I am presently trying to put an itinerary/cost together for another life chapter.

Working on £10 a day ($15 US) plus airfare. Wild camping or as much as I can get away with. Looking at Canada, US, New Zealand, Australia, Africa then home, if I want to or get there! But then just might get somewhere and take it from there! Going by your figures Tom, I have been a bit conservative! I am not a BB or hotel etc..kind’a’guy and happier in the corner of a field or wherever has a flat bit of ground. I like to keep to the principles of KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).

I come from various careers or as I like to call them ‘Chapters’. 6 years military, 3 years studied furniture design and crafts (cabinetmaker), 8 years salesman (had the car, had the woman, had the clothes, had the property, not really me but I was in it!). Now just closed another chapter, a guide and commercial safari pilot in Africa for 7 years. Moving on now to another chapter, me and my bike, KISS!

I am also now very much a ‘micro-consumer’. Ebay has certainly been great in removing unwanted rubbish that we live with. It’s surprising how much clutter one can accumulate! Believing now one is richer with less. Some friends and family don’t see it but then they have not seen the light, KISS!

In the two years I have been back in the UK I have cycled everyday to my place of ‘fund raising’ (generally known as a job!) middle of winter too. The harsher the weather the more opened minded you become. I look at cars now as disability vehicles! So never got round to needing a car, huge saving.
need

So I hope to be able to travel for less than £10 per day as Tom has proved. Just would like to get a bit more than his original £3700 in the bank before heading off.

Bread, cheese, biscuits, jam.

Vitamins and protein courtesy of fruit trees and kindly invitations!

Thanks

I completely forgot about Warmshowers (http://www.warmshowers.org/) — Couchsurfing but intended for cycle-tourists. To be honest it’s not quite so useful in the 3rd world, but in the West it’s fantastic.

This article might help with the sponsorship idea. If you want my honest advice, though: work overtime, save money, forget sponsors and filming and go and have an adventure with no strings attached!

Bikes — I would go with a basic road-touring bike. Europe is a place of good roads and bike shops. In fact it might be easier in many ways to wait til you arrive and then buy your bikes there! Especially if you start in Germany or Austria before hitting the Alps, there will be no end of places to get hold of good bikes for touring. People on Warmshowers might be able to help with finding bikes in specific cities, too.

Hope that helps!

Anyway, great advice. I have more in my account than when i started 2 years ago and still have helped numerous people along the way with websites, marketing, computer problems, photos and more.

We did Italy on a bike a few years ago on 5 euros per day (for 2 persons), of which half was spent on gelato. The rest? A pound of pasta, free camping, free fruits and nuts from the road and all kinds of spontaneous gifts (veggies, wine, cakes) from friendly Italians.

I never worry about the costs, try to keep it down pay when I need it. It is too tiring trying to be minimalist 24/7/365, life is too enjoy. And as most biketravellers like to roam less fortunate countries, spending some cash is a great way to give back to the local community, especially if you can make your money from richer parts of the planet.

Cheers and keep writing

The cost of living on the road is so much lower than the cost of orthodox living that it really does defy belief. I’m sure that the fear-factor of losing a regular income with no safety-net is one of the main reasons that people’s travelling dreams get shelved. Too many times I’ve heard from friends that they’d love to come and join me cycling, but they can’t afford it and can’t take the time off work.

Before I left, I was afraid of running into a financial dead-end. It was only afterwards that I realised how much more you can get out of life when you spend less. It follows that you have to work less, so then you can spend that free time forging something more meaningful. Cheapskate is a loaded word — I wish there was a better one, maybe ‘micro-consumer’ or something. Funny how we’re inventing new words for things that other societies have always done, just never forgot how to do like we did.

Wow, that was a bit of a brain-splurge. I’ll stop now. Book? I’ll let you know…

And by the way, when will the book be out, Tom?