Last year I lived, worked, and visited in 19 countries and 'rent' cost a fraction of what it would in the US
January in Colorado and New York: $730.02
In January 2018, I spent the beginning of the month in Colorado before traveling to New York for a conference. When I'm in Colorado, I stay with my boyfriend and pay half the rent for the time I'm there. (Sometimes we Airbnb his place when neither of us are in town.)
My total lodging expenses were $730.02. Due to spending the whole month in the US, this was a fairly expensive month, but not as much as it could have been.
February in Belize, Colorado, and Arizona: $835.38
In February, I spent the first half of the month in Belize and the second half in Colorado with a weekend trip to Arizona built in to meet up with some friends. At $835.38, this was my second most expensive month of lodging for the year.
When I travel with friends or with my boyfriend, we share lodging, which keeps costs down. When I travel solo, I usually stay in cheaper places like hostel dorms.
Read more: I quit my job to work and travel, and I can tell you it's doable even without a trust fund
March in Colorado and Russia: $568.31
In March, I spent the first 20 days of the month in Colorado before I headed to Russia with two of my friends to take the Trans-Siberian Railway. We spent many nights on the train, and I didn't include the train expenses in my lodging costs, so March came in at a pretty reasonable $568.31.
April on the Trans-Siberian Railway, plus South Korea and Michigan: $137.63
At the beginning of April, I was still on my trans-Siberian journey. I then spent a few days in South Korea, which tends to be pretty inexpensive, and then went home to visit (and stay with) my family in Michigan. That made April an extremely inexpensive month where I spent only $137.63 on lodging.
May in Michigan, Atlanta, and Cuba: $244.50
At the beginning of May, I was still in Michigan because I graduated from my MBA program and my parents wanted to attend my graduation in Bloomington, Indiana with me. In Indiana, my parents paid for some of the accommodation, and credit card points covered the rest.
Shortly after, I went to Atlanta to stay with my aunt for a few days and then continued on to Cuba, where I was completing the last class for my MBA (my lodging was included in my tuition).
After finishing my last class, I flew to El Salvador to meet my boyfriend. El Salvador is also a very inexpensive country to stay in, so I spent only $244.50 on lodging during the entire month of May.
June in Miami, Colorado, Washington, and Vancouver: $755.86
On June 1, I was supposed to fly back from San Salvador to Denver, but I missed my flight in Miami and had to overnight in Miami at the last minute. I spent the majority of June in Colorado before heading to Washington State to backpack in Olympic National Park for a few days and then meet up with a couple of friends in Vancouver.
Overall, that made June a more expensive month at $755.86 in lodging spend.
Read more: A 30-year-old saved $10,000 in rent when she left Los Angeles to Airbnb-hop around the world
July in Italy, Switzerland, Dubai, Oman, San Francisco, and Michigan: $545.36
The main reason I was meeting up with friends in Vancouver is that we had booked a good flight deal together to go to Italy, Switzerland, Oman, and Dubai for about two weeks. In July, I spent a couple of nights on planes and in each of Italy, Switzerland, Dubai, and Oman.
After I got back to the US, I stayed at my friend's house in San Francisco before returning to Colorado, very briefly, and then flying to Michigan to speak at a conference and to spend time with family. I spent $545.36 on lodging in July.
August in France: $134.34
August was a kind of interesting month because, after a few days in Michigan, I spent the rest of the month in France.
My boyfriend and I rented an Airbnb for about $1,500 total for the month, but I was doing a lot of writing about the region so this was a business expense for me. Outside of the business expense, I spent $134.34 on lodging for the month.
Read more: How one 24-year-old runs a $70,000-a-month business while traveling the world
September in France, Germany, Spain, and Ireland: $959.51
September ended up being the most expensive month of the year, but it still was less than I'd likely pay per month if I lived in Boulder full-time.
I spent the beginning of the month finishing up my month in France, redeemed hotel points to spend a week in Germany, and then visited Paris for a few days, Menorca for a wedding, and Mallorca with my mom, before finally heading to Ireland to travel with my boyfriend's family.
All of the moving around and relatively expensive countries meant that I spent $959.51 on lodging during the month of September, even considering that I covered a full week with points.
October in Ireland, Algeria, New Jersey, and Hawaii: $204.06
The beginning of October was spent in Ireland before I went to meet up with friends in Algeria for about three weeks and I spent a night in the UK in each direction. One night was paid for by my trip delay insurance and the other night I stayed with a friend.
I then flew back to Colorado for a couple of days and then to New Jersey for another wedding. After the wedding, I flew straight to Hawaii to meet up with another friend for a week-long work retreat. In total, I spent $204.06 on lodging in October.
Read more: This couple sold everything to take a dream trip around the world
November in Hawaii, Fiji, and Australia: $438.28
After spending a week in Hawaii, my boyfriend and I flew to Fiji and then onward to Sydney, Australia to visit a friend that moved there. While Sydney is an expensive city, we were lucky to be able to stay with our friend for two weeks.
At the end of November, we flew to Ayres Rock to spend a few days in the Australian Outback. I spent $438.28 on lodging during November.
December in Michigan: $210.20
December tends to be a less expensive month because I like to go home to Michigan and spend time with family during the holidays, and 2018 was no different. I spent only $210.20 on lodging during the month of December.
Even with all of this travel, I only spent $5,763.45 on lodging in 2018. That's less than $500 per month on average! And that's much less than I would spend to live in Boulder year-round and probably less than I would be able to get away with in most other places in Colorado.
I'm lucky that I have a remote job that doesn't require me to stick with certain hours so that I have the flexibility to travel around the world and live in places for part of the year that cost less than living in the US
If you're curious to learn more about how much it costs to travel full-time, check out my full breakdown of what it cost me to be a digital nomad in 2018.
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