Wind and Whim’s 2025 Full-Time Travel Costs

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Here we are, well into 2026, which means it’s time for our annual spending breakdown! In 2025, we stayed in 19 cities and towns in 7 countries on 3 continents.

We also visited six other cities during a Transatlantic cruise from Barcelona, Spain to Miami, Florida. I did not break out the cost for each of these, but included them all under Cruise.

Our travel style sits comfortably between backpacker and luxury—think of it as a solid three-star experience. If you’re planning full-time or long-term travel, rest assured, it can be done for much less. Don’t miss the Ways to Travel for Less section below for some great tips!

Read on to discover how we allocated our funds, what we spent in various destinations, and just how far over budget we ended up.

All money is in U.S. dollars unless otherwise stated.

It may be necessary to use the reader mode or turn your screen to landscape to view all the data.

Where We Went

Here’s our travel lineup for 2025:

Siem Reap, Cambodia – We wrapped up our three-week visit. Read “8 Reasons Siem Reap is Better Than Chiang Mai.”
Da Nang, Vietnam – A short stay of 18 days in our second Vietnamese city (Hanoi was the first in 2024).
Hoi An, Vietnam – A ten-day stay in a city known for its well-preserved Ancient Town included a side trip to Ba Na Hills SunWorld.
Dalat, Vietnam – A two-week stay in this Central Highlands city provided a welcome respite from the heat of other Southeast Asian cities. Learn more about this cool city in “Dalat, Vietnam: Funk, Flowers, and Fabulous Weather.“
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – We spent three weeks here. By now, we were ready to move on from the heat and the intensity of Southeast Asia.
Berlin, Germany – One month full of history and a chance to renew our U.S. passports.
Dresden, Germany – The baroque architecture of this city captivated us during our three weeks here.
Erding, Germany – Regular readers know that Steve and I love thermal baths, so three days at Therme Erding was heaven to us. Even better, we were joined by our daughters.
Munich, Germany – Family and friends time! We had two weeks here, one week spent with our daughters and several days with some good friends. If you visit Munich, you may want to check out the famous Sleeping Beauty Castle. Here’s “What You Need to Know Before Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle.“
Belgrade, Serbia – We had to leave the Schengen Zone, and six weeks in Serbia’s capital fit the bill. It also gave us and our wallets a rest. Learn more about Belgrade here.
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina – Six more weeks outside of the Schengen Zone while learning about recent Bosnian history.
Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina – Four weeks in Bosnia’s second-largest city wrapped up our time in the Balkans.
Chippenham, U.K. – Back to pet-sitting. This time we sat for a cat for three weeks. We also threw in some time in the city of Bath.
Arrecife, Spain – We headed back to our happy place, the Canary Islands. This time we went to the island of Lanzarote for three weeks.
Transatlantic Cruise – A nineteen-day cruise from Barcelona to Miami on the MSC Seaside was a little too long. We had 8 days at sea in a row! Even so, it was a chance to relax and get pampered.
Jacksonville, Florida, USA – We ended the year by spending both Thanksgiving and Christmas with our daughters and the people who are important to them.

Our 2025 Budget

Our travel budget for 2025 was $63,200. This breaks down to $164 per day for travel ($59,900 for the year) and $3,300 for general expenses including evacuation insurance, supplies, and website costs.

I use this daily rate method instead of budgeting by category. It’s a huge time-saver.

Our 2025 Costs by Category

• All costs are in U.S. dollars
• All costs are for two people unless otherwise noted

The following items are not included:

• U.S. medical insurance
• Routine prescriptions (unless they are significantly above what they would cost in the U.S.)
• Storage of our possessions in the U.S.
• Clothing (unless purchased for a travel-related reason)
• Gifts and contributions

The Budget Busters

We failed to follow our own advice on how to travel for less. We spent more in 2025 than in any of the past seven years. It would be easy to blame inflation, and yes, that played a part, but the main reason is that we had three costly events.

The first was a three-week stay in Munich, Germany. Our two daughters joined us for two of these weeks. The highlight was a visit to Therme Erding, the largest thermal spa in the world.

