$$$ Mucho Dinero!

When we were planning this trip, one thing I found was that it was very difficult to create a budget, because there was so little information about how much it would cost to travel in various parts of the world. We struggled a lot with this, and finally came up with a budget that we were not very confident it. But as it turns out we weren’t very far off, at least as far as Eastern Europe is concerned.
Another thing you may or may not know about me is that I am budget-obsessed. I have recorded and categorized every penny I have spent in the last five years. On this trip, it’s no different. I even record loose change given to buskers. That’s not weird, is it???

We are going to open our books and share this info with you – who knows, maybe it will inspire someone else to give up everything and hit the open road!!!

This is what we spent for 94 days in Eastern Europe:
Lodging: $1987
We spent 51 nights camping, 25 nights in a hostel or private room, 15 free nights with friends, and 3 nights in transit.
Food (including alcohol): $3195
We made all of our breakfasts, and ate lunch/dinner at a restaurant about 40% of the time. So, mostly we cooked for ourselves.
Entertainment and/or Activities: $949
Includes entrances into museums, castles, bike rentals, rock-climbing, concerts etc.
Necessities (clothing, shampoo, internet, sending packages home etc): $1205

Car: $4497
The car cost us $2464, gas and road tolls and parking cost $1985, and maintenance was $53.

Other transportation (not including overseas flights): $688
This includes public transportation and taxis within the city, as well as our transportation from Bratislava to Madrid after we sold the car.

For a grand total of $12521!!

The car costs were way more than we expected, but luckily we were under budget everywhere else, so it all worked out in the end! If we had known how much that car was going to cost us, we might have through twice about doing it, but it really made our trip what it was, and we wouldn’t have changed it for anything.

And here is a video that might be interesting for some...especially for those planning to see him at the Toronto show next month. This is Josh Ritter performing 'Rumours'.
 
-E