How high are your expenses per day? By GLobelar

A very logical question.

However, this question is not easy to answer. It differs per continent. It differs per country. It varies by region. It even differs per neighborhood.

Everyone spends the most money on a bed, food and transport.

Bed.

I usually choose to take a bed in or close to the center. It makes me feel more free. A feeling of freedom is important to me. In a center you can often easily walk to tourist attractions. Go to a restaurant or supermarket. An ATM is around the corner. A bed in the center is more expensive than outside. However, I rarely or never need a taxi to get back. In a next blog I will go deeper into the phenomenon of bed searching.

Food

I love it. I rarely cook during my trip. Usually there are no kitchens. In Central America, but there a cheap meal on the street or in a small restaurant was not much more expensive than cooking yourself. Buying food also takes time. The hassle of lugging even more stuff is a disadvantage.

Things can leak. I often take the daily menu or the special of the day. Cheap and often tasty. I also see it as a great contribution to the economy. More people are making money from me. If you cook yourself, and that is of course your right, only your hostel and the supermarket make money.

Eating somewhere is also a social event. Especially when you eat on the street. Buy and eat wherever the locals go. In Asia, the food stalls often still have a table and chair available. Plastic, of course. You have a quick chat at the spots. And if a chat doesn’t work because of the language barrier, you can laugh at each other. Make a toast with each other. Let it be known that you like the food. Small gestures often give a generous smile.

I prefer a bed with breakfast. Just get up. Showering. Having breakfast. Brushing your teeth and taking to the streets. Fast and easy. At a buffet I have a generous breakfast so that I don’t have to have lunch. Also a saving.

Transport

I only book my flight ticket to and from the Netherlands. Booking a return is often cheaper than a one-way trip. On the spot I look at the possibilities. For example, in Guatemala, the super fun and colorful “chicken buses” are very nice to see. They are also cheap.

However, most drivers are true kamikaze daredevils. And the trajectories are short. Which means that you are on the road for hours and have to transfer often. The bus does not leave until the driver thinks the bus is full enough. Planning is therefore not possible.

I opted for a kind of minivan (tourist shuttle or luxury bus). It took me 2.5 hours for the distance for about Euro 10. With the chicken bus it was about Euro 3.50. In terms of time it would have taken at least 6 hours to longer. The buses are much fuller. It sure is fun. So I took a short drive to a village in the mountains. Due to the many bends, the driver cannot drive very fast.

Often it is a van

Sometimes I book a day trip to my next destination. Along the way you will see a few more tourist attractions. I will not go back to my starting point. A convenient way of 2 for the price of 1. A day trip and transport to my next destination. In Colombia I opted for domestic flights.

The duration was often an hour instead of 7 hours in a bus on a road full of curves in the mountains. The ticket price was about double that of the bus. Fly usd 85 bus usd 38. I am not carsick and would like to keep it that way. In China I took the high-speed train.

Traveling by train in very pleasant. You have more space and room to move than on an airplane. And you can look outside on the way. That way you see more of a country. (Although there was not much to see in China. It was the middle of winter when I was there).

In Germany I opted for the flixbus. Super cheap. The choice was the 2.5-hour train for Euro 80 or the Flixbus for Euro 20 and then 6 hours. I really don’t consume 60 euros on a bus. That saves for the bed and the food.

There are often several choices for bed, food and transport. I determine what I choose for each country. I often do this one time and that at another time. It depends on the route. The time it takes. And of course the price. Let’s be honest. I have more time than money. So often that golden combination wins.

Until the next blog