Shoutout to the $100 a day rule for Southeast Asia

Everyone online says you can travel there on $50 a day, but after a month in Vietnam, my partner and I hit a daily average of exactly $102. That included a few nicer meals and a couple of domestic flights, but it felt like a very basic, realistic budget, not the shoestring one people push. Does anyone else find those super low budget targets set you up to feel like you're failing?

5 comments

5 Comments

violar351mo ago

Totally. Those lowball numbers always leave out the real stuff. I tried the $30 a day thing in Thailand once and it was miserable, just eating street food and never doing anything fun. You end up skipping all the tours or boat trips that are the whole point of going. Your budget sounds way more honest for actually living a little.

susanb341mo ago

Right? It's like those guides are written by people who think travel is a punishment. Surviving on rice and beans in a hostel while you watch everyone else go on adventures isn't a budget, it's a sad vacation story. You gotta factor in actually doing the things that made you want to go there in the first place. Otherwise you're just eating cheap noodles in a different time zone. My rule is to save up a bit longer so I can say yes to the cool boat trip instead of just staring at the water from the shore.

patricia_gonzalez1mo ago

Exactly, the "sad vacation story" is what you're paying to avoid.

murray.jana1mo ago

Oh for sure, the math on those guides never adds up. I mean, even a simple day, you grab a coffee and a bottle of water, maybe pay for a temple entry, and that's like ten bucks gone before you even think about lunch or a bus ticket. They always forget the little costs that just happen.

tarabell1mo ago

My first trip to Cambodia I budgeted $40 a day from a blog post and blew through it by day three just getting from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. Those tiny daily costs for tuk tuks, water, and a museum ticket add up so fast it makes your head spin. Your $100 average sounds spot on for actually enjoying the trip without constant stress. I felt like a failure for going over until I realized those guides leave out reality. What did you end up splurging on that felt totally worth it?