Draft — Jay Austin
To shed some light on the costs of long-term bike travel, we're publishing monthly reports of all our expenses. Here's a full list of all spending posts to date.
Overview
Food: 301 EUR (370 USD)
Lodging: 3 EUR (4 USD)
Total ordinary expenses: 304 EUR (374 USD)
Daily expenses: 11 EUR (14 USD)
Daily expenses, per person: 5 EUR (6 USD)
Additional expenses: 148 EUR (182 USD)
Total cost, February 2018: 452 EUR (556 USD)
Ordinary expenses
Eating in France and Italy was surprisingly affordable when sticking to grocery stores (and we still managed to indulge in French breads and pastries!). We shared many of our meals with our wonderful hosts. In some cases we prepared the food, in others they shared their delicious home cooking, and, sometimes, we enjoyed cooking together. At times we were able to purchase the ingredients; other times, they insisted on using what they had in the pantry. We had some very generous hosts during the month of February!
Sleeping in France and Italy was comfortable (for the most part!). Traveling through the countries in the middle of winter, we had some pretty cold nights and mornings camping. We never paid for campsites and managed to find a suitable place to wild camp when needed (although we often waited until sundown to set up camp!). Most of our nights, though, we spent indoors with some really great hosts, who generously welcomed us into their warm homes and shared their wonderful company. We met these hosts primarily through Warmshowers and Couchsurfing, however, we also met a host in the bike lanes of Nice. Our host in Muggia was a family friend of Lauren's.
During the month of February, we were hosted for 21 nights, wild camped 5 nights, free camped 1 night, and stayed in a hotel (using points) 1 night.
Overall, our monthly budget of 700 USD total felt more than adequate for our daily needs and our unforeseen transportation expense during the polar vortex.
Our day-by-day costs (and where we slept) are below. All values are expressed in Euro (as of April 2018, 1 Euro (EUR) = 1.23 US Dollar (USD).
Wild camping en route to Montpellier.
8 food / Warmshowers host in Montpellier.
18 food / Warmshowers host in Montpellier.
Warmshowers host in Montpellier.
54 food / Warmshowers host in Montpellier.
19 food / 3 lodging / Hotel in Montpellier (paid for using hotel points with the exception of city tax).
2 food / Wild camping en route to Arles.
7 food / Wild camping en route to Miramas.
14 food / Warmshowers host in Miramas.
Warmshowers host in Les Pennes Mirabeau.
Warmshowers host in Les Pennes Mirabeau.
16 food / Warmshowers host in Cassis.
20 food / Warmshowers host in Cassis.
24 food / Warmshowers host in Cassis.
7 food / Couchsurfing host in Le Pradet.
13 food / Hosted in Hýeres.
Hosted in Hýeres.
Hosted in Hýeres.
Hosted in Hýeres.
17 food / Wild camping en route to Nice.
10 food / Wild camping en route to Nice.
13 food / Hosted in Nice.
9 food / Free camping in Ventimiglia.
7 food / Hosted in Muggia.
Hosted in Muggia.
31 food / Hosted in Muggia.
Hosted in Muggia.
13 food / Hosted in Muggia.
Other expenses
Our major "other" expense in February, almost 30 percent of our total expenses for the month, was the purchase of train tickets from Ventimiglia to Trieste to escape the polar vortex. We were disappointed to adjust our cycling plans for Italy, but we also wanted to avoid cycling in the especially cold temperatures, strong winds, and rain and snow (we're glad we bought those tickets!). My Google cell service, which doesn't roll over neatly at the end of each month, also cost a little bit.
All values are expressed in Euro (as of April 2018, 1 Euro (EUR) = 1.23 US Dollar (USD).
Train tickets: 125
Cell service: 20
Other: 3
As always, tons of thanks to those who showed us such generosity and kindness this February and made our time in France and Italy so wonderful. We certainly couldn't have done it without you.