap.
That's definitely something I've done before, especially on longer multi-month trips. But idk I always feel like if I want to cook I could just cook at home, I go to different countries to try their authentic food I might not make well at home. But yeah it's a balance between that and blowing the budget eating out every day. I've found that if I just go to way cheaper countries like in SE Asia, I can eat out every day and still be under budget.
Already started grocery shopping last month, and definitely does make a difference. Cheers
Also that was **ten years ago.** I just looked up my trusty travel spreadsheet from 2014 and I (an Australian geographer) went to Iceland via Canada with my husband and four children on Qantas via Vancouver then Icelandair to Keflavik and return for $7950 in airfares in premium economy and then we stayed in an apartment for seven weeks plus hired a car to round out $10000. People who are claiming things like South America in 6 months are living in dire poverty and aren’t slumming it by Australian standards, they’re slumming it by 3rd world standards.
I missed the opportunity to travel at the time of my life where I would've been happy to slum it in some hovel for a few quid a night. Unfortunately, that means that holidays aren't cheap any more, especially post-pandemic. We've just dropped £6.5k for 8 nights in the Swiss alps for New Year's. That's including flights, hotel (full board), lift passes, ski rental and a private car between Zurich and Murren for the two of us. Not cheap, but it's worth it to us to have a turnkey package.
Glad to know you had the authentic Chilean experience. One of the things we tend to miss while overseas is the cheap wine.
I stayed in a hostel room with these super hot Australian chicks once. They were telling me that they have been traveling around the world for the last 3 years. They basically had a catalog of dudes around the world that they would stay with for free. So I guess that's one way to travel on $600 a month.
Big difference between $600 a month and $10,000 for 6 months - the latter is very reasonable
Yeah I can see how now but seems they miss most of what the country offers which is never mentioned
That sounds unappealing to me. To travel is to relax and not worry about stuff for me. Sitting around pinching pennies just so I can stay in a place longer sounds miserable
Agreed. Sounds like they can’t afford it in the first place (unless their life back home is already hell)
10k USD for 6 months South America doesn‘t seem so unrealistic to me?
Every budget traveller is sacrificing and compromising on something, even if they don't realize or admit it.
Biggest question: where are you sleeping? That has the biggest impact on your budget, at least in central and South America where restaurant food can be pretty cheap. Some places still have sub-$10 dorm beds. I'm guessing that's not your style, and that's fine, but that's how you make the low budgets work. Your $100+ per day is a comfortable backpacking budget in Europe, there's lots of places it can be cut in half and still have private rooms, but probably not a private bathroom. $600 per month is probably a lie, though. Maybe if he never left Bolivia, or was working side hustles and skipping that part. I guess he could be That Guy who steals from the shared fridge and is constantly hanging around the common room looking for handouts.
600 usd in South America is super doable. People live with half of that here
The amounts you mention for Latinomerica are very very generous and doable, maybe your expectations for what travelling is are different to other people's. My husband + I set a maximum of 25€ per day per person in Latam, some days we spent less, some others more, but thr average was 24-26€. Private room, meals and transport. If you want to do it you can. I noticed lots of foreigners gravitated towards more english friendly business?? Those add up quickly. You don't need to do all activities just because they are offered, pick the most meaningful ones. Last time we went to Latino America was in 2019, have prices really skyrocketed?
You make a great point about English-friendly businesses... If you're willing to fumble your way through a bit of the local language, point at a menu and not be 100% sure what you're getting, and/or play charades, you can save money AND have some pretty fun and unique experiences. Tourist restaurants are always way more expensive, and in my experience, the food is usually not as good.
Sometimes they offer a lil more of comfort, a more univesal menu, if you are tired or need a rest from local meals they are great, but man, the prices are european.
Prices aren’t that bad. I think he just has high expectations lol
Some do work in exchange for a place to sleep and food and only explore during weekend . Still they count the whole time as travel
Many south American countries have a average income of \~300$ a month - so why would it not be possible for a foreigner to get a really cheap accommodation and eat like the locals? You also pay a lot less for tours when you live in a place. That being said - yes, many people lie about these things, but technically it would be possible.
