Budgeting

We like comfort. We just don’t want to spend a lot of money for it. So how much do we spend for one reasonably comfortable international trip?

• air fare: We can find round trip flights from a major city in the U.S. to most other major cities around the world for about $400 to $700 avoiding the high season. Our strategy is to find a cheap flight to a major hub in the destination continent. Then there usually are many budget options available for flights within the same continent. We can easily find flights under $500 to Europe or Asia from LAX. We like Norwegian to Europe. Chinese airlines offer lots of cheap options to Asia through Beijing or Shanghai or Chengdu. Our favorite among the Chinese airlines is Hainan Airlines for comfort and service. Airfare comparison/prediction sites such as Skyscanner.com is very useful. We avoid a middle seat, and we don’t mind not sitting together in order to have aisle seats which give us a little more freedom to move around or stretch. We typically book about 2-4 months in advance. Flying one way does not necessarily cost much more than half the cost of a round trip these days, and we often do this if that makes the travel routing more convenient.

hub cities for cheap flights: London, Paris, Oslo, Stockholm,Copenhagen, Reykjavik, Barcelona(for Europe), Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul(for all Asia), Hong Kong,Bangkok, Singapore(for Southeast Asia), Mexico City, Lima, Guatemala City, Bogota(for South America)

• lodging: We pack light, and this means we may need to do a laundry during our trip. So we use Airbnb a lot. We use trip.com, a Chinese site, to book a hotel in China, where we’ve had mixed results on Airbnb. We can find a nice room for $50-80/night in most cities and towns(you can save a lot by choosing a private room rather than renting an entire place on Airbnb & the local hosts can be great source of local information) around the world($100-120 in Iceland or New York). We usually shoot for a 4 or 5 star quality room if our stay is at least 2 days. For one night, we are willing to crash anywhere as long as the location is convenient for whatever we are doing there.   
• local transportation, tours, and admissions: We study the transportation pass options before we buy tickets. Many cities offer flat rate one or multiple day passes that save money. In general, local tour operators offer cheaper tour prices than those who cater to foreign tourists online. And most local tour agencies let you book under 24 hours in advance. Many museums and attractions around the world have free admission days or senior/student discounts. We take advantage of all of these. We tend to budget about $20/day/person on the average for local transportation and admissions. We would consider an organized tour if the price is under $50 per person for a full day tour.

• food: our basic rule is to find “cheap and good” eateries wherever we go. But, if we go to a place where price of living is very reasonable, then we try fancy restaurants and splurge. We typically budget $100/day for the two of us for most places except in Scandinavia or Iceland where our budget doubles($160-200). In China, Southeast Asia or South America, we can budget as low as $20 to $50 per day. This includes a beer/wine for Pat for each meal. Breakfast can be at home with just coffee/tea, fruits/juices, and bakery goods. Tipping is not always necessary outside of the U.S.
• Shopping: We do not like to add too much weight onto our luggage, thus, we stay with small items when we shop. We barely spend $100-200 per trip.

total budget: When we get on an international flight that takes longer than 6 hours, we stay at least 9-10 days in the area before heading back home. So it will look something like this:

	China/SE Asia	most others	N. Europe
flights	$600 x 2 people = 1200	600 x 2 = 1200	500 x 5 = 1000
lodging	$60 x 10 days = 600	70 x 10 = 700	120 x 10 = 1200
local transport	$20 x 10 days = 200	20 x 10 = 200	25 x 10 = 250
admission	$20 x 5 times = 100	20 x 5 = 100	30 x 5 = 150
meals	$50 x 10 days = 500	100 x 10 = 1000	180 x 10 = 1800
shopping	$200 x 1 = 200	200 x 1 = 200	200 x 1 = 200
TOTAL:	$2,800 for two	$3,400 for two	$4,600 for two

• traveling with friends: We frequently go on a trip with 2-8 friends. We may not be as nimble traveling as a group, but it does add more stories and often saves money especially with lodging and arranged tours. For instance, a 2 bedroom house for $120/night tends to be nicer than a $70/night studio on Airbnb. And with a small group of people, you can arrange a private tour which will end up costing less than joining a bus tour, and it will be much more pleasant.
• We actually spend less than the numbers in the chart above. You will be able to see our actual costs under the “itinerary” section in each continent. In general, the biggest cost is the international flights. This means you can add more days/weeks  for just a few hundred more dollars.
• To have some idea how people live in the area we are visiting, I often ask the locals very gently, like, “how much can a school teacher make each month?” Here is an indicator on this subject.
• Here are some food price indexes that will help you plan your food budget: a local beer, a three course meal for 2, a 12 oz. bottle of water, one dozen eggs, consumer price index(including rent) compared to New York City.