I've just been thinking about costs after someone asked me a question about how much to budget for a Cape Town to Europe trip. The first thing I replied was that it cost us however many dollars per day.

As others have said though, this figure isn't that useful. I did some sums and the numbers are wildly different depending on how long you take, and a per km figure is much more useful. I was too lazy to keep detailed records so can't give an acurate per km cost, but as diesel is probably the biggest single cost I worked this out and suprised myself a bit.

For example if you travel 30,000kms and use 12litres of diesel per 100kms at 1$ per litre your daily fuel cost for a 6 month trip is just under $20. But if you take 12 months to do the same trip your daily fuel cost will be under $10.

So yes, the slower you go the less it costs. And sorry to everyone who works in miles / gallons / pounds but I'm also too lazy to convert all the numbers.

So I'm a huge nerd and have built budgeting models for this sort of thing.

I budgeted a trip from UK to Mongolia overland in 2009 and had a 3% variance in budget vs. actuals for the trip so I am utilizing the same method for my UK - Cape Town 2012 trip.

As far as visas, that is a known amount, so that is easy to calculate. Most major ferries can be found ...Aqaba - Egypt, UK-France, Aswan-Wadi Halfa...so that is known.

The 3 major variables to deal with are gas, food, and lodging. FOr fuel, I look at the mileage I am driving in each country and then utilize data on average gas prices and create a weight average cost per gallon based on the mileage...and then apply that to my miles/gallon on the vehicle. I had less than 1% variance using that method in 2009. I was quite pleased.

Food and lodging is based more on preference. I have done a set amount per night. if I assume $5 USD per night for 30 nights, then I am essentially assuming heavy camping and maybe a hostel here or there. That proved to be about right as well on my 09 trip. Food was harder as we had the intention of doing our own cooking, but as we got to more affordable countries, it was hard justify cooking when you could get a meal for $1-2. Again, I looked at a per day budget.

When it came to maintenence on the vehicle...we looked at mileage and calculated oil changes, and stuff like that. We also factored in some money for break downs and other issues. For our purposes we used $500, but will probably go higher for Africa.

Incidentals like souvenirs, entrance to parks can be quite difficult, but do research on where you are going and what you are doing and you can probably nail it down pretty closely. I'm new to this site, but send me a private message if you'd like more info on how i built out the models.

Myself and my fiancee are also looking at uk to cape town and back around 2013 if that fits in with your plans. Got a lwb series landie and a fair bit of mechanical knowledge if it's any help. Planning to take a year out and need to organise everything so any help out there or companions is very welcome. Not of course intending to hijack your thred mate!

Hi Folks, Awesome collection of responses.

Since I started this thread, we've changed plans a little. Ok, a Lot.

we are on our way to Morocco, where we will spend Feb,March and April, then a few stops in Europe on our way to Le Harve where we sail to Buenos Aires from. We will then spend over a year in South America.

we're going to be in a Mog camper, Moglander, and traveling at a gentle pace.

Mongman - If your going to be in Morocco early next year, happy to meet up for a few days, but I think our pace will be a bit slow if your heading for capetown!

Merv.

Sorry been so long answering mate. The wee beastie won't be on the road until summer this year. Gonna take in the billing show and a week in the wilds of somerset this year. Next year we'll be deffo up for a trip to strange lands early 2013 for anyone willing to toddle along with us. And don't worry about speed, i have a 28 year old land rover. Speed don't exist.

Just to give something back:

We're travelling in a Mog, which gulps almost 30 litres per 1000km. We eat well - but cook ourselves. We use bicycles to explore areas once we are parked.

Our cost per day is working out between €40 and €50 per day, based on 2.5 months in morocco. We do an average of between 50 and 100km per day, up to 250km on long days. That figure does not include any insurance cost or ferries, or getting to Morocco.

We could do it cheaper by driving less, and cycling more, and maybe that will come.

Hope this helps others!

Merv.

Hey Merv, nice blog, I enjoy reading it.
One thing. Are You sure its 30 litres per 1000km?? Or should it be 300 liters per 1000km (or 30/100)?? Just seems that mog is THE most fuel efficient vehicle on the planet that way

Ah! Typo. 30 litres per 100km. Thanks!

And thanks for reading the blog. Sometimes it feels like we're talking into a black hole and not even hearing an echo back as we don't know if folks like it, or even if they are reading it.... So thanks for that comment too!

I like reading travel blogs. Currently prepping (well, more like rebuilding) my landy 101 for overlanding so reading other people stories helps me with making some decisions regarding setting up the car.
And I learned something new - never heard of the weather stone before. Is it a typical Irish thing? I lived in Lake District UK for a while and I could have used one there.

I know that feeling. You blog is great. I am really interested in the vehicle build.

Just a quick update on the costs and such. We've now got 16,000km under our belts, and have slowed down a lot - i.e. we dont drive so fast any more. And the fuel consumption is now at 24L per 100km, MUCH better. When I analysed it first, we were spending a lot of time at speed, and in mountains. When we spent more time on the flat, and going slower (usually drive at about 65kph) we get way better fuel economy.