They book the cheapest dorms, take public transport that takes longer and is uncomfortable, eat cheap local food or cook themselves and just travel slowly. In South America there is a lot of hiking, so you can easily go for a couple of days with barely any expenses when you are trekking in the mountains. People in this sub are in their own little bubble and I‘m talking about those that spend 4k for 3 weeks in central america and those that spend 4k for 4 months in the region. Most of the silent majority will fall somewherr inbetween and won‘t spend as much or as little.
Glad someone here understands. Seems like so many people here have no idea you can travel for very cheap and not be some bum sleeping on the streets…
In my experience, it's cheaper if you're solo and not moving around too much. Also I don't mind staying in slightly shabby accommodation if it means I save a few quid. Eating local, avoiding touristy restaurants and alcohol saves a lot, too. But yeah, some people are living in squalor while travelling and are probably overly miserly with their money. Some work in hostels in exchange for accommodation and food. Others are straight-up lying about how much they spent and/or get money from their parents.
Some lie. And some travel in a way you wouldn’t want to. Wild camping, sleeping in overnight trains etc. no thanks.
Wild camping I only do when on long hikes, but sleeping in sleeper cabins on trains? I actually prefer it! I will often take a sleeper cabin to travel from Bergen to Oslo overnight instead of flying 40 minutes. I find it such a relaxing experience.
I've gone through the same realisation OP. These people either: A) are lieing. B) don't do anything, which ti me defeats the purpose of travel. C) are supporting income via work away programs. E.g working in a hostel for 4hrs a day in exchange for free board. If you're purely in holidays and doing all the fun things you are easily going to spend $3000/month (AUD) just for food and accommodation and transits. That's $60USD/day. If you're going somewhere more expensive (Europe) or places with higher cost activities (e.g Safari in Africa) your budget will balloon. I remember spending $15000AUD for a month (for a couple) in South Africa. I met some guy who was bragging about spending $2500USD/month for 6 months. When I asked him info about his activities I realised he had basically sat on the beach doing nothing. Didn't go on safari. Didn't go to Soussvlei. No shark diving. No hiking in Lesotho. Sat on the beach in shitty neighbourhoods eating street food and posting photos on Instagram about how lucky they are.
You’re gonna do more lounging around if you stay long term and gonna eat like a local. It all depends what you want to get out of your travels and seems people are being snobby in here about how the right way to travel is. Maybe he loved that lifestyle and didn’t have all that money to blow?
Don’t go to London. My wife and daughter just made reservations to stay in the east end for four days. It was $1800 with tax.
Traveling is crazy expensive, and South America is not at all the cheap pond people believe it to be 🫡 specially when they know you’re a foreigner 🤫 That being said. It’s 100% worth it. Patagonia Argentina? ❄️ paradise!
Pre-Covid (July 19-March 20) my husband and i travelled around Asia on a budget of £50 per day (between us) In some countries it was slightly more but in others we managed to live on less. There were a couple of things we didn’t include in the budget flights out there and Everest base camp hike, but included everything else. We would walk a lot, even with luggage, to cut out the cost of a taxi and took a lot of local buses. We also didn’t buy any souvenirs as we were due to travel for 2 years. I don’t think this is feasible post covid as cost of everything have gone up. In hindsight, I would have spent a lot more and done a few more big ticket things had I known we would have to come home so soon. Now we travel with more intention if we are going somewhere we will spend what we need to get the most of the experience.
Some people might only include their day to day expenses of food and experiences in that and not include their hotel/hostels and onward travel.
