I have no idea to how many restaurants, bars, cafes and clubs I have been in those 18 months….
After a few months I started checking in on Foursquare & Swarm, to record it all, but I lack the first three months in South America.
Still, Swarm has recorded nearly 1450 check-ins, and most of those would be restaurants and bars.
How much I went out was not only a budget question (in some cities, yes), but it also depended on how well equipped my apartment was, if I cooked at home from time to time or ate out. All. The. Time.
But there were so many restaurants to discover, so many bars…. and drinks to be had with new friends, who can resist?
In the end, it shows in my budget (and on my hips).
Price differences were huge though: I spend three times as much in the most expensive city than in the cheapest.
And here are the statistics:
Eating out and going for coffees and drinks is the second biggest budget line, with 12.735 € spent.
On average, I spent 23 € a day, to have breakfast somewhere while blogging, having a salad for lunch or drinks at night with friends.
Again, this is a part of the budget I could have cut down – by having cereals at home or simply drinking less (I could also have lost a lot more weight had I not indulged in my nightly beer, wine or drink.)
It is also interesting to see the variations from city to city.
So here they are, the five most expensive cities of my trip:
1. Australia: Melbourne, Sydney, Perth…. those cities all were pretty expensive. On average I spent 39 € a day to eat and go out. However, it won’t get any better, fresher and more inventive than modern Australian cuisine. Just. loved. it.
2. Hong Kong: with 32 € the second place in the ranking. Beers and food was expensive, even if I limited myself to eating dumplings and Ramen twice a day.
3. Tel Aviv: with 31 € per day one of the most expensive cities. the fact that the kitchen in my place was pretty rudimentary might have played into it. But generally, Israel is just expensive.
4. Montreal: While accommodation was really cheap in Montreal, I spent a lot on going out. And I even had Josée’s perfect kitchen at my disposal. With 26 €, it was on the expensive side, and on top of it I think I went out every single night. There, you have it.
4. Seattle: Sharing the #4 spot with Montreal, Seattle (26 €) was also a city to indulge. The number of coffee places, restaurants and bars is amazing, and indulge I did! I worked off a few of those pounds by riding my bike up Capitol Hill….
And on the cheap side, we have:
1. India: Although I traveled around mostly instead of staying in one city, India, of course, was the cheapest place to eat and go out. And it was yummy. even the street food. And no digestion incidents at all. I spent only 13 € a day to sustain myself.
2. Cape Town: The most expensive city as for its rental prices in the summer, it is also one of the cheapest, with only 14 € per day. Maybe without Sven’s visit I might have spend a little bit more.
3. Mexico City: A city full of restaurants and bars, I hardly knew where to start and finish. And street food galore. I only spent 15 € a day here, it can’t get cheaper and better than that.
4. Bangkok: Yummy. The Pad Thai, the street food, the Papaya salad… True, I only spent a week here, and was invited to parties on my only weekend – that might have brought the cost down a bit. Suffice to say: with 17 € per day, Thailand won’t make you poor, and the food is stellar.
5. Istanbul: Wine, bars. cocktails, markets, Meze, street food – you name it, they got it. It was perfect, and cheap, only 18 € a day kept me going….
So, summarizing this all, I would say:
Japan, again surprisingly, is totally average with 22 €.
Australia, with its high alcohol taxes, or Tel Aviv, were places where I basically could not afford to get really drunk.
But, no surprise, I passed out drunk in Buenos Aires (19 €) and Santiago (24€ ).
But only twice!