How much money do you need to travel for a few months?

How much money should I budget for travel?

Forget “budget,” darling. Let’s call it a “carefully orchestrated financial adventure.” Think of it like this: backpacking through Southeast Asia? $50-$80 a day, maybe less if you’re adept at dumpster diving, which I wholeheartedly endorse, ethically of course. My friend, a true minimalist, lived on $30/day for a month in Thailand. He looked like a scarecrow but wrote a book about it.

Luxury Maldives trip? Prepare for $500+, or more, depending on your caviar preferences. Seriously, some resorts charge more for a single cocktail than my rent in 2018.

Key Factors:

• Flights: A low-cost airline is your friend. Or your enemy, depending on how much legroom you value.
• Accommodation: Hostels are cheap but can be intense. Hotels cost more, yet usually involve far less screaming.
• Activities: Zip-lining? $100. Watching the sunset? Priceless! Literally, unless you’re selling photos. I earned $300 once on Instagram.
• Food: Street food is amazing AND cheap. Fine dining? Prepare to mortgage your grandma’s house.
• Transportation: Consider trains! Scenic, efficient, romantic. Unless they’re delayed for hours. Then, not so much.

Pro Tip: Google Flights is your new best friend. I used it last year to find a crazy-cheap flight to Portugal. Seriously, it was cheaper than my monthly Netflix subscription.

Bottom line: Research, research, research! Don’t be a budget-blind idiot. But don’t be so rigid you miss out on the joy of spontaneous gelato purchases. My trip to Italy in 2022, almost entirely funded by said gelato sales (a joke!), almost didn’t happen. Almost.

How much to travel to the USA for 1 month?

A month in the US? Man, that’s a tough one. Three grand, maybe? Four? It depends. So much depends.

Flights alone eat up a chunk. Last year my flight from London to New York was nearly $1,000. Ouch.

Then there’s the accommodation. Hotels in NYC are insane. Seriously, insane. Maybe I should have stayed in a hostel in 2023 like I did in 2022, but nope. I splurged. Stupid me.

Food… well, that’s always a variable. I ate like a king some days. Ramen on others. My sister, Sarah, she’s way more frugal than I am. She’d probably do it for less. She’s better at budgeting.

Activities? Depends on what you like, right? Museums cost money. National Parks have fees. Concerts, Broadway… forget it. Those things are costly.

So yeah, $3,000 to $5,000 is probably not unreasonable. Maybe more, depending. If you’re smart. If you are not, like me, way more.

• Flights: $800 – $1500 (depending on origin and destination)
• Accommodation: $1000 – $3000 (hostel vs. hotel, city vs. less popular areas)
• Food: $500 – $1500 (eating out frequently vs. grocery shopping and cooking)
• Activities: $500 – $2000+ (this is wildly variable)

I should have saved more. I feel it now, the weight of those credit card bills. Regret. Pure, unadulterated regret. God, I need to budget better next time.

How much money do you need for a month in Southeast Asia?

$30-$50/day: Backpacker budget. Hostels. Street food. Local buses. Tight.

$50-$80/day: Mid-range. Decent hotels. Restaurants. Some tours. Comfortable.

$100+/day: Luxury. Five-star hotels. Fine dining. Private transport. Spoiled.

Factors:

• Visa fees (check specifics for your nationality & planned destinations in 2024)
• Flights between countries: Can be expensive, budget accordingly.
• Activities: Temples? Diving? Consider costs. My last trip to Angkor Wat? Cost me a pretty penny.

My experience: 2023 Thailand trip cost me about $75/day average. Could’ve been cheaper, could’ve been more. Depends.

How much money do I need for 6 weeks in SE Asia?

Alright, Southeast Asia on a shoestring? Buckle up, buttercup. Budget backpacking? Think $30-$50 a day. That’s, like, surviving on Pad Thai and questionable street meat.

Fancy pants? Double it. $60-$100. You’re practically royalty!

Six weeks? Roughly, $1260-$2100.. More if you’re buying all those elephant pants, dang! It covers basic stuff. Think rice, rickshaws, and really questionable guesthouses.

• Food: Street food is your friend. Also, my friend tried that scorpion once. One time!
• Accommodation: Hostels. Or guesthouses with… character.
• Transport: Buses, trains, maybe a dodgy motorbike.
• Activities: Temples, beaches, haggling for souvenirs.

Oh, and don’t forget beer money! That budget? More like guidelines, you know? Just have fun, I got lost in Thailand last year, whoops!

What is the average cost of living in Southeast Asia?

Southeast Asia, huh? Thinking about it, it feels… complicated.

• Singapore: Always the outlier. 118.34. That’s…a lot. Makes you wonder what people are really paying for. Is it worth it?

• Brunei: 65.01. Quiet. Oil money, I suppose. A different kind of quiet desperation, maybe. My uncle went there once. Didn’t say much about it when he got back.

