One Year of Slow Travel in Early Retirement: Full Cost Breakdown

After a full year of tracking every dollar, we finally know what full-time travel actually costs.

We went into our first year without a budget. We knew we were already careful with money. So,

instead of setting targets, we wanted to see what that instinct actually produced and adjust from there if we needed to. This is the money that has to carry us from selling the house to the day our retirement funds kick in. So, [laughter] we'll see. It's a little stressful and pretty important.

Looking back over the year, a few spending decisions made a much bigger difference than we realized. And the total number by itself is misleading because not every dollar represents

we realized. And the total number by itself is misleading because not every dollar represents the cost of full-time travel. Some expenses came from this particular year. Some come from choices that we made before we even started traveling. And the largest share was simply the ongoing cost of living this way. Right? So separating those out gives us a much clearer picture of where the money

went. So accommodations for our first full year was $27,387. That's given us a monthly average of

went. So accommodations for our first full year was $27,387. That's given us a monthly average of 2,282 bucks. We began the year with five nights in a Southampton hotel where we used points that

2,282 bucks. We began the year with five nights in a Southampton hotel where we used points that we purchased during a bonus promotion before we boarded our first two back-to-back cruises for the year. Our cabin served as our accommodations as we traveled through Spain and Portugal and then um

year. Our cabin served as our accommodations as we traveled through Spain and Portugal and then um the second cruise through Norway. From there, we settled into a long-term Airbnb apartment in Lyon.

one of our coolest experiences ever because it was like we were just starting out and so Lyon remained our home base while we booked separate accommodations for trips to we went to Geneva, Rome, Milan, Montepulciano and Tuscany and Riomaggiore in Cinque Terre. We also visited

um Annecy and Dijon as day trips. So those didn't have any overnight accommodation costs though. The

Geneva Hotel we booked with points and a travel credit while the other overnight stays we paid um hotels or Airbnbs. Barcelona was a hotel stay that we booked primarily with points right before we got on our cruise. And then um our cabin for that became our accommodations as we traveled through

beautiful stops including Palma de Mallorca and Malaga and we landed in Fort Lauderdale. And in

Fort Lauderdale, we paid for a short hotel stay while our Seattle hotel we had booked with points.

So, our time in Boston uh didn't even add to the accommodations cuz we stayed with family. And

after returning to Europe, our Christmas market run, which was crazy. It was so many at at once.

So much at once. And that took us through a whole bunch of places. We went to Vienna, Salzburg, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Strasbourg, and Paris. And that was a series of short hotel and apartment stays um as we just moved around from city to city. We also got to visit Colmar before we arrived in Strasbourg. Um but we didn't stay there for the night. So most of the accommodations

were paid straight up direct while Nuremberg was partly covered by an annual travel credit um with one of our credit cards, right? Because it was uh you kind of get one automatically for free when you sign up. I think this one was the $300 credit from Venture X. I'm not sure, but I think it was. [laughter] Um, during the trip, we made a separate detour to Lyon for the

OFII appointment for the Visa, but that hotel was fully covered by the cashback credit redemption.

Um, no out-of-pocket cost that we got from having the Quicksilver card. Very cool. We then stayed briefly, just a week, in an Airbnb in Nice before we rented a larger apartment in Montpellier so our daughter and her boyfriend could stay with us. We wanted all that space. And that was followed

by our long-term Airbnb apartment in Sète. And during our long stay in Sète, we also booked a handful of shorter trips. We spent two nights in a Toulouse hotel. Booked those with points and two nights in an Airbnb in Nîmes. We visited Béziers while we were in Sète and Avignon, but those were

just day trips at the time, so none of those required. A whirlwind of places, man. We later

moved into a long-term Airbnb apartment in Béziers where we stayed for nearly 3 months. From there,

we traveled to Carcassonne and Perpignan and we stayed one night each in hotels that we booked with points and we only paid small fees at those properties. And then we stopped in Narbonne on the way back and we didn't need to have an overnight stay for that one. But before our final cruises, we even spent three nights in Bologna, a hotel that we booked mostly with points. And then we

boarded the two cruises um from Ravenna in Italy. And they took us through Greece, Croatia, and Montenegro. That's a good round out of the year, that's for sure. And our cabin became our home as

Montenegro. That's a good round out of the year, that's for sure. And our cabin became our home as we traveled through once again the Bay of Kotor, Athens, Santorini, all these wonderful places. So,

the accommodation total reflects a mix of long-term furnished apartments, shorter hotel and Airbnb stays, um accommodations booked with cash, points, and travel credits, and most of the time, some of the times, overlapping stays um that we did during the side trips. one large rental

that we chose. So, we paid a little more to to accommodate family and then we had the nights with the family that didn't cost us anything and cruise cabins that served as our home while we traveled between ports. Man, good good job. I mean, that was a lot of places. Holy cow. Our

food spend was $16,873, which averaged $1,406 a month. And that was almost an even split. We spent

about um 73 $7,400 on groceries and $6,800 at restaurants. And then there was the snacks and the coffee every day or every other day. That all the time. Yeah. That came out to about what? $2,700,

right? One thing we learned is that food spending follows the pace of travel. During longer stays, we shopped and cooked as much as we could at home. on travel days and shorter trips, restaurants and coffee shops uh and snacks between became part of our exploring the destination. So

slowing down did not affect our accommodation costs. It gave us more opportunities to eat at home. Our next category is transportation. And for a full year of traveling, it was $2,683,

home. Our next category is transportation. And for a full year of traveling, it was $2,683, a monthly average of 224 bucks. Well, that includes local transportation, local transit, day trip transport, um, while we were already staying somewhere, all travel, rental cars, um,

in Fort Lauderdale and Seattle. So, it it's it's more of the local stuff. It doesn't include the travel between destinations cuz we're separating that and we'll get to that really quick because everybody travels at a different pace and comes from different locations, but it's still part of our budget. It's just not in this transportation. So, one surprise for us when we saw this was how

our budget. It's just not in this transportation. So, one surprise for us when we saw this was how little we really spent getting around once we arrived somewhere. So, during most of our stays, walking and public transportation covered everyday life and many of our day trips too. So, Fort

Lauderdale and Seattle, those were the exceptions. Of course, back in the US, you need a car. Um,

so renting a car became part of the cost. The more significant transportation expense was moving from one destination to the next and and like we said, we're going to we track that separately. So,

we'll share that with with you separately. Activities for this year came to $2,635, which basically gave us about a monthly average of 220 bucks, which is really high. But you if you consider that half of that was for our cruise excursions and it was Norway shore excursions, which we couldn't resist. We'd never been to Norway before. So, I was going to say we're

never going to be there again, probably or it's going to be too expensive to get there again.

And and it also includes the Kotor excursion that we never even got to take because you can't get a refund when it's it's not their fault. It was the cruise's fault. And is it really the cruise's fault that I didn't wake up at 6:00 in the morning to get a ticket? But, um, that's another story in another video. The remaining um spend that was non cruise was about $1,200. And that's

another video. The remaining um spend that was non cruise was about $1,200. And that's

for the wine tastings that we did when we were in Tuscany and Dijon. Um, and tickets and and things that you needed like to see the Last Supper and the Cinque Terre trail tickets. So, they're just non cruise excursions that we took. It's pretty cool. Look at all those cool tours we did. One

thing that we realized is that full-time travel doesn't mean paying for something to do every day.

most of our spending was went towards smaller experiences that that felt especially connected to wherever we were while in our in the towns that we're living in. Yeah. Well, many of our days were were simply spent walking and exploring neighborhoods and enjoying the place without

needing to pay for any entry fee to anything. So, I'm not I'm a little surprised, not surprised that that activity cost is low, even though we spent a lot on our Norway and [music] our Spain cruise excursions when we first started out. I think it's a onetime thing that we're going to see there. And

everyday spending for the entire year was $3,130, a monthly cost of $261. And that's like all of our personal care and toiletries. It's like haircuts, vitamins, skin care, going to the laundry,

and when we went on those cruises, we bought Wi-Fi. So, that's our Gig Sky. Uh whenever we went shopping, uh everything [music] and some medical um we needed to get you contacts and That's right. and the doctor visit that I had. So, yeah. One thing that this category made clear is

That's right. and the doctor visit that I had. So, yeah. One thing that this category made clear is that your everyday needs don't just disappear. you know, when you start traveling full-time, we're still going to need haircuts and doing laundry and replacing contacts and Yeah. and

getting toiletry and and the occasional doctor visit. So, these aren't really travel experiences, but they are part of what it costs to keep living normally as we move from each location to each location. What I did see as high was our big miscellaneous category, which was $3,765. And

location. What I did see as high was our big miscellaneous category, which was $3,765. And

that's a monthly of 314 bucks. But I think it's the big deal with our cruises where it's the way we track our crew spending. Yeah. So we break it up in in percentages and [music] we take um the accommodation separate from the taxes and the gratuities that we're charged, but we get our accommodations for free. But we don't pay for the the cruise fare, which is where we

would pull the accommodation from. Right. So it's not really accommodation, but it's taxes, fees, and gratuities. and that was $2,900 of this total. So, we're not really sure where to track this, but

and gratuities. and that was $2,900 of this total. So, we're not really sure where to track this, but we knew it was an accommodation, so we're keeping it here in the meantime, so we can keep an eye on it. But outside the cruises, our miscellaneous charges were really only $863. [laughter] And that

