So I’ve set up my spreadsheet a little better (still a work in progress) to help us keep track of where we are spending our money.  Maybe this information is useful to someone out there who is planning a trip.  The cost breakdown below is solely costs incurred while in Fiji and doesn’t cover any international costs (international flights, insurance, etc).  This is a good way to estimate our day-to-day expenses while in country.

In Fiji we spent a total of US$619.96:

  • Accommodation – $241.43
  • Food – $216.39
  • Travel – $79.98
  • Activities – $41.14
  • Misc – $41.02
  • 5 nights in Fiji = $124/night

Accommodation, obviously, covers where we sleep each night.  Food is everything we eat or drink — water, beer, dinner, lunch, snacks, etc.  Travel is domestic travel only.  So this covers bus trips, train rides, domestic flights, taxis, ferries, anything in country.  Activities is the things we do for fun/entertainment.  This is park entry fees, museum fees, theater tickets, etc.  Misc is a catch all category that includes things like shampoo, laundry, gear replacement (although I will specify any major costs), souvenirs, gifts, medical expenses (again, I’ll specify anything major).

Below is the graphical representation of those numbers:

I think we did a pretty good job of keeping our costs moderate once we arrived in Fiji.  There were a lot of places to see that were free or very low cost, and doing things like walking around open air markets was a great way to entertain ourselves and do some cheap food shopping at the same time.

Something I definitely would have done differently was NOT booked the Tubakula Beach Bungalows hotel.  It was the most expensive place we stayed in, and although it was spacious, it was much too large for what we needed.  What I really wanted was a nice double room.  What we got was a bungalow for a family of 6+ people that was not very nice.  I think I just didn’t do my research well enough on that one.

In general on this trip we are trying to stay in budget private rooms rather than dorms when they are available.  This raises the cost, but usually not too substantially.  For example, in Australia, we’re finding that a dorm room will be $23/per person while a double room will be $65 for the night.  This is only a $15 premium for some much appreciated privacy (especially when sick) and sometimes even includes a private bathroom.  However, if a double room is out of our price range we have been staying in dorm-style accommodation.  I’m not sure we’ll be able to keep that up for the rest of the trip, but that’s our goal.

Overall Fiji was a very interesting country and we were pretty close to staying within the $120/day budget that we envisioned for ourselves before we left.