Denouement Dashboard - The Trip So Far

Normally, this is where I will cover the stats of each country as we go. But at the moment, as I sit in Abu Dhabi airport at 0546 waiting for my flight to Athens to reconvene with Casey, it seems like a good time to recap the whole trip so far.

As usual, follow along at:

Anyway, let's get into it:


The Expedition Denouement: 7/2/23 - Current (5/10/23)

Tracks:

Country by Country:

  • New Zealand = 5,099 km
  • Argentina = 19,853 km
  • Paraguay = 1,212 km
  • Uruguay = 1,357 km
  • Brazil = 2,433 Km
  • Bolivia = 4,833 km
  • Peru = 5,649 km
  • Ecuador = 2,522 km
  • Colombia = 1,516 km
  • Costa Rica = 1,561 km
  • El Salvador = 750 km
  • Mexico = 2,561 km
  • Canada = 3,057 km
  • United States = 10,344 km

The Eurotrip:

All done in our little Renault Scenic, Monsieur Gustave H.; which we then swapped in for a more European sized Renault Koleos, Monsieur Gustave H. II.

  • Week 1 (Includes the flight New York --> Paris of 5,849 km) = 7,072 km
  • Week 2 = 1,524.4 km
  • Week 3 = 1,605.5 km
  • Week 4 = 1,137.3 km
  • Week 5 = 2,155.5 km
  • Week 6 = 846.3 km
  • Week 7 = 2,126.3 km
  • Week 8 = 1,668.8 km
  • Week 9 = 2,234.7 km

Bali before the Hiatus:

  • 12,866 km

Mode Breakdown:

Not sure of the best way to include the whole big table yet so here is the summary column.

Total Distance (so far…) = 95,982 km

Expenses:

Total expenses: $111,586.44 AUD

Total Days: 238 Days inclusive

Expense per day = $462.93 AUD/Day

(There is an annoying breakdown in the Maths, here, as I stopped accounting for spending under the ‘Denouement’ tracker when I went back to work in Australia while Casey had work in Bali (because she essentially had zero expenses as everything was covered for her). But I was keeping track of spending during the week that I was in Bali with Casey. So…the expense per day is probably a little bit off, but it will all come out in the wash at the end. And….I kept a separate expense tracker (and calorie tracker, for some reason) while I was doing Locum work back in Aus……I had a lot of spare time. So the money is still sort of accounted for…)

Expenses Breakdown (mathematical, not emotional):

After the hefty driving load of the Eurotrip, the ‘Flight’ chunk of the pie is relatively reduced. That was helped by paying for Flights from Paris —> Bali (immediately after the Roadtrip) and my flight from Brisbane back to Athens almost totally with points. (Worth highlighting actually, I got myself and Casey from Paris to Bali for $600 AUD total and myself from Brisbane to Athens for $300 AUD total. Pretty good.)

I am also stoked that the ‘Coffee’ line item has migrated up in to it’s own section And is not included in the ‘Others’ bucket.

Here is expenses by Country:

And here is expenses by Daily Average:

I don’t know what the little expense tracker app I use doesn’t re-order when I sort by daily average…

Summary:

  • That’s a lot of kilometres in the air.
  • I think driving is the best way to see Europe.
  • Flights have been overall fairly easy - ‘carry on only’ means zero lost baggage. But you really are exposing yourself to the spectrum of humanity when you lock yourself in an airborne aluminium fart tube for any length of time…
  • The United States is hideously expensive to visit. I have literally no idea how average people can afford to live in major US cities.
  • Scandinavia is a wonderful place, but expensive.
  • Travel gets easier the more you do it. Having a passport, mobile data and some money precludes any real problem.

Thanks for reading along.

The next country update will come... after the next country.

Weekly updates will come...weekly.

Luke.