Travel costs for round-the-world 2014

Reaction to my most recent trip has been mixed; some have been inspired to travel more often, while others cite all sorts of reasons why they can't. 

Either way, a common concern is cost. After crunching the numbers, I've come up with a figure that should be encouraging to most aspiring globetrotters...

$120 per day for travel and lodging.

Yep, that's it. Don't want to break the piggy bank for an 18-day vacation? No problem...scale back the number of days to something that your budget will allow; there's no dishonor in a 4-day trip!

Here's a summary of my actual expenses...

(By the way, this doesn't include roughly $370 in travel credit that I earned toward future trips; see the "earning while traveling" section at the end of this post.)

How did I keep costs down? In a nutshell...

• look for a great travel deal (in my case, a cheap, one-way trip from LA to Asia with a stopover in Europe)
• use frequent flier miles if necessary (e.g. the return home from Japan)
• expand the trip to nearby cities using low-cost airlines and/or trains (skyscanner.com is a big help)
• find hotel deals using consolidator websites
• use hotel points to stay at properties that are typically budget-busters

FOR THE DOUBTERS...
I get it; you're skeptical. Some of you are asking...

"But where did you stay...some tiny, disgusting hotel that I (or my significant other) would never approve?" 

Nope. While I believe that a hotel room is just a crash pad, I don't do nasty. Every place that I stayed was rated 4 or 4.5 out of 5 by TripAdvisor reviews, and they all scored in the top 15% of hotels in their respective areas. If you still have your doubts, scroll down to the "city-by-city hotel recap" section.

"I don't have points/miles to offset hotel and flight expenses the way you did."

Neither did I when I began. There's no time like the present to get started, so I'll keep this short and simple...

Large amounts of points--enough for free flights and hotel stays--are there for the taking, offered as sign-up bonuses for credit cards. If you use them wisely--using the cards for things that you normally pay for anyway (gas, groceries, utility bills, etc.), and paying the cards off in full at the end of every month--you can quickly earn free travel and lodging.

For more details, visit The Points Guy's excellent beginner's guide, here.

"Public transportation? Eww..."

While here in the U.S., public transit may conjure thoughts of inconvenience and safety concerns, it really is different abroad. Public transportation in most major cities is convenient, reliable and efficient. Take advantage of the cost savings; taxi service can be incredibly expensive in some parts of the world.

"Your budget is incomplete; a vacation costs more than travel and lodging."

Yes...but maybe not as much as you might think. I'll explain...

• Food: I'll let you in on a little secret...you have eating expenses even when you're not on vacation. In all seriousness, I recommend that you offset the cost of vacation meals with the expenses that you would normally incur at home. For those who either eat out often, or who prepare their own meals while traveling, the additional cost of food on vacation can be negligible. Of course, if you insist on fine dining every day while on holiday, you may need to make the appropriate adjustments to your budget.
  
  I could write an entire post on how many "good & cheap" dining options are available while traveling abroad, but there's already a ton of advice out there. Here's a recap: stop eating like a tourist, and think about how the locals stuff their pie-holes on a daily basis; if they're lining up to eat somewhere, you should strongly consider joining them. Also, while Yelp is largely an American restaurant reviewing service, the TripAdvisor app and Google are great tools for finding quality cheap eats nearby.

• Activities: Like meals, activity preferences while on vacation is a case of "different strokes for different folks." Some enjoy free activities like self-guided walking tours of historic areas, public parks, and architecture, while others wish to see things that require an admission fee, like some of the most popular museums and tourist attractions.
  
  The more I travel, the more I've come to understand that there are really only a few types of attractions, no matter where you are on the planet, and many of them are free or low cost:
  
  - infamous tourist attractions (usually involve a modest fee)
  - historical streets & architecture (free to view from the outside; sometimes from within)
  - marketplaces (free to visit, just try not to buy everything in sight)
  - public parks & government facilities (typically free; often overlooked by tourists)
  - museums (typically involve a small to modest admission fee)
  - tourist distractions (places and services designed to relieve you of your hard-earned cash)
  
  Obviously, avoid the last category. You probably didn't travel half way around the world to go to Disneyland. Likewise, that tour guide makes regular stops at local artisan shops for a reason (to earn a commission on the things that you hadn't intended to buy.)
  
