June 22, 2018 — 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: 421 EUR (519 USD)
Lodging: 101 EUR (125 USD)
Total ordinary expenses: 522 EUR (644 USD)
Daily expenses: 17 EUR (21 USD)
Daily expenses, per person: 8 EUR (10 USD)
Additional expenses: 84 EUR (103 USD)
Total cost, January 2018: 606 EUR (747 USD)
Ordinary expenses
Eating in Spain was much more expensive than in Morocco, but still affordable. Mostly we bought groceries, but occasionally (especially in Andalucia, where beer costs under two euros and comes with a tapa) we enjoyed a drink at a bar or cafe. We did plenty of cooking with our (many) hosts. In some cases, we were able to purchase the ingredients; other times, they insisted on using what they had in the pantry.
Sleeping in Spain was lovely. We traveled through the country in the dead of winter, so camping could be a bit cold. We never paid for campsites and had little trouble finding a suitable place to wild camp when needed (though it could be trickier on the coast). Mostly, though, we were tremendously fortunate to be welcomed into the homes of a number of really wonderful people: folks we met through Warmshowers and Couchsurfing and earlier travels.
During the month of January, we were hosted for 22 nights, wild camped 5 nights, and stayed in a hotel/hostel (using past credit or points) 4 nights.
Overall, our monthly budget of 700 USD total (recently increased from 600 to give us a little breathing room) felt adequate for our needs, even covering most of an unforeseen (and pricey) bus ride. In the middle of January, a few good friends visited us from back home in Barcelona. We splurged a little (relatively speaking, for us) on food and lodging during their visit (and thankfully, they were very graciously understanding of our financial constraints).
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).
Warmshowers host in Jaen.
27 food / Warmshowers host in Jaen.
12 food / Warmshowers host in Jaen.
5 food / Warmshowers host in Jaen.
20 food / Couchsurfing host in Linares.
Hotel in Valencia (paid for using hotel points).
Warmshowers host in Valencia.
19 food / Warmshowers host in Valencia.
12 food / Warmshowers host in Valencia.
17 food / Hosted in Moncofa.
Wild camping en route to Barcelona.
17 food / Wild camping en route to Barcelona.
7 food / Couchsurfing host in Salou.
3 food / Couchsurfing host in Casteldeffels.
23 food / 34 lodging / Hostel in Barcelona (partially paid with Booking credit).
16 food / 34 lodging / Hostel in Barcelona (partially paid with Booking credit).
43 food / 34 lodging / Hostel in Barcelona (partially paid with Booking credit).
12 food / Couchsurfing host in Barcelona.
20 food / Couchsurfing host in Barcelona.
18 food / Couchsurfing host in Barcelona.
9 food / Warmshowers host in Sant Pol.
5 food / Wild camping en route to Barcelona.
11 food / Hosted in Girona.
13 food / Hosted in Girona.
7 food / Hosted in Girona.
24 food / Hosted in Girona.
18 food / Couchsurfing host in Figueres.
8 food / Wild camping en route to Narbonne.
12 food / Wild camping en route to Narbonne.
26 food / Couchsurfing host in Narbonne.
17 food / Couchsurfing host in Narbonne.
Other expenses
We got caught in a snowstorm deep in Spain's interior. We had to meet friends in Barcelona by the middle of the month, and so we took a bus to Valencia to get out of the storm and ensure we'd make it to Barcelona in time. 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).
Bus tickets: 64
Cell service: 20