• Philippines: 62.13. My grandmother’s village… I remember the heat. And the rain. Memories are selective, you know? They never show the whole picture.

• Malaysia: 56.21. I have a friend there. Says it’s changing. Everything is always changing. Is that a good thing? I really don’t know.

It’s more than just numbers, isn’t it?

• Singapore’s cost of living, so high. You gotta hustle, work hard to make it in Singapore. Is it worth the price, all that hustle?
• Brunei’s quiet prosperity. Maybe it’s nice, maybe it’s suffocating. Who am I to judge anyway?
• The Philippines…memories and costs. Home.
• Malaysia and constant change. Everything is constantly changing; still, it is a comforting thought, right?

I just wish I could explain it better.

Where is the cheapest place to live in Southeast Asia?

Vietnam, hands down, is where you can live like a king on a pauper’s budget. It’s cheaper than therapy, that’s for sure! Think daily pho binges without feeling the pinch.

Cambodia and Laos are contenders too, but it kinda depends if you’re cool with gecko roommates. Myanmar? Hmm, maybe if you’re into off-the-grid living.

Chiang Mai in Thailand? It’s budget-friendly, alright, until you discover the mango sticky rice addiction. Then, your bank account cries.

• Vietnam: Pho real, it’s cheap. Street food rules. You might need to haggle for everything, though.
• Cambodia: Angkor Wat is majestic, the cost of living is low, and the infrastructure? Let’s just say it adds character.
• Laos: Slow pace, stunning landscapes, and beer Lao. What’s not to like? Oh right, the internet speed.
• Myanmar: Adventurous living, to say the least. Beautiful temples but, like, be aware.
• Chiang Mai (Thailand): Great for digital nomads and mango sticky rice fanatics. Beware the tourists, yikes.

Southeast Asia’s affordability is a slippery slope. Accommodation varies from $5/night hostels to $500/month apartments. Food is dirt cheap if you embrace street eats; fancy restaurants cost more than my rent.

Transportation? Motorbikes are the way. Entertainment can range from free temple visits to pricey rooftop bars. Bottom line? It depends on how bougie you wanna be, ya know?

How much money do you need for 3 months in Southeast Asia?

Three months in Southeast Asia? Man, that was 2023. Crazy expensive, especially in Thailand. I spent way more than I planned. Seriously.

Accommodation? Forget hostels, I was tired of dorm rooms. Mostly Airbnb. Maybe 1800 pounds total. Luxury wasn’t my thing, but I liked my own space. So, that budget? Underestimated.

Food and drink? Oh boy. Street food was amazing, but I ate out way too much. Easily 1200 pounds, maybe more. I loved the mango sticky rice. So good! The budget was laughable.

Transport was surprisingly ok. Lots of buses and trains. Maybe 400 pounds. But I took a few flights, those added up. The trains were the best part actually.

Activities and tours? That’s where I went wild. Temples in Cambodia, diving in Thailand, exploring Vietnam. Easily 1000 pounds or more. Worth it though.

Total? Way over budget. Probably closer to £4000. I should’ve saved more. Next time, I’ll stick to a stricter plan.

• Accommodation: £1800 (Airbnb, mostly)
• Food & Drink: £1200 (Street food and restaurants)
• Transportation: £400 (Buses, trains, some flights)
• Activities & Tours: £1000+ (Temples, diving, etc.)
• Total: £4000+ (significantly over budget)

How much do you need to live in Southeast Asia?

Okay, so Southeast Asia, huh? Six hundred bucks a month? Maybe in some super rural place in Laos. Doubtful. Rent alone in a decent area will eat that up. Food? Cheap eats, sure, but eating out all the time adds up. Plus, healthcare. Don’t even get me started on that!

My friend Sarah lived in Hoi An, Vietnam for a year. She swore up and down she spent around $800 a month, minimum. That’s being frugal. She’d have to skip things sometimes. I think she got by for less some months but not consistently. That doesn’t include any travel, though. Travel in SEA is, uh, addictive.

Five hundred dollars? No way. Absolutely not. Unless you’re living in a shack. Maybe in a tiny village, miles from anything. And forget about having any kind of social life or doing anything fun. Seriously. That’s ridiculously low.

I’d budget at least $1000 a month, honestly. This might cover basic things. $1500-$2000 is much more realistic for a comfortable life.

Things to consider:

• Rent ($300-$800+ depending on location and standards)
• Food ($200-$500+ –eating out vs. cooking)
• Transportation ($50-$150)
• Healthcare (at least $100+, consider insurance)
• Entertainment (highly variable, $100-$500 easily)
• Visas (This is HUGE, and varies by country)
• Unexpected expenses – always have a buffer.

I mean, it’s Southeast Asia, so it’s cheaper than Europe or North America, obviously. But “cheap” is relative, right? I spent a month in Thailand in 2022. Blew through my savings way quicker than expected. Crazy how much stuff costs!

So yeah, research your specific destination. $500 a month is a pipe dream. Don’t even think about it. I’m telling you.