Counting the Cost - for my trip

Over the last month,
I wanted to take a break from posting things
(which I will maintain until my actual day of departure),
I was also just living life to the moment
instead of snapping pics and sharing random daily things,
and just focusing on immersing myself in the new language,
and working on all the admin tasks for the next trip.

I mentioned when I put out the polls for selecting the destination-regions,
for me, I want to not cut into my savings this year,
and just go where it’s the least costly.
It doesn’t mean I will keep a low budget and stay in backpackers.
I will still stay in hotels and spend without thinking twice
just as I always do on a trip,
I never budget my trip's spending,
it's not worth  limiting the budget when it's the most important time of my life.
I know for sure that this region -
that my friends have all helped me pick using Polls on Instagram Stories -
is definitely gonna be the cheapest region on earth.

Although, unlike what I had thought,
the preliminary costs before I even leave home is already amounting to a large sum/

After some inquiries with each embassy,
it did prove better for me to apply for visas for the countries I'm visiting in this region early on
instead of going by the Visa-on-Arrival option - which is the standard choice for Chinese Tourists.
I chose to apply for the visas now,
to save me the time and pain from having to do them at the borders.
And the visa application process is not at all tedious and dehumanizing like the ones for Europe.

I thought it’d be interesting for me to share
the existing costs that already incurred,
just so you know -
the pains a visa-applicant passport-holder like myself has to go through,
when you yourself may be able to save all that money and effort.
There's no equity or justice to this at all.

Part 1
Visas Applications (3 in total):
Visa 1 - $300
photos for visa - $25
courier bag x 2 - $15.40
Visa 2 - $60.29
Visa 3 - $83.21
Travel Insurance (as required by the visa application) - $323.23

Total for Visas alone = $807.13 - $323.23 for Insurance = $483.9


Next are the unavoidable -
Costs for flights:
Outbound flights to Country 1 - $1091.60
Inbound flights - $1315.54
Domestic Flight for country 1 - $28.6
Return Flights for Country 2 - $239.40
Return Flights for Country 3 - $306.63

Total for Flights = $2982.03

Finally these are my selected accommodations cost:
Accommodation 1 - $1374
Accommodation 2 - $153
Accommodation 3 - $697 (USD $432)
Accommodation 4 - $207
Accommodation 2 - $65 (same place, just for 1 night)
Accommodation 5 - $726 (USD $450)
Accommodation 2 - $134 (same place, for 2 nights)

Total for Accommodations = $2159

Sum for the whole trip (daily expenses not included of course) = $6337.77 

That's a whopping large sum already.
And that's for the cheapest region in the world that I can think of.
My spending in Europe is at least triple that.
​
It's crazy how expensive traveling from NZ as a Chinese passport holder is.
I cannot wait for the day when I'm living in the northern hemisphere, 
and not having to apply for visas for most places in the world.
I fully believe that the Chinese passport will reach that stage
One day.