EXPENSES: December 2017, Tanzania and Egypt and Morocco and Spain ($748)

Overview

During the 31 days of December, we spent 336 USD on food, 108 USD on lodging, and 304 USD on everything else. In total, we spent 748 USD, at an average of 24 USD per day (12 USD, per person).

We slept 11 nights in a hotel, 10 nights with hosts, 4 nights wild camping, 4 nights free camping (camping somewhere with permission), and 2 nights in an Airbnb.

Expenses

Here are our day-to-day expenses (and where we stayed), in TZS (through the 6th), MAD (beginning the 7th), and EUR (starting the 23rd). (As of December 2017, 1 US Dollar [USD] = 2238 Tanzanian Shilling [TZS], 1 US Dollar [USD] = 9.38 Moroccan Dirham [MAD], and 1 US Dollar [USD] = 0.8 Euro [EUR]. Because we're dealing with multiple exchange rates, the day-to-day expenses are listed in their respective currencies, but the monthly totals are calculated in USD. Also, because three currencies is confusing enough, the expenses during our single day in Egypt [the 6th] are listed in TZS, not Egyptian Pounds.)

1. 31500 food; 4000 transportation. Airbnb in Stone Town (using Airbnb credit).
2. 18500 food. Airbnb in Stone Town (using Airbnb credit). 
3. 36700 food; 166660 ferry to Dar es Salaam; 20000 postcards. Hosted in Dar es Salaam. 
4. 56062 food. Hosted in Dar es Salaam.
5. 19989 food. Hosted in Dar es Salaam. 
6. 121572 transportation to Dar es Salaam airport (Tanzania) and Giza pyramids (Egypt). Hotel in Cairo (complimentary from EgyptAir). 
7. ENTERED MOROCCO. FOLLOWING EXPENSES IN MAD. 80 food. Free camping en route to Rabat.
8. 99 food; 100 lodging. Hotel in Rabat. 
9. 86 food; 100 lodging; 190 gear. Hotel in Rabat. 
10. 75 food. Hosted en route to Meknes.
11. 69 food. Wild camping en route to Meknes. 
12. 96 food; 100 lodging. Hotel in Meknes. 
13. 92 food; 100 lodging; 54 transportation and admission to Volubilis ruins. Hotel in Meknes. 
14. 76 food; 100 lodging. Hotel in Fes. 
15. 53 food; 100 lodging; 230 gear. Hotel in Fes. 
16. 78 food; 100 lodging. Hotel in Fes.
17. 10 food. Hosted en route to Chefchaouen. 
18. 94 food. Free camping en route to Chefchaouen. 
19. 95 food; 102 lodging. Hotel in Chefchaouen. 
20. 118 food; 102 lodging; 180 to mail postcards. Hotel in Chefchaouen. 
21. 238 food; 80 lodging; 120 gear. Hotel in Tetouan. 
22. 22 food; 715 ferry to Spain. Hosted in Algeciras. 
23. ENTERED SPAIN. FOLLOWING EXPENSES IN EUR. 15 food. Hosted in Algeciras. 
24. Hosted in Algeciras. 
25. Hosted in Algeciras. 
26. 5 food. Free camping en route to Ronda. 
27. 18 food. Free camping in Ronda. 
28. 17 food. Wild camping in Campillos. 
29. 11 food. Wild camping en route to Jaen. 
30. 15 food. Wild camping en route to Jaen. 
31. 9 food. Hosted in Jaen. 

Notes

December was a very busy month, with a number of unusual transportation expenses. Typically our travel (pedaling) is free. But this month we took a ferry from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam, a cab to the Dar airport, a flight to Egypt, a few Ubers around Cairo, a flight to Morocco, a taxi for a day trip to some ruins, and a ferry to Spain. Fortunately we had enough credit card points to cover our trans-African flights (our awesome airline also provided a hotel, meal vouchers, and visa-free admission to Egypt). The rest of the transportation took a big chunk out of our meager budget.

We also bought some stuff: a little gear and clothing, a few postcards, and some stamps to send those postcards.

Food and lodging, meanwhile, was quite cheap. We spent just $444 on eating and sleeping this month. Morocco was a terrific place to travel on a budget ($600 per month could get a frugal couple pretty far), and some absolutely fantastic hosts in Tanzania and Spain kept our lodging costs down (while, much more importantly, providing us with some really wonderful memories). 

Spain has thus far proven a little more expensive than Africa (much more so than Morocco, though not much more than eastern Africa). For the next few months (and because we keep blowing by our $600-per-month budget anyway), we'll be upping the budget to $700 per month. 

Oh, and this month we paid $16 for our Google Music family plan subscription (which gives us offline access to all our music). Cell phone service, through Google Fi, ran about another $30. These costs are not listed in the totals above.

As always, one final thank you to those who showed us such a fantastic time in Tanzania, Morocco, and Spain this month.