A Year of Backpacking – My 2012 Travel Summary and Stats

 

The old year is now behind us and it’s time to start afresh – and I’ve been on the road for a year tommorow…I can’t believe it!

A WHOLE YEAR ALREADY!?

Crazy hey?!

So I thought I’d give you a round up of my 2012 stats and summaries to give you an overview of where I went and what I spent, so you can gear yourself up for a year of travel yourself!

Even though I started my 2012 RTW trip back in January – when I headed to South America to surf and work in Ecuador – I didn’t get round to doing a monthly travel summary until I started the second half of my trip in May, something which I kind of regret, both on a personal and blog level!

However I thought I give you a summary of what I did cover over the second half of the year, giving you an idea of what backpacking can cost and how seemingly how difficult it can be to budget!

 

Countries Visited (inc pre summary posts) and Main Stops; 

 

UK (Devon, London)

Ecuador (Guayaquil, Montanita)

The Galapagos Islands (Santa Cruz, San Christobal, Floreana, Santa Fe)

Peru (Mancora, Lima, Cusco, Huacachina, Puno)

Thailand (Bangkok, Chang Mai, Pai, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, Phuket, Phi Phi)

Laos (Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vietianne, 4000 Islands)

Bali (Kuta, Uluwatu and Surf Charter)

Cambodia (Siem Reap, Koh Rong, Sihanoukville, Phnom Phen)

Switzerland (Zurich, Einsielden, Berne, Flims, Lugano, Interlaken, Zermatt)

Morocco (Marakech, Taghazout)

And here’s a round up of my monthly spend and travel stats;

 

Total Flights; 13 (inc individual legs), 5 individual flight tickets

LON – GYE, CUZ – LIM, LIM-LON, LON – BKK, VTE – BKK, HKT – DPS, DPS – HKT, BKK – ZRH, ZRH – RAK, AGA – ZRH, ZRH – AGA

 

Total Flight Costs; £1670 (5 tickets)

Average Cost per Flight; £334

 

Total Air KM’s; 31749.65km

Total Land KM’s; 9713.32km

Total Distance Covered; 41462.97km

Average Monthly KM’s; 6910.45km

 

Days on the Road; 234 (since May 12th when I left for Asia after being in South America since Jan)

Total Spent; £6494.99

Average Daily Spend; £27.75

 

Overall my average daily spend worked out to around what I was hoping to keep it at – my aim was £25 per day. Obviously the added extra of going to Switzerland significantly increased this but all in all I’m pretty comfortable with what I spent in the second half of the year!

Maybe I should aim for £20 per day in 2013?!

 

Cheapest Country (based on daily average); Morocco – £7.50 per day (although I’m pretty much living for free here!)

Most Expensive Country (based on daily average); Switzerland at £39.28 per day!

Most Expensive Month; July through Aug, which was my month in Bali inc splashing out on a surf charter trip

Cheapest Month; Sept to Oct, tail end of living on Phi Phi and traveling through Cambodia

Biggest Individual Cost (overall); my new Canon 7D body at £890!

Biggest Individual Cost (travel specific); had I seen it through it would’ve been my dive master course on Phi Phi at nearly £600 , however since I bailed on that it goes to my weeks surf charter in Bali with Dreamweaver Surf Charter £550  – well worth every penny though!

 

Hostels stayed at; 43

Most Expensive Nights Accom; It would have to be Rikka Inn on Koh San Road, £24 per night for a double room – but it did have a rooftop pool, ensuite, air con, double bed and wifi! (although value wise the Cha-Da hotel in Koh Lanta I won – £180 per night!)

Cheapest Nights Accom; unless you count living for free at Katjas house it’s Little Bird Guest House, Chang Mai (4 bed dorm) which was about £2.50 a night!

 

Highlights; there’s heaps to choose from! Surf coaching, the Galapagos, hiking the Inca Trail, travelling with some amazing people, surfing in Bali, snowboarding in the Alps, diving with whale sharks, paragliding, full moon party chaos, living on Phi Phi…the list goes on!

 

Lowlights; there’s been a couple moment of not so good times this year including my buddy getting spiked in Laos, stepping on some stingrays in Ecuador and my bag being broken into on a Thai night bus, nothing horrendously bad though!

 

Favourite Meal; this one is a toughie! Paddys Restaurant on Phi Phi produced epic food, but if we’re going traditional I’d say either Massaman Curry in Thailand or the Indonesian Buffet in Kuta, Bali which visited everyday!

 

Favourite Accomodation; this one is equally tough – I’ve decided to break it down!

Monkey Island on Koh Rong for beach bum living

Little Bird Guesthouse in Chang Mai for value

Cha Da Resort for luxury

 

Overall though I think Nap Park is the best overall hostel I’ve stayed in the second half of this year – taking into account value, cleanliness, facilities and location. (if we counted the first half of this year too Loki in Mancora would’ve taken that title!)

 

Worst Hostel; I haven’t stayed in any truly horrendous hostels *touch wood*, mainly because I do my research! However I let my buddy Luke book one in Bangkok which was the worst overall hostel experience I’ve had this year, called Feel At Home Backpackers – although the night in Spicy Pai when sh*t got loose was nearly s bad!

 

Top Blog Post – My 10 Worst Travel Experiences….I guess you guys just wanted to see that not everyday is the dream life on the road!hahaha!

 

Overall Favourite Country; Without a shadow of a doubt, Cambodia – and here’s why!

And my favourite photos? Well you can find my favourite travel photos of 2012 here!

 

And there you have it – the second part of my RTW 2012 all packaged into a single post!

I’m pretty happy with the results, although I ended up 11939.7 miles away from my intended final destination of the year (I was meant to land in Auckland, New Zealand last August!) all the changes in my plans have kept it super interesting for me and I’ve loved every minute of it!

I’m now based in Morocco until the end of March and haven’t got any firm travel plans for 2013, so the next few months will be full of planning chaos…let the adventure begin!