Every expense was tracked in a spreadsheet from internet cafés along the way —
long distance transport, hostels, visas, museum tickets, all of it.
These are the actual numbers, in 2001/2002 US dollars.
$27,182
Total spent (both)
For 474 days
$13,591
Per person
For the whole trip
$29
Per person / day
Average across 474 days
Where the money went
Spending by category
Long distance transportBuses, trains, flights between countries
Museum / entrance feesPetra, Taj Mahal, Angkor, Machu Picchu, etc.
$1,0974.0%
SupermarketCooking when we could
$1,0914.0%
Out to eatStreet food and cheap restaurants
$7942.9%
Post & phoneSending postcards and parcels home
$5432.0%
Local transportTuktuks, taxis, urban buses
$4091.5%
Internet cafésUpdating this site!
$2871.1%
BooksLonely Planets and trip reading
$2370.9%
Laundry & luggage storageWashing clothes, lockers
$700.3%
About these numbers: the trip ran March 2001 — July 2002. Prices then were lower
than today (very roughly: $1 in 2001 ≈ $1.80 in 2026). Long-distance transport (international flights, big bus
rides) was the single biggest cost — about half of everything else combined. Day-to-day spending
while in a country was much cheaper than the daily average suggests.