Therme Erding is much more expensive than Aquaworld Budapest and Therme Bucuresti, our two favorite thermal spas, partly because it is much larger and partly because it’s in a more expensive country. We spent $2,300 for four people for four nights in Victory Gastehaus and three days in the baths. This comes to $575 per person. Not cheap, but not bad for all we got.

The second big expense was a nineteen-night Transatlantic cruise from Barcelona, Spain, to Miami, Florida. The base price was $50 per person per night. However, we added a lot to this, including a drink package, a specialty dining package, a cruise-sponsored tour, and clothes and accessories. All these extras tripled our cost.

The third item was an extended visit to Florida. We were able to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with family and friends and take care of several things that are best done in person. We moved our stored possessions to a different unit, which will save us $200 a month. We visited our doctors, stocked up on medications, and got a highly recommended Schwab debit card.

It’s no secret that the U.S. is an expensive place to visit. Add the cost of a rental car for all that time, and you have the recipe for a budget buster.

Spending Details

Accommodations

At $34,000, our accommodation costs were the highest they’ve ever been and were almost half of all our costs. In past years, Airbnb has been our go-to site for keeping accommodation costs manageable.

As in 2024, we found ourselves using it less. This year we only used Airbnb 40% of the time. There were two reasons for this: 1. We had several short trips. For these we prefer hotels. We’ll be out sightseeing and eating our meals out so a hotel room is all we need. We also look for hotels in which breakfast is included. 2. When looking for apartments for longer stays, we found places we preferred outside of Airbnb.

We spent an additional $600 in accommodation costs for items to make our stays better. This can be anything from a fan or extra towels to an air fryer. We donate any items we bought that we can’t take with us (except the air fryer, which we have stored in Jacksonville, Florida).

Food

We spent $16,700 on food, with over half going toward dining out, the same as in 2024. We could lower this by staying in fewer hotels and eating at home more, but dining out is something we both enjoy. We often find one or two favorite restaurants in cities where we are staying longer and visit them multiple times.

Transportation

Our transportation costs were the second highest ever at $11,000.

As you can see, the budget breaker was flights. We spent $7,600 on nine flights. Even though we prefer to take trains or buses, this isn’t a viable option in Southeast Asia. It also isn’t a good option when traveling between continents.

Other methods of long-distance travel were by bus (in the Balkans), by train (in Germany), with a driver (in Vietnam), and by boat (our Transatlantic cruise).

Local transportation costs of $4,200 included $1,900 for a rental car in Jacksonville, Florida.

Traveling around England was pricey at $500 for 27 days. To say we were shocked by the price of train tickets would be an understatement.

Local transportation costs in Germany were also high at $700. We made the error of not getting Deutschland Tickets (D tickets) right away. These allow you to travel locally and between cities for a flat monthly fee.

How to buy a Deutschland Ticket

If you’re spending a bit of time in Germany, your best bet is the Deutschland Ticket. It costs 63 euros for the entire month and gives you unlimited travel on regional trains and public transport across the country.

Do not buy the Deutschland Ticket through the Deutsche Bahn website. Their system is confusing, and if you don’t cancel it by the 10th of the month, you’ll get charged for the next month whether or not you are still in Germany.

Instead, follow the steps listed under “Special region tickets > Deutschland Ticket” on this page from The Man in Seat 61. Scroll down to Options 1 and 2, and be sure to select “immediate termination” when purchasing. That way, your pass won’t auto-renew.

Activities

In 2025, we spent $2,600 on activities. Most of this was for museum admissions. There were a few tours and an entertaining, if overpriced at $125, drag show on Lanzarote. The largest expense was $166 for a day tour for the two of us to Ba Na Hills SunWorld (home of the Golden Bridge). It was worth it because it is not the easiest place to navigate. After a day there, we felt comfortable enough to go back on our own.

Insurance

The biggest travel-related insurance expense was Medjet, an air medical transport and travel security membership program. It provides transportation to a hospital of your choice in your home country in case of a medical emergency while traveling. The coverage also includes the transfer of mortal remains. The upgraded plan includes crisis response services.

The annual cost for both of us was $1,224, but with an AARP discount, we paid $1,069.

For medical insurance, we rely on our U.S. Medicare policies, which cover us within the United States. For care abroad, we pay out of pocket.

