Planning RTW trip next year, need opinion on budget

IMHO US$10 000 for 2 people for a year is nowhere near enough.Even US$15000 is not enough.

US$15000 works out at US$20 a day per person,more or less.

That is survival in places like SE Asia and not even near survival in Western Europe or East Asia...

As you say you are not that interested in Europe (and you haven't got the budget) then why not go straight to SE Asia?

No need to plan it day by day...just go there,spend what you want to spend and do what you want to do.

When the money is gone,then go home.

Yes. The itinerary to include Europe is if we reached our $25,000 goal.

We are planning to work as well when we are travelling. My husband can work freelancing since he's an animator. I can be freelancer as well as virtual assistant, typing, and going to write a blog as well. We are not picky about work so we can work where there are jobs even if it pays minimum. Sometimes, I just got discouraged when I think about how realistically we will have enough budget to travel for a year for both of us.

I'm so ready to take a break from my life and travel before we settle down to have kids 3 years from now. I'm in my early 30s so my family & friends are pressuring me to have kids before I reach my 40.

Sorry for rambling. I just want things to work out in the end. Thanks for all your help.

I wouldn't rely on getting work to help pay your way. Do you really want to be working while travelling? Say your husband has a job come through and he says, "Sorry, darling, can't visit those temples/that beach/go for a hike/blah blah today because I've got to work," wouldn't you be a bit pissed off? And what's the point in staying in your room chained to a computer? You might as well be at home.

And certainly don't rely on picking up jobs along the way in the countries you visit. "Minimum" wage in much of Asia is a hell of a lot less than "minimum" at home. And who wants to employ someone (probably illegally) for just a week or two? And locals can work legally, will do so for less money & speak the local language!

I'd say 'if you can dream it, you can do it.' Although $5,000/person is really, really going to require some creative problem solving.

You're going to need to budget hard and look into just how long you want to be gone for and how long you want to stay in expensive parts of the world like Europe. (Paris and London will be your most expensive cities out of what you mentioned.)

My SO and I just finished our RTW trip and held nothing back. We zip-lined through the jungles of South East Asia, cliff dove off the beaches of Croatia, did all the trains we could stomach in Europe and even had enough money to take a transatlantic cruise back to the US from Venice.
(check out our site: www.thumbtacktravel.com for more detailed information about the budget)
We finished everything for $13,000/person and could have cut a lot out; though you want to be able to enjoy your trip too.

If you're willing to couchsurf, WWOOF, and be creative then you guys will figure it out. The worst case scenario is you run out of money and come home early.

Something we looked at was skipping expensive and easily accessible parts of Europe because they are real budget busters, but also because we can travel back to these places from the US fairly easily (e.g. UK, etc) Just remember this isn't your only trip and it's ok to leave stones unturned.

$20/person/day will be almost impossible in Europe, especially Western Europe - but you can easily accomplish this in South East Asia and I'd say this budget is par for the area.

I know you guys want to visit Europe, but if you have the time and the budget doesn't allow, you could focus more on the Eastern Hemisphere and visit Asia (and maybe even Australia since they are so WWOOF friendly).

Good Luck!