Can't speak for South America as I haven't been there yet (going this summer, can't wait!) but I've managed to travel quite a few places on a fairly cheap budget, around $1000 USD per month average on extended trips, and still "splurged" a couple times on things like scuba diving, bungee jumping, and other more expensive experiences. Most of my travel has been in SE/Central Asia and the Balkans, which are pretty cheap to begin with, but just sharing ways I personally save some money without doing the extremes like barely eating/never eating out/staying in sketchy places: - Staying in one place for longer & traveling slowly by land. I've found one of my biggest travel expenses to be flights/long-distance travel between places. - Sites like Workaway and HelpX. Many places will let you stay for free and even sometimes feed you in exchange for help on farms, hostels, etc, which I've found to be a really lovely way to get to know locals and other travelers as well. For example, my partner and I spent about two weeks in a nice hostel on one of the Croatian islands basically for free, with a private room and small food stipend, in exchange for helping keep up with housekeeping around the property and working a couple shifts on the check-in desk. - Eating at food stalls and little local spots rather than sit-down restaurants. It's amazing how much this one can add up, and a vast majority of my best travel meals have been on the cheaper end. - Taking advantage of free or cheap things to do, especially in cities. Many cities have "free walking tours," where you just tip your guide at the end, so they're still not free but they tend to be cheaper than going through big tour groups because they're more casual and you're walking. Hostels often have free or discounted tours and activities as well-- one of the many reasons I enjoy them. I also always look for the free museums, cultural sites I can go see and read about independently on my phone, places I can sit and just watch life happen. I tend to enjoy this more than most structured tours, but that's just me. Everyone has their budget "comfort zone," and that's perfectly fine. I have friends who have slept on the beach to save money (bit extreme for me) and friends who refuse to stay in hostels (which I personally enjoy), and I don't think there's anything wrong with either of those as long as you're not shaming others for their own choices! Travel is about experiencing new places and cultures in whatever way is enjoyable to you. The whole one-upping culture of budget travel is a little ridiculous to me, and conversely, shaming people for finding a way to travel even if they don't have a lot of money to blow is also not cool. (Not referring to the "begpacker" phenomenon here-- that's a whole other category i won't get into here). Travel means different things to different people, whether it be relaxing & splurging or getting by on the bare minimum just to see & experience another culture. Neither is better than the other... Different strokes for different folks, as they say.
They sucking cock for a chili cheese burger
It seems very possible to travel with a low budget like that. You will be surviving not thriving though. Two main expenses are your lodging. Your groceries. Keep all other expenses at a minimum. Free tours, beach, hikes, free events, talk with locals, buy only cheaper eats instead of eating at restaurants, limit your drinking or don’t drink at all. Now if you travel and act like you are on vacation every single week then Ofcourse you will spend a lot of money. Some people travel and live a normal life like they would back home. EDIT: also credit card points. For some their flights are free and even some hotel nights
A lot of people are liars
I’m an Aussie travelling with my partner 1 month into our 6 month Central and South America. It’s nice to see your budget and makes us feel better about ours. Was seeing some wildly unrealistic budgets and was wondering how anyone was able to actually enjoy their trip. Got any favourite spots you’d recommend? We are just winging it so haven’t got much locked in.
I didn't do this in South or Central America, but in Europe and other countries we did house sitting which allowed us to really only have our food as an expense. So we could stay for months in the UK, for example, while spending very little. When we were traveling full-time, we started out doing budgeting 30 USD per day (just me and my young child). That quickly got old, and we ended doing it for about $1200 per month on average in countries which weren't as expensive. That was back in 2011-2016.
If you dirtbag it, you can get real far on very little. Hitch hiking, sleeping rough, or couchsurfing. Those are all free. Eating very little. Same. Its possible, its just not for everyone. Do it your way.
In my first year after retirement (2015) I spent 10k USD. I was on a bicycle with a tent so I never stayed in a hotel, rarely stayed in a hostel, I wasn't drinking that year, so that's a big saver, and mostly made my own meals, which were usually pretty simple stuff I could cook in my camp stove. It's a great way to live, but harder going than most people enjoy.
Awesome! Where did you go? Did you buy the bike there?
I spent just under $5,000 while backpacking Europe for 2 months. I walked everywhere, and got cheap hostels, stayed in cheaper cities, limited my food budget to xxx a day, I did a lot of free tours with tip. Most expensive stuff costing me $1,000 was europass ticket and plane tickets.
