Our Travel Gear: https://findingginamarie.com/gear
Briggs & Riley Collections: https://link.findingginamarie.com/BriggsAndRiley
Ep.130 In 2024, we explored twelve countries across four continents, embracing the full-time travel lifestyle on our own terms—not constrained by a shoestring budget nor indulging in luxury. Join us as we share a comprehensive breakdown of our expenses, covering everything from flights and accommodations to food, entertainment, tours, healthcare, and more.
Curious about our monthly spending, the cost per region, or how much we spent per person per day? We’ve got it all covered. Plus, discover practical tips to help you save and compare the most affordable to the priciest places we visited. Our adventure took us through Southeast Asia, Asia, Europe, Africa, the US, and South America. The best part? This isn’t just a one-time trip; it’s our ongoing lifestyle in early retirement. Dive in to see how we make it work and maybe find some inspiration for your own travels!
💥 Go to https://findingGinaMarie.com/join to join our free travel forum and learn more about our Gelato Levels!
😎 ***WANT TO SUPPORT OUR CHANNEL?***
☕️ Buy us a coffee (caffeine helps us bring you more great content)! https://bmc.link/findGinaMarie
💥 SUBSCRIBE: https://youtube.com/FindingGinaMarie/?sub_confirmation=1
📝 Why our channel is called “Finding Gina Marie” https://findingginamarie.com/articles/why-the-name-finding-gina-marie
LINKS
📰 Travel Tips: https://findingginamarie.com/travel-tips
🎥 Ep.81 What we pack in 2024: https://youtu.be/yD-45hCjQl0
🎥 Ep.129 Our approach to Money and Budgeting as Retired Full-Time Travelers
😍 Using our affiliate links below helps us to bring you videos from around the world at no cost to you. Thank you very much if you choose to use them!
🧳 Explore All Our Travel Gear: https://findingginamarie.com/gear
🧳 Explore Briggs & Riley Collections: https://link.findingginamarie.com/BriggsAndRiley
👗 Judy’s wool clothes (Wool&): https://link.findingginamarie.com/WomensWool
👕 Kevin’s wool clothes (Wool& Prince): https://link.findingginamarie.com/MensWool
📩 Traveling Mailbox (Mail forwarding service to wherever we travel): https://link.findingginamarie.com/travelingMailbox
💳Earn 60,000 bonus points with Chase Sapphire Reserve: https://link.findingginamarie.com/SapphireReserve
🧾 Our packing list: https://findingginamarie.com/articles/packing-list-how-we-pack-and-travel-with-only-carry-on-luggage
🎵 Music from Epidemic Sound: https://share.epidemicsound.com/747rgk
23andMe: https://refer.23andme.com/s/judy49
Ancestry: https://refer.ancestry.com/judy43
🤓 READ JUDY’S JOURNAL
https://findingginamarie.com/judys-journal
Chapters:
00:00 – Start
02:03 – How we break out our travel costs
03:05 – Saigon 2023-24 Costs
04:17 – Hoi An 2024 Costs
05:07 – Siem Reap 2024 Costs
05:47 – Chiang Mai 2024 Costs
07:23 – Taipei 2024 Costs
07:47 – Busan 2024 Costs
08:16 – Seoul 2024 Costs
08:39 – Orvieto 2024 Costs
10:04 – Barcelona 2024 Costs
10:45 – Madrid 2024 Costs
11:17 – USA 2024 Costs
12:06 – Lyon 2024 Costs
12:58 – Colmar 2024 Costs
13:24 – Paris 2024 Costs
13:58 – Tirana 2024 Costs
14:24 – Marrakech 2024 Costs
14:58 – Sahara Desert 2024 Costs
15:15 – Fes 2024 Costs
15:34 – Buenos Aires 2024 Costs
16:09 – Recurring & Travel Costs by Month
18:23 – Lodging per Day Chart
19:18 – Food per Person per Day Chart
20:11 – Total per Person per Day Chart
21:07 – Takeaways and conclusions
Finding Gina Marie is where we share our lives as full-time travelers and the connections we make along the way.
✈️ FOLLOW US
* Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@KevinHoctor
* Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@JudyHoctor
✅ FOLLOW FINDING GINA MARIE
* Website: https://findingGinaMarie.com
* YouTube: https://youtube.com/FindingGinaMarie
* Podcast RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1967301.rss
* 📸Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/findingGinaMarie
📹 VIDEO EQUIPMENT
* Primary Camera: Sony FX30
* Primary Microphone: Sony ECM-B10
* B-Roll Camera: DJI Osmo Pocket 3
* B-Roll Microphone: DJI Mic 2
* B-Roll Camera: iPhone 15 Pro
* Editing: Final Cut Pro X on a 16” M1 Max MacBook Pro
* Key Light: ZHIYUN MOLUS X100 Bi-Color 100W COB Video Light
* Diffuser: ZHIYUN Quick Release Mini Softbox
To see all our camera gear, visit https://findingginamarie.com/gear
#findingGinaMarie #worldtraveler #worldtravel #livingthedream #slowtravel #digitalnomad #digitalnomadlife #europetravel #retireearly#retireearlyandtravel
34 Comments
Great breakdown
Did you say 40th wedding anniversary!? You must have married when you were babies :). Thank you for the detailed breakdown! It is always helpful to see what others spend in different places. (also I love the spreadsheet details)!
Great video! Thank you for all the ways that you broke down the costs. Keep up the good work. Happy Holidays!
Im a new subscriber from wisconsin. I do alot of midwest road trips. Im going to see christmas lights in south bend, indiana next weekend.
