what does it cost to visit the park?
Daydreaming about a grand take chances can exist enjoyable on its own, but the real fun comes when you actually leave home. It's much easier to turn dreams into reality when you have a realistic picture show of what information technology will cost, and while information technology may be easy plenty to budget for a one-week vacation, guessing the toll of a 7-month trek across most of the continent can exist tricky.
When we set out to visit every U.s.a. National Park in 2019, we actually had no idea what it would end upwardly costing, just now that our trip is complete, we're sharing all the intimate details and aftermath. The numbers may look big at first, but by the stop of this article, you lot might be convinced that yous could try something similar!
Worst-Case Scenario: The Totally Un-Budgeted Budget
It may seem foreign that nosotros didn't begin this journeying with a budget, or fifty-fifty a reasonable toll estimate for the trip, simply there is some logic behind this madness. When we beginning thought of this trip, I made a guess at the worst-case cost of the entire thing.
We planned to sleep off the road in a van and have nothing lodging expense every dark, and so in my worst-case calculation, I assumed that the van would turn out to be miserable, and we would end up in a hotel every night for 7 (or maybe even viii!) months. I assumed that flights would cost twice what I was seeing online because by the time we booked them, the prices would go through the roof. I assumed that we would swallow every single meal at Chipotle and never cook anything ourselves. You go the thought.
Nosotros had saved money for a long time before even conceiving of this trip. In fact, we were getting reasonably shut to full financial independence before the trip even began. So while this worst-case estimate was more than we would e'er intentionally spend, it also wasn't anywhere almost enough to bankrupt us if the worst occurred. In hindsight, our trip went mostly equally planned, and so information technology definitely concluded up being cheaper than the worst-example estimate, but it was all the same an important thought practice. You don't dive head-first without at to the lowest degree checking the depth of the pool.
Equally important was having an escape programme: Nosotros did non book every flying, boat ride, and hotel stay before setting out. In fact, we were rarely booked more two weeks in advance at any given time. This gave usa a lot of flexibility and the ability to bail if the trip became financially, emotionally, or medically untenable at any fourth dimension.
1 other, hidden do good of not having a budget is that you may be less likely to overspend. Yep, you read that correctly. When people have a ready upkeep in heed for a vacation, they almost always spend all of it. But if you lot are mindful at all times about spending money and have no specific quota to compare confronting, you lot're more likely to brand rational money choices and arrange to your adventure as a lifestyle, non a ane-time experience you lot have to "max out" on.
Alright, Then Tell Us Already: What Did Information technology Toll?!
Peradventure you lot skipped all my dawdling about budgets and but desire to know how much we spent. Here it is:
Okay, so that's a lot of coin. Only allow's put this into perspective: This is the total, all-in cost for two people to live their unabridged lives, and it comes to about $2,634 per calendar month per person. This isn't but the cost of a "vacation." This is a totally inclusive cost of living for 7 months, counting amusement, food, shelter, health insurance, even airport parking — everything!
Let's go through some of the categories. The first affair y'all might be wondering about is the van. It was the virtually expensive vehicle either of us has ever owned, past a longshot, with a $12,300 purchase toll.
So why does the chart simply say $five,140? If we sold the van now, we'd expect to recoup near $8,000 from that, so the net cost of depreciation (which is all that matters to the price of this trip) has been almost $4,300. The bed in back and the platform it rests on, plus maintenance similar oil changes, etc., added some other $840 to get us to the $5,140 yous see quoted in the chart.
The insurance category includes liability-just coverage on the van, along with high-deductible health insurance for both of united states. Because nosotros max out tax-deductible accounts like Traditional IRAs and HSAs, and nosotros were just working part-fourth dimension, our adjusted gross income volition be quite low this year. Considering of this, our health insurance costs were reduced past ACA subsidies. The fact that we qualified for subsidies this year is still a footling bizarre to me since we actively chose not to piece of work, merely that's really how the system is prepare.
Anyway, with skyrocketing prices, getting affordable health insurance in the US is no cakewalk, and depending on how much more than nosotros brand, there'south fifty-fifty a hazard we will have to pay back the subsidies nosotros received. Just make sure you think hard almost this category before planning your own adventure. Information technology can definitely get pricey, and the rules are always-irresolute.
Some of the categories are pretty self-explanatory, like gasoline, groceries, and dining out (which we did way likewise much of), but y'all might be wondering why we spent then much on aeroplane and gunkhole rides when this was supposedly a road trip. Well, to get to the National Parks in Hawaii, American Samoa, the U.s.a. Virgin Islands, and most of the parks in Alaska, we had to take very expensive flights. In Alaska, some of those flights were charter planes where we were the only two passengers aboard, essentially renting out the entire plane (and paying a pilot) ourselves.
Same bargain with hotels. While we stayed in hotels during extremely hot or cold weather from time to time, a big chunk of the hotel costs were due to the fact that sure parks are in places where nosotros couldn't accept the van with the states (similar islands). Island hotels are also more expensive than hotels in, say, Ohio.