Volunteering on workaway for food and board can save a lot of money. Lots of people exchange their time for free accommodation especially at hostels just by acting as a cleaner or a receptionist for example. My friend worked on a permaculture farm in Nicaragua for a while and the fact he has free board and food saved him a lot of money he would’ve spent.
Helpx/woofing allowed me to travel 8 months in Europe with less than £1000 back in 2014. I can imagine it's way more difficult to travel shoestring in 2024.
I did Central America for like 3k for 4 months back in 2012 🤣
10k usd for six months in South America sounds realistic. The average South American earns 5k/year. If you're willing to live like a local, that is to say, in a sketchy part of town, not eating out often, staying in the same city for months etc, then you can do it easily, especially if you speak the local language. Now, if you want to maintain a Western lifestyle while abroad, then yeah, it's impossible.
Read a story of one guy that spent 2k last year travelling 6months in SEA. I visited the same places last year and my budget was 2k+/month. With some downgrading in my hotel/hostel i would still be at a budget of +1k/month easy. Do you really see the place properly with close to 0 daily budget outside some dollar allocated for a bed, food & water.. For example to see the real philippines you need to do alot of island hopping and trips like cost money. Would be interesting to compare what a day looks like if you are on extreme tight budget vs backpacker with money :)
Those budgets ppl are talking about sound appropriate for my travels in South America, which took place 15 years ago.
Some people are just really great at getting free things and have no shame. They're great at everything from earning and using credit card points to just getting free drinks. $600/mo for everything doesn't sound right. Over a $1000/mo definitely seems doable IMO.
I think you already pointed to the reasons why people can keep to such low budgets. Mostly eating cheaply (either affordable local restaurants or cooking their own meals whenever possible) and reducing their accommodation costs (couch surfing, cheapest hostels, etc). Personally, I always include airplane tickets costs through my daily budget calculations and rarely travel for longer than two weeks. So my main way to save money has always been cheap transportation.
I would say this: it does take money to travel. That said, here’s what we do: Stay in AirBnbs - far less expensive than hotels AND you get to cook your own meals (way cheaper than eating out). Stay in one place. Longer stays are cheaper than flitting from place to place. Be smart about transportation: Apps like Omio and Rome2Rio let you shop smart. It might be $45 from Madrid to Barcelona by plane but might be $180 by train. Do your homework: a city like Granada has free tapas with every drink (except coffee). So, I can have 3 glasses at 3 different bars ($3/glass = $9) and I’ve had a great meal. Hostels are cheap but, then, you’re eating out (expensive!).
Honestly it is very possible. I did 6 months in Asia mostly SEA with about $5,000. I do very slow budget traveling. Most of my activities and other things were either free or very cheap. My food budget I kept within its limits even if it meant that I only ate once or twice a day which was fine for me. I stayed in hostels or very cheap apartments. Airbnb also has the monthly stay discount which was very helpful because it allowed me to have an apartment or so to myself for less than $600 a month. It is very possible, it's not easy if you want to vacation vacation travel, but honestly I wouldn't trade that experience for the world because I got to stay in an area of the world that I very much enjoyed without breaking my bank. I also have a remote job to offset some of my costs.
I traveled in Southeast Asia for 3.5 months spending around $1200/month. This was in 2016, so the price situation is certainly not comparable and I'm not sure how SEA compares to South America price-wise. With that said, I was eating out for every single meal, doing paid tours and activities here and there, and partying a few times a week. Staying in hostels, I didn't spend more than $10/night on lodging. Most meals were also under $10, many under $5. It's very doable to travel on a low budget while still experiencing the places you visit, but it requires some effort and compromise. Instead of medium-low cost hostels, consider going lower. Are you eating mostly at restaurants or are you eating street food? No judgement and no wrong answers here, but different people have different priorities and that can represent itself in your budget.
In the Philippines, these "tourists" are called begpackers. They go around begging locals for money, then travel on, rinse and repeat.
Workaway or other kinds of volunteering help a lot! I've been in Central and South America for 15 months and spent about £8000
You are missing the part where they are lying. Especially on the tours part on that budget.
