You can bring this cost down
by: asking for some of these things for
birthday, Christmas, or graduation presents (example: I got my Swiss Army knife, my boots, and my guide books for my
birthday; my backpack for Christmas; my plane ticket for graduation--saving me
about $600-$750), using frequent flyer miles if you can, or begging your
parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and/or strangers to
donate money to the " Your Name Here--Europe or Bust Fund."
I’d like to give a special
thanks to all my friends and relatives who contributed to my "fund."
Their money was well spent!
Remember it is a nice
gesture to send a postcard to everyone who contributed in making your trip
possible.
On the Road Expenses: the
cost of traveling, eating, sleeping, & site seeing while in Europe
Moving from one place to the
next:
Travel in and around Europe
using either bus or train depends on the length of your trip and the number of
places you want to visit. Traveling by
bus for three months should cost about $300-$800. Train prices vary, but you can buy a decent rail pass for
$400-$800 for travel in continental Europe, add another $300-$500 for travel
throughout U.K. and Ireland). For most
people a bus or train pass averages out to about $15 per day. People traveling
in Europe for less than 30 days will probably pay more and people traveling for
more than 60 days will probably pay less.
Accommodations $15-$25
per day except in UK:
Prices tend to be at the
higher end of this range in large cities like London and Paris, but
considerably cheaper if you go to cities in Eastern Europe like Prague and
Budapest. See my "Hostels, etc." page for more info.
Eating: Food $10-$15
per day:
This of course depends on
how much, what, and where you eat).
Personally, I bought most of my food at grocery stores and limited
myself to two meals a day (breakfast and a late lunch. If you plan to do most of your eating in
restaurants, then expect to pay a minimum of $25 per day (restaurants prices in
Europe are outrageous!).
Getting Around:
Unless you plan to walk 20
miles a day, you’ll probably be using local buses, subways, and/or renting
bicycles to get to the attractions of the town you’re visiting--once you get
there you then have to fork over more money for entrance fees, etc. Cost
depends on where you go and what you see, but you can expect to pay about
$10-$15 per day more or less depending on how extravagant you are. If you plan
to do a lot of drinking this could easily double.
On the Road Expenses TOTALS:
30 days=$1,500-$2,000
(These prices do not include
Pre-Trip Total)
45 days=$2,250-$2,750
60 days=$3,000-$3,500
75 days=$3,750-$4,250
90 days=$4,500-$5,000
Remember this does not
include your airline ticket and your "Pre-Trip Expenses" because
prices for those items can vary so drastically from one individual to another.
One quick way to get a rough
cost estimation for your On the Road Expenses is to multiply the number of days
of your trip by US$50.
Trips can be done for less
than US$50 per day, but it is better come back with a little extra money than
to find yourself short of funds in the middle of your trip.
The $4,500 I spent during my
3 months in Europe covered: all transportation costs, food, hostels, entrance
fees to museums and other tourist attractions, buying toiletries as needed, a
dozen or so alcoholic drinks, souvenirs, internet cafe fees, buying a replacement
camera after I lost mine while hiking in Scotland, going on a 5 day
backpacker’s tour of Scotland, going on a six day backpacker’s of Ireland, and
going skiing for a day while in Switzerland.
I figure if I hadn’t lost my
camera and splurged on alcoholic drinks, backpacker’s tours, and skiing, then I
could have saved myself somewhere around $800.
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