Planning a Round the World Trip is kind of one big numbers game. ‘How much money can I afford to spend?…How cheaply can I get from A to B?…How many cities can I fit in X amount of time?’ And the questions we get about our RTW trip revolve around numbers a lot too. ‘How many days were you gone?…How much money did you take with you?…What was the cheapest country?’ Luckily for the people asking the questions, we are numbers people 🙂 We kept track of all the money we spent, all the accommodations we stayed in, every form of transport we took, and more. We compiled a long list of stats to answer many of the questions we frequently get asked. Planning a trip around the world is a daunting task. And much of it will depend on you just going with the flow and learning as you go. But it is helpful to plan a little before for guidance and so you can save some money to be able to be gone longer and go farther. Hopefully these figures will help you figure out some of your plans for your upcoming Round the World trip!
Number of Continents : 5
Number of Countries : 22
Number of Cities: 77
Check out our RTW Route & Itinerary to see every city!
Total Money Spent: drum roll please….$38,409.63 USD ($19,204.82 per person)
This includes every dollar we spent on things before and during the trip. Things like vaccines and medications, equipment and electronics we bought specially for the trip, all our flights, accommodations, foods, activities, souvenirs, etc. (FYI, if you’ve checked out our RTW Budget, this doesn’t include anything we purchased before the trip and it doesn’t include any transportation costs, it is only our daily expenses in each country.)
Number of Days: 292
Cheapest Country: Laos ($38.50 USD per day)
Most Expensive Country: Australia ($134.33 USD per day – and that was with a week of FREE accommodation and food)
Want to know how we received a week of free food and accommodation in Australia?! Stay tuned!
Wonders of the World We Saw: 4 Modern Wonders, 1 Ancient Wonder
Photos & Videos We Took: over 40,000!!!
Planes: 29
You can track all your air travel with my.flightradar24.com » it’s so cool!
Trains: 10
Ferries: 4
Rental Cars: 2
Both times in South Africa, on the other side of the road from what we’re used to!
Scooters: 3
Safaris: 2
Airbnbs: 14
We love Airbnbs!! If you’ve never stayed in one before, you should totally give it a try! Click here for $40 off your first stay!
Hotels: 41
We usually book our hotels through Booking.com because many of the reservations let you cancel up til the day of the booking – super helpful when you’re constantly traveling and plans change fast!
Hostels: 22
And we almost always book our hostels through Hostelworld! We find that this website has the most up to date information about their listings. And you can usually wait to pay until you check in!
Times Things Went Wrong/Not as Planned: Too many times to count
This is just something that happens as you travel. The bus time you wanted is already all booked up. The day you planned to go hiking, it’s pouring rain. Things like that are unavoidable. But as I said before, you just gotta go with the flow. It’s all part of the long-term travel lifestyle and you’ve gotta embrace it.
Regrets: None 🙂
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Got any questions about planning a RTW trip? Let us know in the comments!
Did you see our RTW Confessions video about the perceptions and reality of RTW travel? Take a peak so you know what to expect and let us know what you think!
Ashly is the founder of reversible travel clothing brand, SPLICE clothing, and half of the budget travel couple, Happy Nomad Couple. She is from Las Vegas, USA and has been to 32 countries on 6 continents. She’s the mastermind behind this blog and does most of the traveling planning and dreaming for her & Carlos.
