I ended my World trip early June 2017, it has taken 5 months to update the blog. During the last part of my travels, I was moving fast and I had limited access to internet (Cuba, China). Also, I was preparing my new life in Melbourne: employment, apartment, etc…

I have now settled down for a little while. And it’s time for me to write this final article in which you will find, among others, useful information about my expenses. I hope that, by the end of the year, I will release the movie of my trip around the World.

Traveling is the best thing that can happen to people. To enjoy unreal sites, discover various cultures, and meet fabulous people. In a more personal way, it allows the traveler to get out of its comfort zone and push its own limits further. Moreover, I encourage anyone to go alone: it emphasizes all the benefits listed above.

But because I was traveling alone, I found the need to write this blog, share my story and some pictures to my family and to my friends. I went to numerous places where I told myself ‘I wish I had someone to share this moment with’. The other reason I wrote this blog was for myself, to have this story documented. After all, it is unique in its way. I could make it a book and leave it in the living room. I however think the best memories are the ones I keep in my head and in my heart.

COUNTRIES

Clearly, my trip was divided in 3 parts: Europe (2 months), South and Central America (8 months), Asia (3 months). The European part (in which I include my stop in Dubai) was mainly to visit friends and family. Out of the 7 countries I went through (UAE, Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, England, France, Germany), only Iceland was new to me.

The Asian part was also to visit friends, not so much to discover new countries. China excepted, as it was a first for me out of the 5 countries I went through: China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand.

The main part of my travels was in South America, where I spent 7 months (Brasil, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay). And 1 month in Central America (Cuba, Mexico).

So, all together: 20 countries!

ACTIVITIES

How fast did I travel? I traveled quite slow. My objective was not only to go to the touristic attractions, but also to get a real sense and feeling of the places and the people. In this objective, I learnt Spanish and bought a motorbike to be able to get close to the locals, rather than staying in buses full of young Europeans. Additionally, I wanted to use some time to learn new skills (usually 1 week duration):

• Skydiving in France, offered by my awesome family;
• Learning Spanish: intensive course in Lima, life with a Peruvian family for 2 weeks… and a lot of practice during my travels;
• Mountaineering: In Bolivia, I climbed Huayna Potosi, a 6100m high mountain, with ropes, ice axes, crampons, etc…
• Tango: I took lessons in Buenos Aires and Cordoba (Argentina);
• Surfing: I took lessons in Florianopolis (Brasil);
• Moto mechanics: maintenance and reparation along the way;
• Moto navigation: important in some remote places such as the Mountains of Ipez (Bolivia), the Desert of Atacama (Chile). And all the big cities I went through (Lima, La Paz, Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro);
• Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts in Phuket (Thailand).

Some of the notable events I had the chance to be part of:

• Football European Championship in France,
• Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro,
• Carnival of Rio,
• Dakar race in Argentina.

Of course, I would not be able to list all the amazing people I had the chance to encounter. And I would be too scared to forget some. I think I added about 300 of them on my Facebook.

SOME NUMBERS

Some numbers about the blog: 93 articles, 2410 pictures selected out of 12,000 I took (about 30 per day!).

EXPENSES

Finally, I get to the accounting part. Before leaving Australia, I had a good look at the different ways to deal with foreign currencies, and I found that, for this kind of travel (long term, a lot of different currencies), the cheapest way was to use a traveler credit card. Forget the traveler debit card, cash exchange, debit withdrawals and transfers. Apparently, in Australia, the 28degrees credit card offers the best exchange rate, and has no purchase fee.

TOTAL:

So here it is: day to day, I spent about 35,000 Australian Dollars (27,400 US Dollars) in 381 days, being $91AUD per day ($71USD). These figures do not include international flights, equipment I bought prior to traveling, travel insurances, vaccination and the motorbike. The table below shows exactly how much this 12 and a half months cost me: $46,107AUD.

	AUD	USD	EUR
TOTAL day to day	34,731	27,090	22,922
Flights (internationals)	6,010	4,687	3,966
Equipment	1,254	978	828
Travel insurance + Vaccination	1,448	1,129	956
Motorbike	2,665	2,079	1,759
TOTAL	46,107	35,964	30,431

PER CATEGORY:

On the road, I tried to record every single purchase, in cash, or by card, and classify them per category. The first category includes: Food, Drinks, Groceries, Taxis within a city (within a city, to go to an event), Laundry, Health (pharmacy, doctor), Communication (SIM card in each country), Clothes, Material (toothpaste)… pretty much everything. The transport category comprises Domestic flights, Train, Bus, Moto petrol, Moto maintenance, Tolls, Car rental, etc… The following category comprises courses (Spanish, tango, surfing, scuba diving, etc…), events (Olympic tickets), and visits (national parks, mountain permits, museums, etc…). I don’t think I need to explain much the accommodation category, but keep in my mind it varies: hotel, hostel, camping, or free (family in France, for example). Also, some hostel prices include breakfast.

Finally, there is one financial aspect that needs to be taken in account: bank fees. It was too difficult to record withdrawals commissions and ATM fees, rates for currency exchanged, etc… So, on top of all numbers, I added a 5% bank fee that seems to be about right. I know, it hurts to tell myself I probably gave $2,000 to banks. Also, all my records were in local currencies. I worked out the equivalent in Australian dollars, US dollars and Euros with exchange rates from late 2017. Rates vary.

