Financials: Part I

There is only one conceivable way that a public servant (former) and a social worker (former, for now) could up and quit their jobs and high-tail it to South America for just under 11 months (10 months, 3 weeks and 3 days is a little more accurate): be cheap, really, really, fucking cheap. (1)

We'd initially planned on coming home September 7, 2010, or rather we'd figured out that we could definitely (barring any unforeseen tragedy) afford to be there until that date. We based this on many things, mainly lonely planet and a few other internet resources. It was all very vague and unscientific, especially considering that the lonely planet we used to base most of our potential cost numbers was almost three years old (not counting any lag time with the publication date and the dated research times). As such, we were conservative with our numbers, wanting to be sure that we could afford to make it to that date, so as to prevent any selling of body parts (by dismemberment or simply physical exertion) to afford food and lodging. In hindsight this was a mild mistake in that it cost us $175 (combined) to change our flight to December 14, though we could have changed the flight to the mid/end of November for free, those three weeks were terribly worth it.

Since we knew all along that we would be on a tight budget, probably even more strangulating than the South America on a Shoestring budget, we planned ahead. We read blogs, we looked on lonely planet's website thorn tree (an unbelievably useful tool and the perfect free counterbalance to the out datedness and potentially inaccurate lonely planet books. It's a user-generated site for travelers, by travelers and helped with all sorts of advice from border crossings to politically unstable regions that might actually be OK to visit.), we read the OLD frugal traveler and just generally scoured through as much travel information as we could find. Here is an inexhaustive list of shit that helped us to live cheaper lives than we otherwise would have been able to without them.

- A tent and sleeping bags: Patagonia is expensive, in particular the cost of habitation is disproportionately high. Camping saved us on average about 1/2 of what the normal cost of a hostel dorm room would be, sometimes more, sometimes less. We spent anywhere between $5 - $10 a night per person, usually upwards of $10, not to mention the privacy, the freedom and the sheer joy of waking up in nature provided by the tent. It is probably (outside of our backpacks and the next thing on the list) the most useful thing we brought.

- Capital One Bank Cards: Unbelievable how sad and pathetic US banks are when it comes to people traveling abroad. (2) I'm not sure if it is a product of the 'lack of American travelers" or if it is simply the fact that they can charger ridiculously high amounts to withdraw money, but in any case it is highway robbery. Most banks charge something like 3-5% of the withdrawal amount, while others charge a flat rate, somewhere between $5-$10 per transaction (Note: these are rough estimates, they could be higher and lower). Capital One on the other hand charges you absolutely nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Effing Nada. You withdraw money from your account and they will process that transaction free of charge, even their charged exchange rates (assuming you are withdrawing foreign currency and not US dollars from foreign banks) are right about what that days exchange rate is according to Yahoo Finance. The only flaw is that they do not have any power over whether the bank in which you are withdrawing money charges a transaction fee. But, be warned, many countries have banks that do charge fees for withdrawing, but they almost all have banks that don't charge as well. Look around, withdraw from multiple banks and if you are in a country that charges, withdraw more money, so that you have to pay less transaction fees.

- A travel stove: We didn't bring this, which led to countless cold means in cold weather and eventually the need to rent one for a four day trek. I would say absolutely bring one of these along if you plan to camp at all. Find one used at a garage store or a second hand sports store so you don't have to fork over the $100 or so dollars it cost. You can find fuel canisters down there.

- Water bottles: Like Sigg, though Siggs are unnecessary. We boiled a lot of water in countries that the tap water is not potable. It's way, way, way cheaper to do this, it's better for the environment and the bottles double as opaque glasses in which to sterilize your water using water purifying tablets on long treks where it is infeasible for you to carry four days worth of water. It's a win-win.

- An iTouch or some other form of Internet capable device. Internet is not expensive, but it's also not always cheap, not to mention most hostels have lines for the computers or inconsiderate people that like to watch YouTube videos of their favorite prepubescent pop stars for hours while you sit, stare, hate and wait for them to get off so you can send two emails out to your parents letting them know you are alive and well and not kidnapped by some coca growers in a third world country. The iTouch (or a netbook) allows for you to do this and at a fairly reasonable price tag. It's a good investment.

I'm sure there are plenty of other items which we packed that helped us to save money along the way, but those are the big deals, the ones that had we not had them our trip and our wallet books would have suffered. And as this has rambled on for much longer than I anticipated, we'll do three finance parts. The next portion will have how much we spent per country and maybe a few ways in which we saved money in each of those countries.

(1) This is not entirely true. Our customs agent, of Miami International fame, brought up this salient point: "So, you just quit your jobs to go traveling for a year? What, are your parents rich? You got a trust fund?" No officer Custom, we just slept in fleabags, took cheap buses and ate as little as possible. Thanks for asking.

(2) I'm not well informed about foreign owned/operated banks. Perhaps they pillage their customers as well, in which case all the more reason to love Capital One, embrace them and make them a part of your monetary family.

Note: No products shown on this website are endorsed or unendorsed by this blogger.  They are simply being used as examples of the items which we brought along our travels and proved to be invaluable to us on our journey.