About Today Cost Me
Every dollar. Every receipt. No "approximately $50–200 per day" nonsense.
The Story
I spent the last five years working in marketing across a handful of fintech startups in Sydney. Great jobs, steady pay, the whole bit. And for most of that time I did what most people do when they want to travel the world — I fired up Google and searched "Southeast Asia travel budget" and got the same recycled advice: "You'll need anywhere between $50 and $200 per day."
Cool. But what does that actually look like? Is that hostels or hotels? Street food or restaurants? Does it include the random $12 SIM card you didn't plan for?
Nobody gives you the receipt. So I decided to be the person who does.
My wife Annalise and I are taking 9 months off to travel the world. Every single dollar we spend gets logged, categorised, and published here in real time. No rounding up, no estimating. I'm not going to tell you to budget "approximately $30 per day for food" — I'll give you the actual number, to the cent.
How It Works
I Spend Money
Every coffee, every tuk-tuk, every questionable hostel. If money leaves my wallet, it gets tracked.
I Log Everything
Category, currency, location, description. I've been keeping weirdly meticulous spreadsheets since I was 8. Old habits.
You See the Data
Browse our spending, explore the breakdowns, and use it to plan your own trip. No guesswork required.
Countries Visited
Expenses Logged
Blog Posts Written
Days Traveling
Why I Built This
This isn't a "how I travel the world for $10 per day" flex. I'm not going to pretend we only eat street food when we occasionally want a proper meal at a restaurant. I'm not going to skip a cooking class in Vietnam or a dive trip in Thailand just to keep our daily average artificially low.
This is what it actually costs when two normal people — not professional travel hackers or trust fund kids — take 9 months off to see the world. Some links on this site are affiliate links for tools I actually use on the road. No sponsored posts. No hotel partnerships. Just the honest, unglamorous truth.
My real data. My actual spending. Your reference point.