Trip 3 - USA & SE Asia - Our costs for an 8 month trip

Our costs to travel through the USA for 3 months, Vietnam for 2 months, Laos, Cambodia, Sumatra & Malaysia for 3 months

For an overall and detail of where we went on this trip please check out our page: http://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.fr/p/trip.html

To view a map of where we went check out Trip 3 map on our map page: http://brianandjackiecross.blogspot.fr/p/our-travel-maps.html
Here's our trip costs:

Overall total cost (incl. insurance): £17437.51. Average daily cost (based on 245 days): £71.17

Travel insurance (2 people): We arranged worldwide insurance through 'World Nomads' to include rock climbing and trekking up to 6000m (adventurous sports option) for 275 days (not all used). Cost: £1012.85. Average daily cost: £3.69

Here's how that overall cost breaks down into cost per country:

But because we spent different amounts of time in each country, this is how it looks on an expenditure per day in each country basis:

So Vietnam became the cheapest country on a per day basis of our trip, but that's partly because we housesat for 3 weeks over Christmas, where we paid for no accommodation, but also as we were there for longer than in Laos, Cambodia, Sumatra and Malaysia and travel costs were more spread out. We could visit the USA and Vietnam on a standard 3 month tourist visa, but Laos, Cambodia, Sumatra and Malaysia issue only 30 day tourist visas as standard, longer ones being more difficult to arrange.

• Flights:

Here's a list of the flights we took and their cost:

1. Birmingham, UK to Boston: £986.58. 
2. Boston to Denver: £234.15. 
3. Denver to San Fransisco: £154.80. 
4. San Fransisco to Hanoi, Vietnam: £679.80
5. Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi: 2,632,000VND (£78.00) 
6. Siem Reap (Cambodia) to Medan (Sumatra, Indonesia): $428.00 (£285.00)
7. Medan to Padang: Rp968,807.00 (£51.00), 
8. Padang to Kuala Lumpur: Rp1,282,000.00 (£67.00)
9. Kuala Lumpur to Heathrow, UK (via Ho Chi Minh City): RM2,260.00 (£426.00)

Total cost of flights: £2962.33, average cost per day (245 days): £12.09

Here's how our expenditure looks in a pie chart:

• USA:

For this trip we decided to rent a car and stay in hotels rather than our original plan of renting a campervan (RV) and staying on campsites. RV rental charges were quite high, the vehicles large (and fuel usage high) and the campsites quite expensive. Our calculations suggested car rental, hotels and eating out were cheaper and easier. 

We rented a 'full size' car as Jackie's mother visited us for three weeks and we needed the extra luggage space it provided, so our costs for the car were higher than they otherwise would have been. The larger vehicle did, however, have plenty of power to get us easily up steep mountain roads, something we may have found much harder in a smaller less powerful vehicle. We had no vehicle while in Boston, Denver or San Fransisco. 

A good tip is to buy an annual pass for the National Parks. It cost $80.00 and covered the car and all occupants. Although we were only there for 3 months it would have cost us more than 3 times to pay for each park we visited individually, as well as being much quicker on entrance. Note however, this does not cover State Parks or Indian Reservation parks.
 
Notes: 

1. All prices from August 2014 to October 2014
2. All prices are for 2 people
3. Exchange rate (2014): £1.00 =$1.60
4. Total days/nights: 88
5. We spent 2 weeks staying with friends and 1 week on a ranch sit, where we paid no accommodation expenses

Total expenditure: $13242.00  (£8276.00)

Average daily expenditure: $150.48 (£94.04)

Breakdown:

1. Hotels/self catering apartments/campsite cabins: All 'budget', all with private bathroom, all booked in advance and all carefully researched on Trip Advisor, Bookings.com, Hotels.com etc. Generally sorting 'lowest cost first' and then selecting highest rating on various websites and balancing cost against features, location, with/without breakfast and reading previous guests reviews. Note: this takes a long time!                                                                                                                                         Total cost: $3839.00 (£2399.00), average per night (67 nights): $57.00 (£36.00)
2. Car rental: Total cost: $4253.00 (£2658.00), average daily cost (80 days): $53.00 (£33.00)
3. Car fuel: $791.00 (£494.00), average daily cost (80 days): $10.00 (£6.00) 
4. Distance covered: 9110 miles. Average price per US gallon: $3.43 (£0.57/litre)
5. Daytime expenditure: $937.00 (£586.00), average daily cost (88 days): $11.00 (£6.50)
6. Evening meals: $1848.00 (£1155.00), average daily cost (80 days): $23.00 (£14.50)
7. Tours: Total cost: $190.00 (£119.00), average daily cost (88 days): $2.00 (£1.50)
8. Shopping: $1384.00 (£865.00), average daily cost: $15.73 (£10.00)

Here's how our expenditure looks in a pie chart:

•  Vietnam:

Notes: 

1. All prices from November 2014 to January 2015
2. All prices are for 2 people
3. Exchange rate (2014): £1.00 = 33892VND
4. Total days/nights: 69
5. We spent 3 weeks over Christmas on a housesit, where we paid no accommodation expenses

Total expenditure: 62,488,189.00VND  + US$90 (£1899.74)

Average daily expenditure: £27.53

Breakdown:

1. Visa (To be paid in crisp new $ bills): $90.00 (£56.00)
2. Hotels: Total cost: 23,608,189.00VND (£697.00), average per night (48 nights): 491,837.00 (£14.50)
3. Daytime expenditure: 10,805,000.00VND (£319.00), average daily cost: 156,594VND (£5.00)
4. Evening meals: 11,712,000.00VND (£346.00), average daily cost: 169,739.00VND (£5.00)
5. Shopping: 7,674,900.00VND (£226.00), average daily cost: 111,230.00VND (£3.00)
6. Transport: 5,781,500.00VND (£171.00), average daily cost: 83,790.00VND (£2.50)
7. Trips: 2,906,600VND (£86.00), average daily cost: 42,125VND (£1.00)

Here's how our expenditure looks in a pie chart:

• Laos:

Notes: 

1. All prices from January 2015
2. All prices are for 2 people
3. Exchange rate (2014): £1.00 =11400Kip
4. Total days/nights:27

Total expenditure: 11,534,680Kip  (£1012.00)

Average daily expenditure: 427,210Kip (£37.50)

Breakdown:

1. Visa: 634,000Kip (£56.00)
2. Hotels: All 'budget' hotels, all with private bathroom, most booked in advance and all carefully researched on Trip Advisor, Bookings.com, Hotels.com etc. Generally sorting 'lowest cost first' and then selecting highest rating on various websites and balancing cost against features, location, with/without breakfast and reading previous guests reviews. Note: this takes a long time!                                                                                                                                         Total cost: 4,555,680.00Kip (£400.00), average per night: 168,729.00Kip (£15.00)
3. Daytime expenditure: 1,988,000.00Kip (£175.00), average daily cost: 73,630.00Kip (£6.50)
4. Evening meals: 2,380,000.00 (£209.00), average daily cost: 88,148.00Kip (£8.00)
5. Shopping: 87,000.00Kip (£8.00)
6. Transport: 1,440,000Kip (£126.00), average daily cost: 53,333.00Kip (£4.50)
7. Trips: 440,000.00Kip (£39.00), average daily cost: 16,296.00Kip (£1.50)

Here's how our expenditure looks in a pie chart:

•  Cambodia:

Notes: 

1. All prices from February 2015
2. All prices are for 2 people
3. Exchange rate (2014): £1.00 = US$1.50 (US $ is the preferred currency in Cambodia although they do have their own currency, the Real. There were 4000 Real to $1.00 and we could pay in either currency, but 99% transactions were in US $. Only crisp, new $'s were accepted although we often got change in battered old Real)
4. Total days/nights:30

Total expenditure: $1746.50  (£1164.33)

Average daily expenditure: $58.22 (£38.81)

Breakdown:

1. Visa: $80.00 (£53.00)
2. Hotels: Total cost: $705.00 (£470.00), average per night: $23.50 (£16.00)
3. Daytime expenditure: $361.00 (£240.00), average daily cost: $12.00 (£8.00)
4. Evening meals: $361.00 (£241.00), average daily cost: $12.00 (£8.00)
5. Shopping: $6.00 (£4.00)
6. Transport: $123.50 (£82.00), average daily cost: $4.00 (£3.00)
7. Trips: $110.00 (£73.00), average daily cost: $4.00 (£2.50)

Here's how our expenditure looks in a pie chart:

• Sumatra, Indonesia:

Notes: 

1. All prices from March 2015
2. All prices are for 2 people
3. Exchange rate (2014): £1.00 = Rp19,000.00
4. Total days/nights:28

Total expenditure: Rp17,936,050.00  + US$70.00 (£988.00)

Average daily expenditure: £35.29

Breakdown:

1. Visa: $70.00 (£44.00)
2. Hotels: Rp7,947,350.00 (£418.00), average per night: Rp283,834.00    (£15.00)                                                                                                                           
3. Daytime expenditure: Rp1,767,200.00 (£93.00), average daily cost: Rp63,144.00 (£3.00)
4. Evening meals: Rp3,375,500.00 (£178.00), average daily cost: Rp120,554.00 (£6.50)
5. Shopping: Rp631,000.00 (£33.00)
6. Transport: Rp1,675,000.00 (£88.00), average daily cost: Rp59,821.00.00 (£3.00)
7. Trips: Rp2,540,000.00 (£134), average daily cost: Rp90,714.00 (£5.00)

Here's how our expenditure looks in a pie chart:

• Malaysia:

Notes: 

1. All prices from March 2015
2. All prices are for 2 people
3. Exchange rate (2014): £1.00 = RM5.3
4. Total days/nights:3

Total expenditure: RM648.00  (£122.26)

Average daily expenditure: RM216 (£40.75)

Breakdown:

1. Hotel: Private bathroom, with breakfast & swimming pool, booked in advance.                                                                                                                                       Total cost: RM265.00 (£50.00), average per night: RM88.00 (£17.00)
2. Daytime expenditure: RM118.00 (£22.50), average daily cost: RM39.00 (£7.50)
3. Evening meals: RM106.00 (£20.00), average daily cost: RM35.00 (£7.00)
4. Transport: RM159.00 (£30.00), average daily cost: RM53.00 (£10.00)

Here's how our expenditure looks in a pie chart: