Tip of the month: how much does it cost to live here?
How much is a cup of tea in India or in China? What does a budget room cost in Guatemala or Canada? Is internet expensive in Thailand? Can I afford to eat out in a restaurant in South Korea?

Questions about the cost of living are common among travellers. Not only is it important for budgetting reasons, but it also gives you peace of mind that you are not being totally ripped off the moment you step into a new country.

While we have extensive cost of living charts on our country information pages, there are also other internet resources that can help you plan your trip's budget or at least become familiar with local tariffs. A few of them are listed below:

Tefl.com: this website has probably some of the best and most accurate cost of living charts you can find on internet today. Filled in mostly - but not exclusively - by English teachers from all over the world, the information is constantly being kept up to date. You have to sign up to take a peek, but it is free to do so.
Numbeo: another internet database of worldwide cost of living. It is also handy that you can change your results to different currencies making it easier to compare.
Just Landed: offering general information and services for expatriates and under the money section for each country there is often a cost of living article. While this is usually a generalisation, the rest of the website is invaluable for other country information: such as visa's, health, language, culture, telephone and internet services. There are also forums attached.
English teaching and global recruitment agency websites sometimes offer cost of living details too. For example, take a look at the China, Russia or Indonesian page on English First. Another website is Reach to Teach Recruiting with their great money resource on Taiwan, China, Georgia and South Korea.

For current information about budget accommodation prices take a look at Hostelworld.com; Hostelbookers.com; Hostels.com or similar websites. It is worth mentioning that unless a hotel has a special deal going, the tarriffs on-line can tend to be a little more expensive than actual prices. This is especially true if you are travelling to a country where bartering is considered the norm.

Dahab - St. Catherine (Egypt)
Kilometres: 200 km and 860 m
Riding days: 3
Alti meters: 3172 meters up
Weather: sun, sun, sun, wind, wind, wind
Best accommodation: Hotel Jowhara in Dahab: cosy, warm and welcoming at very affordable prices.

Special thanks to:
Tracey again at Hotel Jowhara for being a cool gal • Mohamed, Ahmed & his wife for inviting us to share tea and food with them • Tariq from Alternative Egypt for making the effort to catch up with us at Soft Beach Camp in Nuweiba • The military boys at the checkpoint for filling up our bottles of water and giving us a cup of tea with some jam portions for our bread • Salah for letting us stay at the back of Sheik Mousa's Bedouin Camp in the secluded garden while we sorted our lives out • Mohamed El Hashash for helping us find Sadallah and his beautiful cottage for rent at the foot of the mountains overlooking Saint Catherine • Sonya's Mum & Dad again for more organising of that never-ending paperwork and documents • Everyone for the well-wishes, compliments and encouraging e-mails when we announced our break from cycle touring