Let's talk about $$

I really feel that it's only fair -for my 2 followers:) -to talk a little about the money aspect of our trip. I think most people think Europe is super expensive which I think is kind of true/kind of not true... I mean, it just depends on what kind of experience you want to have. You can have a really expensive one, or a really inexpensive one: it's just like any other vacation anywhere in the world. Joseph and I decided we wanted to enjoy ourselves and not really make a strict budget, but leave ourselves open to what we wanted to do, which was the right choice for our trip (and we were lucky we had that kind of financial ability). Our #1 splurge was a really nice dinner at the Berlin 360* restaurant, but it was worth every penny. :)

I know that money is kind of one of those taboo topics, but I really think to try and pretend that I didn't think about money every day of the trip is just a big lie! I was always fretting about how much we were spending. Joseph had a better grip on the fact that we really weren't spending as much as I thought we were, I think. But obviously trips like the one we took are expensive and we could have bought a small car with the amount we spent! But instead we bought five cities and almost 3 weeks of great memories and experiences. Cheesy, but true, because that is priceless.

BUT, there are some things that just have to be said before starting with this:

(as far as $$ goes) this would not be possible if I

.... did not have my amazing brother who opened his home/entry way to me and lets me stay rent free for as long as I want, and often feeds me too :)

.... had not lived with my parents for two years, living with them saved me (at least) 500$ a month in rent that I didn't have to pay.* I lived with them for 2 years. That's a lot of rent money, right? I saved (most) of it, and now I am spending it. :) 

.... wanted the best of everything. The best place to stay, the best train, the best food, etc. I am happy with the middle of the road of everything (actually I am fine with whatever is cheapest so long as it's not totally disgusting). 

So in the interest of full blog disclosure --and I really debated if I should post this or not, but I figured I would be really curious about it if I was reading a blog like this, so I am going for it--

For the Vienna-Prague trip Joseph and I were traveling (away from Josh's apartment) a total of 20 (full days) and spent on average 83$ (US) a day each. This does not include our initial plane ticket to Frankfurt, but includes everything else- transportation, every place we stayed, all museums, all food, train, souvenirs... everything.

So how did we spend it? (All money in USD for the sake of my brain not exploding-they are not perfect conversions, but they are close):

Here are the two big ones-

Lodging 

Vienna= $0/ 4 nights -my brother kindly paid for the hotel (love ya Josh) 

Prague = $140/ 4 nights

Dresden= $80/ 2 nights

Berlin = $220/ 4 nights

Amsterdam = $320/ 4 nights (this killed me, BTW, but I think there was an IT convention when we were there or something)

TOTAL = $760 (or $380/each for a total of 18 nights about $19/night)

Was I happy with this? Well, my goal was $20 a night for us, so yes. BUT the only reason we got that was because Josh paid for the hotel in Vienna. We stayed in a mix of short-term apartment rentals, hostels and hotels. Still, $20/night per person is really pretty cheap. So no complaints.

• This was a cool 21% of the total amount spent!

Transportation (single tickets on trains) 

Frankfurt- Vienna = $100

Vienna- Prague = $80

Prague- Dresden = $50

Dresden- Berlin = $78

Berlin- Amsterdam= $50 (...why was the longest trip by far the cheapest?! NO idea! This was an overnight train and it was so cheap. The train pricing makes exactly zero sense here.)

Amsterdam- Frankfurt= 80

    -other transportation:

Berlin card (5 days on Berlin subway) = $35

Amsterdam trains = $15

one Taxi (in Berlin) = $13 (each)

taxi's in Vienna = $40 (each)

TOTAL = $541 / each

Was I happy about this? Well, yes... and no. No because I wish I understood the train system here better, (and could have maybe gotten cheaper tickets) but I honestly don't understand it at all. Josh bought our Vienna tickets a month in advance and they were still more expensive then the comparable (length-wise) Berlin - Amsterdam train that we bough 4 days in advance and was half the price. It didn't seem to matter what the length, destination, or when we bought the ticket the prices were always a surprise -usually an expensive surprise! But on the other hand I am fine with it. I loved traveling by train I would not have traded that to deal with the hassle of an airport (even though at some points we probably could have flown for cheaper, once you added in the headache, the time/expense of getting to the airport, etc. I don't think it would have been worth it). 

• and let's wave good-bye to 33% of the total amount spent!

Just lodging and transportation were 54% of the total amount we spent... crazy, right!? So how did we spend the rest? Food, museums... to the amount of around $40/day each. Really- not that much when you think about the fact that we are in Europe, on vacation (and that is really closer to about 33€ with the exchange rate).

And I think when you look at the money in this way, you can see that we did not (at all) go crazy spending. In fact, I am pretty impressed with our spending. 

So how did we save money?? We did everything that we wanted to do and never really said we wouldn't do something because it was too expensive. Except when I wanted to buy an apartment at Hofsburg Palace (which you can really do). Joseph had the veto on that one. 

Food: We went to nice dinners -when they were cheaappp (and delicious) in Prague, loved that exchange rate :) and ate at street vendors when it was expensive. Actually we were usually so busy we would eat just ate on more of a bruch/ dinner schedule. Or if we got breakfast it was just a coffee and a pastry for like 6€ total. We also would go to grocery stores and get granola bars that I carried around in my purse for cheap snacks.

We embraced free/cheap museums: Especially in Berlin a lot of museums were free (Stasi Museum, Museum of Terror, Reichstag Building) or you would pay a flat fee and get into a few museums (for example Museum Island in Berlin which was like 12€, but got us into a whole day of museums). Our most expensive museum was the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam which was something like 20€/each and was honestly pretty disappointing :(

We walked everywhere. (Except Berlin which was way too cold). I think that saved us some money, and was good exercise  for all the delicious food we ate, too :)

CONCLUSION :

Yes, I want to faint when I realize the amount of money I spent/ have spent since I have been here/ will spend in the future. But this is truly a once in a life time experience, something that I am very, very lucky to have the opportunity to get to do. And well...I was saving my money for something special. This is my "something special": three months in Europe with my brother, something I will remember for the rest of my life. I can't think of anything that could actually mean more to me. So I consider every penny well-spent. 

___

* I did pay my parents rent, kind of. I gave them a certain amount a month, but they kept it in an account for me, and I will use that money when I move out to pay for all those expenses. But that amount was still way less then I would have paid in rent/utilities had I not lived with my parents while I was in grad school.