How Much I Spent in 1 Year of Full-Time Traveling (2024)
This is how my I spent as a single person in 2024 while full time traveling the world in countries like these: 🇱🇦 Laos – 🇹🇭 Thailand – 🇰🇭 Cambodia – 🇮🇳 India – 🇵🇰 Pakistan – 🇺🇸 USA – 🇬🇧 United kingdom – 🇪🇪 Estonia – 🇯🇲 Jamaica – 🇸🇻 El Salvador – 🇬🇹 Guatemala . I know how much I spend because I thoroughly tracked my spending every day of the year using the Travel Spend app, and I organize it by month and country – I guarantee the final amount at the end of this article will shock you.
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Total amount spent in 2024 on Rent
- 🏠 $4,598
I save tens of thousands of dollars a year on rent by full time traveling. Even though I’m usually staying in pretty nice places while I’m traveling, unless I’m far off the beaten path in which case I’m not staying in nice places at all – I only spent around $4,600 for the ENTIRE YEAR on rent. I do benefit from being a content creator and getting lots of nice sponsored hotel stays that help cut these costs down. For comparison, my rent in Manhattan when I was working a corporate job was $2,800 per MONTH, so rent is the category I saved the most money on by traveling full time by far.
Total Amount Spent on Transportation
- ✈️ Flights: $4167
- 🛵Transportation: $2,771
- Together: $6,938
By far, what I spent the most on this year was transportation, totaling almost $7,000, with $4,167 of that just being on flights. I never rented a car abroad and the money spend on transport went to things like ferries, trains, buses, and scooter rentals.
Something that saved me around $1,000 this year was traveling with a carry-on bag only. This is my usual set up: I travel with a carry-on size suitcase so this is my official carry on, and then I have a backpack or duffel as a personal item, and if the airline is lenient I usually can also get away with a sling back for my phone, wallet, and passport. Usually I’ll also have a collapsable tote bag for snacks, and I hang any extras like water bottles, travel pillows, or even shoes off my bag with carabiners.
Total amount spent on Groceries
- 🍑🍎🥑$3,106
I spent around $3,000 in total on groceries in 2024, this amount might seem high but it’s around 1/2 of what I was spending as a single person living in New York, so to me it’s still pretty low. This comes out to around $250 per month.
Total amount spent on Restaurants
- 🍱🍝🥘 $2,939
Eating out in other countries often is cheaper than buying groceries and cooking yourself, which is crazy but true. I had a LOT of great meals in 2024 and still spent not that much money.
Total Amount spent on Health Insurance
- ⛑️🏥 $672
In regards to health insurance, I pay $56 per month for Safety Wing nomad travelers insurance – this only covers emergency healthcare so all preventative check ups and anything extra has to come out of pocket – but it’s far cheaper than even the cheapest health insurance back in the USA.
👉 I never go on a trip without travel insurance – check out the one I use here > Safety Wing Travel Insurance
Total Amount Spent Shopping & Gifts for Others
- 🛍️ $2,428
So, I can’t really shop as much as I would like to because I live out of a suitcase – this helps me save LOADS of money (basically against my will) because I literally can’t buy anything, but I can send gifts home for people in the mail which has become one of my favorite things to do so I still wind up spending a bit on shopping.
2024 Total Spend on Travel
- 💰$23,969
So my overall 2024 total spend: (not including my work expenses, taxes, and a new phone I bought in September) $23,969. I am SHOCKED by this because in 2021 I was spending over $33,000 JUST ON RENT in NYC and now I’m able to travel the world for less than that one bill I had in the USA. What do you think, is this higher or lower than you expected a year of full time travel to cost? If you want to full-time travel, I hope this can help you budget.
| January (Thailand) | Total: 2048 Flights: 800 Accommodation: 324 restaurants: 308 Transportation; 230 Groceries: 176 |
| February (Thailand + Laos) | Total: 1478 Flights: 0 accommodation: 307 Restaurants: 277 Transport 230 groceries: 87 Shopping + gifts: 30 |
| March (Laos + Thailand) | Total: 1691 Accommodation: 500 Groceries: 300 Restaurants: 160 Transportation: 195 Shopping + gifts for others: 125 Flights: 45 |
| April (Thai Islands) | Total: 1563 Groceries: 506 Accommodation: 500 Transportation: 150 Restaurants: 36 |
| May (Thai Islands) | Total: 1701 Groceries: 464 accommodation: 436 gifts: 142 Transportation: 230 flights: 92 Restaurants 36 |
| June (Thai Islands) | total: 1503 accommodation: 471 Groceries: 407 transportation: 155 Gifts: 95 Flights: 85 |
| July (Thai Islands) | Total: 1783 Flights: 0 accommodation: 408 Groceries: 384 shopping + gifts: 350 Transportation: 240 Restaurants: 107 |
| August (Cambodia) | total: 1889 Flights: 70 Accommodation: 356 restaurants: 250 Transportation: 229 Groceries: 200 Shopping: 181 |
| September (India+Pakistan) | Total: 2660 Flights: 1200 Accommodation: 446 Transportation: 271 Restaurants: 191 Shopping: 72 Groceries: 51 |
| October (USA + Jamaica) | Total: 2505 Flights: 560 Transportion: 392 Shopping + gifts: 239 + 108 Restaurants: 207 Accommodation: 158 Groceries: 138 |
| November (El Salvador + Guatemala) | Total: 2229 Flights: 340 Accommodation: 509 Restaurants: 221 Groceries: 250 transportaiton: 224 Gifts+shopping: 265 |
| December (USA + UK + Estonia) | Total: 2919 Flights: 975 Shopping + gifts for others:469 + 352 Transportation: 225 Restaurants: 182 Groceries: 114 Insurance: 56 rent : 147 |
