A lot of people have asked me about the trip since I got back, and most of them said that although they’d love to go, they couldn’t afford to travel like that. Fortunately, this trip definitely didn’t break the bank at all. In fact, I think the average American could save up for it in less than a year with a little planning.
I’m pretty open on what I spend on things, so here’s how it all breaks down for what I spent.
Flights: $74.36 + 130,000 miles for a roughly $6000 ticket, netting me a value of 4.6 cents/mile
Airport dining: $9
Guam
- Airbnb for eight nights: $334.50
- Rental Car: $106.50
- Gas: $13.44
- Groceries: $46.94
- Dining: $140.58
- Amusement park: $5
Japan
- Trains/subway: $116.75
- Three nights at Courtyard Tokyo Station: $428.85
- Two nights at Mt. Fuji Hotel: $102.82
- Dining: $76.98
- Owl cafe: $20
- Dome City: $34.85
- Tokyo Tower: $8.04
- Fuji-Q Highland: $45.24
Added up, that comes to $1563.85 per person for the two weeks, not including the diving that I did. That’s barely over $100 a day.
Most of the things to do in Guam are free and I never had to pay to park anywhere on the island. In Tokyo, although our hotel was expensive, breakfast and dinner were included, saving us a decent amount there. If I didn’t have that benefit, I would have probably stayed somewhere that was about 2/3 of the price I we paid. Around Tokyo, most of our subway rides were about $1.50. The only trains that were any more than that were the Narita Express ($35) and the trains to Fuji-Q ($60).
For the airports, all the food was included if you bought a business class ticket. The only things I really had to pay for were the tips for the drinks at the bar.
For the flights, I accumulated miles with a couple signup bonuses and by paying all my bills with a credit card that earns miles. If you don’t have too many miles or you’re trying to buy tickets for multiple people, an economy ticket is only 70,000 miles, saving you a good bit there as well. Those miles can easily be earned over the course of a year with a credit card or two, as well as the various shopping portals and apps that are available.
Here are the posts for the entire trip:
Hope you all found this enlightening, as I’m always looking to help and inspire others to see more of the world.
Happy travels!
Matt
Planes, Trains, and RVs 