About the author

Tim Moss

Tim Moss has supported over 100 expeditions across all seven continents. He has climbed new mountains, crossed a desert on foot and recently cycled 13,000 miles around the world. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society London and a Guinness World Record Holder. He aims to encourage more people to live adventurously. Read more...

20 Comments

  1. 1

    Rob Lutter

    Some of these budget are incredible! Mark Beaumont £25,000! I am not sure if my own £3000 in the last year is a good or bad thing, but it certainly happened and is possible, riding from London to China so far…

    Reply
    1. 1.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks Rob. It is really useful to hear about the lower budgets as well as the bigger ones. Of course, Mark does acknowledge that his was much higher than most people would need. He was obviously sponsored and aiming for a very different result from most: a world record and a prime time documentary on national TV.

      Reply
      1. 1.1.1

        orenthung

        When will be your nexrt tour

  2. Pingback: How much does it cost to cycle across Europe?

  3. 2

    orenthung

    Wanted to go with you on your next cycle tour…but got no sponsorship

    Reply
    1. 2.1

      Tim Moss

      Thanks. No tours planned yet but I’m sure we’ll do something smaller before too long.

      As for sponsorship, I’d only recommend trying to get sponsorship for free/discounted equipment, never for money. Almost no one gets financial sponsorship for a cycle tour. Trips can be very cheap though. Check out the Database of Long Distance Cycle Journeys.

      Reply
  4. 3

    Steven Primrose-Smith

    Looks like we’ll beat the cheapest ride ever undertaken if we manage it – £1 a day for 100 days – starting in a month. If nothing else I’ll lose this belly.

    Reply
  5. 4

    Steven Primrose-Smith

    Sorry, I thought our website would appear. It’s RideAndSeek2015.com – fishing and foraging our way along the west coast of Europe for £1 a day.

    Reply
  6. Pingback: Ultramarathon Daily News, Tue, May 19

  7. Pingback: How I Fund My ExpeditionsThe Next Challenge | The Next Challenge

  8. 5

    Stephen Peel

    Hi Tim, I set up a little website myself with a similar comparison idea last year, and I still find Dorothee’s comment funny now “What do you need money for, if you travel on a bike with a tent? “, after spending 15000 euro’s.

    I have been waiting for my house to sell for over a year now, so I can down size and afford my cycle around the world. Been in the building industry all my life and every penny is hard earned and I have no family financial support to fall back on or that can get me out of a scrape if I am in one, so I don’t want to squander a penny.

    After doing my own research for some time, on what a round the world trip might cost, I have calculated a realistic figure including absolutely everything (equipment, visas, food, insurance, jabs, plasters, and well, everything), that a person on solo travel should expect the costs to be, and that figure is up to £1000 per month.

    Of course, the slower you go, the more it might cost, and this sort of vague calculation is based on being totally self-supporting. I know it sounds like a lot of money, and it is, and I have had some pretty great adventures in my life myself and know how things add up and what it’s like to run out of money. In my youth I spent my younger teenage years mostly in the bush in Australia, I have trekked in the Amazon, travelled all over the world, and experience things most people would find hard to believe.

    I have been fortunate, but it has cost me relationships, foundation, and what most people would call a normal life. But some of us can never settle and will always be on the move. It is in all of us, but some of us just can’t contain it, and that’s OK.

    If a person can expect the trip to cost that much and allow for that, and expect the cycle to take 2 years at a nice steady enjoyable pace where you can enjoy the places you pass through and even visit local attractions and sites, then I feel that is the best place to be.

    Remember that is a figure I have calculated to be the highest a person should really be expecting. I do feel the average person can do it for much less of course, but it is better to make some allowances so the the trip is not cut short due to empty pockets. I also feel it would be cheaper if their was a cycle partner or two, as this would create a safety in numbers feel and allow for more wild camping and the push and support from each other.

    So, around the world in 2 enjoyable years, at a maximum cost of £24k, forget about loss of earnings while your gone, your not working! your living life!

    Reply
  9. Pingback: How To Start Cycling Around The World For Free Or Cheap | Young Philanthropists

  10. 6

    Steven Primrose-Smith

    Further to my earlier comment about our ride across Europe for £1 a day, we completed it this summer (2015) but not all of us and not without some issues. I’ve written a book about the experience, Hungry for Miles, available at Amazon.

    Reply
  11. Pingback: How To Have An Adventure Without Spending Any MoneyThe Next Challenge | The Next Challenge

  12. 7

    Amaya Williams

    Shocked to see our tour (www.worldbiking.info) listed as one of the COSTLIEST bicycle tours ever.

    We’re pretty bare-bones (self-catering most of the time, hardly ever going to hotels or guesthouses, doing all bike repairs ourselves). In our decade on the road we’ve met only a handful of cyclists with more frugal lifestyles.

    Reply
    1. 7.1

      Tim Moss

      Hey Amaya,

      Nice to hear from you (and be reminded that you are still pedalling after all this time!)

      You’re only one of the most expensive on the measure of total trip cost which, of course, is largely because you’ve been away for so long (15 times longer than, say, Mark Beaumont above you on the chart who spent a similar amount in 6 months). On monthly and per kilometre cost, you’re much cheaper. Your monthly cost is only half the average.

      All the best,
      Tim.

      Reply
  13. Pingback: Bisikletle Uzun Tur Maliyetlerine Örnekler… – HAYALİ NOTLAR

  14. 8

    Elisabeth

    I got excited about the statistics as this gives some benchmarks while planning a trip. What for me devalued it is knowing that at least one adventurer in this list has good sponsorship agreements behind him. 6 k median might be an benchmark but is does not take into account circumstances where you don’t have sponsors nor international network of friends who support with couch surfing if needed as well regular passive income. Especially the latter is the key moment… I feel this overview needs a disclaimer for all the young adventurers to develop an understanding that there more behind the curtain than trip budget numbers that help you excel in dreams. Still great overview!

    Reply
    1. 8.1

      Tim Moss

      Hi Elisabeth,

      Thanks for the comment. I’m not quite sure I follow your point but I will try to respond…

      Do you mean that the average cost is skewed because it includes people with sponsors who went on very expensive trips?

      That is only the case for the mean. The median will not be effected by extreme values. If I added a £1m trip to the database, the mean would increase significantly but the median would not.

      Or did you mean that it is misleading because it does not disclose that some of these people paid for their trips with sponsorship deals rather than their own savings?

      If so, I would make the following points:

      1. The vast, vast majority of cycle tours do not attract financial sponsorship. Of the 400 cyclists on the database, I only know of one that has been funded (Mark Beaumont).
      2. There are dozens of trips on the database that are done on a real shoe string. A few pounds a day. I bet none of these had cash sponsorship. Cycle touring really is one of the cheapest ways to travel.
      3. The international network of couches for surfing on is available to everyone, for free, through the fantastic websites Warmshowers and CouchSurfing.
      4. Even if lots of people were indeed receiving financial sponsorship, that would not change the cost of the trips. This is just a cold presentation of the numbers so people can see how much they need to save up or ask for in sponsorship.
      5. I hope that helps, Elisabeth, but please do let me know if I’ve misunderstood your point.

        All the best,
        Tim.

        P.S. You can see how I fund all of my own expeditions, including cycling around the world, in this article: How I Fund My Expeditions.

      Reply
  15. Pingback: Low Budget, No Problem: Advice For Cyclers On Low Budgets

What do you think? Please do add your thoughts below...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

© 2015 - Tim Moss - The Next Challenge

%d bloggers like this: