To shed some light on the costs of long-term bike travel, we're publishing monthly reports of all our expenses. Here's a full list of all spending posts to date [link].
Overview
Food: 285 EUR ( USD)
Lodging: 114 EUR ( USD)
Total ordinary expenses: 399 EUR ( USD)
Daily expenses: 13 EUR ( USD)
Daily expenses, per person: 7 EUR ( USD)
Additional expenses: EUR ( USD)
Total cost, May 2018: EUR ( USD)
Ordinary expenses
Eating in Spain was much more expensive than in Morocco, but still affordable. Mostly we bought groceries, but occasionally (especially in Andalucia, where beer costs under two euros and comes with a tapa) we enjoyed a drink at a bar or cafe. We did plenty of cooking with our (many) hosts. In some cases, we were able to purchase the ingredients; other times, they insisted on using what they had in the pantry.
Sleeping in Spain was lovely. We traveled through the country in the dead of winter, so camping could be a bit cold. We never paid for campsites and had little trouble finding a suitable place to wild camp when needed (though it could be trickier on the coast). Mostly, though, we were tremendously fortunate to be welcomed into the homes of a number of really wonderful people: folks we met through Warmshowers and Couchsurfing and earlier travels.
During the month of March, we were hosted for 9 nights, wild camped 9 nights, and stayed in a hostel/Airbnb (using credit for most of our Airbnb nights) 13 nights.
Overall, our monthly budget of 700 USD total (recently increased from 600 to give us a little breathing room) felt more than adequate for our daily needs and a few unforeseen expenses. In the middle of January, a few good friends visited us from back home in Barcelona. We splurged a little (relatively speaking, for us) on food and lodging during their visit (and thankfully, they were very graciously understanding of our financial constraints).
Our day-by-day costs (and where we slept) are below. All values are expressed in Euro (as of April 2018, 1 HRK (HRK) = 0.17 US Dollar (USD).
Airbnb in Dubrovnik (paid for by Lauren's parents).
3 food / Wild camping in Montenegro.
8 food / 13 lodging / Campground in Albania.
5 food / 4 lodging / Campground in Albania.
20 lodging / Guesthouse in Albania.
13 food / Free camping in Kosovo.
Free camping in Kosovo.
10 food / Hosted in Kosovo.
4 food / Wild camping in Macedonia.
Wild camping in Macedonia.
11 food / 25 lodging / Motel in Macedonia.
10 food / 25 lodging / Motel in Macedonia.
Wild camping in Bulgaria.
16 food / Wild camping in Bulgaria.
4 food / Wild camping in Bulgaria.
14 food / Wild camping in Bulgaria.
Wild camping in Greece.
12 food / 17 lodging / Hotel in Turkey.
3 food / Free camping in Turkey.
1 food / Free camping in Turkey.
17 food / 10 lodging / Airbnb in Istanbul.
36 food / Airbnb in Istanbul (paid for by credit).
8 food / Airbnb in Istanbul (paid for by credit).
22 food / Airbnb in Istanbul (paid for by credit).
8 food / Airbnb in Istanbul (paid for by credit).
9 food / Airbnb in Istanbul (paid for by credit).
5 food / Airbnb in Istanbul (paid for by credit).
17 food / Airplane to Almaty.
13 food / Hotel in Almaty (paid for using points).
24 food / Hotel in Almaty (paid for using points).
12 food / Hotel in Almaty (paid for using points).
Other expenses
We got caught in a snowstorm deep in Spain's interior. We had to meet friends in Barcelona by the middle of the month, and so we took a bus to Valencia to get out of the storm and ensure we'd make it to Barcelona in time. We also purchased some new gear for the colder weather, mainly thermoses for hot drinks and new gloves to replace the terrible "waterproof" ones we were using. My Google cell service, which doesn't roll over neatly at the end of each month, also cost a little bit.
All values are expressed in Euro (as of April 2018, 1 Euro (EUR) = 1.23 US Dollar (USD).
Bus tickets: 64
New/replacement gear: 40
Cell service: 20
As always, tons of thanks to the many, many friends (new and old) who showed us such generosity and kindness this January and made our time in Spain so wonderful. We certainly couldn't have done it without you.