What with the hassle of getting the rim replaced on the bicycle, I thought I deserved a day off where I didn’t have to do anything. That didn’t turn out to be entirely true though, as I spent several hours tweaking and promoting my websites. I also phoned home, and had a chat with Mum. I must mention, that by far the biggest benefactor of my trip has been Mum. Without her loaning me some money, the trip would have been over long ago. Time for celebration – I now owe her over 2000 pounds. WOOT ! Party! (Honestly, I will pay you back).So, how did I manage to so balls up my finances for this trip? Well, there are several reasons. Firstly, when I planned the trip, I worked out my average daily spend in dollars to be about 20 a day. Now, when the British pound was buying 2 dollars, this was great, but before my trip began, the currency exchange dive bombed, and I was only getting 1.4. Even now, its 1.55. Ouch. Secondly, I had a couple of big hits in regards to repairs – a new back wheel, new tent(s), new rear derailleur, new tyres sent from the uk. The boat ride from Panama to Colombia wasn’t cheap either. Thirdly, I always knew that doing the trip within 18 months would be pushing it in terms of money lasting, and had always banked on probably owing 1500 at the end. And that’s not to say that I have had no money coming in. I have been really fortunate on this trip, landing a couple of days work in Canada (in hindsight I should have stayed another two weeks!), having some wonderfully generous people donate through the website, and earning some revenue through my hostel booking website. With four months left of the trip, and the airfare home still to buy, I could rack up between 3.5 and 4k in debt to Mum. Ouch. Very ouch! I just have to hope I can get a job a soon as I get back to England!(By the way, this article isn’t a plea of poverty… I can and will see the trip through and repay what I owe. Its more to be informative to other travellers doing similar long term trips who may be in the same situation – You are not alone!)
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