When I graduated from college a decade ago, I decided to explore the world solo for a year. Being young and eager, I wanted to experience life to the fullest, all while sticking to a tight budget. I noticed many couples traveling together and often wondered if it would be more economical to have a companion. Although that’s not why I have a boyfriend now, since we met, we’ve traveled extensively together.
We’ve taken a nine-month motorcycle trip from Guatemala to the US, explored Europe for five months and then another two months, and enjoyed numerous smaller trips around Guatemala. Now that I can compare solo travel and traveling as a pair, let’s break down the expenses.
### Savings
– **Accommodation**: We usually rent rooms on Airbnb or find simple hotels. A single room is rarely half the price of a double room; it’s more like 20% off, and sometimes there’s no discount at all. For instance, in France’s budget hotel chain F1, the rate is the same whether it’s for one person or three. On our last trip, we saved about half on accommodation compared to solo travel.
– **Camping**: When I traveled alone, I occasionally camped but hesitated to pitch my tent in remote areas. I often asked families if I could camp on their land. With my boyfriend, we camp anywhere comfortably.
– **Shared Items**: Traveling together means you need only one camera, one motorcycle, and so on. We even share a toothbrush. This means packing fewer items, which saves on baggage fees and the cost of the items themselves.
– **Food**: Sharing meals at restaurants allows us to save money as we can split a main dish and have desserts. During picnics, we waste less food compared to when I traveled alone and couldn’t finish everything without a fridge to store leftovers.
### Extra Costs
– **Joint Activities**: When we have different interests, we either go separate ways for the day or see both attractions together, thus doubling the expenses compared to visiting just one place when traveling solo.
– **Touristy Activities**: As a couple, we tend to engage in more touristy activities like getting a portrait in Paris or riding a gondola in Venice, which feels more worthwhile together but adds to the cost. Alone, I would be content with simpler experiences.
– **Hospitality**: Traveling solo often invites more kindness from strangers, such as rides, food, or a bed for the night. As a pair, we form our own social unit, which makes it harder to get such hospitality. For instance, finding a host on Couchsurfing becomes challenging.
– **Dining Out**: While sharing meals can save money, we also enjoy making our meals special, which means dining out more often. Chatting for hours makes it tempting to order more food or drinks, leading us to sit in restaurants more frequently rather than opting for street food.
– **Comfort Preferences**: My boyfriend is accustomed to a more comfortable lifestyle. In the US, we alternated between camping and staying in motels with private baths. In Europe, he struggled with small rooms and shared bathrooms, causing us to upgrade to more luxurious accommodations more often.
– **Dietary Habits**: He prefers steak meals and doesn’t consider a picnic of ham and sausages as a proper meal, whereas I can go days on bread and cheese.
– **Transportation**: We used my motorcycle instead of public transport. When traveling without it in Europe, I even bought a bike, which now sits unused but brought in some rental income this summer.
Have you traveled with someone else? Was it cheaper or more expensive compared to traveling on your own?