Unveiling the Real Costs of Our 5-Year Slow Travel Adventure Across the Globe

Time has flown by, and it’s already been five years since we embraced the slow travel lifestyle, immersing ourselves in the beauty of the world. During this half decade, we’ve ventured across four continents, explored the wonders of 18 different countries, savored in the experiences of 48 unique destinations, all while staying at 70+ distinctive Airbnb!. This journey has been a remarkable one, and today, we’re excited to unveil the financial insights we’ve gathered along the way.

Where have we been between 2018 and 2023?

During our first 5 years of our nomadic travel, we visited the following countries

America

• Aruba
• Canada
• Mexico
• USA

Oceania

• Australia
• Fiji

Asia

• Cambodia
• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Europe

• France
• Italy
• Montenegro
• Portugal
• Spain
• Switzerland
  

How much did we spend?

During our initial five-year period of slow travel, we spent a total of $165,000 USD. This sum was divided into two categories: $138,000 covered our day-to-day living expenses, while the remaining $27,000 was allocated for expenses not tied to a specific location. These non-location-specific expenses encompass items like international flights, travel gear, and global expat insurance. We make this distinction to calculate our cost of living for each unique location.

On a monthly average, as a couple, we spent $2,760, which translates to a daily expenditure of around $90 or $45 per person.

Yearly spending

If we look at how much we spent each year, we can see that we have been fairly consistent

• Year 1: $28,917 (Read: Year 1 Nomad Travel Spend Report – Traveling the world for half of the cost of staying home)
• Year 2: $30,400  (Read: Year 2 Nomad Travel Spend Report – Still half the cost plus unexpected pandemic change of plans)
• Year 3: $32,443 (Read: Year 3 Nomad Travel Spend Report – Unplanned Pandemic Year)
• Year 4: $29,968 
• Year 5: $34,008 (Read: Year 5 Nomad Travel – Back to Slow Travel)

Here is a graph to make things easier to digest. Each color represent one of our spending category

Where did our money go?

Our biggest spending was for accommodations (representing 35% of our budget), followed by food (constituting 21% of our budget), transportation (also making up 11% of our budget), long-term travel (at 10% of our budget), and health (representing 7% of our budget).

Let’s look at our super detailed spending per category to see where our money went in the table below:

Category	Total	% of Grand Total	Monthly equivalent (per person as a couple)
Accommodation	$58,887	35.52%	$490
Food	$35,596	21.48%	$296
–> Groceries	$18,996	11.47%	$158
–> Dining out	$13,528	8.17%	$113
–> Cafe, Coffee shops, Sweets & Snacks	$2,059	1.24%	$17
–> Food Delivery, Take out, Street food	$1,011	0.61%	$8
Transportation	$17,693	10.68%	$146
–> Local Transportation	$8,802	5.31%	$73
–> International Transportation	$6,402	3.86%	$53
–> Intercity Transportation	$1,720	1.04%	$14
–> Travel Rewards, Travel Miles	$768	0.46%	$6
Long term travel	$15,797	9.53%	$131
–> Electronics, Personal Equipment	7,471	4.51%	$62
–> Travel Gear	$4,959	2.99%	$41
–> Visas	$2,140	1.29%	$18
–> Cancelation	$1,018	0.61%	$8
–> Scam	$207.6	0.13%	$2
Health	$11,606	7.01%	$97
–> International Health Insurance	$5,145	3.11%	$43
–> Health Care	$4,797	2.90%	$40
–> Local Health Insurance	$1,663	1.00%	$14
Everyday expenses	10,874	6.56%	$90
–> Gifts	$2,998	1.81%	$25
–> Self Improvement, Education	$2,634	1.59%	$22
–> Data	$2,242	1.35%	$19
–> Personal Care	$999	0.60%	$8
–> Fitness, Gym, Workout	$899	0.54%	$7
–> Subscriptions (recurring)	844	0.51%	$7
–> Home furnishing	$202	0.12%	$2
–> Living Expenses	$42	0.03%	~$0
–> Clothing	$11	0.01	~$0
Others	$7,252	4.58%	$60
–> Taxes	$4,806	2.90%	$40
–> Donation, Charitable Giving	$2,446	1.48%	$20
Fun	$5,531	3.34%	$46
–> Recreation, Museums, Sightseeing, Tours	$4,946	2.99%	$41
–> Entertainment (Book, Games, Hobbies)	$570	0.34%	$5
–> Alcohol, Bars, Nightlife	$15	0.01%	~$0
Blog	$1,612	0.97%	$13
Other services	$926	0.56%	$8
TOTAL: $165,682

Spending over time

If we look at our monthly spending over time, you can see that it fluctuates from a high of $5,000 to a low of $1,400, with a monthly average of $2,753.

The reasons for these fluctuations are twofold: First, we had some one-time non-living expenses that are not specific to the place we visited (mainly our travel gear, international flights, or international healthcare). Second, we have been traveling in various areas of the world that have different costs of living.

If we group our spending by continent/region, we can definitely spot some patterns. For instance, our cost of living in Europe (shown in red) is almost double that of our cost of living in South East Asia (highlighted in orange). We also observe that during the COVID-19 pandemic, while we were in Taiwan (marked in purple) and stayed for over a year between March 2020 and May 2021, our average monthly spending remained quite steady, falling between what we experienced in Europe and SEA. And last but not least, it’s evident that these regions have maintained a similar cost of living over time. 

Our bottom line

Here it is. Our very detailed spending report over the first five years of our worldwide adventures. It seems that even after immersing ourselves in this journey for half a decade, our mantra still holds true – we continue to explore the world at a slow pace, all while maintaining a cost of living that is just half of what it would be back home in California!

As a couple who achieved Financial Independence in our mid-30s, this serves as a powerful reminder of the immense gratitude we feel for having the option to invest our time and effort into the things that truly matter to us. This includes focusing our time on what we care the most about like reading some life changing books, learning news skills, starting projects we are excited about (like our Nomad Purse: our free travel tool). Equally important is the freedom we have to prioritize our well-being and allocate time to create memories and spend quality time with those who hold a special place in our hearts.
How about you? Are you surprised by our sustained cost of world travel? Does this inspire you to take a break from your 9-5 and get to explore the world for a few months? Please let us know by leaving a comment in the comments section below!