	General: Food, Drinks, Groceries, Taxis, Laundry, Health, Communication…	Accommodation	Activities: Olympics, Mountaineering, Surfing, Dancing, Spanish lessons, Scuba diving, Site visiting, Skydiving	Transport: Domestic flights, Train, Bus, Moto petrol, Moto maintenance, Tolls, Car rental	TOTAL
Total AUD	$18,136	$6,919	$3,243	$6,757	$35,055
Per day AUD	$48	$18	$9	$18	$92
%	52%	20%	9%	19%	100%

	General: Food, Drinks, Groceries, Taxis, Laundry, Health, Communication…	Accommodation	Activities: Olympics, Mountaineering, Surfing, Dancing, Spanish lessons, Scuba diving, Site visiting	Transport: Domestic flights, Train, Bus, Moto petrol, Moto maintenance, Tolls, Car rental	TOTAL
Total USD	$14,146	$5,397	$2,530	$5,270	$27,343
Per day USD	$37	$14	$7	$14	$72
%	52%	20%	9%	19%	100%

From the tables above (one in Australian Dollar, the other in US Dollar), we can see that I spent $18AUD ($14USD) per night average, with large variations: 40AUD in Iceland (31USD), 12AUD (10USD) in Bolivia and Vietnam. But this $18/day figure is probably a bit lower than it should be, as I did not pay accommodation in Dubai, France, Mexico and not much in China.

PER COUNTRY:

One table per country below, with the average expense per day in Australian and US Dollars and the number of days I stayed in each country. The countries in which I spent the most time are: Brasil (2.5 months), Argentina (2 months) and France (1.5 month). Expenses per day go from $77AUD ($60USD) in Bolivia to 164AUD (128USD) in Iceland. I did not pay for accommodation in some countries like France (62AUD/day) and UAE-Dubai (57AUD/day). Average is 91AUD per day (71USD), as shown above.

1.Australia	1.0	Days		11.Bolivia	34.0	Days
	115	Per day AUD			77	Per day AUD
	90	Per day USD			60	Per day USD
2.Dubai	4.0	Days		12.Chile	23.5	Days
	57	Per day AUD			144	Per day AUD
	45	Per day USD			112	Per day USD
3.Ireland	2.5	Days		13.Argentina	65.5	Days
	188	Per day AUD			88	Per day AUD
	147	Per day USD			69	Per day USD
4.Scotland	4.0	Days		14.Uruguay	8.5	Days
	157	Per day AUD			82	Per day AUD
	123	Per day USD			64	Per day USD
5.Iceland	10.0	Days		15.Cuba	15.5	Days
	164	Per day AUD			100	Per day AUD
	128	Per day USD			78	Per day USD
6.England	3.0	Days		16.Mexico	14.5	Days
	153	Per day AUD			110	Per day AUD
	119	Per day USD			86	Per day USD
7.France	42.5	Days		17.China	15.0	Days
	62	Per day AUD			107	Per day AUD
	49	Per day USD			83	Per day USD
8.Germany	1.0	Days		18.Hong-Kong	3.5	Days
	102	Per day AUD			111	Per day AUD
	80	Per day USD			86	Per day USD
9.Brasil	77.5	Days		19.Vietnam	4.5	Days
	97	Per day AUD			83	Per day AUD
	76	Per day USD			65	Per day USD
10.Peru	32.5	Days		20.Thailand	15.0	Days
	92	Per day AUD			91	Per day AUD
	71	Per day USD			71	Per day USD
				21.Cambodia	3.5	Days
					99	Per day AUD
					78	Per day USD

MOTORBIKE:

I was not sure how to present the motorbike related costs. I drove about 24,000km through 6 countries:

• Peru:             1,850km
• Bolivia:         2,310km
• Chile:            4,680km
• Argentina:  10,600km
• Uruguay:         800km
• Brasil:           3,890km

I bought the motorbike with equipment (helmet, suit, tools, paniers, etc…) for $2,665AUD ($2,050USD). The table below shows my ‘motorbike related’ expenses: petrol, maintenance and tolls:

It is interesting to see that I spent more in Maintenance than in Petrol! Tolls were mainly in Chile and in Argentina (its mostly free elsewhere), and includes barge crossing (South Chile and South Argentina).

Petrol price is $6.32AUD ($4.93USD) per 100km average, cheapest being in Bolivia ($4.61AUD = $3.62USD), and most expensive in Peru ($7.53AUD = $5.87USD).

LAST WORDS

I can’t find the words to conclude so I will let some pictures talk on my behalf.

Map of my travels: From May 2016 to June 2017The day I left DarwinDubai, May 2016Dublin, May 2016Scotland, May 2016Iceland, June 2016London, June 2016France, July 2016Skydiving in France, July 2016Rio de Janeiro, August 2016 and February 2017Olympics in Rio, August 2016Beginning of the road trip in Lima, September 2016Peruvian Andes, September 2016Machu Picchu, September 2016Mountaineering in Bolivia, October 2016Salt flats, Bolivia, October 2016South Lipez, Bolivia, October 2016Atacama Desert, North Chile, October 2016Argentinian Andes, November 2016Chilean Andes, November 2016Carretera Austral, South Chile, November 2016El Calafate, South Chile, December 2016Torres Del Paine, South Chile, December 2016El Chalten, South Argentina, December 2016Ushuaia, South Argentina, December 2016Pinamar with my 2 girlfriends, Argentina, December 2016Dakar Race, Argentina, January 2017Uruguay, January 2017South Brasil, February 2017Surfing in South Brasil, February 2017Carnaval of Rio, March 2017End of the Motorbike trip, March 2017Cuba, March 2017Scuba Diving in Mexico, March 2017Central China, April 2017Shanghai, April 2017Hong-Kong, May 2017Vietnam, May 2017Cambodia, May 2017Thai Boxing in Thailand, May 2017Back to Darwin, June 2017