Expenses, part 2

Talking about money is always a little like walking through a minefield. You never know when you might say something that causes someone else to cringe. But I think this is necessary. When I was doing my first research on travel, I wished someone would have written in concrete terms about how much things cost. You never know how people will take what they read because everyone comes at the issue from a different financial starting point and with different expectations of what constitutes a pleasant travel experience. One person will read these numbers and think we are boasting about being able to spend so much. Others will read the very same numbers and scoff at our miserliness.

Here were our costs for our first three trips, broken down into the five categories described in the previous post. Included at the beginning is the exchange rate at the time, which is important to take into account. Also included are adjustments at the end for home costs saved by being away. After all, if you are not home, you are not eating food at home, driving, paying for home entertainment, or utilities (beyond minimal basic costs);

England, 2007, 21 days, $1=.51 GBP

Airfare: 2,825

Ground Transport: 1,000

Lodging (20 nights): 4,000

Food: 1,275

Entertainment/Incidentals: 1,200

Subtotal: 10,300

house sitter +200

away savings -500

Final Total: $10,000 ($476/day)

The total here is low due to the unusually good deal we got on airfare - around $2,000 less than average fares. Ground transport was also low because we kept our movement to a minimum for simplicity sake.

Scandinavia, 2008, 21 days, $1=82 ISK, 4.6 DEK, 5.0 NOK, 6.2 SEK, .63 EUR

Airfare: 5,100

Ground Transport: 2,700

Lodging (20 nights): 3,600

Food: 1,400

Entertainment/Incidentals: 900

Subtotal: 13,700

house sitter +300

away savings -500

Final Total: $13,500 ($643/day)

Because we covered great distances and stayed in many different locations, our ground transport expenses were large, including $400 in extra airfare within Norway, itself. We did keep lodging costs under control by staying in many youth hostels.

France, 2009, 30 days, $1=.7 EUR

Airfare: 4,800

Ground Transport: 1,900

Lodging (29 nights): 4,200

Food: 1,600

Entertainment/Incidentals: 1,500

Subtotal: 14,000

away savings -800

Final Total: $13,200 ($440/day)

Considering this trip was much longer than the others, these costs actually represent a great deal of savings. Lodging costs were kept low by renting an apartment in Paris and two other cottage rentals - also keeping food prices low. Our travel dates starting in mid-June also saved about 10% in airfare and 30% in lodgings over mid-July or later travel.

All these costs are for a family of five with children between 4 and 13. Because younger children often travel on ground for free, enter museums for free, and eat less than adults, their overall costs add up to something in the neighborhood of 1/2 the cost of adults. So if you are a group of adults only, take the totals above and divide by 3.5 to get a per-adult cost estimate.

Our goal for our trip to central Europe this year is to keep costs about the same as last year. Since we will be gone five days longer, that actually means the per day cost should be lower. So far we have found airfare for a very good price, lodging (mixing some small hotels, B&B's, hostels, and one cottage rental) for good prices, and the exchange rate looks promising. So with luck, we will stay within budget.

Central Europe, 2010, to be determined...