Wow was this to be a big trip. You can't set off on such an ambitious trip without months of planning, affairs sorting, equipment buying etc. Even
then you know plans will change, you might change your mind or get stuck somewhere. Needless to say though you need to know rough methods of transport Visa information etc to
stand a chance of hitting so many places in such a span of time. To pull off such a big trip we curtailed our travel in the back half of 2012 and spent one day per week for
about 4 months researching, planning and looking at viable options.
Our route start was planned out based on more difficult visas we needed, how long they'd last and how long they'd take to process. For us this meant starting in China, Nepal
& India. We then simply planned our route around as much of the world as we thought we could for our budget.
Our budget was strict, we had a finite amount of funds. We had planned out expected accommodation costs, booked flights where we could, knew roughly what to expect for overland
travel to give an estimated cost. However we knew we'd need to keep to an average food cost of just £30 per day (£15 each) over the fourteen months of travel to be able to
complete the trip as planned. We knew in order to maintain this we'd have to eat as cheaply as possible in the first segments of the trip (Asia) where things cost less. This
would enable us to have a little more spending power in the mid sections of the trip in the more western countries. To do this we knew we'd be eating street food, on the go,
snack lunches, making the most of any included breakfasts and buying water and supplies in bulk from local supermarkets rather than at restaurants and bars.
We sparingly used group tours where the time frame of travel was significantly reduced or we thought we'd be able to see more of a country. During our entire fourteen months
of travel we only joined three groups tours. One was off Central America. This was purely on time reasons, the tour visited almost all of Central America in only 30 days. We
knew it would take us at least 60 to get anywhere the same level of experience. One tour was to ease us into the start of our travel in Nepal and India. The last tour was the
only real way to effectively visit the nation of Myanmar (Burma). At no point during our trip did we regret these small segments of group tours. They provided some socialisation
with people other than each other. We also broke off from the group at regular intervals to run our own schedule, visit our own restaurants and have our own unique experiences.
This region of the world is one of the cheapest. If you eat street food, light snacks, drink beer in local bars and avoid tourist tier transport you can travel these areas for very cheap. Adequate accommodation can be had for under £10 for a private room. Food can easily be kept to around £3 per day per person, £5 with a couple of big beers.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: Nepal 2013
With mostly bus, train or ferries for transport this had remained cheap. Our avoidance of using flights where possible had helped, however Air Asia is a very cheap way for when flights are necessary. Accommodation and food had also remained very affordable for good quality.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: Malaysia 2013
Having moved into western tourist beach islands and modern countries of New Zealand and Australia the budget had definitely gone up. However in Australia we had chosen the most budget camper we could find, we simply cooked pasta, sauce and cheese for almost every meal. We made sandwiches for lunch and fetched free drinking water wherever we could. We stayed in free road side camp sites almost exclusively even in the cool winter months. In New Zealand we found out early on that Dominos is really substandard pizza here and as such for 5 NZD you can get a pizza for diner. Also we managed to rent our New Zealand car rental with Ace Cars. These cars have slightly higher mileage than standard rental cars, about 40,000km and tend to be about 4 or 5 years old. However this did mean we got our rental for just 17 NZD a day. All in we had expected to spend more money here and we did, but were pleased it could still be done affordably.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: Sydney 2013
Eating cheaply in America means diner food or Chipotle. Outside of major towns and cities you won't find good fast food restaurants. Diners are typically bland especially in more remote regions. Even Dominos isn't great, but thankfully it's still about half the cost of it in the United Kingdom. Food was simply not good for us in most of America. We did however grab a great deal on car rental at 25 USD per day. This was just for the most basic economy car though. If you do what we did you will be stung with a one-way rental fee. But this sure beat driving back across the entire United States. Accommodation can be had for cheap in America if you are willing to stay out in backwater village motels. Mexico is by contrast much more affordable with nicer hotels affordable, good food and cheap beer. Because we drove across the states are flights here were limited. One of the main reasons we went to Miami is because we had to stop there on route from New York to Cancun anyway so made the most of the stop.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: California 2013
Central America was our second most affordable area to travel after Asia. Costs are slightly here than there, but if you stick to local foods served on the street or in small restaurants you'll have excellent food for cheap. Including the local pico de gallo (hot sauce) served fresh with every meal. Transport costs are also fairly low and it is easy to avoid having to fly. Some areas like the San Blas Islands can be fairly pricey for what you get, but these can be avoided if you do not wish to have that experience.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: Belize 2013
Argentina and Uruguay are the wealthiest countries in South America and have a very western take to things. This meant that they can both be quite pricey. However in Argentina we managed to change our money on the black market. This meant for every 1 USD we spent we were spending 33% less money than had we changed it officially. This worked to make Argentina highly affordable for us. Changing money this way was slightly unnerving though requiring you to go into apartment blocks to do the deals. To limit our expenditure in Uruguay we limited our travel plans and number of days here. Brazil had more available options but we found the affordable food offerings very bland. Having come from Central America Brazil's food was very lacking. Getting around these countries or even within them requires lots of flights and this definitely ups the overall cost of a trip here. If you choose to stay in Rio on Carnival or New Years you'll be bankrupted.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: Argentina 2013
We had planned to end in the Bahamas or similar, so really this was a much more budget friendly alternative. That being said it was still more pricey than other parts of this trip such as most of Asia. Food was relatively cheap, we ate at Nandos etc in South Africa. We walked a lot to limit taxi costs. But there was of course several flights involved to Cape Town and then up to Zambia. From Zambia we did the falls on foot, entry into Zimbabwe was very expensive at 70 USD each to just enter for a few hours. Our safari into Botswana was very easy with no visa fees and was fairly cheap as the park is not overly touristed.
You can see how our actual trip went along with photos here: South Africa 2014