It’s my two year nomad anniversary and I finished my travel budget from last year (yay tax time!). I’ve been on the road for two years. And I’m stunned – I didn’t really plan this but I was open to it. It hasn’t played out like I thought it might, and that’s okay. I’m 37 years old and essentially homeless, by choice.
I’ll start with where I went and how much I traveled in 2018, then cover my income on the road and my expenses broken down into categories: lodging, food and beverage, cars, insurance, medical, other transportation, rewards, as well as the total spent, and a daily budget.
2018 Travels in Emojis
How Much I Traveled
I tallied it up and I spent 70% of the year traveling. I could argue that Montana was “home” as well but as you can see above, we really didn’t hold still!
- 111 days “home” in Fresno area
- 66 additional days in California
- 97 days in Montana
- 91 days in other states
How Much It Cost
Income
I didn’t work that much at times. My web design business was up and down all year. When I had work, I’d focus on that and make money (about 6k over the year). I took on a virtual assistant job with minimal hours in the hopes it would grow and create a consistent income. It didn’t turn out that way but I learned a lot I applied elsewhere. Really, you should have this dialed in before you go. Please learn from me!
When I didn’t have work, I’d play as cheaply as possible. I dipped into my savings account and that was fine, that’s what it’s there for (also about 10k). I took free and paid online classes with the hopes of increasing my business and sustaining this lifestyle without draining my savings. YOU NEED SAVINGS to start this adventure. And you need savings to end this adventure. Think about the costs about setting up shop again – how much is two month’s living expenses? Include rent, deposit, utilities, food, etc for 3 months and set that aside, not to be touched. When I hit that number, I will cry a little bit because it means the adventure is over.
Things I’ve done to make money on the road: virtual assistant, teach English online (usually in China so be prepared to wake up very early if you’re in North America!), web development, marketing, and branding. Let me know if you want to know more.
Expenses
Overall, I spent about $16k throughout the year and the majority of that was not travel-specific! However if you’re planning a year on the road, I think that’s a fair number to start.
Lodging – $1300
I had two fairly expensive weekends in the fall – one for a wedding, another for a 60th birthday party, both in the pricey wine country of Northern California. I included those in my expenses but would not normally spend that much going anywhere. I also was able to drive cross country at a minimal cost with a friend who was moving from California to Nashville. I threw in on gas and she covered the rooms since she would have paid for them anyway. Counting campsite fees and 3 separate hotel stays, I spent almost $800 on lodging, a major steal with 95% of the year being free rooms! Free is relative, I consider a portion of my food budget as lodging and I spent $50/month easily on gifts for hosts and chipping in on utilities. Estimated grand total for lodging, $1300.
Food and Beverage – $7000
Easily my largest expense category! I consider this part of exploring new places and lodging costs. I aim to be sensible, only ordering what I’m going to consume right then and there. My friends generously bought me many meals and I treated my hosts to a home cooked meal or a dinner out in return. At $7000, at first glance, I freaked out. But if you break it down, that is less than $20/day! And that was under my budget goal. If you drink alcohol regularly or in large quantities, increase this budget! And I may be small, but I eat a *lot* when I’m walking around all day!
Pro tip: Maximize your food budget by eating lunch out instead of dinner at fancy restaurants, or hit happy hour for great food specials.
I developed a $40 grocery routine that is adaptable wherever I am to cut down on costs and keep me healthy. I buy coffee ($8), small carton of almond milk to turn into golden milk ($2), a dozen eggs (cage-free $5), a bag of spinach and/or bunch of kale ($3), whole wheat pita ($3), a cooked rotisserie chicken or turkey deli meat ($8), some fruit like bananas, apples, and tangerines (1 per day @$5). This is easily 10-14 days of breakfast and lunch/snacks for me, coming in at $2/day for breakfast (coffee with golden milk, egg and spinach) and $2/day for lunch (chicken or turkey in half pita with spinach and a piece of fruit). You could certainly live off a $4 jar of peanut butter and $3 loaf of bread for two weeks, but for my health, it’s not truly an option.
Cars – $1300
I rented a car twice during the year and I’m able to drive my sister’s car when I’m with her and my brother’s car all summer in Montana, paying for gas and some maintenance. Hauling a pop-up trailer behind an older Toyota 4Runner is not super fuel efficient, but at $1300 for the entire year, my gas, parking, rental insurance, and rental fees were way less than owning my own car!
Pro tip: Find out if your credit card company offers additional rental insurance and use it!
Big bonus and lesson: When you don’t have car insurance, you have to pay extra when you rent a car. American Express offers a great flat fee rental protection for $17.95 per rental period, not per day! It covers any theft from your car and damage to the car – most rental companies don’t cover theft of your belongings from your rental car! However, it does NOT cover liability insurance which is mandatory in California. That usually runs $10-20 per DAY and can easily double your rental fee. Get a friend or family member to add you as a driver to their insurance policy to cover your butt (offer to pay them a flat rate for the year to help even though it shouldn’t cost extra to add a driver). I did get into an accident once while renting. Someone crashed into my Turo rental car while I was driving. Luckily, I got that person’s information and she admitted fault, so I was not liable for any damage in that situation. I find Turo’s insurance fees to be much less than a company like Enterprise, if the service is available in your area. The whole process was stressful of course, I was terrified I’d be left holding the bill, but the company handled it very well.
