It's not expensive!

My detailed flight and transport expenses for a year of travel, 2025

Sacramento International Airport (there’s one flight to Mexico) boasts what is still one of my favorite pieces of airport art.

So my year of travel has drawn to an end. I may take a trip or two this fall, but for the most part, I am sat down in Saigon with little desire to get on a jet anytime soon. Basta!

I’ve had a couple of people, ask how I am able to travel the world so extensively, and sigh with resignation: “I’ll never be rich enough to do that.” I tell them that it’s not nearly as expensive as it looks. They look at me with a mix of skepticism and hope, but are too polite to ask for numbers.

Because there’s nothing like seeing the actual numbers, right?

So here are all my flights and what they cost over the period from April 3 to September 3, my travel window of 2025. And no, I don’t travel all the time. I am home now, and living in Saigon feels like all the good parts of travel with none of the downsides. My travel this year will have almost entirely taken place in April, May, June, July and August. I left Sacramento on September 3.

For perspective, here is the route that my travel (mostly via airplane) took during those five months:

Saigon> Hanoi> Mai Chau> Osaka> Kyoto> Portland> Sacramento> New York City > Rome> Bologna> Milano> Lyon> Bordeaux> Nantes> Berlin> Milano> Torino> the Dolomites> the Alps> Milano> Berlin> New York City> Sacramento> Burning Man> Sacramento> Saigon.

Most of that was on flights, but a portion was by bus, train, car or even, for a month in Southern France, by foot! The costs of all those forms of transportation were about half of the total of the flights, or a third of my total transportation costs.

The biggest portion of that one-third was my rental car in Italy for ten days, with petrol, tolls, and insurance (which I used, saving me hundreds of dollars from one teeny-tiny little scratch) added up to more than $800. Now you can see why I called it a splurge, especially in this cost context.

So keep all of that in mind. It’s not just about the flights. Hell, if you take cars to and from airports, you can spend as much on a cab or Uber as you can on the flight that got you there. Not exaggerating.

Also, please keep in mind that the prices of flights have gone up, in some cases, substantially. Even more, the price of any given flight can vacillate wildly from day to day. I have the great option of not being tied to a schedule, so I can fly on the cheapest day available. For instance, when I lived in Berlin, a flight to Rome could be as cheap as 60 euros or as much as 600, depending on the day, season, etc. My $145 flight from Hanoi to Osaka in April will be $500 this Christmas.

I have also amassed a good number of frequent flyer miles recently, so next year’s flights will be considerably cheaper than this year’s.

Keep in mind as well that I very rarely check bags (or pay for them), as I usually only travel with a small, 40-liter backpack. I did have to pay for an extra checked bag from Berlin to New York, New York to Sacramento, and Sacramento to Saigon. But those were basically moving costs, moving my last few belongings around the world, from Berlin to Saigon!

Anyway…all that said, I’ll give you the punchline first: For all of those flights on that itinerary listed above, I spent…$2,564, or 2,198 euros. That’s it.

I know, right?

Here’s the breakdown:

• Saigon>Hanoi (Apr 3 on Vietnam Air) $89

• Hanoi-Osaka (Apr 10 on Vietjet) $145

• Osaka-Portland, OR (April 26 on Starlux) $675

• Portland-Sactown (April 30 on Alaska) $71 (w/my cousin’s discount, thanks Todd!) 2444

• Sacramento to New York City (May 3 on JetBlue) $123

• New York City to Rome (May 12 on Norse) $271

• Nantes to Berlin (June 23 on Transavia) €103 ($120)

• Berlin to Milano (July 19 on easyJet) $183

• Milano to Berlin (August 8 on easyJet) $175

• Berlin to NYC (Aug 10 on Norse Atlantic Airways) $500 (with extra checked bag)

• NYC to Sacramento (Aug 18 on JetBlue) $148 (with extra checked bag)

• Sacramento to Saigon (September 3 on Alaska/Starlux) $65 (plus 36,000 ff miles)

Again, the total for all my flights, from Asia to the US to Europe and back, was $2,564, or €2,198.

Add in the costs of my car rental in Europe, for 10 days, with gas, insurance and tolls, along with a couple of bus trips and some trains, was half of that cost, or roughly $1200.

So my total transportation costs were roughly $3,764, or €3,200 (give or take: I took local transport that I didn’t bother to note, and it does add up). It’s not nothing, but I know people who will spend that much on one direct flight from San Francisco to Japan alone, in business class. It’s possible to spend even more. And those folks certainly fly in more comfort, and arrive sooner, than I do!

But given my income, and probably yours as well, this cost of flying so far, with so much control and personal flexibility, is ridiculously cheap.

For contrast, my first flight to Europe, San Francisco to London, in 1975, was $477. I still remember it. ($477 in 1975 dollars would be worth $2,781 in today’s dollars. And I made $3 an hour back then. And I still traveled!)

I will go into depth on my lodging costs in another post, as they are considerably more complicated, and I cut a lot of corners, and get by with a little help from my friends. But my bottom-line message remains the same:

Travel is not expensive if you’re smart about it. Don’t let it stop you. Go for it.

Onward!