Travel Money: What Things Cost

What things cost when travelling

What things cost...

So, you're living in your mum's saucepan-cupboard to save on rent, working your fingers to the bone in a chicken gizzard factory. Your friends and family are sponsoring you by the lap to run round the lion enclosure at your local zoo with raw steaks in your pockets, and all so you can afford to go travelling on your gap year. We've all been there.

But how far will your hard-earned cash get you? How much do things like hostels, kit and adventure sports really cost? We've put together the following price-guide to help you budget for your trip, but please bear in mind that it's a rough guide only...

Kit

How much will it cost you to get kitted out?

£15 - a torch

£15 - a first-aid kit

£20 - a mosquito net

£40 - walking boots

£40 - a tent

£60 - a sleeping bag

£60 - a 65-litre rucksack

Accommodation

How much will you need to shell out to get a bed for the night?

£3.50 - a night in a backpackers' lodge in Zambia

£5 - a space for your tent in a hostel garden, Cape Town (a room in a dorm is £7.50, a single is £15)

£5.50 - a standard room in a hotel in Bali

£5.50 - bed in a beach bungalow on Koh Samui, Thailand

£6 - a bed in a dorm in the Inn Crowd hostel, Singapore, with breakfast and internet thrown in (a double room is £8 per person)

£6.50 - bed in a dorm in a Mexico City hostel (a single room is £13.50)

£8 - a room in a posh hotel in Hoi An Town, Vietnam

£9 - a bed in a dorm in a walker's YHA youth hostel in the Southern Alps, New Zealand (a twin or double room is £10.50 per person)

£9.50 - a bed in a dorm in a beachfront backpackers' lodge, Fiji

£10 - a night in a dorm in the Wake Up! Hostel, Sydney (a twin room is £18 per person)

£12.50 - a bed in a YHA hostel, Venice, Italy

£15.50 - a night in a dorm in a New York hostel

£16.50 - a night on a traditional futon bed in a basic hotel in Tokyo

£108 - cost per person for a double room in a hotel made entirely of ice, Sweden

£1,500 - private rental (for one night) of a whole 189-bed youth hostel in a haunted Highland castle, Scotland (if you just want one bed, it's £13)

Placements

Placements allow you to be more than just a tourist, but how much do they cost?

Earn £400 per month

(pay an initial fee of £275)- nine weeks' work with kids on summer camps in the USA

Earn £100 per month

(pay an initial fee of £3,950) - teach English for a year in China

£90 - three weeks' conservation work in Canada

£900 - three months' volunteering work with the Maasai, Tanzania

£1,395 - three months' helping to conserve turtles in Thailand

£1,450 - four months' work with the Tibetan community in India

Getting Around

How much to get from A to B and on to C?

£110 - travel around Fiji for up to 12 months with Feejee Experience

£174 - buy a pass to travel around Europe for a month by coach

£200 - get a 22-day, two-zone Inter-Rail pass to travel around Europe by train

£204 - explore the East Coast of Oz for up to 12 months with Oz Experience

£690 - spend two weeks travelling from Moscow to Beijing on the Vodkatrain

£1,110 - hire a camper-van in NZ for a month - transport and accommodation in one!

Adventure Sports

Pay money to scare yourself silly...

£15 - do the world's highest bungy jump in South Africa

£27 - cycle down 'Death Road', Bolivia

£44.50 - have a go on the world's biggest swing, the Shotover Canyon Swing, New Zealand

£51 - do a 50m bungy in Cairns, Australia

£73 - do a base-jump from the Auckland Sky Tower, New Zealand

£75.50 - four do a half-hour tandem hang-glide in California

£77.50 - do a 150-metre para-bungy in Oz

£102 - do a tandem skydive in Australia

Sightseeing/Tours

The wonders of the world in exchange for a bob or two...

Free - ride the Staten Island Ferry in New York

£5.50 - get in to the Victoria Falls National Park, Zimbabwe

£9 - take a guided tour of Sydney Opera House

£11 - a day-pass for the Angkor Wat temple site, Cambodia

£16 - a three-hour whale-watching cruise from Boston

£1,100 - a 21-day guided sightseeing tour of India

Overlanding

Big fat trucks, taking you to the parts other travellers can't reach. But what's the cost?

£200 - a nine-day overlanding trip through Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar

£450 - a 36-day overlanding trip through Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa

£870 - a 77-day overlanding trip through Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa

Rafting

Pay for a good dunking...

£43.50 - three-and-a-half hours' rafting in Interlaken, Switzerland

£51 - a full day's rafting on the Zambesi, Zambia

£93.50 - a two-day trip (with overnight camping) on the Tongariro River, New Zealand

£122.50 - a one-day combination package - raft on the Barron River and do a tandem skydive, Australia