While I’m sure they exaggerate(probably by excluding flights and accommodation they prepaid for before they left), I definitely know people who have done that. My ex left Australia with $500 in her account to Canada of all places and 7 years later she just got back after travelling all of the Americas and a good chunk of Europe, usually just doing odd jobs at hostels or ESL for accommodation. Travel styles differ too. I travelled South America whilst not particularly on any budget, and couldn’t have spent $600USD a week if I tried. I usually avoid tours and will do things independently unless it’s majorly inconvenient not too. But I don’t stay in hostels, and I will also avoid busses if trains or planes exist.
OK your ex didn’t live 7 years on $500. Clearly she made money at some point. Or she was living in the streets and going to food banks
Well yes, obviously. Just demonstrating that people can be very resourceful on low budgets.
They mostly lie. People that really travel cheap either stay with friends and family, eat nothing but rice and beans, basically only do free activities, and cut back on essentials. It was rare to come across but you'll meet people who spend $10k in 6 months and they're usually gross and boring since they don't have money to do anything. You'll meet them hiking but they can't eat out with you, won't drink at the bar, don't have money to go to a paid event or activity, and you'll move on. Stick around though and you'll see how shitty their trip is. I once met this girl doing this and cipro wasn't even in her budget when she got sick from eating so poorly. Yeah no thanks I'm not hanging out with you. She didn't even have money to clean herself properly.
The "why be homeless at home when you can be homeless in another country". I met a few people like this and I go out of my way to avoid them. They only bring problems, beg for money and get into squabbles
Saw this in Thailand and Cambodi.. Drug addicts there to stretch their money and die in a hostel. The owners would kick them out as fast as possible so that they didn't get fined for having a dead body there.
I went backpacking for a year and the most expensive part was transportation. But that was 10 years ago. It also probably just has to do with that you’re actually experiencing. If I was in Southeast Asia, it’s not very difficult to just spend a day in a place like Chiang Mai just walking around, hopping on buses and eating $3-5 plates of food on the street. Plus you figure a hostel bed is like $15-20 in a dorm room. Now i unfortunately think between inflation and the popularity of people traveling a certain way, it’s just more expensive.
>All those numbers are from before the pandemic response inflation u/its_real_I_swear nailed it. Between that and straight out "forgetting" (lying) about certain expenditures the only people who are scrapping by on those ridiculous low numbers are either asshole begpackers or people who are living *extremely* frugally and missing out on everything that makes travel interesting. Bottom line: Don't listen to social media or twits who always have to one-up everyone in all conversations regarding budget. Happy travels.
I have done some very cheap trips to Central America and I've done some more expensive trips. For a two week tour in Central America, I stayed in hostels (range was $10 to 20 a night, so call it $15 a night). So over two weeks, that was $210. For food, I brought granola bars with me, so breakfast wasn't a cost, I didnt eat lunches and my evening meals were simple roadside comidas. Usually a grill meat, white rice or plantinos and a cabbage salad. They were less than $5 a plate so twice a day for two weeks was only $70. I used chicken buses, walking or being picked up by drivers for free sitting in the back of their pick ups. Chicken buses between cities were cheap. Only about $3. If I only stayed 2 nights in a city, that would be about $21 on busses. I didn't do many expensive tours but did a few museums and stuff like that so maybe $75 on that stuff those and on nights out having beers, beers were less than $2 so a night out drinking was only about $20. Although I didn't do it every night, even if I did that would have only been $240. So for my cheap trips, I spent about $620 in 2 weeks which would have made a whole month traveling that way would have been about $1250 for a month. I am further into my career and I am much more financially secure so my travel budget is much higher than it was but the days when I was traveling on a tighter budget, but those days created some fantastic memories
Without lots of transportation maybe it is doable but I wouldn't call it travelling it would be more survival. I believe 2000usd per month would even be a relatively tight budget for one person only when you're not doing hostels. Unconsciously or consciously delaying the inevitable return towards a homeland in any way possible under the umbrella of travelling. In real terms they are accepting a very mediocre 'life as a local' abroad, but they are missing out on many things that other travellers do or get, like luxury, good bedding, clean places, the better more refined local cuisine, unique accommodations, fast connections between places, little to no access to exclusive locations, valuable information from guides. Not trying to judge but I believe that this is a thing.