We also spent $240 for cruise insurance.

Medical

Our travel-related medical expenses totaled $600. $100 was for medical care and medicine related to a persistent respiratory problem.

Another $100 was for two humidifiers. The first one I bought was huge, so I replaced it with a compact one.

The remaining $400 was at British Surgery in Lanzarote. I went there for flu and Covid vaccines and to get two prescription refills. They couldn’t give me the Covid vaccine, but did the rest. It was a total rip-off which was entirely my fault. After getting great health care at affordable out-of-pocket prices around the world, I neglected to ask about the cost up front.

They charged $187 to write three prescriptions for two medicines because doctors are required to write a new prescription for each refill (or so they said). A Google search suggests this is true. Still, $62 to write a prescription? I want that job.

The $187 did not include the cost of the medication, which was another $91.

The doctor wanted to charge me 200 euros for a flu vaccine, but reduced it to 100 euros ($117).

Office Related

Our office-related expenses totaled $337. The two primary items in this category were:

• A virtual mailbox subscription through Traveling Mailbox for $200
• VPN service through ExpressVPN for $120

The remaining $17 was for copy services.

From now until February 16, 2026, new users can save a bundle on Express VPN. And it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. See the deal here.

Supplies

Supplies include any items purchased for travel, excluding everyday clothing. Of the $800 we spent, the majority went toward small items under $20. The largest expense was $500 for clothes and accessories for our cruise. Normally, I don’t consider clothing to be a travel expense, since you need it whether you’re traveling or not, but these items were purchased specifically for this event, so I consider them travel costs.

Telephone & Internet

Our telephone and internet costs were $500. More than $200 of this was for internet on the cruise. The remainder was for eSIMs.

We use global eSIMs from Airalo. They are more expensive than local SIMs, but eliminate the need to get a new one each time we change countries. The Discover Plus plan includes data, calls, and texts, and can be purchased for an entire year.

See what Airalo has to offer.

This does not include our base telephone service. For that, we use Hushed, which lets us keep our U.S. numbers and offers inexpensive international calls. It costs $200 per year for both of us.

Costs by Location

* These were side trips in which we stayed at hotels, ate all meals out, and were engaged in more activities than when we stayed in cities for longer. One way to cut costs is to avoid these short trips.

** Our Munich, Germany, stay included two weeks with our two daughters including time at Therme Erding as discussed above.

*** Our cost here was super low because we pet sat for twenty-one nights, saving a bundle in lodging costs.

Eight-Year Comparison

Here’s a look at what we’ve spent since we started traveling full-time in 2018:

* The 2018 cost is an annualized number based on what we spent during eight months of travel.

** 2020 and 2021 were low because of the pandemic.

You can see details for all the past years here.

Ways to Travel for Less

Traveling doesn’t have to break the bank—you can have an amazing trip and keep costs down.

• Cut accommodation costs – Airbnb is a solid option, but don’t overlook other budget-friendly choices like pet and house-sitting, hostels, or staying with friends and family.
• Travel slowly – Staying longer in one place reduces transportation costs and may let you take advantage of long-term discounts. Plus, it gives you time to truly experience a destination.
• Use public transportation – It’s not glamorous and can get crowded, but in many places, it’s a fast, convenient, and affordable way to get around.
• Plan side trips wisely – Keep side trips to a minimum, consider day trips, or tack a short trip onto the end of a longer one to avoid paying for two accommodations at once.
• Travel in the shoulder season or off-season – You’ll often find lower prices and fewer tourists.
• Choose less expensive destinations – You don’t have to go full budget; balance pricier places with more affordable ones.

Price of Travel is a website that provides backpacker-level cost estimates for over 200 cities. Even if you plan to travel more comfortably, it’s a helpful tool for comparing the relative costs of different destinations.

You can also use Budget Your Trip to estimate expenses. Simply select a city, travel style (budget, mid-range, or luxury), and currency. The site calculates the average daily cost and provides totals for one or two people for durations of one week, two weeks, or a month.

Learn more about pet sitting in “How to Save Thousands of Dollars While Traveling.”

Until Next Time

I hope you found this information informative! If you have any questions or would like to see other data, let me know in the comments.

Happy traveling,
Linda

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