Way back in April (2018), I wrote about my budget for my spring/summer 2018 mid-life crisis/first retirement trip around the world: US $20,000. Well, my trip is over, and the numbers are in. (They’re recorded in loving detail on my stats page.)

The final price tag: $13,002.48. Way under budget. I pat myself on the back, once again.

And it was the best $13,002.48 I ever spent.

That includes:

• $3,968.89 for lodging. My trip lasted 134 days, so if you do the math, that’s less than $30 a night. Even tossing my free digs in Eugene and Ljubljana out of the equation, and subtracting nights I spent on aircraft, it still comes out well within my $50/night budget.
  

  There were a few instances, chiefly in Iberia, where my budget limited me to staying an Airbnb room in someone’s house. (And, memorably, I had a shared balcony in Kandy.) But most of the time, my money got me either my own hotel room or a small Airbnb apartment to myself, such as this studio in Prague (28 June 2018).

• $2,249.11 for food. That works out to less than $20 a day, once again well within my $30/day budget.
  

  Although certain cities tested the bounds of my budget (I ate a lot of tater tots in Spain), on the whole, I’d say I ate really well on this trip (13 June 2018).

• $2,565.14 for transportation, including airfare. Say what you will about the numerous discomforts and inconveniences of air travel, airfares are way, way cheaper these days than they used to be.
  

  I prefer trains when possible (15 May 2018).

  And speaking of money, you’d think, especially with the adoption of the Euro, that it would add to the convenience but reduce the mystique of traveling through Europe. But there are still plenty of European countries outside the Eurozone. I visited or passed through 13 European countries on this trip, and I still managed to use four currencies in Europe besides the Euro.

And now I bestow upon you some final observations and advice:

• Taiwan: Best food on my trip, hands-down. Chinese food is the tastiest (affordable) cuisine on earth. That’s the best thing about visiting Taiwan. Also, apparently Taiwanese garbage trucks are pretty special. As of today (22 November 2018), the Taiwan garbage truck video I uploaded to YouTube is my most popular video by a couple of orders of magnitude (over 3,000 views). Oh, and Kaohsiung is the most atmospheric city in Taiwan, so be sure to stop there if you visit. But keep in mind that Europe blows Taiwan out of the water, ambience-wise.
  

  Oh, good heavens yes (22 April 2018).

• Sri Lanka: Don’t go to Sri Lanka solo. It’s beautiful, but it’s a frenetic, exhausting place. Go with a tour group so you can hop back on the bus for a breather if you need it. And ride in a tuk-tuk or five.
  

  I can only handle an hour or two of this at a stretch. Then I need a break (1 May 2018).

• Europe: It’s amazing. GO!
  

  Why are you still here looking at photos? (7 May 2018).