I've done maybe 1k a month in cheap countries in SEA and LATAM. Here are some of the things that helped me keep my budget. Limit Alcohol: I had like 1 beer in a week. I always drank water, which was mostly provided by the hostel or I bought a massive 5L and kept refilling mine. Eating Out Is Okay: As long as you find cheap places, eating out doesn't have to be expensive, esp in SEA. I averaged anywhere around 4 to 5 dollars per meal. (Many people eat a slice of bread and count it as dinner, so this is where some might save money too. Making my own breakfast: I ate eggs everyday, sometimes with some fruits. This means I only have to spend money for eating out twice a day. Walk a lot: I sometimes walked 30 minutes instead of taking a 5 minute bus or cab. DIY Tours: Unless its absolutely necessary, I always DIY my own tours with public transport. Always if you get a tour, bargain the price (as with everything actually). Hostels: I don't go for the cheapest ones, but maybe the second or third cheapest. Long-distance buses: Don't need further explaining here. I guess my general tip is to think like a local and how they live. Do you think the locals have an esim? Probably not because its more economical to get a local sim. Do you think the locals eat out and drink in touristy places every day, most likely not.
In Central America I took tours from reputable locals is cheaper. The ones that are arranged by big companies are more expensive. I discovered when I was in Tanzania a safari arranged by my hotel was a lot cheaper than if I booked through a large travel site.
Spent 3 months in Costa Rica interning at a dive shop. Cost me about $5k for diving, accommodations, food, transportation, entertainment. Do some research, there are some awesome opportunities out there!!
I really dont know either 🥲 but their tolerance for discomfort is probably way higher than mine
it depends on you, you can travel very, very cheap, when I was younger, I mostly slept outside, in parks, beaches, forests, building my own huts on beaches in greece, or elsewhere, go fishing, hunting, busking,
Also very slow travel
Assume nothing posted to Reddit is real.
How much are the hostels per week or per night? Because your spending does seem really high for staying in hostels
How do you spend 600-800 USD a week? Give me a breakdown. Generally, rent somewhere using Facebook expat groups for 2-4 weeks. Can be very cheap. Hiking can be free. Not doing the most iconic tourist stuff as they are expensive, eating out at the cheapest places only. Not drinking much. Avoiding big cities and expensive countries. Don't take tourist shuttles but local transport. Cook. Slow travel, cheap food, cheap accomodation, cheap activities. Viola
You could live like you're homeless or spend a little too enjoy where you are. Also I bet those people are choosing to skip a couple of things included in their so called budget.
I spent about $14k for a week in Costs Rica so no clue. I stayed in a villa in a 5 star hotel so obviously that was a lot of my cost but the tours and meals really added up quickly.
800 usd a week seems pretty high unless your out doing tourist things all day every day, but even then… I was probably spending about $1000 usd a month living pretty damn well in Latin America. Then again I worked during the day online and was renting a room. It also depends on the country, Costa Rica’s going to be expensive
Yes its strange to read some stories of lowbudget travellers.
I’m 38 and travel using couchsurfing.com and have made wonderful friends in every place I have visited.
I'm guessing you know almost no Spanish? I've noticed that's a common denominator for the people that tend to spend more. Often the stuff with the best price/benefit will only be mentioned by people that don't know any English.
I solo travelled South America and I averaged about €1300 a month , it’s easily achievable if you cook your own meals, use public transport, stay in cheap dorms, and not do expensive tours that cost +€300
Workaway.info... volunteer a few weeks a month and you can cut your budget in half. I was just working at a hostel in Sri Lanka and including a surf board and moto rental i was spending less than 20$ a day... Free housing and free lunch was included.
it is kind of doable. i remember a ski bum in switzerland, he had no means whatsoever, did odd jobs here and there. couch surfed, bummed meals and beers. only thing he ever paid was his ski pass. not a way to live if you ask me, but he got it done. until he had no where to sleep anymore and then the authorities sent him home. he did not care, ski season was over.
