Mathematical!
Over the past three months in Southeast Asia, we've kept track of our costs for each country, as well as the number of times we rode trains, buses, etc.
We spent a total of 89 days there, and our average daily cost was $49.23 per day. Many days were much cheaper, but travel days were especially costly. It's important to keep in mind these costs were for two people, so everything except for lodging can be cut in half if traveling alone. Costs are broken down as follows:
Lodging - $857 - $9.62 per day
Food - $1,462.75 - $16.43 per day
Misc (gifts, clothes, etc) - $980 - $11.01 per day
Transportation - $1,082 - $12.15 per day
We've also broken down the costs for each separate country we stayed in.
Vietnam
20 days -
Lodging - $170 - $8.50 per day
Food - $321 - $16.05 per day
Misc (gifts, clothes, etc) - $279 - $13.95 per day
Transportation - $357 - $17.85 per day
Laos
12 days -
Lodging - $98 - $8.16 per day
Food - $179 - $14.91 per day
Misc (gifts, clothes, etc) - $107 - $8.91 per day
Transportation - $215 - $17.91 per day
Cambodia
20 days -
Lodging - $125 - $6.25 per day
Food - $383.25 - $19.16 per day
Misc (gifts, clothes, etc) - $269 - $13.45 per day
Transportation - $204 - $10.20 per day
Thailand
14 days -
Lodging - $223 - $15.92 per day
Food - $253 - $18.07 per day
Misc (gifts, clothes, etc) - $75 - $5.35 per day
Transportation - $148.5 - $10.60 per day
Malaysia
23 days -
Lodging - $241 - $10.47 per day
Food - $326.50 - $14.19 per day
Misc (gifts, clothes, etc) - $250 - $10.86 per day
Transportation - $157.50 - $6.84 per day
Over the last three months we traveled over 30,000 miles and rode in 8 planes, 5 cabs, 14 mini buses, 8 tuk-tuks, 1 cyclo, 9 motobikes, 10 trains, 29 buses, 11 boats, and slept in 28 beds. It was an exhausting journey, but we loved our time in Asia. We can't wait for our next adventure!