  Instead, get a good guide book and study up (I swear by Lonely Planet's "pocket guide" series); you'll be amazed at how many really cool places--including many cities' top destinations--you can visit for free. A good book will also let you know how to save on other attractions--discount cards, free visitation hours/days, etc.--while avoiding the tourist traps that many fall for.

CITY-BY-CITY HOTEL RECAP

A little advice about hotel selection: Choose your hotel only AFTER you've identified the sites that you want to see; this way, your room will be within walking distance of most places. If you wanted to spend your time commuting long distances, you could have stayed home!

Select a hotel the same way city-dwellers choose homes and apartments: location, location, location! It doesn't matter that the room is a little on the small side, or that you can get an incredible deal on a room out by the airport...you're here to enjoy the destination, not their suburbs, and you want to take photos of beautiful, historic places, not a cavernous suite or spa-like bathroom! 

If some of your destinations are outside of the others' walking radius, try to identify a hotel that is within a short walk of a major metro (subway) station...preferably one that connects multiple lines.

With a little planning, you don't have to sacrifice quality or convenience to save money on a place to stay. Using TripAdvisor as my guide, every one of the hotels below was ideally located for walking to popular tourist attractions.

• BUDAPEST: With huge suite layouts, and close proximity to the Chain Bridge, the four-star Starlight Suiten Hotel was a deal at less than $100 per night. That said, I could have saved a lot more money by staying at a well-reviewed, 3-star condo had I not arrived in town so late (1:00 am).

• FLORENCE: I originally planned to visit Florence on a day-trip while staying 5 nights in Rome, but it made more sense to stay a night there while on the way to The Eternal City. Doing so allowed me to visit the Tower of Pisa, which is just a short distance from the airport and train station.
  
  The 2-star rating of the Hotel Santa Croce is misleading. While the twin bed room might have been the smallest hotel room I've ever stayed in, the property deserves its high TripAdvisor reviewer ratings; it was an incredible value at $50 for the night, including breakfast.

• ROME: My stay at the 3-star Hotel Regno was nothing special, but it was decent-sized, clean, the staff was courteous, and it provided free breakfast. The price--less than $110 per night for a location that is ideally located for a first-time visitor--was a bargain.

• BERLIN: Time to splurge. With 125,000 Hilton Honors points saved up while attending conferences, I booked the Hilton Berlin. Instead of paying $235 per night for an ideally-located, 5-star property, I spent 72,000 points plus $104 per night for an absolutely luxurious stay, with attractions, restaurants, and a subway station extremely close by. My only regret was that I was scheduled to leave Berlin a day or two before the incredible Christmas market at Gendarmenmarkt opened directly across the street.

• PRAGUE: The Hilton Prague Old Town is another 5-star Hilton that I paid pennies on the dollar for; rather than the $130/night rate, I paid 36,000 points plus $52 per night. In addition to the luxury and central location, the hotel is right next to a metro station, the train station, a grocery store, a mall, and a laundromat.

• TOKYO: Hands down the nicest property I've ever stayed at, an executive king room at the 5-star ANA Intercontinental Tokyo is normally $300 per night, so it was an incredible deal at 105,000 IHG points and $70 per night.
  
  It's in a popular entertainment district with nearby shopping and attractions, and with the right room (or a visit to the bar), the views of the city are incredible. It doesn't hurt that there's a metro station and convenience stores next door, where you can find inexpensive and remarkably quality bento box meals...and lemon chūhai.

EARNING WHILE TRAVELING

Finally, don't forget that when you are a member of miles/points programs, you can "make money" by earning benefits that can later be redeemed for additional travel adventures.

In my case, I banked about $370 value to be used toward a future trip:

• $260 value via miles earned for traveling with a frequent filer program's partner airlines
• $70 value by booking hotel stays through a consolidator website
• $40 value via miles credited for submitting a customer service complaint