Igor at dusk with a view of the lake at Valle de Bravo, Mexico.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Valle de Bravo, Mexico.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Cancun on December 17th!

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

What did it cost for 19 days in Barbados?

We always find it an interesting exercise to go back over our trip costs when any particular voyage ends. Of course when someone goes on a typical package vacation, it's a lot easier to add things up. The typical one week all inclusive is especially easy because for the most part you know all of your costs up front.

But with us, you just never know until the end. Of course we try and do things as frugally as possible within reason. But when you travel to a relatively expensive country like Barbados, you're pretty much stuck spending whatever it costs. I mean after all, you still have to eat!

So, here how much our 19 day trip cost...

Airfare: We would not have even gone to Barbados if it weren't for the $800 each vouchers we received when we voluntarily got bumped from our Ottawa to Regina flight last April. I waited until I saw the Barbados flight on sale, but we still had to pay the taxes and fees. For the two of us, round trip from Ottawa to Bridgetown cost us total $255.28 CAD.

Accommodation: We have stayed with couchsurfing hosts over 50 times in all of our travels. Often, we combine that with AirBnb or hostels, but in Barbados our couchsurfing host Eric offered his spare room for the entire duration of our stay. We love couchsurfing, because not only do you usually save money, you also get valuable insight to the local country and it's culture from someone who actually lives there. Even though our accommodation expense was essentially nothing, we charged the meal out we had with Eric to this category. $136 CAD.

Groceries: Staying with a couchsurfing host meant that we had the use of his kitchen and could make a lot of our own meals. We included our host in as many of these meals as possible. Groceries are expensive in Barbados. In 19 days, we spent $405.96 on groceries.

Alcohol: Rum is the only reasonably priced booze in Barbados. So that's what we drank at home! We spent a total of $67.59 CAD.

Miscellaneous: This includes our transportation around the island. Always local buses, we never took a taxi. And our mobile internet access. I bought a local SIM card for the phone and a prepaid data plan. Total for everything was $112.59 CAD.

Entertainment: Through our writing on this blog, some of our activities were sponsored by various tourism businesses on the island. In all cases, everything we wrote about was our true and honest opinion. We tell it like it is here at Travel with Kevin and Ruth! So the total figure in this department may seem low for the variety of activities you read about us doing. Also, we include all meals out in this category. We spent $354 CAD in total. To break it down further, $112 was activities, while $242 was lunch meals out.

So there you have it. Our 19 days in Barbados cost $1,331.42 CAD ($1,045 USD) for the two of us, airfare and everything included.

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13 comments:

  1. You guys really did a lot in those 19 days, amazing you spent so little in such an expensive country

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    1. We sure did do a lot and we enjoyed every minute of it. We love to show people that even in an expensive country you can still keep your costs down and have a fun time.

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  2. Very reasonable considering the prices in Barbados. You were very wise to use your vouchers and couch surfing saved a lot as well. Glad you had a great time. Now for your next big adventure!

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    1. Yes, those vouchers saved us a lot and couchsurfing even more. However if you look around you can find accommodation on a weekly or monthly basis that can be reasonable, it won't be 5 star by any means but really how long do you spend inside?! :-)

      Heading out today and we are so excited.

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  3. Wow, you guys did very well! From reading your blog posts about your time there, it seems like it was money very well spent.

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    1. Thanks Ellen, we think we did pretty good too, considering the prices of stuff there. Yes, it was money well spend, we had a lot of fun in those 19 days.

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  4. You did a great job and we had a great time following along!!

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    1. Thanks Connie and Barry, glad you enjoyed our exploits! :-) See you some time tomorrow. :-)

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  5. As much as I have enjoyed the trip with you, I doubt I would visit there with prices the way they are. That said, I drink rum, vodka or some of your select scotches we have shared over the years!

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    1. Chris, I am sure you would love it there but as I mentioned before, if you think Canada is expensive that you would find Barbados extremely expensive. However, as we have proved it, you can go there and still have a good time without breaking the bank.

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