As mentioned in my first article, I will be posting frequent travel budget updates. This will be the first in the series, covering everything I’ve purchased in preparation for my next trip. In addition to travel expenses I will also share details on the cost to run this website.

Travel Budget

An often overlooked aspect of long term traveling are the costs incurred before you even leave home. Things like insurance, vaccinations, travel adapters, etc. When planning a long trip be sure to include any of the following that apply to you.

Passport

If you’re planning your first international trip, this will most likely be your first purchase. As I’ve had mine for quite some time already, this wasn’t an additional expense for me. Be sure to apply early! Turnaround time is usually weeks to months, depending on your home country.

My cost: $0

Flight

You’ve got your passport, now it’s time to fly somewhere! This will obviously be dependent on your location, destination and timing of your purchase. If you’re like me (and most other travelers) and use credit card sign-up bonuses, your flight may be free. As I’m not exactly sure of my return date, I only booked a 1-way ticket to England. The cost of the flight was covered by credit card miles, minus the 9/11 security fee ($5.60).

My cost: $5.60

Hotel

Hotels, hostels, and AirBnB will all be used on this trip. As a backpacker you have more freedom to move around as you please. Length of stay in each destination isn’t predetermined. As a result, I have made zero reservations at this time. I tend to make most reservations the day of or day before. This may be different for you. I know some like to plan out everyday and know exactly where you’ll be staying every night. Nothing wrong with that, just a different style of travel. Accommodation costs will be tallied and included in future updates.

My cost: $0

Travel Insurance

A wide variety of options and coverage’s are available from a large number of companies. This will vary from person to person and country to country. You’ll see most travel blogs pushing World Nomads as the consensus choice. I nearly chose them myself, until I was quoted $471.56 “Standard” or $636.59 “Explorer.” Compared to numerous other quotes, this was quite high. Perhaps worth it if it’s truly the best,right? Well, I turned to Reddit, Tripadvisor and Consumeraffairs for user experiences and did not like what I saw. I believe this is a case of websites collecting commissions and promoting World Nomads regardless of quality.

I did some more searching and came across Allianz Global Assistance. For this same trip, Allianz quoted me a whopping $51. Yes, $51. I looked up user experiences and Consumeraffairs, both seemed pretty good. I decided to go for it. For the coverage I needed, it made sense for me. I will write a more detailed post on insurance in the future.

My cost: $51

Vaccinations

I read all over the internet and the suggestions range from not necessary to take everything you can. Of course these are very dependent on the countries you will be visiting and the activities you’ll be doing. I decided to schedule an appointment with a nearby infectious disease doctor who was certified by the WHO for travel medicine.

The doctor was not too worried with Europe, but warned about Tick Born Encephalitis if venturing into the forests of Europe. This vaccine is not available in the US, only when in Europe.

In Southeast Asia, he was mostly concerned with Cambodia and Laos. He mentioned Japanese Encephalitis, Malaria, and Rabies. Unfortunately, these vaccines are very expensive and not covered by insurance. What’s worse, rabies is not actually a vaccine, it just provides you with more time for treatment in case you are bitten. Rabies vaccine is a series of 3 shots, each $350. JE was two shots at $350 each. Malaria pills were suggested, but I opted to wait. I won’t be in Asia for four months and can most likely purchase them for cheaper while I’m there. So, what did I end up taking? The three covered by my health insurance.

• Typhoid
• Hep A
• Tetanus

He also recommended finding the highest DEET spray you can while in Asia, it will keep the mosquitoes away. In addition to DEET spray, you can apply Permethrin to clothes (not skin) as an additional barrier. I will purchase these items when I arrive in Asia as I don’t want to deal with carrying chemicals and airline restrictions.

My cost: $0 

International Drivers Permit

Plan on renting a car during your next trip? An International Drivers Permit (IDP) may be required. You’ll hear various reports on whether it’s actually necessary, but for the price, I prefer to err on the side of caution. If you’re never pulled over or have a favorable interaction with an officer, you may never need to display your permit. Your choice. The following countries in Europe technically require a permit: Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, and Spain. The IDP is applied for and purchased at any AAA location (for those in the USA). The process takes less than 15 minutes and AAA membership is not required. Bring two passport photos with you or have them taken at AAA ($8). The IDP is $20 and good for one year.

My cost: $28

Clothing

First of all, you may be bringing clothes you already have and spend nothing here, which is usually the case for me. As this will be my longest trip away from home, quite a few items were purchased.

Merino Wool

If you look around, you’ll see that Merino wool is mentioned everywhere. Merino wool is breathable and cool in the summer, but keeps you warm in the winter. It is also stain, odor, and wrinkle resistant. The problem? 100% Merino wool products are very expensive! A single pair of Merino wool socks can run you $20! While I can see the benefits for someone backpacking in the country for days on end. It’s not really necessary to convert my whole wardrobe to wool while backpacking cities in Europe and Asia. As I will usually have access to a washing machine (though not usually a dryer), I opted for quick drying materials. After doing some research I decided on the items below (Amazon links are provided if you’re interested).