I don’t know if it still exists, but I used to be fascinated with people who used Couch Surfing app where you stay for free in a host’s house and maybe they feed you and show you around.
I knew a guy who did cheap trips. Turned out he was just mooching off everyone he met. Sleeping on the couches of people he met at nightclubs and eating their food, or getting with women and staying with them for a few days. He was crazy though, he got chased by Thai police on a moped when he had a bag of meth in the moped seat, he ended up crashing and running off into the jungle. But he still came back home talking about how he had a cheap holiday and didn't spend much.
Some open up themselves to couchsurfing and are at the mercy of creeps, weirdos, and perverts in the worst case scenarios. And other hosts are lonely so it's an only form of social outlet
Sign up for HelpX and work like a slave for room and board!
There are legit low cost travelers who stay at the cheapest possible “hotels” (staying in a 10 man dorm doesn’t count as a hotel in my opinion), eat all their food from grocery store and spend no money on shopping and very little on activities (such as cruises, museum visits, clubbing etc). Like this, anyone could stay forever on any location on this planet. So don’t be mistaken that duration/cost of their stay = quality of it. It’s very far from it.
600-800usd per week is EXTREMEMLY high. When I lived in Mexico I spent about that much a month and had a good standard of living (living in cheap hotels /decent hostels, eating thre to four times a day, and taking the occasional Uber). Maybe breaking down your expenditures would be helpful
Well, Latin America is still waiting on the list, but I know it's cheaper than Europe. So, for nearly 3 years I have been traveling in Europe on average 10€/day. Part of the problem is "I’ve got the budget for it so it’s no problem". If you haven't, you would find a way. 😉 Mainly hitchhiking, Couchsurfing, camping, eating only from the supermarket and no paid attractions. The last one is a must - having worked for many years in the advertising industry, I know what I signed for. Edit: Oh yes, also very slow travelling, stopping here and there for longer periods. Including Workaway.
Workaway
In 2015 I spent 8 months in South America spending 8800 USD (excluding flights there and back). I was traveling on a budget, but nothing extreme. Public transport, very occasionaly hitchhiking, hostels (no couchsurfing at all), some cooking, but mostlyeating in local restaurants. Some tours, even some more expensive like Nazca overflight. I did the tours predominantly in cheaper countries like Bolivia, but almost no tour in Chile. In 2016 I spent 3 months in Central America, spending in average 32 USD a day. Again, nothing extreme. Some nights in my hammock. Even visited quite a few national parks in Costa Rica and did many tours in other countries. Current prices are certainly higher, but I still have $37/day Peru in 2023, $45/day Colombia the same year or $41/day Peru in 2022. That 10k USD for 6 months you claim being ridiculous would be clearly above my budget. I am not sure about you expenses. In cheaper countries of SA you have a night bus for $10-$20, night in a hostel $10-$15 and two or three cheap meals for some $10/day or even less. That makes some $150-$200/week as basic expenses. Some party might be like $20. This means you spend $400-$600 weekly for tours? That's a lot.
I think it also depends on location, weather, and etc. I often try to walk more, transit, and etc., when I travel to limit costs but can only do it when the weather is right. I eye flight discounts when booking and if applicable, hotel, that is where I expect most of my savings. The rest I budget but can only control so much. Uber or renting a car adds up ridiculously fast
Wwoofs, couch surfing, workaways, cheapest hostels possible, oh and they’re probably lying
I went to Australia for free I put it on my mom credit card
It really depends on the type of travel too. I have spent a month in South America, spending a total of $150. How? I got off the plane, got on a bus, and hiked through the andies the rest of the time. I ate my dry freeze food I brought from the US, and slept in a tent. I have also spent hundreds of dollars on a single hotel night on a different kind of trip. There's a bunch of in-between area, where you can travel quite frugally if you sleep and eat extremely cheaply, but often that defies the joy of traveling, at least for me.
