Let's Go, Jane!

I think the average temperature this week in Boston was 19 degrees. Needless to say, I have not been able to get any more work done on the van. I can’t wait until next week when Carey and I take a road trip to Florida. Given that I’m in a bit of a holding pattern, it felt like a good moment to look backward instead of forward and take stock of how the last few months actually played out financially. Luckily my trusty budgeting software, YNAB, can answer all of my questions. And probably yours too.

Starting with accommodations, my goal was to come in under an average of $100 per night by staying in a combination of hostels, hotels, and Airbnbs. I’m only looking at the 3+ months I traveled alone, since once my kids joined me in Europe my expenses were much higher. I spent the first 41 nights in Europe, with an average cost per night of $64. Then I spent the next 54 nights in Asia, with an average cost per night of $45. 

I was honestly surprised by this. Not only did I stay under my $100-per-night target, my final average came in at $55. I stayed primarily in shared rooms in hostels, which was not without its drawbacks. But hostels are what made this whole travel adventure possible, and I would do it all over again.

Moving on to transportation, I did not have a specific goal in mind but I wanted to use as many award tickets as I could to offset the cost of flights. In the end, I spent $169 on trains, $68 on buses, and $2,142 on flights (along with 109,500 points and miles). Spread across 21 cities on three continents, that averages out to $113 per city—something I would not have believed possible before this trip.

The cost of food was an average of $38 per day in September (remember, I was in Europe which is much more expensive than Asia). Once I reached Asia, my daily food costs dropped dramatically—to $23 per day—and stayed there from October through November. I’m not going to calculate December because the moment I made it back to Europe and Charley joined me, my food costs skyrocketed. Our first night together in Zurich, we went out for cheese fondue and the bill came to $120. Prior to that, I kept my food costs down by eating one restaurant meal per day and then sticking with either street food or grocery store meals for the rest of the day.

My grand adventure averaged $78 a day for food and a bed, with an additional $113 each time I changed cities. Giving up my apartment and selling my furniture allowed me to live on far less than I had been spending in New York—while having experiences that felt anything but small. It required constant planning, flexibility, and more logistics than I care to repeat anytime soon, but it also proved something important to me: this kind of life is not only possible, it’s sustainable. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to travel this way again, but I’m grateful to know that if I choose it, I can make it work.