After Asiatrip ended, we got back to MIT and immediately got hosed beyond belief. As such, we only just finally figured out our finances. I did a bit more number crunching, because I wanted to figure out my total spending and where all the money went. This is a rough per-person cost breakdown of our trip, which may be valuable to people planning similar trips. Among the four of us, costs vary basically based on how much each of us bought in electronics and souveniors, whether we went to Japan, visa processing time, and things like that. All costs have been converted into USD.
$280 — preparation (costs before the trip, like travel items, drugs, gifts)
$1130 — flights (3x)
$140 — trains (4x)
$110 — misc transportation (taxis, buses, subway)
$150 — housing
$90 — food
$100 — discretionary (souveniors, electronics, tourism)
Transportation subtotal: $1380
Total: $2000
Our original estimate was $1.8K, and I was hoping the trip would be under $2K, so this is perfect. 😀
Did the pre-trip include the cost of a visa? How did you keep housing costs down? Crash at friends or stayed at hostels?Finally, did the flight include local trips?Man, my ticket to Taipei is already costing me $1300+ 🙁
yeah, the visa cost about $180. our housing was a mix of discounted hotels, hostels, and friends places. half of the local trips were flights, half were trains, and we actually few standby for most of our flights, which is a bit risky but cuts costs. even with that, transportation is definitely the bulk of the cost.what are you up to in taipei?
We go every year, just for vacation and visit family, nothing special.