What it Costs

How Much Does It Cost To Travel Europe In A Motorhome?

For anyone else that is thinking about doing this, we want to be completely open with how much it costs.

We're doing this with a relatively small budget and so always look for the best solution for the lowest price. For the van, we scoured the internet for second hand items and freebies, or recycled what we could from the van.

To allow our savings to last us a year, we're doing our best to stick to a tight budget. For us, we'd rather be away longer and see more places than live lavishly and be home within a couple of months.
[Update] We've changed that view and have adopted a different tactic.

We've split the spreadsheet into 7 categories:

The Van

When deciding whether we wanted to buy a van that was already converted or take on the work ourselves, it was difficult to know how the costs would compare. Empty vans are much cheaper but we didn't have a clue what materials we would need or how much they would cost to do a conversion.

Therefore, we've included everything from insurance and breakdown cover to wood and screws. We've even noted what we used everything for and where we bought it.

We haven't gone for a high-spec finish. We're both DIY novices so our motto is, if it works and looks alright, then it will do.

With the pre-trip costs out of the way, the other categories show our weekly expenditure.

Fuel

The biggest expenses is fuel. Therefore, we've kept a record of how often we filled up with diesel and how many miles it took us. It also gives you an idea of how diesel prices compare in the various countries.

Other Travel Costs

We're trying to avoid toll roads where we can so make sure you allow for this if you'll be taking more direct routes. We have plenty of time, so we mostly take the scenic route, but we have jumped on a toll a few times (sometimes accidentally).

As we're in a chunky van, we don't want to try parking in cities but sometimes it's unavoidable so we've also included this and any public transport we take.

We're mostly wild camping but we've treated ourselves to a few nights on a campsite to make use of the facilities.

Food

We've set ourselves an average weekly budget of £40 on groceries. Unfortunately that hasn't stuck.

We're trying to live on simple rice and pasta dishes with tinned veg, but being limited to what we can cook and store in the van, and what we can find in the foreign supermarkets, we've been spending more than we should.

Leisure

Pretty simple this one - basically anything we do for fun, including eating out. It's not really an essential living cost, and we've been treating ourselves more than we should, but it might be handy to know.

Sundries

All the odd little bits we spend for living. From washing clothes to toilet roll.


Now that you know what's included, take a closer look.

GIIBBS GAP YEAR SPENDING SPREADSHEET

(We're doing our best to keep it updated but it depends on internet signal).