Is that with the two bikes or are you planning on only one this time?

How much time (months? or better still years?? ) are the costs calculated for?

2 bikes for about 3 months.

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Goodness. I've taken a few trips in my life (bike, car, backpack, train, plane, boat....) and never spent near that much. $45k for two for three months is $250/day (and sharing rooms, at that); $25k for five weeks is over $700 per day.

I've calculated expenses door to door more than once--even including the cost of the bike brand new, then writing it off at trip's end, and even including the Antarctic cruise I took last year--and never come close to $250 per day. I'm not saying it can't be done, because obviously anyone with a taste for life's finer things could accomplish this. But I'm sure saying I've never done it...and hope I never will.

I think I'd have to concentrate very hard to spend $700 per day; I guess I could do it if properly motivated and equipped with a shovel, a pile of cash and an open window. But I don't think these figures really apply to the majority of riders....and I'm usually the one scoffing at lowball figures which exclude tires and repairs, flights, touring away from the bike, shipping, or depreciation.

Maybe I'm wrong and there are hordes of riders staying night after night in $150 rooms and eating $50 dinners. Wouldn't be the first time I was out of step with the universe.

Safe journeys!

Mark

$150 for a room doesn't even include taxes and at $50 for dinner? ...no aperitif, no wine?

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

A bit of a sample of costs I've allowed for. This is all for a single person/bike. $8000 for shipping return which allows for flying in because I can't wait around for it and don't want to deal with port changes and the like, flights $3500 return, 4 sets of tyres about $1500 which is based on assumed inflated prices of tyre prices (1.75x) from my normal supplier, $1500 in fuel, $900 carnet (haven't looked into that one), insurance $800, $3000 in hotels (4 night/week @ $60. This is my contingency fund), $1400 in visa's allowing for $100 in visa and border costs for 14 visa's, $4000 food (40 bucks/day). Just these items comes to nearly $25000.

I reckon my spreadsheet will only get bigger, because I haven't allowed for the ferry into Europe nor Egypt or any excursions. Calculating daily costs is misleading.

And people wonder why I don't travel as much anymore. Hitchhiking is heaps cheaper. Last hotel in London I had was a complete dive in the Victoria station area for 50 quid. Living in hotels all day everyday adds up. Especially in tourist hot spots. For tourists from Australia you want to see as much as possible which only adds to the cost. Few cars, museums, theatre, etc.. etc..

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Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Your right it does add up in the end!! Im travelling at the moment, and I am on a 'cheap as chips' budget! The only problem, countries like India have gotten more expensive in the last two years, so Ive gone from thinking I am able to save a bit of money to compensate for the extra spending in Australia and Sri Lanka to not even been able too as I am boarder lining my budget or even some days overing over!

Currently I am traveling 400km per day - that gas is 80% of my budget let alone a 6-9 hotel (with safe bike parking! i could get cheaper but this is a scary option for a girl alone with a 'race' bike (as the indians call it!). Most of the time my food is about $5 AUS per day for all meals (but im a girl and can eat off the street for 20c)

I am hoping once i can start wild camping the cost of everything will come down!! Damn inflation! But saying all of this, I wasnt serious at working out what my budget would be, I just always thought I could fit everything into $1000 AUS per month - im going over this if you include shipping, parts etc up until today!

This would be a great poll, based on a single person.

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Big difference between #20 at $100 per day, #25 at $250 per day, and #26 trying without success to stick with $35 per day (A$1000/month).

I would suggest that $35 per day including everything is impossible to sustain on a long trip unless very dedicated to living cheaply and also not moving very fast (so little petrol consumed). It would probably help to be lucky too. You could do this in Venezuela with its 6 cent/gallon gasoline, or in a place where you could couch surf, or if you didn't need to do any shipping, or if you never needed to buy tires....but over the long haul some of this stuff is going to catch up to you and destroy your budget.

I would suggest that $250 per day is far more than most people spend, no matter what you include in your calculations, unless traveling in Western Europe, staying in comfortable hotels, eating well and drinking lots of microbrewed . It sure doesn't match my experience, even including the actual cost of buying my bike.

But one obvious difference tmotten is that you're allowing $8000 for shipping (!!!) and $3500 for flights on a relatively brief trip. Apparently, you're looking at a different sort of trip from anything I've ever even considered: one where you pay top dollar for air shipment and flights both directions for a couple of months of riding. I've never taken this sort of trip; instead, I've paid far less for shipping and flights, then rode the bike for a year or longer. Big difference; you've got much higher fixed costs averaged into far fewer days.

Last year, for example, home to Tierra del Fuego and back: $1200 for shipping, $400 for flights, $465 for visas, 11.5 months riding 35,000 miles. My costs for shipping, visas and flights are just background noise in the yearly budget. Even my $4000 Antarctic cruise added less than $10 per day overall. The whole trip came in around $35,000, and I wasn't even trying very hard.

Mark