the 'how much money' of the greyhound discovery pass

welcome to the third and probably final post on the ins and outs of the Greyhound Discovery Pass.  an important part of traveling is knowing how much money everything is going to cost.  unless you buy some sort of vacation package with all expenses included, this can be difficult to estimate.  Sam and I were not quite sure how much this whole thing would cost us beyond the cost of the pass itself, and looking up lodging costs in various cities.  about a month before our planned departure we bought our 2 month bus passes online (to be picked up the day we began travel) and divided up our bank account funds toward things we wanted to do in different cities.  for example, we knew we wanted to see a show on broadway, so we did some research and reserved 80$ towards that.  i knew i wanted to buy french language comics in Toronto, so we put away 100$ towards that.  we didn't know anyone to stay with in toronto, so we researched hostels, and sent out requests on couchsurfing.org.  we were prepared to spend several hundred dollars on lodging in Toronto until a few weeks into the trip we got a good response on couchsurfing.org and took it.  once we'd laid all of this down for the first few cities, we got very vague with our budgeting for the second half of the trip.  we had no idea if we'd be totally broke halfway through and have to head home, or if we'd be eating peanut butter sandwiches for 30 days.  the good news is we made it and quite comfortably!  here's a few lists of real hard numbers showing what we spent, when, and on what.  i wrote down our expenditures as we went along, but i'm sure i overlooked some minor ones, so take these as a good estimate.  also take into account that we planned our trip partly to pass through cities where good friends and family lived, so in many cases we were shown such generosity that we hardly had to spend any money at all.  lastly, these numbers reflect the costs of a couple who don't mind sharing every meal.

here is what we spent our money on:

greyhound discovery pass: 1,128$
total food: 624$
   (eating out: 451$)
   (groceries: 173$)
transportation: 202$ (within cities, does not include greyhound)
comics: 230$
lodging: 190$ (only 2 nights out of 60)
theater: 134$
clothes: 270$ (i bought a nice jacket.  this number is ridiculously high)
movies: 48$

here's a list of money spent on a daily basis:

june 12:
   groceries: 50$

MAINE TOTAL: 141$
june 16- july 2:
   books: 21$
   rain coat: 170$
   dress: 35$
   mexican food: 15$

BOSTON TOTAL: 48$
tues, wed, thur:
   metro: 15$
   higgins armory museum: 24$
   indian food: 9$

NEW YORK CITY TOTAL: 520$
friday: 218$
   metro: 5$
   hostel: 190$
   groceries: 23$
saturday: 181$
   metro: 10$
   broadway tickets: 84$
   comics: 43$
   shirt: 10$
   jamba juice: 6$
   convenience store: 9$
   bento: 9$
   groceries: 10$
sunday july 9: 13$
   laundromat: 2$
   groceries: 11$
monday: 88$
   metro: 10$
   comics: 43$
   falafel: 4$
   ice cream: 5$
   sushi: 26$
tuesday: 20$
   metro: 10$
   groceries: 10$

TORONTO TOTAL: 314$
wednesday: 173$
   train tokens: 18$
   smoothie: 5$
   comics: 82$
   bike share: 27$
   putín: 8$
   groceries: 8$
   toronto fringe festival show: 20$
   frozen yogurt: 5$
thursday: 32$
   train: 11$
   groceries: 8$
   shwarma: 8$
   frozen yogurt: 5$
friday: 92$
   train: 14$
   toronto fringe festival show: 20$
   burrito: 8$
   pastries: 2$
   drinks: 2$
   more pastries: 3$
   spiderman movie: 14$
   ramen: 22$
   movie rental: 4$
   ice cream: 3$
saturday: 17$
   groceries: 17$

CHICAGO TOTAL: 133$
sunday july 15: 55$
   metro: 20$
   groceries: 24$
   pizza: 11.25
monday: 9$
   ice cream: 3.50$
   frozen yoghurt: 5$
tuesday: 44$
   art institute: 24$
   native foods: 20$
wednesday: 25$
   pizza: 8$
   frozen yoghurt: 5$
   groceries: 12$

OMAHA NEBRASKA TOTAL: 14$
thursday: 14$
   wrap and danishes: 8$
   bus: 6$

DENVER TOTAL: 0$
friday: 0$
saturday: 0$
sunday july 22: 0$

SAN DIEGO TOTAL: 53$
monday: 32$
   macdonalds :-( 8$
   dark knight rises: 24$
tuesday 21$
   soda: 3$
   metro: 10$
   pizza: 8$

LOS ANGELES TOTAL: 142$
wednesday: 20$
   pad tai: 10$
   cafe 10$
thursday: 37$
   gas 20$
   pizza: 15$
   parking 2$
friday: 78$
   getty museum parking: 15$
   breakfast: 25$
   ramen: 15$
   metro: 10$
   in and out: 13$
saturday: 7$
   panera: 7$

SACRAMENTO TOTAL: 68$
sunday july 29: 0$
monday: 20$
   brave: 16$
   candy: 4$
tuesday: 48$
   comics: 18$
   cd: 10$
   clothes: 10$
   parking 6$
   jamba: 4$
wednesday: 0$
thursday: 0$
friday: 0$

PORTLAND TOTAL: 368$
saturday: 45$
   bachelorette party: 30$
   proper eats cafe: 15$
sunday august 5th: 0$
monday: 34$
   cup and saucer: 20$
   burt's bee's facewash 9$
   drinks: 5$
tuesday: 70$
   floating world comics: 23$
   powell's books: 8$
   milkshake: 5$
   art lamp: 15$
   sketchbook: 10$
   american gods: 8$
   blues dancing: 1$
wednesday: 109$
   noodles: 7$
   putín: 8$
   smoothie: 4$
   manicure/pedicure: 35$
   theater: 10$
   shoes: 45$
thursday: 50$
   ice cream: 7.50$
   little big burger: 10.50
   books: 32$
friday: 30$
   waffle window: 13$
   powell's books: 17$
saturday: 13$
   subway: 6$
   panera: 7$
sunday aug 12: 17$
   subway: 7$
   a & w: 10$

AVERAGE DAILY: about 30$
AVERAGE DAILY WITH 0$ DAYS REMOVED: about 50$


TOTAL SPENT ON THE ROAD: 1,851$
PLUS DISCOVERY PASSES: 2,979$




we had been saving for this trip for so long that it took us a little while to loosen up and realize we could finally spend our hard earned cash on things we'd denied ourselves for an entire year. (i honestly think i spent less than 50$ on comics since last summer)  we spent almost everything we had saved, and now we're back to scraping by like usual, which is oddly refreshing.

i hope this info is helpful as you plan your next adventure!

ask me anything about the trip and i'll get back to you pronto.

-Spencer