Barbie maths: How much would it cost to travel to Barbieland?

With Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie tearing up the box office right now, we’ve had Barbie on the brain. From the ultimate Barbie shopping list to building your own Dreamhouse, there are plenty of ways to bring a bit of Barbie into your life, but the rising cost of living has left us with one major question: if we could really get to Barbieland, how much would it cost us?

CAUTION: Very mild spoilers ahead – if you’d like to go into the Barbie movie without any advance knowledge, steer clear.

Breaking down the transport costs of getting to Barbieland

Early in the movie, we see our main character (played by Margot Robbie) make her first journey from Barbieland. This consists of:

• A car
• A speedboat
• A campervan
• A tandem bicycle
• A snowmobile
• A rocket
• Rollerblades

Ranging from expensive (with car costs on the rise) to downright absurd (we’ll have to do some guesswork around rocketships), we can do some work to estimate some of the costs surrounding the journey to Barbieland.

Car

The classic Barbie convertible is her signature pink Chevrolet Corvette. Buying a brand new Chevy Corvette convertible in Australia will run you upwards of $170,000, and that is not including the cost of custom modifications.You may need to investigate car loans to help you along.  A good custom paint job can cost you upwards of $5,000, and don’t get us started on reupholstering in pink. Make sure you’ve got good car insurance if you foresee any shocked car-flipping happening!

You may be able to rent out custom pink Corvettes, or at least similar sports cars, by the hour. This kind of rental will usually start upwards of $250 per hour, and is generally your best bet of getting short term access to this more niche kind of car. 

Total cost: $250 

Speedboat

Buying a boat is famously an expensive affair, as boats require a great deal of maintenance as well as costs for storage or mooring. A speedboat like the one featured in the Barbie movie is a small boat powered by a motor, which will cost you a pretty penny to buy (even if we ignore the desire to spray it pink). Boats on the cheaper end will start at around $5,000, so let’s generously place that as our starting point. You’ll also need to factor in the cost of storing your boat if you don’t have space on your property, along with fuel expenses, maintenance, insurance, registration, licensing, and more.

If renting a boat seems more up your alley, boat rental tends to start at around $150 per hour including a captain (saving you from needing to know how to drive a boat). Let’s once again assume that the journey takes an hour.

Total cost: $150

Campervan

The classic Barbie campervan has more than a passing resemblance to the trend of van life, and it would definitely be possible to buy a van. A standard campervan in Australia will cost you at least $10,000, generally sitting in the realm of $30,000-$50,000. This doesn’t include the fit-out, which is paramount here – if you’ve ever felt the joy of folding out a Barbie campervan, you’ll know what I mean. Since we’re going to use our one hour journey estimate, we’ll ignore the cost of a liveable fit-out. No overnight stays here!

Since renting is another option, campervans are usually rented by the day. The cost varies dramatically based on availability and location, as well as whether you’re looking for a towable camper or one you can drive, but we’ll call this $200 for a day’s rental.

Total cost: $200

Tandem bike

If it’s just you and one other person, you’ll have no problem finding a tandem bike to get you to Barbieland. In fact, there are plenty to be found on second-hand marketplaces like Ebay and Gumtree. A standard two-person tandem bike generally retails for around $1,000 to $2,000.

Since a tandem bike isn’t something you’ll use everyday, you might be better off renting. Depending on where you rent a tandem bike from, the cost will vary. Using Sydney’s Centennial Park as an example, a 1-2 hour rental for a two person tandem bike costs $45. You can also rent 4 person pedal bikes, in case your group is larger, for $70 an hour – though you may struggle to find the right bike if your group is as big as Will Ferrell’s in the movie.

Total cost: $45

Snowmobile

With limited snowy regions in Australia, your quest for a snowmobile is going to run up against some challenges. Internationally, second-hand snowmobiles start around $10,000 in working condition, and much more expensive new. 

Rental of a snowmobile is equally tricky, but at Falls Creek in Victoria, we can estimate some prices. While costs vary depending on whether it’s daytime or evening and on whether you need a guide, we’re going to assume you have a passenger (hence the tandem bike) and can find your own way. If this journey takes place during the day, two adults will cost $275 for roughly 2 hours (excluding booking fees).

Total cost: $275

Rocket

Here’s where we start running into some problems. Though Barbie is an actual astronaut as one of her many, many professions, you most likely are not. That means that for the rocket portion of your trip, you’ll most likely be looking at options for space tourism. 

Space flights range from suborbital to actually going into orbit, and the prices vary accordingly. The most accessible option, Space Perspective, will cost approximately $125,000 USD ($184,787 AUD) and will send you three times higher than commercial flights in a pressurised capsule with a slow balloon-assisted drop. Since the descent is slow and the cabin pressurised, no special training is needed – in fact, they boast bathrooms, a bar, and wifi. These flights are scheduled to begin in 2024, and depart from Florida, USA. This doesn’t look a lot like Barbie’s space flight, I’ll be honest.

What does look a little bit more like Barbie’s experience is the Virgin Galactic suborbital space flight. This costs $450,000 USD per person (and we’re looking at two people) for a 90 minute flight, so it satisfies our one hour requirement. You’ll experience a short zero-gravity sensation during your descent, which adds to that real space feel. If you do want to get into orbit with Roscosmos or SpaceEx, you’re looking at a price tag of around $55 million USD (per person).  

Total cost: $664,678 per person

Rollerblades

Not only are rollerblades easy to come by, but you can actually buy replicas of the skates worn by Barbie and Ken in the movie from Impala Skates for $289.99 per pair. The matching protective gear is also available to complete the look (for $99.95 per set). There are also more affordable roller skates available in classic Barbie pink - costing $119.95.

You can also rent rollerblades, but these tend to be linked closely to specific venues like skate rinks or parks. For this, we’ll choose the cost of buying a cheaper pair of skates – and imagine you already own protective gear.

Total cost: $119.95

Miscellaneous expenses

There are a whole host of expenses we haven’t included in the maths here. These include:

• Petrol: whether it’s by car, boat, or snowmobile, fuel costs are on the rise. Estimating an hour of travel shouldn’t create a huge amount of petrol usage, but if you’re travelling any kind of distance, you’ll probably rack up considerable petrol costs.
• Modifications: Bringing a vehicle to its Barbie best is not cheap. From refitting a vehicle with pink leather upholstery to adding a custom pink wrap, the more niche you’re looking for, the more expensive you’re going to get.
• Passengers: We’ve looked at the price for one person to do all of this, but assumed that you’re travelling with a partner. Many of these costs will need to be doubled to allow for another person to come along, like space travel or rollerblades.
• Interest: If you take out any kind of personal loan to pay for any of these expenses, you’ll have to factor in paying interest on top of the amount you borrow. There may also be personal loan fees attached to remember.
• Travel insurance: With any kind of travel plans, you’ll also want to consider travel insurance. While we aren’t sure what kind of conditions will impact your personal travel insurance quote, you’ll definitely want to be protected in case the government is overthrown and your travel plans are impacted. 

We need to exclude these costs from our total estimation, but these are important things to keep in mind for your very important adventure.

What is the total cost of the transport needed to get to Barbieland?

Excluding any miscellaneous costs, the total cost of one person’s journey to Barbieland would cost an estimated $665,718 AUD.

If you want to make sure you’re appropriately insured for any Barbieland hijinks (or anything back here on Earth), check out Mozo’s best travel insurance. You can also start comparing insurance providers below.