The "Other" category included all sorts of stuff, from jail cell telephone service, our Planet Fitness membership (for showers), and web hosting for this site, to clothes, shoes, souvenirs, and entertainment. Notably, we spent almost nothing on entertainment during this trip though, because for the almost function, nature is free to enjoy (aside from the $80 National Parks pass). We did grab a couple of concerts forth the way though, which was pretty absurd.
Okay, But What If You lot Weren't Crazy?
If we weren't weird completists, we would have skipped the parks that are almost impossible to get to and just stuck to the continental United States. By cutting off the 12 about expensive-to-admission parks in Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, and the US Virgin Islands, our budget would accept looked similar this instead:
This modified trip would have been roughly 7 weeks shorter, a ~23% reduction in time, only it would have saved a whopping 41% of the total price! The monthly price comes to about $2,007 per calendar month per person.
$two,007 per month per person. How do y'all call back this compares to the spending of a typical center-class American adult who is non traveling 24/7?
(That's a rhetorical question. Anybody will have a different take, and that's totally cool. It's but supposed to make you call back and hopefully provide encouragement to some.)
And so, How'd Y'all Pay For It?
Every bit I mentioned earlier, we have lived elementary lives and saved money for a long time. The up-front cost of this trip (buying and modding a $12k van) was covered past our savings, with more than enough left over to pay for the entire risk out-of-pocket. We were never at risk of "not being able to afford" the trip.
But if yous're a veteran reader of this blog, you know that we adopt for our trips to cost the states none of our savings. Bravado your whole bank business relationship on a big adventure isn't exactly a path to financial independence.
About five months before leaving, nosotros each told our full-time employers about our plans and offered to transition to part-time remote work during the trip rather than quitting. Lauren's visitor was resistant to the idea of remote work, and although they made her an offer, the rate of pay for remote piece of work was too far discounted to be worth information technology, and she declined.
While my full-fourth dimension job couldn't be done remotely (part of it involves educational activity physics to an auditorium of students), my employer agreed to let me do the parts of my chore that are possible from afar while I was away. This amounted to almost 10-12 hours of work per week at a rate of pay I was happy with.
Simply before leaving, we also listed our condo for rent on Craigslist and were able to find a tenant who was willing to sign a 7-month charter. Nosotros had some cleaning to practise when we got back home, but all in all, it was a good experience that provided meaning additional income while we were on the road and shielded us from all of our housing costs while we were away.
Aside from this, Lauren and I offered our photography services to contacts we had beyond the state (along with a few strangers who institute us on Instagram), sold fine art, and did a few other random things for money. I played a bunch of Magic: The Gathering tournaments and made a whopping net turn a profit of about $350 on those over the course of the trip, and we actually figured out a arrangement to pull some other $350 out of Nevada casinos beyond 2 days without risking any of our ain coin.
Halfway through our journey, Lauren as well picked upwards a steady freelance gig doing marketing and social media management for a nonprofit, who likewise hired us to exercise photography for their biggest annual effect while nosotros were on the road.
We also earned credit card points throughout the trip, which we religiously converted into cash. Plus, some airline and hotel points we had left over from previous credit card bonuses saved united states effectually $1,500 or so on this trip. Two of our MVP cards were Chase Freedom, which gave us v% greenbacks back on gas for a good chunk of the ride, and Hunt Sapphire Preferred, which came with a $600 cash sign-upwardly bonus at the time. If you sign up for a credit card through the links to a higher place, you tin get a bonus yourself and support charity at the same time!
All in all, we pulled in close to $37,000 over the course of seven months on the road, which was enough to pay for the entire trip on its own!
Actually, that's not quite truthful. We'll have to pay taxes on all that contract work down the line, so our net income will actually be a fiddling lower. Fortunately, a bullish stock market along with interest on bonds and loftier-yield savings accounts pushed our cyberspace worth dramatically farther north, so nosotros ultimately came dwelling with way more money than we gear up out with. Thanks, investments!
Why'd You Share All Of This Anyway?
This trip was an astonishing run a risk just few become to enjoy, even over an entire lifetime. We could have just written a agglomeration of articles about our experiences in the parks and never talked nearly the finances. So why share all of this? To brag?
We met a lot of new people on this trip, and without fail, near every chat went from "Where are you from?" to "What brings you manner out here?" to "Holy crap! You must have won the lottery! I wish I could do what you're doing!"
A lot has gone right in our lives to make this all possible. We are lucky, we are privileged, and we acknowledge that. But we also didn't have to win the lottery to make this happen! A lot of people could make an experience like this one come live for themselves if they had some encouragement and free information, and that's why nosotros write well-nigh this stuff. I hope you'll share, and maybe it will help you or someone else brand dreams into reality.
— Steven
Interested in doing something similar? Taking a big interruption from full-fourth dimension work to go on an adventure like this is Footstep iv of our six-stride Fiscal Roadmap.
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Source: https://www.tripofalifestyle.com/money/our-cost-to-see-every-national-park/
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