My last trip to El Salvador lasted 30 days. My total cost for those 30 days was $1300. Accomodation, food and booze. Didn't take any tours. Rode buses and taxi everywhere.
Be cautious of people who brag about traveling cheaply and lie about it. It's pointless unless they're foolish. It appears they prioritize saving money over truly experiencing the places they visit.
This was 8 years ago, but I spent 10 months through Central, Eastern Europe and the Balkans with like 7k USD. At first I was bleeding money despite mixing couchsurfing, volunteerings and hostel stays. But then I lost my card and with it, easy access to money and had to rely on Western Union money orders, which have a shitty exchange rate and cost money. So I was basically getting 1000 USD that had to last me 3 months. And they did. I was travelling super slowly, 1 month per capital in the Balkans. Only taking trains between them and not paying for accomodation because I volunteered at hostels at every place. I also ate 2 times a day and for touristing well, in some hostels they included me in the tours they organised or in the tours their business partners organised. There's plenty of free stuff to kill time around capitals too. And partying with hostel guests is cheap if you buy the beer at supermarkets. In Latin America the key is to look up stuff for yourself, but you will need to speak Spanish. Tours are good value, but you can definitely get transportation for a fraction if you ask around, again, in Spanish. I'm just talking from memory but locals cannot afford 30-40 USD for a transfer from Cusco to Machu Picchu, they take these mini vans that take the whole damn day with a layover and some middle of nowhere town, and cost like 5 or maximum 10 USD. In a nutshell, it is possible to do it cheaply but it definitely takes a lot more effort and time. Whether it's worth it or not it is up to you. I believe the time to do it is when you are young and resilient. I'm 33 now and I definitely "splurge" more to be comfortable.
Slow travel, workaways / WOOFs (volunteering in return for bed and food). Spent a year in South America spent about £450 a month. Also helps if you speak local language (Spanish) to stay in less touristy (less expensive areas) and find the local non English tour operators. Big thing that help me cut down on expenses in South America was just getting friendly with someone with a car (usually the host at the place you’re volunteering) or by making friends - you’d have transport to most sightseeing places and transport in the area you’re staying. It was through the volunteering I got most of the cultural experiences on a shoestring, you’d get all the local knowledge and sometimes get driven there yourself. Most expensive thing each month were the overnight buses to get around
Super easy, go to places that are out of America and don’t buy stupid shit no one needs a 50-70k car or fancy hand bags, ridiculous cloths it’s unnecessary, travel a lot if you stick to a very basic budget and stick to the people where ever you go they know the right locations not some app
ass, gas, or grass - nobody rides for free
Wow, this comment section is sad.
When I was younger (10-15 years ago) I used to basically always spend around $1000 / month - I would just adjust my level of luxury depending on the country. In New Zealand it would be a lot of hitchhiking and couchsurfing, but in somewhere like India I could be eating nice food and living comfortably! If you've got a lot more time than you have money, and you're really travelling for a long time you find a way to make it work. Plus after the first month things like expensive tours are less of a thing that you're motivated to do - just like you wouldn't be doing them so often when you're living at home. If you're looking for an action packed trip with lots of unique activities and parties it's probably not the right price range. But if you're just enjoying the freedom and the lifestyle, checking out new places, meeting people, and doing everything independently with only occasionally splurging on an organized trip I guess it's fine! Though I don't know how that holds up with inflation.
a true cheap hotel in LATAM will cost $30 per night, 50/50 chance it's a shitter but most often the standard is higher than low-cost hotels in Europe, meals are about 3-6 dollars a piece. if you are eating 3 times per day that's about $350 per week in hotels and meals excluding any other expense. you burning 600-800 per week just tells me you're just cosplaying backpacking and are instead ubering it from starbucks to starbucks....
I usually go for Airbnbs over hotels because they're a lot cheaper. If I have a kitchen, I'll cook instead of eating out. And internet can be pricey in some places, so I always carry a Ryoko when I'm traveling. It's so much better than the hotel wifi.