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Vacation Budget and Expenses
By Daniel | June 6, 2008
We just finished our first European vacation to Germany. I kept track of how much we spent and noted down ways we will be able to save money on our next trip. The trip was 11 days long and included 9 nights in 3 cities. Below is a chart of our budget and where the money was spent, which is listed in US dollars. The amounts listed are for both of us. Then there is a list of where we found money could have been saved, and a few general tips we learned.
| Airfare | $2,429 |
| Hotel (9 nights) | $897 |
| Food | $660 |
| Transportation | $593 |
| Sightseeing | $251 |
| Total | $4830 |
A few tips and money saving ideas for next time:
- Breakfast at the Hotel
- Shop with the locals
- Plan your transportation
- Consider Reservations
- Have a good pair of shoes
- Read more travel tips
If it is included, then it’s a great way to get a decent breakfast. However, at our last hotel the breakfast was $9 per person and they automatically assumed you were eating their breakfast every morning. We found the two days we did eat at the hotel was not worth $9 each.
Buying food and water is a lot cheaper at the grocery store than a train station or areas that are heavily populated with tourists.
Ticket for trains and buses can be purchased in many different combinations. Combine sights to see that require trains or buses into the same day, and purchase the correct ticket for your needs. All day passes usually cover trains and buses when a one way ticket may only cover the train.
Skipping a seat reservation for a train may save eight Euro, but we found our first train ride didn’t have enough seats for everyone and it was a 4.5 hours ride.
Our shoes were too new and were not broken in. This slowed our travel down and caused a lot of foot pain.
The guide book we used was from Rick Steves. We found it was a great guide for us and his website has a large collection of more travel tips and a special section for stretching your dollars.
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Topics: Travel |