So I’ve been in Central America for over one month (41 days to be exact) and I said in one of my newsletters (sign up for my newsletters HERE) that I was going to try to travel more like “the typical traveler” this trip. What I mean is, I know that my travel methods might be viewed as a bit extreme (CouchSurfing, eating street food as the majority of my meals, hitchhiking, washing my clothes in the sink, etc.), and that isn’t very helpful for most people who want to know what it would be like if THEY traveled (most aren’t willing to travel how I travel). So, this trip, I tried my best to travel like you!
- 99.9% of the time I stayed in hotels.
- 98.9% of the time I ate at restaurants
- I didn’t hitchhike at all (not even once).
- I booked tourist shuttles and some excursions
And because I am a math dork, I love numbers (And spreadsheets! Oh how I LOVE spreadsheets!). So instead of just writing about which country was the cheapest and in which way(s), I made a spreadsheet of what I spent in the six countries I visited (to the penny of what I spent).
I then categorized the spending into six categories:
- Food (eating expenses)
- Transportation (getting from A to B, but not a tour)
- Accommodation (sleeping expenses)
- Tourist Stuff (Tours, Museum Fees, National Parks, etc.)
- Misc Items (Laundry, and other necessary expenses that’ll come up while traveling)
- Luxury / Extras (things I bought that I really didn’t need: coffee, beer, clothes, etc.)
Every tab (at the bottom) is a different country and the first tab is the overall daily averages for each country. I then have a small summary of why I think the data is the way it is.
I hope this helps some of you with planning your South American Adventure!
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Let’s Hear What You Think!
Did this help you plan? Or perhaps you found the information interesting? Do you wish I included something that isn’t here? Please let me know so that I can make it better next time. And if this was helpful or interesting, please share with others! =)
Amazing amount of work you put into this. Thanks for the info. Extremely easy to follow. Suggestion: when visiting a museum or national park, always ask if there is a small discount for students or teachers. Many countries do this. Some even will let students in for free.