Money
What costs do people forget to budget for?
Updated 2026-09-01
The short answer
Gear bought on arrival, transport to and from the camp every day, laundry, and the medical or physio spending that follows an injury. Individually small, and together often larger than the difference between two camps you agonised over.
Gear is a one-off but a real one. Gloves, shin guards, shorts and wraps bought properly in Thailand still add up on the first weekend.
Daily transport catches people who chose accommodation away from the camp to save money. Two trips a day for a month is a line item, and in the rain it becomes a bigger one.
The one nobody budgets for is treatment. Massage, strapping, a clinic visit for an infected cut, a physio session for a knee. On a long trip this is close to guaranteed rather than a risk.
- Gear on arrival, once, but not small.
- Transport to and from training, twice a day.
- Laundry, which becomes daily in that climate.
- Massage, strapping and the occasional clinic visit.
- Deposits on rooms and scooters, sometimes in cash.
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