Travel specific clothing

• Omni Wool Endurance Pro – as mentioned, Merino wool can cost you $20 for a single pair. Instead I purchased this 3-pack of Omni Wool socks for $12. Comfortable, quick drying, and don’t hold onto odor as cotton socks do.
• Adidas Climalite Boxer Briefs – I took the advice of 1500+ positive reviews and went with these underwear. Lightweight and breezy, especially noticeable if changing from cotton to these. They fit nicely and of course, dry quickly!
• DryLite Towel – these are excellent travel towels. You’ll find mostly positive reviews all around the internet. Super absorbent, quick drying, and fold up very compact. Always handy to have around, you’ll use it more than you think!
• Wool & Prince Button-Down Shirt – This was my one large clothing purchase ($128, yikes!). I was intrigued by the story of the owner who wore a wool shirt for 100 days without washing or ironing it. I will put this shirt to the test this summer and update when I return.

These were the only travel specific clothing purchases made for this trip. The rest will be clothes that I normally wear at home. Denim jeans, t-shirts, board shorts, and tennis shoes.

My cost: $199

Toiletries and accessories

I haven’t made any purchases for toiletries as I’ll be bringing everything from home.

The only accessories I’ve purchased are a couple of travel adapters that work in nearly every country. In addition to working in every country, they are kind of cool to play with. Sort of a transformers toy turned travel adapter.

• Kikkerland UL03-A Universal Travel Adapter

My cost: $14

Backpack

I needed a backpack to contain my laptop, DSLR and two lenses along with the rest of my stuff. As I often fly budget airlines, I also needed a bag that fit most carry-on specifications (to avoid expensive baggage fees). After days of searching I finally came across the Mindshift Ultralight 36L. If you’re traveling with photography gear, this may work for you as well. I’m currently using a Nikon D750, plus a 24-70 and 70-200. If you’re using anything larger than that, it most likely won’t fit. My camera and lenses fit quite snug as it is.

• Mindshift Ultralight Dual 36L Camera Backpack

If you’re not travelling with photography gear (most people), I recommend anything that meets most carry-on limits. This will help you avoid baggage fees on budget airlines. It will also force you to pack lighter and make your backpacking experience more enjoyable. Trust me, you don’t need that much stuff! If you’d rather not do the research yourself, or would like to know my personal recommendation. Go with the Osprey Farpoint 40 as your first backpack. 40L is plenty of room (make it work!) and it will meet carry-on limits on most any airline.

• Osprey Farpoint 40 Travel Backpack

My cost: $180

Total travel cost: $467.60

Website budget

The previous total includes expenses I’d be paying regardless if I was attempting to run this website or not. If you’re just planning to travel without blogging, you can follow that template to estimate your own pre-trip expenses. If you’re interested in the cost to run a website of your own while travel blogging, continue reading below!

Domain/Host/SSL

I decided on a shared hosting program as this is a brand new website. With minimal traffic towards a new website, shared hosting should be able handle the load. I decided to purchase my domain, shared hosting and SSL all through namecheap. Since I’ve started this website, I’ve run into zero issues with namecheap. I will of course update if any issues should arise!

• My .com domain cost $10.87/year.
• Shared hosting cost is $15.90/year.
• SSL certificate runs $9/year.

My cost: $35.77

Laptop

Can’t run a travel website without a computer! I needed a lightweight and portable laptop that would fit in my bag. I also wanted something with a bit of power as I will also be editing photos in Lightroom. Eventually I decided on a Dell XPS 15, which has an excellent form factor. It looks like a 13″ laptop when compared to my previous 15″ laptop. The bezel is thin and provides a beautiful end to end screen.

My cost: $1600

Supplemental insurance

Travel insurance generally only covers so much for lost luggage ($1000-$3000). What’s worse is that there is generally a per item limit. For example, Allianz (my travel insurer) offers a $500 per article limit. Meaning if my camera ($1500) or laptop ($1600) is stolen, I’d only receive $500 toward each item. Seeing as I am traveling with a lot of camera gear and a laptop, I felt it necessary to insure my electronics separately.

What most people don’t realize is that homeowner/renters insurance usually covers your belongings when traveling. To take things further I took out a personal articles policy with State Farm for my camera and lenses. This covers my equipment worldwide from loss or theft. It even covers accidental drops or damages. I’ll gladly pay this premium for peace of mind when traveling for the next year. Renters insurance is $130/year, while the personal articles policy for my camera gear was $92.80/year.

My cost: $222.80

Total website cost: $1858.57

My total pre-trip expenses: $2326.10

Well, there you have it! Already well over $2000 spent and I haven’t even left my house. Luckily, I already have a passport and camera or I would incurred even more expenses. Also, as most of you won’t be travel blogging or practicing photography, you’ll have much less expenses to worry about! 

A note on transparency

For those not already familiar with this website, know that it was developed as an experiment to try and become a travel blogger from scratch. Any type of advertisement, affiliate marketing, etc. will be explicitly stated so. This post contains links to Amazon that will provide me with a small portion of the sale if you decide to purchase anything within 24 hours after clicking the link. In addition, this post also contains a link to my hosting provider, namecheap. As a result, if anyone clicks through the banner and signs up for anything from namecheap, I will receive a commission for the referral.

Next article: RTW Trip – Update #1

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