Expenses

The two questions I get asked most often after one of these trips is (a) how in the world can I afford to travel for so long and (b) how much did a trip like this cost. The answer to (a) - i.e. on a shoestring budget to a certain extent answers (b). But for those of you form whom such an answer is too vague, I'm following an example set by a lawschool classmate and will provide you with a per-country breakdown as the trip proceeds.

The charts you will find below will break the costs down into the main categories of accommodations, transportation, sightseeing, food and miscellaneous. Sometimes some extra categories are added in to take into account such things as scuba diving in the Red Sea. My general goal is to keep the budget to about $50 CAD per day - sometimes that's easier than at other times. What makes such a budget even remotely possible is the fact that I’m not buying much in terms of souvenirs nor do I drink much. The PPPD is the per person per day rate.

Holland - 4 Days	$34	PPPD
Transportation	$8	$2
Food	$71	$18
Accommodations	$0	$0
Sights	$51	$13
Miscellaneous	$7	$2

Note:Accommodations for our stay in Amsterdam were generously provided by Agnes and transportation by Robert. Without those two benefits our budget in Amsterdam would have been much higher.

Egypt - 9 Days	$59	PPPD
Transportation	$110	$12
Food	$125	$14
Accommodations	$20	$2
Sights	$63	$7
Scuba & Photo	$182	$20
Miscellaneous	$31	$3

Note:The accommodation expeses account for only 2 nights spent in a hotel. The rest of our Egypt stay was spent Couchsurfing with Nader. The transportation costs are incredibly high due to the $80US ferry ride from Nuweiba to Aqaba. The miscellaneous category also includes a $15US entry visa.

Jordan - 3 Days	$78	PPPD
Transportation	$90	$30
Food	$18	$6
Accommodations	$36	$12
Sights	$90	$30
Miscellaneous	$2	$0.50

Note:Accommodations again account for only one night since two were spent Couchsurfing. This brought down our food hosts since thanks to the hospitality of our host we didn't have to buy any food on our last day in Jordan (although we did have a very filling meal with drinks the day before for about $2 per person). Transportation costs are quite high since we rented a private taxi to take us to Jerash and the Dead Sea as are the sight seeing costs which include the 33JD (nearly $50) entry fee for Petra. Jordan has proved to be the most expensive country to date.

Syria - 5 Days	$38	PPPD
Transportation	$36	$7
Food	$36	$7
Accommodations	$21	$4
Sights	$8	$2
Miscellaneous	$90	$18

Note:Accommodation costs once again account for only two nights spent in hostels since we were hosted by Sam in Damascus for one night and Lise in Homs for two. The miscellaneous costs are extremely high given the $11 departure tax (which we had to pay twice) and the $56US visa. They do not include the visa costs we had incurred prior to leaving Canada (somewhere in the excess of $100CAD). If not for all the border expenses, Syria has been the cheapest country by far.

Lebanon - 3 Days	$47	PPPD
Transportation	$27	$9
Food	$48	$16
Accommodations	$33	$11
Sights	$16	$5
Miscellaneous	$17	$6

Note:Accommodations and food were quite expensive in Lebanon. In Beirut, a bed on a rooftop patio with 6 others cost $8US per person. The miscellaneous expenses include a $16 visa.

Turkey - 15 Days	$62	PPPD
Transportation	$307	$21
Food	$225	$15
Accommodations	$135	$9
Sights	$155	$10
Miscellaneous	$107	$7

Note:Turkey proved to be more expensive than expected but there are several reasons for that. To start, it's the first country where I've actually purchased souvenirs. They don't account for much, but they nevertheless bump up the miscellaneous total. Secondly, we decided to rent a car. Between 3 of us and including the really expensive gas, and excessive transfer fee (since we were dropping it off in a different city) the car came out to about $180CAD per person for 5 days. It was definitely pricier than if we had traveled by bus, but we got to see much more in the short period of time and don't regret the rental. Thirdly, entry costs were relatively high. Most museums and sights charged between 15-20TL ($10-15CAD) even for just a tiny little museum. On the other hand, accommodation costs are again quite low. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, we surfed for 3 nights, but more importantly, most of our bus rides were long distance night rights that eliminated the need for accommodations.

Bulgaria - 4 Days	$25	PPPD
Transportation	$33	$8
Food	$37	$9
Accommodations	$9	$2
Sights	$1	$0.20
Miscellaneous	$20	$5

Note: Bulgaria so far has been the cheapest country of all. Food was incredibly inexpensive; sightseeing costs were virtually non-existent since most of its beauty was natural; accommodations were only for one night since two were spent with amazing hosts in Veliko Tarnovo. If you subtract the $20 I spent on a necklace from the miscellaneous costs, the daily total comes out to about $20.

