Whether Home or Abroad: Every expense gets added to the Travel Wallet app on my phone. I can add many individual trips (one for each location plus one for Home) in order to track the expenses separately, but the app will also add all the trips together to give a complete monthly accounting. The app also converts foreign currencies to the US dollar.

We are attempting to live for less in Mexico than what it would cost in Spokane, but experience has taught us that traveling from place to place is always more expensive than staying put in one location for a month. This trip we are moving around a lot so after this we’ll be considering some longer stays as a way to lower our monthly expense.

A Travel Lifestyle requires a different mindset than taking a vacation. The goal is to live like you do “at home” within a budget rather than needing to take in all the sights and treating yourself because “We’re on vacation!”

Cost of Travel: Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo

Food: $164.40 comes to $23.49 per day.

Accommodations: $468.34 (includes gratuities) comes to $66.91 per day for 7 nights.

Transportation: $67.72 averages out to $9.67 per day and includes 2 airport transfers.

Entertainment and Miscellaneous: $77.15 comes to 11.02 per day and includes Museum $8, Laundry $3, Massages $65.36. One say we each got one-hour massages on the beach. The price originally quoted was $40 each, but they lowered it to $30. (See our Cost of Travel for a Month in Chiang Mai Thailand where we budgeted $1500 a month which still allowed for twice-weekly massages!)

* The cost of flights to Cancun is not reflected in the totals.

* We take ATM withdrawals from our Charles Schwab checking account which refunds us the ATM fees.

* Purchases were paid in Mexican Pesos and converted to US Dollars on the Travel Wallet app, but are approximate as the rate fluctuates daily. We figure MX$20 to the $1USD.

We spent $777.61 for both of us for 7 days averaging out to $111.09 per day.

Coming to you from Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas. Next time I’ll Meet You in the Morning from San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico!