March 2023 -$2,523.92

So why record our expenses?

We wrestled with the idea of spending all our money on experiences versus knuckling down at work in an attempt to set ourselves up for the future. Ultimately, we decided that houses can burn down, investments can be lost and money can be wasted but memories can never be taken from you. We wanted to solidify those memories by creating videos. But also wanted to show people a realistic view of what a full-time travel lifestyle would cost. When I went looking for something similar they were few and far between, so I wanted to do something for the next person who comes looking. And so, a terrible and laborious google sheet was born. It's since been updated many times and is much easier to manage. All of the data here is from that sheet.

Where did the money come from? When we tell people that we are travelling full-time, they tend to have the same few comments. We must have wealthy parents who are paying for everything, or that we have come into inheritance or a lottery win or something else crazy. While we both acknowledge we are very privileged to be able to even earn an income - all the money we have saved up has been solely from working full time.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together!

What you came here for:

Breakdown of what's below:

• Expenses

• YouTube Analytics

• Summary

Expense Report

Expense by category

Catagory	Expense
Accomodation	$641 (7 nights paid)
Food and Drink	$1174
Transport	$836
​Tours booked & Entry fees	$129
Miscellaneous	$111
Insurance	$252
TOTAL	$3,237

This is a quick reference category breakdown of our expenses. Back on the road!

We left Adelaide on March 6th and flew through LA to Portland. We didn't' realise how expensive USA is for Australians these days. Operating with a $100 AUD per day budget becomes near impossible when the cheapest place to rent starts at $80 and resembles a public toilet at a train station. LUCKILY we lined up 2 house sitters through March, one for 3 days in Portland and another for 10 nights in Seattle. The food in America also took us by surprise, so much so that when we ate out we would typically buy one of something and split it. One standard breakfast sandwich was $25.. .think a deluxe McMuffin from maccas.. $25!

The insurance also immediately doubled in price when we hit America, no doubt due to the healthcare system. It's gotten so expensive it warranted it's own category for this one!

Accommodations Expenses

Location	Accomodation	Nights	Notes	Cost
Portland (West side)	Air BnB Private Room	1	Fantastic host and property but expensive	$135
Portland (West side)	Trusted House sitters	3	Nice House with 3 dos and 6 birds!	$0
Seattle (Seatac airport north)	Hotel Room at Econolodge	1	Booked through 3rd party that gives out heavily discounted rooms last minute	$80
Seattle (Capitol Hill)	Trusted House sitters	9	Beautiful little dog and 2 gorgeous cats in an excellent location (Awesome host too)	$0
Vancouver (Main street hostel)	Private room Shared Bathroom	3	The cheapest place we could find in Vancouver. Did not sleep well here but okay rooms and clean bathrooms/ common areas.	$249
Squamish BC (Adventure Inn)	Private room literally called 'the really tiny small room'	2	One of the cheapest in Squamish - they had good rooms but were too expensive for us so we stayed in a private room within another dorm. It was literally a bed with a door. no other space.	$178
TOTAL				$642

Trusted house sitters is amazing and you can get a 25% discount through this link: https://www.trustedhousesitters.com/refer/RAF275353/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=refer-a-friend&utm_campaign=refer-a-friend Accommodation hit hard in North America (As did everything else) so we more or less stayed in the absolute cheapest possible private room and thats only because 2 beds in a dorm worked out even more expensive!

Transport Expenses

Route	Mode	Notes	Cost
Adelaide - Portland	Flight	American Airlines	$495
Portland - Seattle	Bus	Greyhound	$103
Seattle - Vancouver	Bus	Amtrak Bus service	$135
Vancouver - Squamish	Bus	Squamish Connector	$65
TOTAL			$798

Things to note: The numbers are different to the 'Expenses by Category' Section. that's because in that section I use the Master sheet which includes small transports like Ubers, Grabs, Taxis and short cheap trains which I thought wouldn't add any value in this section! (I kept the total the same) Using some points to book the big international flights really helped on our way to America. Unfortauntely the city-to-city busses for those cities that are super close together were also costing our entire daily budget. You can see how staying under budget was never going to happen in the states. We looked at trains as other options for all of the land based travel but they all worked out to be approximately double the price which we just couldn't justify!

Fixed Costs

Details	Notes	Cost
Insurance	SafetyWing	Added above in own section
Adobe Premier Pro		$29.00
Epidemic Sound	All our music!	​$22
TOTAL		$174.50

Insurance is expensive but worth it. Safety wing is our insurer of choice, they seemed to offer the most comprehensive cover especially when lots of countries needed specific types of insurance during the pandemic, they were great! - Unforauntely coming to America meant we had to increase our coverage which immediately doubled the price. But it's just something you Need to have. Adobe is the software we used to edit our YouTube videos. Epidemic sound is where we get all our music from, you can get a free trial with this link*: https://share.epidemicsound.com/i1nhpc

Income Report

Source	Notes	Amount
Affiliate (other)	​Amazon + Getyourguide + Viator	$183.69
Licensing		$0
Youtube	Ad revenue	$529.39
TOTAL		$713.08

Affiliate Income Amazon - Nothing happening here anymore, I think we need a viral video with some good cinematography before this kicks off maybe. Get your Guide - we had 21 people click on our link in March but still no purchases other than our initial success Viator - We had 89 new sessions on Viator in March but no new bookings. Thankfully we were able to withdraw our earnings from previous bookings which we did! good to see it paying off in some form!

Licensing Agreements No licensing this month, I'm hoping it wasn't a one time thing!

YouTube Analytics

March was always going to be an interesting one - It took us a lot longer to hit the algorithm in Indonesia than we would have like so our first video in Labuan Bajo only really started kicking off once we were about to leave and start filming in America! Hopefully it's just a lagging indicator and our USA videos will perform similarly soon too! We made a little bit more than February this month but it still felt a lot like pushing a boulder up a hill, thankfully we had a lot more interest in the partnership/sponsorship sife of the business and we are hopeing soon we will find one that fits with us!

Summary

We are so exicted to be in North America and have some pretty exciting things planned for the next few months before we head to South America! We are hopeful we can find a way to resonate with viewers and our America's videos can pack a punch to keep us on the road! Expenses: -$3237 Income: +$713.08 Change -$2523.92

Thank you so much if you have read this far! and of course, for watching along!

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