The Cultural Exchange Project Travel Blog

How Many Days Can I Volunteer Abroad In [Insert Country] For $1,000?

Written by Randy LeGrant | Nov 26, 2013 3:30:00 PM

I just read an article on The Expeditioner site entitled How Many Days Can I Travel In [Insert Country Here] With $1,000?  It was interesting.  The comments ran from "this is all a load of crap" written by someone who can obviously either spend MUCH more than that or is happy to sleep on a park bench ... to "this is the best thing I've ever seen."

So I do want to type in here that your mileage may vary.

But I used the list to test out pricing on our own programs.  So for example, if I look at the pricing of our programs in France, Italy and Spain, I get a huge savings by going with GeoVisions.  The Expeditioner site said it would take 22 days to blow through $1,000 in the Euro zone.  That's $45.45 per day.  In 22 days you'd have to leave.

On our Conversation Corps France program, you can stay a month for $1,549.  That's $52 a day.  But you can also stay 60-days for $27 a day and 90-days for $19 a day.  On Conversation Corps Spain it will cost only $38/day for 30-days.  Compare that to The Expeditioner's spending of $45 a day.  If you stay with us 60-days, it drops to $19 a day and 90-days will cost $13 a day.

Asia is a good deal for travelers also.  The Expeditioner spent $1,000 in 43 days.  So looking at Conversation Corps Thailand ... we cost $53 a days compared to The Expeditioner at $23 a day.  But when you stay in Thailand 90-days (why would you travel that far to stay only 43 days) the cost goes down to $18 per day.  Still less than The Expeditioner's findings.

Keep in mind also, as you read their article and look at the chart for your favorite country that they built their budget on a room in a hostel each night, street food and minimal transport.

As a member of the Conversation Corps, you have your own private bedroom, 3 home-cooked meals a day, an orientation, and insurance (not covered on the examples in The Expeditioner's findings).

If you're well traveled and you've done a great deal of travel on your own, let us know if you agree with the findings.  No matter how you cut it, if you choose a 90-day GeoVisions program, you're going to spend half as much as if you did it on your own.