The price of travel.

The other day I made a Facebook post asking people what they thought it costs to travel around the world to 97 countries in a year. There were many guesses from 8 thousand to MILLIONS. For quite a few years now I’ve really hated money as it seems to get in way of things at least from a human perspective. When I set out to visit every country in the world I knew it wouldn’t be cheap. I also started this trip with literally zero bucks to my name as I had spent it all to fly to China on last minute missions trip and came home completely broke. 

​Usually when someone finds out about my trip around the world the numeber 1 first question is always HOW DO YOU FUND IT? Like no lie the first question out of 99.99% of people’s mouths are about money when I’m telling someone about my trip. It’s actually kinda cool because I get to use that question as a platform. Everytime someone ask’s be about money I get to give glory to God and God alone! Since starting this trip I haven’t had to ask for a penny all because I serve a God who loves and cares for His children! People are shocked to find out that I don’t fundraise, don’t have an income, and that I’ve already used up the money parents gave towards my trip. Yeah my awesome parents at the start of my trip gave me a decent amount of money to get me started but that only lasted less then 6th months. They told me that I’d need to find some other way to support my trip once their gift was used up. I’ve fundraised in the past and will always be willing to do it again but God keeps on providing without me having to ask anyone for funding which literally rocks my world whenever I think about it... because the fact that He keeps on providing in such huge ways make be feel so at peace that I’m supposed to be on this crazy trip! It’s so comforting knowing that I’m in the will of God! It also teaches me to lean on Him even more!
Sometimes I feel bad or others make me feel bad for spending so much money on traveling the world knowing that there are people who could use that money more than me. It’s a struggle sometimes but I keep on going back to knowing that this is where God has me and for a reason. I’ve been able to minister in some pretty neat ways over the past year but I’ve also been able to see so much that has given me even more passion towards helping the many people in need around the world. If at any point God doesn’t will for me to be on this journey I know He will make it clear but for now I’m trying to reach every country in the world for His glory! 
With all of that say I’ll finally get around to the answer some of y’all have been waiting for. When I first started this trip I knew I needed to stay on tight budget in order to visit the max amount of countries with limited money. I gave myself a $30 a day budget for everything from meals to trains but only thing I wasn’t going to fit into the budget was flights since they can really add up. $30 a day for 365 days is almost $11,000 but after a few weeks into my trip I knew that I needed to try to keep all my 
expenses including flights into that $30 a day budget which proved to be hard from the start. I minimized every cost that I could and have been playing it rough this whole trip. Within the first 3 months of my trip I probably spent more than a month’s worth of nights sleeping on the street, in train stations, on buses, under park benches, and on trains which most weren’t even sleeper trains. And that’s just the first 3 months over the past year I’ve spent plenty of nights in more airports, parks, and even beaches to try to cut down on hotel costs. I always go for the overnight bus, train, or plane to catch a few zzzs and not have to pay for a place to sleep. I usually limit myself to just 1 meal a day while traveling solo. Actually the last 5 days I’ve only eaten a meal once each day which I usually make dinner by favorite meal haha. I say all of this not to complain but rather just explain my reality. It’s really not fun to be waken up at 4am by police in the Maldives after not haven fallen asleep until close to 1am but it’s worth not spending $30-$50 for a basic place to stay. Actually 2 full days in the Maldives which is super expensive country where many people spend over $1000 a night on world class resorts I limited myself to $20 to leave the airport, get water, food, and around the area. Just the other day I was in The Bahamas and slept out on the beach where there where drug dealers roaming around and I was woken up at 2am by super surprised cop telling me it wasn’t safe for a tourist to be outside that late... It didn’t end up being a problem I actually got to share the gospel with a local Bahaman homosexual dude for over an hour that evening. God protects me time and time again and I’m so thankful for that!!! 
Ok ok now with all that to say here is the answer to what it’s costed me to travel to 97 countries in a year... no more than $15,000. To be completely honest I don’t have the very exact numbers because the first 6 months I lost a piece of my budgeting info but I can say confidentially that since starting this trip on June 19, 2018 I haven’t spent more then $15,000 on every single expense. That number is super disappointing to me because it’s a little over $40 a day which is just soooooo much money! I try to be a good steward of the money God has given to me always finding the cheapest way from A to B even if it’s huge inconvenience. I never take taxi’s from airport but rather walk or take a bus probably doing that alone has saved $700+ but yeah you get the point. The number 1 biggest cost is flights and flights alone as they count towards probably 50% of my budget. I fly as little as possible always trying to cross land borders but sometimes I have to fly and regardless of how hard I try I can’t make flying cheaper. Being flexible always makes flying cheaper and I try to be as flexible as possible but sometimes I have to pay the price in order to keep going. 
I also want to make it super CLEAR that this trip would have ended after just a few months if it wasn’t for the kindness and hospitality of believers from around the world!!!! That $15,000 would be at least $30,000 if it wasn’t for the dozens and dozens of people who slipped money into my hand, who won’t let me pay for a meal, who have picked me up from and airport or station, who have welcomed me into their homes, who have fed me delish home cooked meals, who have took me around, who have written checks or put money in my PayPal, who have given me snacks for the road, who have driven me in their car, who have paid for a taxi, and on and on! If it wasn’t for these people who have treated me as family I wouldn’t have ever reached 97 countries so far. I praise God for every person who has invested even a minute of their time into my life and trip! It’s incredibly humbling being blessed by believers of all different backgrounds some poor and some rich. Like wooooooow just freaking WOW I’m so incredible blessed beyond measure and God is to be praised for that!!!! I think one of coolest examples is that I spent over two days in the most expensive country in the world Qatar and didn’t pay a single penny not even one because of the kindness of hospitality of the believers there and that’s just one example of hundreds of how people have blessed me on this journey! 
I’m not really worried with how much this trip costs and honestly keep reminding myself to not look at the financial stuff but rather press on in serving God to the fullest. Serving God is and getting to travel the world for His glory is priceless. God has been providing for me this far and as the last 3 months have been the most expensive with flying so much I’ve had to trust and lean even more on Him! God is the great provider y’all!!!! Never forget we serve the same CHRIST who made water into WINE and feed thousands with a few pieces of bread and fish!!! Yeah we serve the God who cares for the sparrows of the air and how much more us, His children!!! It’s so awesome being a son of God like it’s super exciting!!!! So yeah that’s the very long answer to the question I asked y’all the other day about how much my trip costs. Blessings and peace out!