Pro tip: Get on someone’s car insurance as an additional driver for no extra cost to them.
Insurance – $550
I do pay for travel insurance for every trip. The two times it mattered, it covered the costs of my delay and ended up almost paying for the whole year’s worth of insurance. $220 total minus one claim at $38 and another at $120, equals net $62 of travel insurance for the YEAR. I prefer the Allianz Company. Their rates seem steeper this year, but I’m extending the dates so I’m covered longer (since I still don’t have health insurance, I figure this will cover me in an accident while I am actually traveling).
I do still pay renters insurance. This is important if you travel with expensive items like a laptop and camera. It also covers my stuff in storage. At around $300/year, it can quickly pay for itself when one item needs to be replaced. A camera lens broke and they paid for the $100 repair very quickly, making the net $200 on insurance.
Medical: $1000
I did not pay for medical insurance last year. I rolled the dice on that one. But I knew, since I was traveling for most of the year, again my credit card would help me out in a major incident (you’re on your own with a cold or minor boo-boo!). I visit Planned Parenthood for my feminine needs and make a generous donation each time.
Since I don’t have insurance, I had to find other ways to get medical care when needed. Twice I used Maven Clinic for online consultations with real doctors, to see if I actually needed to see a doctor and to refill a prescription! Maven Clinic is amazing. I had a promo code for the first visit at $10, the second was $35. One visit went very smoothly, the other was bit rough. You make an appointment with the provider of your choice and set up a time for a 10 minute video chat. It’s pretty great and I recommend it for traveler’s who may not have easy access to a regular physician. My other route for medical care is an osteopath. He is a licensed MD but really takes care of the full picture of your health. I have one in San Diego I visit for $30 flat rate every time. The initial interview is conducted by students which then concludes in a visit from the doctor. You can get prescriptions here, too, but generally they’re going to recommend supplements instead. I’ve had great success getting my belly in order and improving my sleep. I pay cash for dental cleanings and wouldn’t skip my 6 month visit if you paid me! Prevention is key here. Take care of your teeth! Lastly for medical expenses, I include visits to dispensaries part of my medical bills. When I’m in a state where it’s legal, I love having access to CBD. It’s so helpful for my pain management, and I think a big part of why I haven’t been itching to leave the country again. I function so much better with CBD as part of my daily routine; it gives me a second burst of energy instead of being crippled by pain in the afternoons. Including prescription sunglasses and cash dispensary visits, I spent a mere $1000 on out-of-pocket medical expenses.
Pro tip: Learn basic first aid treatments and how to distinguish that from a serious medical emergency. Learn how to treat minor injuries like cuts and sprains, and common illnesses like colds and food poisoning.
I will note that I am accident prone and sprained my ankle or twisted my knee several times during the year (I travel with a Ace bandage wrap!). Get familiar with basic injury treatment to save you an unnecessary urgent care visit (and make friends with a nurse you can text whenever!). I also recognize that most minor illnesses don’t require a doctor’s help to fix. A doc can’t do anything for your cold. If your bug doesn’t require antibiotics, and most don’t, it’s over-the-counter anyway. I don’t get sick often since I’ve had my tonsils out, and I’m sure the exposure to germs around the world has helped strengthen my immune system! I also take Emergen-C packs on most travel days and wash my hands before eating anywhere and as soon as I return at the end of the day. Good hygiene goes far, as does making sure you’re not stressing your system by getting good rest – don’t burn the candle at both ends, you’ll end up paying for it!
Pro tip: Prevention is key. Wash your hands often and always before putting stuff in your mouth. Take extra vitamins on travel days. Get plenty of rest and stay hydrated!
Now that I read this, I do think it’s funny to be paying for insurance for my stuff and not my body, especially since I’m rather accident prone. I’ll have to rethink this one!
Planes, Trains, and Ride Sharing: $2000
I spent just $1440 on airlines last year. To be fair, my first flight to New Orleans was reward travel booked from the miles I earned coming from Asia and I got a great discount on my ticket to Montana with Delta miles going to Asia (they last a lifetime!). I also earned bonus miles with Alaska when I complained about a delayed flight (+10,000 thank you, I’ll use that this year) and signed up for a surveys-for-miles program with American (short lived with my lack of patience, but earned 2700 miles). Look for opportunities to get more miles and a polite phone call to complain about service can be rewarding. You do not get more miles for the reward trips you book, so make those short trips. I found 7500 miles can get you a $150 one way ticket. I also had a friend who used his miles to buy my flight so I could babysit his cat. Make yourself indispensable! If you were to travel as much as I did with zero rewards to start, you’d still earn a free ticket by the end of the year if you were on the same airline. That in itself is worth paying a little bit more to stay on the same airline.