on it. But outside the cruises, our miscellaneous charges were really only $863. [laughter] And that was mostly the cost of handling like the small little things and inconveniences that just show up with full-time travel, like storing our luggage with Bounce, which we did. That was a convenience multiple times. Yeah, we really did. And it was very helpful. and we we needed to replace a couple

multiple times. Yeah, we really did. And it was very helpful. and we we needed to replace a couple things that broke in our first Airbnb, wasn't, you know, just covering minor things along the way. I

know we I know we all kind of break things, but I think it was more of our locker locker storage for all of our our baggage that cost the most. And to be fair, what broke wasn't our fault. It just it was frozen. And Scott's a little stronger than he thinks he is. It was just frozen. The handle just

was frozen. And Scott's a little stronger than he thinks he is. It was just frozen. The handle just popped right off and we went through the trouble of replacing it only for the host to say we really didn't need to go through all that trouble. But that's just I guess who we are. Yeah, I told you it wasn't my fault. So the the subtotal from where we're at for everything that we've just mentioned

is $56,473 for the year, which would average to $4,700 a month. That's about $153 a night.

And that sounds great, doesn't it? It really does. But that's a good that's a good number. I would be happy with that number. It's time to bring in the travel between destinations. How much did we spend to get from point A to point B? And it really has nothing to do with day trips. This is only if you go somewhere to sleep somewhere. And we spent $6,106 um traveling between destinations. We

um spent about $2,700 on trains and a rail pass that we use for the Christmas markets.

And then our air airline tickets were only $1,253. Yeah, we didn't spend much there either. Um,

and we rented the car to get from France to Italy and all of those charges came out to $1.90 which was helpful because we really got to see so much more than if we had just flown and that's with Hertz. And then we paid a lot in gas and then we paid probably the same amount in tolls. It was

Hertz. And then we paid a lot in gas and then we paid probably the same amount in tolls. It was

like $300 each for gas and for tolls. So $600 and something. And then for buses, airport transfers, um we spent about $630. [music] And so just roughly all that put together, it it wasn't bad. No, it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be. Um I think it's really helpful to to always

bad. No, it wasn't as bad as we thought it might be. Um I think it's really helpful to to always look for that. It's a big number. You have to put it in there, right? I think it's fair to always try to find the best deal that you can to get from point A to point B. And I think it all

worked itself out and that's what happened with us. So you always find the best ones. Adding in

the travel between destinations, our total is now $62,580, which equals $5,215 a month. Um,

we're getting a little higher. We're getting up there. Yeah. So, it's about $170. And I wish that was where it ended, but it doesn't because then you [laughter] have your recurring costs and that's different for everybody and that's why we separated it. Um, our recurring costs are currently at at nine n almost 9,800 bucks. Yeah. Um, and that's like your cell phone, our VPN,

our everyday streaming. We pay for storage back home. We still have our Costco subscription, which helps with the contact. So, we're keeping that. And then we do our car insurance. And and

you know, we also spend $1,500 for our credit card fees. And on top of that, we spend a good amount to run this this channel. Yeah. Just our video software and everything to keep it up. And

we have our health insurance in this in this section right now because we paid $1,000 for MONDassur to have the France visa and that's going to we don't know what that's going to be next year just yet but we're working on that. So if we were to add that in now which needs to be added in our

total is now $72,3 and we'll call it 50 and now we're at $6,028 a month. Yeah. So it just keeps on growing. But now we have more charges that we realized existed. We have costs that we believe

on growing. But now we have more charges that we realized existed. We have costs that we believe are at this time specific to this year. But what it told us was that we need to now have an extra buffer budget. We had a transportation to and from budget, but now we need one that's specific to

buffer budget. We had a transportation to and from budget, but now we need one that's specific to this year. So it turns out that we spent $4,400 um on Christmas gifts, some gear that we wanted for

this year. So it turns out that we spent $4,400 um on Christmas gifts, some gear that we wanted for when we left the US again, and we needed to get Scott a laptop, right? And that was a big chunk of that, too. That's really a big chunk. And and then the France visa immigration stuff over $1,200

was spent on that alone. So our new grand total is now $77,956 and that includes what the the core we're calling it the the core subtotal, the travel between the destinations, um cost specific to this

year and the recurring costs. So that brings us to $6,500 a month. little higher than we would like.

Um, which is about $211 per night. The biggest takeaway was getting from place to place was not the most expensive part of full-time travel. We spent $6,100 moving between destinations, but about $10,000 maintaining those reoccurring costs such as our car insurance, our credit card

fees, our subscriptions, and the storage and health insurance. That let us know that the real opportunity is if we want to spend less next year without changing the travel itself, we just need to review which one of those ongoing expenses are still worth carrying with us. We hope this

breakdown is really helpful to anyone considering what their full-time travel budget needs are going to be as they plan their next adventure. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.