Great breakdown. Thanks for sharing 👍
Do you believe you could have shaved $20k, or $30k off this total if you had just slow traveled?🤔
Or would have also required to cut out some places like western Italy and the capital of Morocco? ( Besides the influences of not being able to visit all those destinations. )
Yes, yes. I need to know your logistics on getting around please! And your 2025 travel plans.
Thanks so much for the transparency! This is really helpful information.
Thanks for sharing Thank you so much for this This is by far the best video for travelers
👍👍👍👍👍 up !!!!!!!!!!!!
This will help me make my budget when i go to Span next month thank you both…..
Thank you so much for the detailed breakdown! Great insight and super helpful! Very timely as I plan 2025, hoping to travel full time the way you do. I love your channel. I’ve learned a lot from you and continue to learn. Thank you both for all you do. Keep up the great work!
Very good content on where your money was spent. Yes, I look forward to hearing what your 2025 plans are!
I’m looking forward to hearing about Argentina. I heard that booking airfare with Chase Sapphire is not recommended. Others use it for Hyatt transfer points only.
Judy and Kevin, Thank you for your extremely informative and useful video on cost of full-time travel. I notice your cost is quite comparable to that estimated by the "retirement traveler" YouTube. They estimated a cost of $84k/year for 1/3 time in expensive countries and 2/3 time in low-cost countries. These two independent results give me a lot more confidence on how to budget for travel after we retire next year (including convincing my wife🙂). Season's greetings!
$73k USD… I nearly passed out seeing the final number. Great video, great presentation of data. That's not a budget that could be sustained long term without significant wealth. Good on you for travelling the world. We do it as well, and it's the best use of resource time and money while you are physically capable. Cheers, Jay & Sarah.
Thanks for the info. We travel about half time and have found Croatia to be more reasonable than other parts of Europe, although it is getting more expensive lately. I think other parts of Eastern Europe are still a good deal, we plan to look into that further
I'd love to hear more about your 2025 plans. Thanks for the video. The numbers are helpful.
Amazing job! Thanks so much for such detailed insights. FYI: for Morocco, total days will be 41, not 51.
Thank you. Your budget is the most realistic out there. We’ve been traveling and wondering how everyone spends almost nothing for everything. I feel so much better because our budget looks more like yours. Thanks
How much is your foreign transaction fees from the credit or debit card you use for your international travels when you make purchases overseas? Which credit card or debit card do you guys use or recommend for international travel?
This is great, we hope to do something similar!
You two are Super!!!
Just take a year long cruise around the world. I'm taking this cruise with the wife on the firt day that I retire.
Did I miss what was your overall cost for the year (and per day average)?
Excellent video. We have been traveling in England and Europe since January and will likely end up within $1000 of your total number. We do pet sit thru Trusted Housesitters about 4 months a year and mostly in England. This is not only enjoyable but allows us to move monies into more eating out. Great job and safe travels.
I am planning my slow travel year and this was a very informative video. I am planning on staying in SE Asia -Australia and New Zealand. I have been to Thailand, Bali, Vietnam ,Cambodia already. I’m going to be spending time in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka , Northern Thailand and then over to Australia and New Zealand. I have a few cards where I have been banking miles and should have roughly 600,000 points and I am a single solo traveler. I hope to use these for flights and hotel rooms in more expensive areas . I was thinking 35,000 for one person in SE Asia for 6 to 7 months would be plenty of money to enjoy what’s on offer. I am very glad I found you. When the time comes, I may be reaching out to you for some great insight.
Thanks for your video. It was very well thought out and presented.
Happy Holidays, Lisa
You two are amazing and so inspiring. Due to an upcoming job change (not for the better), I'm thinking about making my dream a reality even sooner. Maybe not with any kind of visa, but hopping between the UK and France on only a passport. I hope this is possible. The research has certainly begun. Thanks to both of you for all of the information you share!
Thank you for the breakdown!
How old were you when you became nomads?
First, congratulations on your 40 year anniversary. That's quite the milestone to be proud of! Thank you for such a great breakdown of your costs. This is extremely helpful for someone like me who is budget-conscious and wants to estimate costs for planning (and dreaming) of future trips. Your video was very well put together. The graphs and tables were very informative. I found myself pausing the video to give me time to digest the numbers. Keep up the great content.
I watch several channels and I agree with others, this is the best and most thorough account of costs. I really appreciate it
Hello Judy and Kevin! I discovered your channel when preparing for my trip to Egypt last October. My goals are quite similar to yours, except for me being a full time traveler is, at the moment, a little unsettling idea. Not because I am attached to material things per se, but for example I am interested in pursuing my art hobbies in retirement, such as stained glass painting, whereas a forever-on-the-go lifestyle would not allow that or would make it difficult for me. I have so many questions, though! If you guys could touch the topic of finance managing, that'd be great. In my case, besides my conventional 8-5 job, I own several rental properties that are producing a nice monthly income, and if I sell them all, a sizable chunk of cash would be available for me. However, that money, if not invested, would be just sitting idle in a bank. It feels like considering killing the goose that lays the golden eggs! That's why I am looking into finance managing guidance, and I do not trust professional financial advisors that much!
Thank you for all the useful info! Happy travels!
Hi Judy and Kevin, hope you are doing well! Thanks for the valuable tips. I have a quick question, how do you manage accessing some accounts in US while being overseas , if accessing those accounts require sending verification code to your US phone no!? Does it mean you have to keep paying for US cell no while you are away! Thanks
Thanks for the breakdown. Have you considered adding cruising to your travel? If you have flexible dates and go where it's cheap, you can get some real bargains, and of course it's all inclusive. Some can be had for way less than $100 per day.