Budget Time

Deena here again.  Today marks the end of August and time for us to assess the budget.  Deciding on an amount for the budget limit was very difficult before the trip because there was no way to tell how much we would spend in a foreign country.  Research helps, but living it out is the true test.  I finally settled on $5000 per month knowing that some months would be cheaper than others.  The book I read that started all of this grand scheme is How to Travel the World on $50 a Day.  The author, Matt Kepnes, explains that one can’t do every day or country for $50, because some countries will be over that amount and some will be under that amount.  I figured our cheaper countries at $4000 per month and the more expensive ones at $6000.

Western Europe is expensive, and we are tempering that time by spending the same period of time in Eastern Europe—a much more inexpensive place.   Expensive New Zealand and Australia will be paid for by extended time spent in inexpensive Southeast Asia.

We had 21 travel days in August.  The daily budget is $166 if we are figuring on a $5000 month.  Ireland and England are expensive countries; so I should figure on a $6000 month, but let’s see if we can get away with $5000.

I am not including short-hop flights in our daily budget—too complicated for me, but all the long-haul flights are free, paid for by points.  So let's recap:  we have traveled from Charlotte to Boston to Ireland for around $40 per person.  We then flew from Ireland to London, England for $19 per person.   In two days, we fly London to Paris on EasyJet for $42 per person.

We have been using mostly AirBNBs for our stays because they have kitchens in which we have cooked our meals instead of spending money on going out.  Michael has mentioned earlier that we are living like locals and not as tourists so that we can maintain our budget.   That means using local public transportation, shopping at grocery stores, and staying away from pricey tourist activities.  I try to keep our lodging price around $60-$80 per night if I can find it.  In the cheaper countries I look for $30-$40 per night.

In August we had 21 days in relatively expensive countries, Ireland and England, and our spend per day for four people was $145.   London is notoriously expensive for lodging, but our price per night worked out to $53.  This rate is only possible because I applied for a Barclay Arrival Plus Card that gives $400 cash back applicable to travel-related expenses after opening the card and meeting the minimum spend.  Our price per night was lowered by applying this cash back bonus from $82 to $53.  We shopped for groceries daily ($20  for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all four of us)  or we hit Subway ($15 for breakfast and lunch for all four of us)  Occasionally, we went out to eat, but that always costs more then cooking at home.  

Transportation is mostly by London Underground (the tube).  We pay $3.38 per trip including transfers.  If we use the bus it costs half as much.  We were initially intimidated by the bus system but did manage to figure out a few routes and lowered our transportation cost occasionally.

We have very little in the entertainment budget for London as most of the attractions are free.  We did, however, get to take two excursions out in the country, Stonehenge and Bath and a trip to Canterbury—all within our budget.

Next month we travel to Paris, Normandy, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague.  Stay tuned...

One of our splurge pub dinners.  The Shakespeare—serving London for over 300 years!