Hi, I'm a Canadian that was wondering what an average cost tip to tip of north and south america would cost minimum..Ie: legal entry fees and fuel and a guesstimate of extras.(not including bike and camping gear) I'm just try to get an idea of the cost of a trip, and how much to save before you start. any input appreciated

[This message has been edited by scooter1100 (edited 28 January 2003).]

That's a REALLY tough one to answer. General guesses run around US$30-100 per day. NOT counting significant expenses like flying from Panama to SA, or the Antarctica trip, or the Puerto Montt ferry. Depends on whether you like to really rough it and camp all the time, or nice hotel all the time, or somewhere in between. Also how fast you like to travel - travelling fast burns a lot of gas per day, but lower accommodation costs for the whole trip, (unless you're too tired to camp,) - and less fun total too.

Chris and Erin Ratay have posted a lot of info on their site on their costs:

Ultimate Journey


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Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hi, I live in Toronto and I will be doing just such a trip in a few months.
First of all, you need to consider any costs with trip preparation. This can vary wildly. As an example, in a time of about 4 months preparation so far, I've already spent $4,000. This includes a few items I thought necessary for my bike, which might not be your case. I also included in these expenses additional camera equipment, a GPS, some more camping equipment, a laptop, travel guides, maps, etc. This depends again on wether you want to spend any additional money here.
One expense to consider (unless Alberta is different) is vaccinations, and here you can easily run into about $400-$500, at least here in Ontario. Then you gotta think about medical insurance, at least an emergency policy, and here costs seem to be around $1000US/year. So, the money you spend on preparation might be less or more, depending on what you deem necessary and what not.
As for the trip itself, costs can vary a lot as Grant said. If you choose hotels/motels over camping, your costs will increase. Some costs will be pretty much fixed, such as what you'll pay at border crossings and for visas (some countries require visas for canadians). Then you also need to ship the bike at least once, from central america to south america (and I guess also back), and here costs will depend on where you ship to. I think you'll find some information here on what to expect.
As for day to day costs, some countries are cheaper than others. The US and Canada are generally expensive, but gas is cheap. Travel guides can give you some information on what the costs might be, and that's what I used to come up with a rough budget of around $10,000CAD for 11 months. However, this is a tentative budget and is heavily dependent on me camping. After the intial few months I will have a better picture.

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Nelson Oliveira
RTW 2003-6
Around a Mote of Dust

you to give my input here :-) :
as I am planning the very same trip next year I am currently aiming on a 10.000 €=$ budget for trip of min. 6 months - max 9 months. This would include everything except the bike transport from Europe to Canada and back to Europe from Argentina.

I would be greatly interested in a reply from Sojourner when he is underway :-)

Happy travels and good luck with preparations to you all !
Gijs

Hi,
I am doing a similar trip (Alaska to Ushuaia) starting in May this year for about 8 months.
I am reckoning on spending about £6,000 (english pounds) while I am on the road. This is not based on any formula - that's just what I've managed to get my hands on!
I am expecting to camp mostly, especially in North America. On top of that my pre-departure costs are currently totalling around £3000 (not including the bike). This is for bike preparation, luggage, vaccination, flying me and the bike to the USA, camping equipment, travel insurance etc.
Hope this helps (with a bit of currency converting).
Good luck with your trip.
Lois
London, UK

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