Romania - 4 Days	$52	PPPD
Transportation	$98	$25
Food	$59	$15
Accommodations	$46	$12
Sights	$8	$2
Miscellaneous	$0	$0

Note: Romania was again a relatively cheap country. Our costs were brought up by the fact that we again rented a vehicle for 3 days which constitutes the largest portion of our transport expenses. However, the transport also includes a relatively expensive ($40 CAD) overnight train from Bucharest to Belgrade. Food was relatively inexpensive considering that we splurged on a large meal with wine and still paid less than $15 per person. Accommodations were relatively pricier than in some of the earlier countries (one night we spent with Couchsurfing hosts in Bucharest). Sightseeing costs are greatly reduced with a student card.

Serbia - 2 Days	$41	PPPD
Transportation	$30	$15
Food	$51	$25
Accommodations	$0	$0
Sights	$0	$0
Miscellaneous	$0	$0

Note: We spent only two days in Belgrade surfing Ray's couch. As such there were no accommodation costs or any other extraneous costs since we just roamed the city. Food ended up comprising the largest part of our total, but keep in mind that we splurged on an opera box with what was to be live opera music, a three course meal and a couple bottles of wine. Other than that, $25 of the transportation costs accounts for our bus to Sarajevo.

Bosnia - 4 Days	$59	PPPD
Transportation	$44	$11
Food	$54	$14
Accommodations	$59	$15
Sights	$39	$10
Miscellaneous	$39	$10

Note: Bosnia was gorgeous and well worth seeing. However, the one thing that wasn't worth a penny was the tour that we took in Mostar (refer to the blog for more details). The $38.00 could have been spent in a much better way. Aside for that accommodation costs have now gone up and tend to range around the 12.50 Euro per night (aside for Sarajevo where we couchsurfed). Miscellaneous costs are comprised of some baggage fees on buses and yet another souvenir purchase. Minus the unfortunate tour and the souvenir the daily total would have been $41.

Montenegro - 3 Days	$42	PPPD
Transportation	$32	$11
Food	$41	$14
Accommodations	$51	$17
Sights	$2	$1
Miscellaneous	$0	$0

Note: Montenegro was the first country we have been to with the Euro. As such everything automatically becomes more expensive. However, we managed to keep costs down due to a number of factors. Firstly, we didn't move around much. We kept Kotor as our base and did little day trips out of it. This reduced our transportation costs. Secondly, the accommodations we found had access to a kitchen and having gotten tired of restaurant food, we did most of our cooking thereby decreasing our food expenses. I think we may have eaten one meal out. Had we been eating all our meals at the restaurants, our total spending would have gone up drastically.

Croatia - 11 Days	$48	PPPD
Transportation	$124	$11
Food	$216	$20
Accommodations	$140	$13
Sights	$37	$4
Miscellaneous	$7	$1

Note: Croatia was the first country where we did absolutely no couchsurfing. Accommodations varied from place to place. Most of the time we were approached by various people at the train stations and/or ports offering us rooms for rent. Generally in those situations you are able to negotiate a reasonable price. The most expensive turned out to be the dorm room in the hostel in Zagreb. Food turned out to be surprisingly pricy considering that we did a decent amount of cooking ourselves, both in terms of breakfasts and dinners. Sightseeing costs would have been significantly higher but for the use of the student card (both the Dubrovnik walls and the Plitvice Lakes offered substantial discounts).

Slovenia - 5 Days	$65	PPPD
Transportation	$154	$31
Food	$80	$16
Accommodations	$0	$0
Sights	$75	$15
Miscellaneous	$16	$3

Note: Slovenia was our second country with the Euro. In contrast to Croatia, every single night in Slovenia was spent with Couchsurfing hosts. First we were hosted by Andrej in Ljubljana and then by Florjan near Lake Bled. Transportation expenses are quite significant since they include a three day car rental (along with parking and gas that enabled us to cover virtually the entire country), as well as an international train ticket that took us back via Zagreb to Budapest. Unlike in Romania and Turkey where the car rental costs got split between three of us, there were now only two of us to share the costs. Food costs are also relatively low given that in the mornings at Lake Bled we were very well fed due to our hosts amazing hospitality and other than that, we somehow seemed to require only one meal per day. Sightseeing includes our visit to the Caves and my Canyoning Excursion in Bovec. Had we not rented the car, our expenses would have been much lower, but then we would not have seen as much as we did.

Hungary - 6 Days	$46	PPPD
Transportation	$82	$14
Food	$96	$16
Accommodations	$33	$6
Sights	$19	$3
Miscellaneous	$46	$7

Note: In Hungary we were again quite lucky tracking down contacts through Couchsurfing. We stayed with Tomasz in Pecs for two nights and I also stayed in Eger with Nandor. The largest chunk of the transportation expenses is by 15 hour train journey from Eger to Lviv (which totals 12,395 Forint). Food was quite pricy in Budapest but once again we had somehow switched to eating virtually one meal a day. The steep food/drink prices became quite obvious once I made it to Eger and could get a good meal with a beer for under 1000 Forint. The Miscellaneous costs include a trip to the opera to see Don Giovani and an evening spent in the Hungarian baths/spa.