Traveling doesn’t have to be expensive, especially in Southeast Asia. If you’re not Asian and you’re reading this, you probably already know that because of the power of your currency. However, it could be difficult for some Southeast Asian tourists to go around their neighboring countries. I’m a Filipino, and I know a lot of my friends think that I spend a lot of money when I go on international travels. Using the itinerary I previously published this is how much I spent on my recent trip to Bali.

With the help of thorough research and thousands of resources on the internet, there are now so many options for budget travel, even for international destinations. I went to Bali with three other friends for six days, and I was able to spend only around US$250 (approx. PHP13,122.32). That’s even a lot cheaper than a lot of local destinations in the Philippine for the same number of days.

Note that this value doesn’t include flights, travel tax, and a few personal expenses, but the breakdown below does include accommodation and transport by taxi in Bali since we didn’t rent scooters. If you’re not picky with food, and you’re comfortable with hostel accommodations, then you can do this too. In addition, I stopped over Kuala Lumpur for a few hours of layover which I didn’t include below, but that cost me less than PHP1,000 for my hostel, transport and food.

Here’s an expense report of my trip to Bali:

For the record, the hostels we stayed in were amazing, I definitely didn’t starve myself, the Nusa Penida tour guide had awesome service, and we had tons of fun as first-time Bali travelers!

If you’re visiting Bali soon, have questions or want to know which hostels we stayed in, who we contacted for the Nusa Penida tour and taxi around Bali, drop me an email or comment below so I can help.