Our Budget, Packing and Other

Six months - $50,000

This means $14,000 for all flights plus $200 per day while we are travelling (for four of us) - which has to cover hotels, food, transportation, activities and extras.

This requires staying in budget accommodation (but not shoestring budget). Lots of guesthouses and pensions - not a lot of Hyatts or all-inclusives. We're sacrificing swimming pools for the ocean, and room service for self-service.

It means eating at cheaper restaurants, food stalls and local night markets. Typhoid and Hepatitis A shots - check!

For transportation, we will do our best to balance comfort and convenience with saving money. There will be trains, planes and automobiles (and buses, tuk tuks, rented motorcycles, ferries, longtail boats and hopefully the odd pachyderm).

Importantly, we will set aside money for the fun stuff - the activities. There will be treks, scuba diving, paragliding, animal sanctuaries, massages, safaris, boat cruises, and plenty of other excursions.

We could have done it for less and most certainly could have done it for more. But neither option seemed attractive to us. Although we could travel on a tighter budget, there would likely be some sacrifices in comfort as well as activities, and perhaps even destinations. We are reluctant to do that -  who knows, this might be our one shot at this kind of adventure. And on the flip side, I'm a risk-averse accountant and I refuse to go into debt for this trip. I'm also a firm believer in the Pareto principle (or 80-20 rule) - in other words, 80% of the awesomeness of this trip will come from first 20% of the total expenditure. So no reason to break the bank.

If you're interested in how we are planning to keep our costs down, where we found our cheap airfares, or guidance on hotels and guesthouses (especially the ones which have those rare and treasured family rooms), just leave a comment with your specific questions and I'll add to this page.


Packing Light - the 'Carry On' Rule

We get one carry-on bag each. That's it.

Some of our friends gasp in horror when we say this, but I think we can do it. 

After all, we are travelling to warm weather destinations, and clothes can be washed and (more importantly) dried frequently.

We're also willing to ditch and replace many of the clothes we are taking along - refreshing the wardrobe along the way in countries known for inexpensive and vibrant markets. We may end up looking like vagabond hippies, but that's part of the fun - I'm sure we'll be ok.

In addition to being small, the luggage needs to roll, and it should have back-pack straps (the wheels are more important than the straps). So after a bit of research, this is the bag we ended up getting. It's made by High Sierra and ticked all of the boxes.




Technology

It's easy to fill a carry-on bag with DSLR cameras and lenses, computers and other technological gadgets, but we've tried our best to be disciplined. Shirley and the kids are travelling with a total of 2 tablets, 2 point-and-shoot cameras, and 2 iPhones (neither of which will be enabled with talk/text - it's wifi only).

I'm carrying a bit more gear than the others. I've listed them below, and I will update this page throughout the journey to discuss how it's working out for me.

Canon S95
This will be my everyday camera. It takes great photos and really does fit in my pocket.



GoPro Hero 3+
This will be used for all of our activities near, on, or under the water. I specifically bought it for scuba diving after seeing some sample videos from other divers. The only downside is that I'm a GoPro newbie and have not invested the time to figure this thing out yet! I suppose I will have to learn as I go.

Acer 1810TZ
I needed a computer which was small (this is a netbook 11.6" size screen) with the ability to perform simple photo and video processing. I got this on on Craigslist for $200 - it's an amazing little computer for what I paid.