Pro tip: Use flight trackers to get the best price for your flight, or explore which routes are cheaper when you have time to travel.
Track flights to get the best price and figure out what the cheaper routes are. For example, New Orleans was way cheaper from San Francisco than San Diego so it was worth the $30 train ticket and $10 metro ride to fly out of there. Google Flights is my go-to tracker. I also consult Hopper, as they have reassuring messages like “Book now, prices are likely to increase” and “Prices dropped but we predict they’ll get lower so wait.” Google Flights sometimes sends you a message before prices increase, but not always. If you track flights for a long time, you can see the trends. I suggest about 3 weeks out at the latest, about 2 months in advance if possible. This year, I will be booking general coach, no reserved seats, and I’ll let you know how that goes! It’ll save you $30 each way. I also only checked 1 bag going to and from Montana, which again saved a ton of money over the year. I did ship flat rate boxes a few times. I sent costume stuff ahead of me to New Orleans, a box of parade catches home from New Orleans, and a few other boxes throughout the year. Still way cheaper than checking a bag. I spent $144 on postage throughout the year, including postcard stamps and sending birthday presents here and there.
Pro tip: Use the same 1-2 airlines all the time to get more reward flights faster.
Buses and trains totaled $300, no rewards trips to speak of (ahem, Amtrak! C’mon!). Public transportation including metros, bike shares, ride shares (like Lyft and Uber) totaled $404 for the year. I also had access to a free bike in New Orleans but paid more for Ubers during Mardi Gras – it balanced out!
Rewards
Early on, I switched from using my debit card to using one of two travel credit cards – American Express Blue Sky and Bank of America Travel Rewards (*I will get a referral bonus if you click that link and sign up). I paid those off in full each month and only used my debit card when I wanted cash back, since finding a credit union ATM was not plausible. I earned $350 cash back during the year and generally feel more secure using a credit card versus hauling my debit card around everywhere. Usually when you sign up for a new card, they offer a huge bonus (of points or miles) if you spend x amount in the first couple months. This is super easy to do if it’s your primary method of payment. Do some research to find the cards that fit your style best. American Express Blue Sky has worked for me because I don’t have to stick to one airline or hotel chain. It also comes with no annual fee, and the car rental insurance option, but it does have hefty foreign transaction fees.
Total Spent 2018
Summary: How much did it cost me? If you’re looking at *just* the travel expenses, not money I’d spend if I were staying at home, 2018 domestic travel cost actuals:
- Lodging $768.06
- Rental cars incl insurance $233.32
- Vehicles gas, parking, maint $1060.50
- Airfare/bus/train incl luggage $1442.79
- Public transpo/ride share $403.65
- Travel Insurance $219.26
- Renters insurance $308.76
- Subtotal =$4436.34
- Rewards -$326.68
- Insurance reimbursements -$267.72
- Total $3841.94
Considering I earned $6000 on the road, I call it all a win! Yes, I’m totally ignoring all the other expenses. Let me have this one…
Daily Budget
From those expenses, I broke down the daily average per city. This is skewed a bit, depending on what I was up to there! When I’m home in Fresno, I spend more money because I’m replacing my shoes and toiletries, going to the dentist, etc. Conversely in Montana, my family purchased the bulk of our food. I use Budget Your Trip to get a good idea of costs before I go anywhere, averaging the budget/mid-range figures for my budget. My city averages do NOT include lodging, maybe a campsite here and there. But here’s what I came up with for daily averages:
- Boise $25.91
- Nashville $29.13
- Montana $37.42
- Fresno $44.06
- Bay area (Oakland and SF) $45.88
- Kansas City, MO $46.01
- New Orleans $46.53
- DC $51.20
- Sacramento $53.05
- Wine country $83.91
Throw out the high and the low, then average the averages and round up to a nice whole number, $45/day. That should cover you as a “I don’t know where I’m going but I have a free place to stay” budget. If you’re paying for lodging, for a hostel or a campsite – double it, for a budget motel – triple it. Planning ahead for lodging is key. I use Booking.com* and have Genius status, which sometimes gets me perks like free bike rental or late checkout, but is always cheaper than someone without. They helped me get out of a planned 4-night stay at a nasty mold-ridden place in Little India, Singapore, recovering the costs for the nights I definitely was not going to stay. I ended up treating myself to a couple lovely nights at Changi Cove so I could easily get to Palau Ubin for a day of exploring. Overall, it was worth the extra cost so I had less ground to cover to get to my island and then the airport.
*this is my referral code – if you book and stay using this link, we will each get a $25 reward (here’s the fine print). Sharing is caring!
How do I know all this? I tracked all my expenses through Expensify. It automatically imports your credit card statements and then you categorize expenses. It takes some time to set up, but once it’s going, it’s super easy. You can make rules so that any vendor with “pub” or “cafe” in the name ends up in Meals category, or per vendor like every time “T-Mobile” shows up it goes to the “Cell Phone” category. I love it. I’ve used it for a long time as an independent contractor who needs to track her expenses for tax time!
