Travel Expenses: Southeast Asia

A year ago, Robert Alejandro and Jetro Rafael shared their experience of traveling through Southeast Asia on a shoestring budget: 9 countries (including China, Macau and Hong Kong), 3 months, for only Php 50,000. I was amazed at this figure they presented, because I was able to easy spend roughly the same amount in just one country for 14 days back in 2006. Right at that moment, I decided to give Southeast Asia another go, and really try to stick within my budget this time.

Though my trip was only through five countries for one month, I aimed for the same amount, knowing that I do have a habit of overspending. Well, as I finished adding up the travel expenses from my June backpacking trip through Southeast Asia, I realize that traveling on a shoestring is not for me. Well, I still travel on a budget, but I do believe in indulging once in a while.

So how much did I spend for one month in Southeast Asia?

Download:
SEA 2009.xls (89k) – Spreadsheet includes the detailed travel budget for each city/country

I am consoling myself with the fact that compared to how much I spent in 2006 (including the shopping, which wasn’t included in the budget that I posted online), this was actually pretty decent. It’s not cheap; I’m sure many are able to do this same trip for half the cost, but hey, that’s them and this is me. And this time, my budget includes my shopping 😉 (well, not the doll shopping part 2 in Bangkok and the things I bought in Singapore). This is actually below my estimated sum, actually. So I guess I still did pretty well?

At the end of the day, it’s the trip that matters, not the costs (many would argue with this statement, I know). Do I regret spending this much? Hell no.