Money?
 

I know this will depend on how long a tour is, and what you do or don't take with you, but how much do you tend to spend on your bike tours?

I'm really curious to see how people budget money on their tours. I've never been a big budgeter (which is a major downfall, I know) but I'm trying to come up with one for my next tour, as I'll have a more limited bank account.

Well, your big variables are: motel or tent, and cook or restraurants. Figure that our, and then you can start to figure out what it's going to cost.

convenience stores still drain your wallet faster than anything except a hotel room every night. Even those cold gatorades and little debbie snacks you'll be tempted to stop and get 3 or 4 times a day can really add up.

As for any project, be it renovations, vacations, or whatnot, make sure you have an extra safety cushion for the unexpected. If you expect the unexpected, you'll find it's much less unexpected when it pops up. As the scouts say, be prepared.

On a tour things tend to happen when you need it but it is of course good to budget. It seems to me the best way to experience a bike tour is to camp it, and try and get what you need to cook each night and the morning. Self Sufficency makes an immense difference.

Maybe I didn't frame the question all that well.

I'm curious to see what you all have set up as budgets on your tours. I know how much hotels and whatever can cost, I'm just curious to see what you've added to your budgets.

Here's the formula:

(Taco Bell visit price *3)*days of riding

I'm kind of curious as well. It's sort of annoying that nobody here actually answered the question.

I disagree. I think everybody has attempted very well to answer the question as it was framed. How can you put a dollar figure on a subjective topic like bike touring???? Motels or tent. Eat out or Cook? Snack at convenience store or carry trail mix.

If the question is framed more clearly, a more clear answer will undoubtedly be given.

That being said. I leave on Saturday for a one week tour; camping all the way. I eat out sometimes, I cook sometimes. I am bringing 200 bucks cash; a few checks which work nicely for self pay campgrounds, and have a credit card for use as needed. Does that clear things up..???

Wow ok how about this.

How much did you spend on your last tour. Also, for reference did you camp or stay in hotels? Did you cook your own food mainly or eat in restaurants? Etc.

Before you went on said tour, how much did you budget per day? Or did you even make a budget?

Is that clear enough?

Nah, I don't really make budgets.
I do camp as much as possible, often at "free" sites. I bring food but I also eat at restaurants a lot. + make sure I have enough money to replace whatever brakes and/or take the bus home.

The answer to the above question involves a number, preferably preceded by a $ sign and qualified with the length of the tour. Nobody has answered it yet. The closest to an actual answer so far was slowjoe who said that he brings 200 dollars of cash for one week but also uses other payment.

As a couple, we spend US20 – 30/day for our daily travel budget. This allows for hotels and restaurants in cheap countries and camp and cooking in expensive countries. We stay on budget in developed countries by stealth or freedom camping as often as we can and don’t go out to eat in restaurants often. We also pick and choose our tourist activities carefully, we often choose a free activity over a pay activity and save our money for the one thing we really want to do. Hope this helps.

Wow Dan... I'm sorry this subject brings so much hostility with it.
Let me see if we can clarify things a bit.
In some parts of the country, a cheap hotel room may be $19, in other parts of the country it may be $90. Depending on the weather, if it's raining repeatedly and all my gear is soaked, I may indulge in a hotel room...or I may not. If I'm touring in the middle of nowhere, my food costs may be $3 per day since I've packed the raw materials. If I'm touring near civilization, I may pack lighter and enjoy the restaurants.
So the number you demand that is preceded by a dollar sign doesn't even need to be qualified by the length of the tour. My per day touring costs will definitely be specifically between $3 and $115 per day.
If you would like more specific information, tell us were you'll be touring and I'll be glad to do your homework for you and look up the cost of campgrounds, hotels, restaurants in the area.

Why didn`t I ever think of that? I`ve had to pay $20 a few times for a $12 or so site and also sweat it out a few times while "squatting" because I didn`t want to spend $20 for that $6 or whatever fee.

Hi

depends on the country: For developed countries (Europe, North America, Japan) 50 EUR per day
all other countries 25 EUR per day (but in some countries it's really difficult to spend this amount of money:D).

If you're not travelling alone you can estimate 80% of this budget

If I would travel long (several months) I could cut the budget to 50%.

Thomas

I don't think I said anything hostile at all. I just pointed out that the question specifically asked what you spent on a bike tour, not what my bike tour might cost, or what a generic tour costs. If you found it aggravating, feel free to point out exactly where I went too far.

20 per day.

I spent about 20 to 35 a day for a short tour. Two people sharing accomodations.

How much you spend depends on how you react to what you encounter.

Read the journals found at crazyguyonabike.com and you will get a good idea of what people spend when they are touring, including the unexpected or unusual costs which is what you seem to want.

The amount spent is a function of the attitude and approach of the person touring and it is different for each person.

The basics (food and lodging) are easy and you have acknowledged that. There is no way to "budget" for unexpected expenses because you don't know what they will consist of. This is even more true if you do not travel on the established bike routes such as Adventure Cycling. No offense to ACA intended, but the "adventure" is greater if you are not part of the endless stream of folks on those same few routes.

Try it. You'll like it.

I don't want to come off as dismissing you, because I appreciate that you're trying to help. But I know how much tours can cost. I've been on two tours, I've camped, I've stayed in hotels, cooked food and eaten in restaurants. I know. I understand that a budget/expenses can depend on many different things.

I've also never depended on the Adventure Cycling routes.

Anyhow, I'm not so much asking for advice as asking to hear your experiences with money on your tour(s). I don't understand what's so hard about answering that. People seem to want to talk down to me or talk to me as if I have no info here. I'm educated on touring. I'm just curious to see what others' experiences with money while on tour have been.

And saying "well it depends" isn't really informative.

Anyhow, sorry, I'm not mad, just a little frustrated that people avoid the question of money and then try to add some sort of "don't worry about it man, it's priceless" jazz.

Thanks for the answers. I'm really more curious than anything and wanted to see if my spending in the past was somewhat in line with what other people have done.

A few weeks back I did a weekend camping trip with 2 friends. We spent about $25 each for supplies, food and beer at our stealth campsite. That includes a couple convenience store runs along the way and a hot breakfast at a restaurant on the last day. I've yet to tour longer than a few days, but I imagine in a similar rural setting I could get buy with $20USD a day if I "freedom" camped and didn't indulge in too many convenience snacks and beverages.

I can give one tip on something that will not cost you one penny (or cent depending on where you are based) and jet is incredibly useful and open many doors for you. Manners, free but if you leave them behind your life will be much tougher.

He wasn't being rude, he was pointing out that no one had answered that part of the question. If you would like to talk about manners, can we also talk about how valuable grammar is?

But that's just splitting hairs, really. He wasn't being rude, so relax.

"How long is a string?" I want an answer in feet and inches. Why doesn't anyone answer, it's a simple question. "What's your usual bust size?" Still nobody answers. What's wrong with you people.

Tell me if I got this right - it seems that the question really goes like this: "I see a lot of ride and tour reports, but very few talk about the actual costs and expenditures and how people plan for them. How do you plan funds for a tour."

In case you haven't noticed, a lot of people are sensitive about money questions. "How much money ya got?" is simply not a polite question and is only welcome by the twunts who like to brag that way. "How much money do you spend a day on vacation?" is no better.

If you want an answer that includes a dollar sign, you need to answer it for yourself. They're your dollars - they represent what you've earned and have a somewhat different value to me.