How much money would a couple need to travel the world?

13 Comments

In order to travel the world for 6-8 months and travel mostly by train but also by plane and stay at cheap hostels 75% of the time and hotels 25% of the time. How much do you think would they need in savings? They wouldn't do any costly activities and would try to spend as little as possible on food/sight-seeing.

They'd stay at each place between 4-9 days and visit:

England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Lithuania, Romania, Greece, Hungary, Estonia, Ukraine, Turkey, Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, South Africa, California and New York.

What do you think is the minimum they need to have saved?

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  • hauntedbysandwiches
    9 years ago | pl

    My friend traveled solo for 6 months and only spent $6000 but she had free miles and she stayed at some really run-down hostels for under $10. Hostels are usually $15-$25 a night and trains can be up to $40 a person. If you add up the $20 a night and $40 for train every few days, it comes to $5000 per person. Then you have food which can be up to $20 a day per person which would come to $3000 on top of the $5000. So that puts you at $8000 per person WITHOUT ANY airfare and only for 6 months.

    So I'd say a minimum of $20000 BUT there are ways to do this cheaper. Join a flying club, accumulate miles on a card and you can also actually go to a travel agency and they can find you the cheapest ways around it. There are also websites that have pre-made itineraries which show you what hostel to stay at and what time you should fly to each country to save money. This can usually be done for $10000 for two people but they usually only list 8-10 places max. Then all you'd have to worry about after the 10k would be food and sight-seeing activities.

    I know some people have traveled the world for 10k for an entire year without problems. It all comes down to research. I haven't traveled yet but I know many who have.

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  • EccentricWeird
    9 years ago | pl

    ONE. BEELEEON. DOLLARZ.

    MUEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!

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  • JustARandomNerd
    9 years ago | pl

    More like 50-100 to actually travel with leisure

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    • peaceandlovebro
      9 years ago | pl

      I don't know where you'd get that calculation from. It's probably more like $18,000 for two people. My brother traveled the world once three years ago for five months and spent $7000 with lots of leisure.

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      • Shroot
        9 years ago | pl

        The economy has changed a lot since then....

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        • hauntedbysandwiches
          9 years ago | pl

          Economy didn't change that drastically for hostels/food abroad.

          My brother just got back from visiting 14 countries in 5 months for $7500. He just graduated uni, worked at his part time job for a year and only had $7500 and so he made it work. He said most hostels were $15, he only spent a max of $30 a day on food/sight-seeing so each day was only $45. He flew once and he took trains the rest of the time.

          So I'd imagine two people for a few months more along with a few more flights would be about $20,000 or so in total. $50,000-100k for 6 months is absurd. That means you're spending $300 - $500 a day! Most people never exceed $100 a day in Europe unless they're dining at the highest $200 meal restaurants and buying $100 souvenirs.

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          • donotmockme
            9 years ago | pl

            That depends on what countries you're visiting because while some are only $30 for two in a hostel and maybe $30 on top of that for food/sight-seeing, some are actually double or triple that. So it does depend on what countries you visit.

            If the OP is so specific, it will mean he/she'll have to spend more for sure. Insert a few cheaper countries and remove some of the more expensive ones and you're good to go but if not, it'll be more than 20k but definitely not over 40k unless she spends a week in the expensive countries.

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      • JustARandomNerd
        9 years ago | pl

        It might've been possible to get off with that after the whole 9-11 price drops nearly a decade ago but it would be nearly impossible to travel with only that kind of money unless you are chill with bumming it out

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        • ilovetoiletrolls
          9 years ago | pl

          A lot of people think like you. They assume it's more than it is but nope.

          Before the hostel and train costs, it's $30 a person per day. With $60 among two people, you can get a full lunch, dinner and entries into a museum or concert. There are also hundreds of free things to do instead of spending it elsewhere. There are free parks, free museums and more.

          So x2 =$60. That's 1,800 a month x 6 months and you are left with a mere $10,800 before costs of plane/hostels. Tack on plane fees within Europe, plane fees for America, hostel and hotel costs and that's another $8,000 -$10,000. So in total, it really is $20,000 for 6 months and most likely $27,000 for 8 months. However, if you want to go all out and party like a rockstar spending hundreds of dollars a day, yes, $5000 - $8000 a month is your go-to but most travelers don't do that.

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    • RoseIsabella
      9 years ago | pl

      I wish I could travel like that!

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  • mystery7
    8 years ago | pl

    I did 6 months solo, traveling to Singapore, West Africa, Germany, Greece, Mexico, Cuba, LA, Hawaii. Spent around $10,000 USD. Roughly $55 a day.

    Most of the countries you've listed are probably quite expensive, so you should double that to about $100. I reckon around $20,000 for 2 people should just about cover it.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      8 years ago | pl

      THANK YOU! I have actually been thinking of choosing the least expensive countries and leaving out some of the more expensive to save money. I suppose if I cut out most of the highest ones, I can spend longer time in others and save so much money that way.

      It's so funny you comment on this now as this is 6 months old but I was JUST thinking about this again for the first time in months...really a coincidence! Thanks, very helpful. I am thinking we'll only have about $15k anyway so I'll definitely have to cut some out.

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  • anti-hero
    9 years ago | pl

    More than 20

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