Be Your Own Advocate
5 Weeks in Asia: Costs
A Quick Trip Out of FRA
Money Problems in Beijing
72 Hour Visa Free Transit of Beijing
Scams in Beijing
The Angkor Experience
The VIP Sleeper Bus Experience in Cambodia
Sleepy Kep, Cambodia
Arranging Visas on the Move
The Adventure of A Ricetime: Mekong Delta
The Adventure of  A Ricetime: Easy Riders Tour
The Adventure of  A Ricetime: Tailored Hoi An
The Adventure of  A Ricetime: Solo Motorbiking
The Adventure of  A Ricetime: Halong Bay
The Adventure of  A Ricetime: Sapa
Scams in Vietnam
6 Hours in Bangkok
Scams in Bangkok
A First-Timer First Class Experience

I planned a pretty exciting few weeks for myself this summer… my first trip to Asia! I also decided to start a trip cost transparency initiative for my travels, and this is quite the trip to start it with! I was doing a lot of moving around and visited 5 different countries. I kept pretty good tabs on my spending, and then converted everything to USD for the purpose of this post.

When looking at these costs keep in mind that everyone travels differently. I love food. So, there’s a good chance I spent more on food than others would care to (or maybe less, considering that I ate a lot of street food). I also highly value experience, and I am willing to pay more to see things I might not be able to do on my own at all, or when the logistics of planning something on my own would take up too much time.

Anyway, here goes… full transparency!

Note: Transport refers transport while staying in the same place, transport on refers to transport to the next destination, type of transport will be listed in this case.

Asia: Costs

Totals

One thing really stuck out in my spending – the fact that I spent over $400 on clothes in Hoi An. I took the liberty of calculating the statistics with and without this purchase because it was pretty substantial, and because most people will probably have strong feelings one way or the other on whether or not they would consider getting custom clothes while traveling, and even more so, if they would consider spending that much. For me, it made sense, which I’ll get to in a later post. Obviously, this trip could have been done for much more, or much less money. Luckily, I provided a breakdown below so you can look at the different categories that I spent money in and decide for yourself how similar or different your costs might be!

Total Per Day
International Flights 102500 UA + $230
Germany, 1 Day $45.29 $45.29
China, 3 Days $266.10 $88.70
Cambodia, 11 Days $479.46 $43.59
Vietnam (including clothes), 25 Days $1,609.48 $64.38
Vietnam (excluding clothes), 25 Days $1,176.64 $47.07
Thailand, 1 Day $10.26 $10.26
Total Total With Clothes $2,640.59 $64.40
Total Total Without Clothes $2,207.75 $53.85

Breakdown

International Flight

UA Miles Taxes/Fees Change Fees
United, Y Outbound, F Return 102500 $130.00 $100.00

Germany

Mainz, 1 Day
Activities $28.39
Food $6.76
Transport $10.14
Total $45.29
Cost Per Day $45.29

China

Beijing, 3 Days
Activities $176.10
Food $25.00
Hotel $20.00
Transport $45.00
Total $266.10
Cost Per Day $88.70

Cambodia

Visa $20.00
Siem Reap, 6 Days
Activities $53.50
Drink $30.00
Food $56.00
Gifts/Souvenirs $70.00
Hotel $33.00
Transport On (Bus) $24.72
Total $267.22
Cost Per Day $44.54
Kep, 5 Days
Activities $25.00
Drink $32.00
Food $48.50
Gasoline $5.60
Gifts/Souvenirs $26.14
Hotel $40.00
Transport On (Bus) $15.00
Total $192.24
Cost Per Day $38.45

 Vietnam

Visa $70.00
Chau Doc, 2 Days
Drink $1.27
Food $6.65
Hotel $26.26
Phone $5.90
Transport $1.00
Total $41.08
Cost Per Day $20.54
Mekong Delta Tour, 3 Days $65.00
Activities $4.72
Drink $5.66
Food $11.42
Gifts/Souvenirs $3.30
Transport $0.94
Total $91.04
Cost Per Day $30.35
Saigon, 2 Days
Activities $4.49
Drink $31.37
Food $15.90
Hotel $14.00
Laundry $4.25
Transport On (Bus) $12.27
Total $82.28
Cost Per Day $41.14
Dalat, 2 Days
Activities $0.94
Drink $4.62
Food $9.48
Gasoline $2.83
Hotel $6.95
Parking $0.24
Transport $1.42
Total $26.48
Cost Per Day $13.24
Easy Riders Tour, 2 Days $155.70
Drink $1.32
Food $4.48
Souvenir $18.02
Transport On (Bus) $14.15
Total $193.67
Cost Per Day $96.84
Hoi An, 4 Days
Activities $15.08
Clothes $432.84
Drink $10.38
Food $18.12
Hotel $17.00
Transport $4.72
Transport On (Moto) $32.55
Total $530.69
Cost Per Day $132.67
Hue, 2 Days
Activities $4.72
Drink $11.09
Food $12.13
Hotel $9.70
Gasoline $1.42
Gifts/Souvenirs $14.15
Transport $8.50
Transport On $59.00
Total $120.71
Cost Per Day $60.36
Halong Bay Tour, 3 Days $145.00
Drink $3.30
Food $4.01
Gifts/Souvenirs $0.94
Phone $2.36
Transport On $74.00
Total $229.61
Cost Per Day $76.54
Sapa Tour, 3 Days $47.18
Activities $7.08
Drink $15.10
Food $8.49
Gifts/Souvenirs $27.83
Phone $2.36
Total $108.04
Cost Per Day $36.01
Hanoi, 2 Days
Activities $28.78
Drink $3.02
Food $15.66
Hotel $18.00
Gifts/Souvenirs $43.72
Transport $6.70
Total $115.88
Cost Per Day $57.94

Thailand

Bangkok, 1 Day
Drink $1.10
Food $0.63
Transport $8.53
Total $10.26
Cost Per Day $10.26