However, a few people along the way have asked me if there was some financial way they could support me. Usually these were people who had already helped me in some other way, so I felt they had already done more than enough. A lot of people asked me if I had sponsorship for this ride, and although I thought about it at one point, I decided not to seek official sponsors. Mainly this was because I felt like my somewhat vague goals (ride south, visit organisations, have adventures) might not have the specific goals that sponsors probably want. And I didn't want to have to conform to specifics.
In the end I decided it couldn't hurt to have a button, and if people want to support me, they can. I'm still not super sure why they would, I'll leave that up to them. I'll just say that I have been going a long time now, without sponsorship and purely on my own savings. What I am doing should be reasonably clear by now, and if you feel that it's something you want to support, then know that that support will be truly appreciated, and will help get me to my goal in Guatemala.
For my first official donation, I'd like to thank my dear mum who gave me some cash to buy a flash new saddle for my bike, which was sorely needed.
 |
| Thanks mum! |
 |
| Helmet, gloves, and flag pole were all donated |
One of the many great things about bike touring is that it's cheap. I wouldn't still be going if it wasn't. I'd like to tell you a little about my biking budget, for general interest, but also because you'll have an idea of what donations will go to
Some of the most expensive things about travel are transport and accommodation. When bike touring, your bicycle is your transport, and if you have camping equipment, you don't need to pay for accommodation unless you want to. So they can both be essentially free, and food becomes your main expense. If you have a camping stove, you can carry groceries with you, and cook on the road. This makes it pretty cheap. Of course not everyone tours like this, and some people ride from hotel to hotel, and eat out 3 meals a day. As for me, I use free hosting services like Warmshowers or Couchsurfing, and only use hostels when I need a little respite! I like to buy cheap meals fairly often for variety.
In this way, my typical food/accommodation expenses in US California were around $18 per day, in Baja California they were around $15 a day, and here in mainland Mexico, I seem to be able to live on around $10 per day. This is about $8-9 for food, and $1-2 for bottled water, as nobody drinks the tap water here. Now that I write it down, it seems like a lot, but you do eat and drink a lot cycling with a loaded bike. Throw in the odd paid accommodation, some regular visits to taco stands, and incidentals, and I think I'm spending a little over $100 per week at the moment. Contrast this to when I first started travelling in the US last year, I was spending more than $100 per day! And you could do it cheaper than I'm doing too, some people live on $5/day or less while bike touring.
Anyway, so that's a little snapshot of a biking budget, and what you would be supporting. I still feel a little strange about people giving me money, so I have another idea. There are a lot of very worthy causes out there, to which your money could go. In fact, many of the places I have visited, and will visit, could do with your cash. So, if you would like to donate to some of the organisations I will visit next, simply tell me what you want to donate money for - toys for kids, food, blankets, etc - and I will buy them and donate them on your behalf. I can even take a photo of what you give, and post it on this blog. Another option is to nominate some amount to go to the organisation as a donation, and some to me - for example, 50/50. or whatever.
What do you think? Any other ideas? Let me know - comment on this post or email me! I have added a donations tab to the main blog menu above, and you can comment there as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment