My lodging costs in Mexico were on the high side because I almost exclusively stayed in private room

Many people are interested in how much around-the-world (RTW) or other long-term travel costs, especially as a budget traveler or backpacker. Latin America, generally being a fairly inexpensive destination, is popular for long-term itineraries. So, I bring you some good news and bad news. The good news is I am going to give you a full and complete breakdown hotels in downtown nashville tennessee of my expenses covering most Central hotels in downtown nashville tennessee American countries hotels in downtown nashville tennessee (South America will be covered in another hotels in downtown nashville tennessee post). The bad news is that I started my journey in Mexico in March 2009 so some of these numbers are now fairly hotels in downtown nashville tennessee old. As I recall, I was surprised at how much some prices had gone up in 2009 from my those listed in my 2007 Lonely Planet so I can only imagine that now in 2012 my 2009-2010 Central America prices are inaccurate. Still, they might be useful for getting a baseline idea of budget travel costs, for comparing countries and for understanding where the relative costs lie.
As I mentioned, hotels in downtown nashville tennessee I began this trip in March 2009 in Mexico, specifically the Yucatán peninsula.  I spent a bit more than a year (385 days) in Central America and will end up spending a bit less than two years in South America. In fact, I will finish my time in South America shortly (early April). I will wait until then, when I will have all the data, to post my full expenses for South America. In the meantime, let me know if you would like to see anything different or not covered in this post.
Any breakdown of this nature deserves some background information, and the value of my particular expenditures tracking will naturally depend hotels in downtown nashville tennessee on how similar your travel style is to mine. Perhaps the best description of my travel style is comfortable cheap. Whenever possible I try to save costs but I am not on such a tight budget that I will put up with extremely unpleasant or unsafe circumstances just to save a little money (though I can’t always say the same for slightly unpleasant or unsafe circumstances; I should work on that). Here are some more details, based on the categories I tracked, of how I travel to help you understand hotels in downtown nashville tennessee my numbers better:
For lodging, I prefer a private room if it is reasonably priced, but I am perfectly fine with a shared bathroom. I am also fine with a dorm room depending hotels in downtown nashville tennessee on the circumstances, including: if I am in a social mood and want to more easily meet fellow travelers; when the dorm is particularly nice; when I plan to be so busy that I just need a room for sleeping; when I just don’t think the added cost of a private room is worth it.
As a general observation, I found the differences in cost between a dorm room and a private room much less from Mexico to Nicaragua. In Costa Rica and Panamá the price differential went up and I switched more to dorms. South America was more of a mixed bag, but generally the further south I got, especially in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, the larger the differences in prices became. I don’t have a rule, but looking back it seems that I am usually willing to pay up to a 50% difference in price to get the luxury of a private room (more if the base price for a dorm is very low).
I love CouchSurfing and use it often to meet locals when I travel, to find language exchanges and other interesting groups. And, I have been meaning to use it to stay on a couch but never have for a variety of reason. I hope to begin using it in that way in the future.
I have never been a foodie, and while I enjoy trying local dishes, food rarely takes a central role in my travels. Like anyone, hotels in downtown nashville tennessee I occasionally want to treat myself hotels in downtown nashville tennessee to a good meal, especially when I am in a country hotels in downtown nashville tennessee where doing so is reasonably hotels in downtown nashville tennessee priced, but I don’t do it often. That’s as much personal preference as a concern for my budget. I generally eat out once a day or less, and often at local establishments that offer better prices. As I usually opt to stay in hostels, even when getting a private hotels in downtown nashville tennessee room, I usually have access to a kitchen and try to take advantage (even though I am not a very good cook!).
Instead of calling this site Lengthy hotels in downtown nashville tennessee Travel, I could have called it Slow Travel. Besides the many social and cultural benefits, traveling slowly saves on lodging (when renting a room) and transportation (not moving around so often) and other items (when you get to know where the best values hotels in downtown nashville tennessee can be found).
I generally travel by bus, usually opting for semi-cama on longer journeys. I have taken cama service before but I generally don’t find it worth the extra money for my needs. I definitely think semi-cama is worth the extra money compared with the cheapest, local service option hotels in downtown nashville tennessee though. I haven’t taken many flights but when the distance is very far and the cost isn’t too much higher I am always willing to consider flying as an alternative.
I have a natural aversion to taxis. It’s not rational, but whenever possible I try to avoid them, preferring to walk when possible (I always want and need the exercise) and to take local transportation if I feel I can manage it. I’ve never hitchhiked, though perhaps I should try in the future.
I am not much of a drinker. This fact alone is probably the biggest budget savings in my favor. Even though beers (my personal preference when I do drink) are generally quite cheap in Latin America, drinking as much as many of the other travelers I meet can quickly add to your daily average spending.
For tourist activities hotels in downtown nashville tennessee and attractions that really interest hotels in downtown nashville tennessee me I am usually willing to pay the necessary costs, but for some (yet another church?!) it depends on an entirely unscientific evaluation of whether the activity is worth the price. Below I note when I spent unusually large amounts of money on tourism.
I enjoy learning languages . One of the reasons I spent so much time in Latin America is because I wanted to learn and practice Spanish. Along the way I took some courses. I also learned to dive (PADI) on this trip.
I am generally content to see the places I visit, do tourist things, try to meet and spend time with locals, and work. Combined with the fact that I don’t drink much, my entertainment costs are generally low. I do admit that I sometimes am inconsistent in how I categorize expenses, however. For example, sometimes I seem to have recorded my surfing (board rentals usually) as entertainment, other times as tourism, and other times as miscellaneous.
I generally pay for my laundry as I am too lazy to be washing my things in a sink all the time. But, I do travel with a lot of underwear so that I generally can get away with doing laundry less often.
hotels in downtown nashville tennessee I don’t generally pay for phone service hotels in downtown nashville tennessee in most countries unless I plan to stay a while and make local friends. When I do, I always get a pre-paid SIM card to use with my unlocked phone. As I travel with a netbook, I rely heavily hotels in downtown nashville tennessee on free WiFi (hostels, parks, libraries, etc.) and don’t often like to work in cafés (not least because I don’t drink coffee). If I am staying somewhere without WiFi I usually opt for an Internet cafe/kiosk instead.
I haven’t included pre- or post-travel costs, such as the initial flight (very cheap from TX to Cancún), the electronics I bought before leaving, insurance, clothing, etc. Basically I am only including what I spent on the road.
My lodging costs in Mexico were on the high side because I almost exclusively stayed in private rooms. hotels in downtown nashville tennessee I started my trip in Isla Mujeres hotels in downtown nashville tennessee (Cancun) and only traveled through the Yucután peninsula. I hope to see the rest of the country another time but for now I can’t be sure how my expenses compared with the central and northern parts of the country.
Notice the huge difference between food and lodging costs. I was still staying in private rooms in Guatemala but the fact is that lodging in that country can be dirt cheap, even for private rooms. We’re not talking the Hilton in terms of quality, but acceptable. The food wasn’t especially expensive, but much more so than room and I did eat out more as some of my lodging choices had no kitchen. Notice also that Guatemala would have been closer to a US$20 a day country if I hadn’t taken several weeks of Spanish classes. For the record, I can’t think of any place better to study Spanish hotels in downtown nashville tennessee in terms of quality and cost. I paid about US$5 per hour for private lessons.
Honduras hotels in downtown nashville tennessee needs some explaining. First, notice that the daily spend would have been closer hotels in downtown nashville tennessee to US$24 a day if it wasn’t for that big tourism column. What was that? My PADI open water and advanced diving certifications on Utila (Bay Islands). The PADI costs included about 8 nights of free lodging so that also skewed those numbers down. By the way, if anyone is heading that way, have a baleada for me. I really miss those!
Again, hotels in downtown nashville tennessee I mostly stayed in private hostel rooms, making lodging more expensive than it could be. Like the baleadas in Honduras, you can save some food costs by eating the super cheap and super delicious pupusas hotels in downtown nashville tennessee in El Salvador. I really miss those too.
I spent more time in Guatemala mostly due to Spanish classes. In Nicaragua it was to learn surfing, though I also took some more Spanish classes in Granada. Again, I was mostly staying in private rooms. If you aren’t doing any of those things you should see your costs come down significantly.
As you can see I spent a LOT of time in Costa Rica. Actually, my original plan was to spend the least amount of time there. But, as life happens, I met a girl and you can guess the rest of the story. So, even though Costa Rica is generally the most expensive country in Central America, my daily costs were reasonable hotels in downtown nashville tennessee since I was staying in a home and because I didn’t have that many expensive tourism expenses. Likewise, I wasn’t traveling very often.
There were two main reasons my costs were higher in Panamá. First, I went diving. Second, I took the sailboat from Panamá to Colombia and included hotels in downtown nashville tennessee the costs in my Panamá stay. I also did a week of surfing and made some supply purchases in the mall in Panama City as there is a free trade agreement with the US and thus taxes are significantly lower.
If you