We are spending so much money in Europe that I have had about seventeen heart attacks this month over money.
Here are the dirty details:
Thanks, crappy exchange rate!
As if that amount is not already obscenely large, I need to add that we also purchased our Eurail tickets which were an additional $1,427.55. In case you don't feel like doing the math, that is $7,192.58.
Oh. Holy. Crap.
There is really no way to rationalize around spending that much in one month but just for fun, I compared our spending this month vs. our spending during the US travel months. In the comparison, I included what we are spending in Euros (when applicable) because that is what we "feel" like we are spending. I did not include the Eurail tickets because they were a one-time only purchase that will span two months of travel and because I didn't previously include the cost of our flights over here.
Here is how we are traveling now vs. how we traveled in the U.S. (I didn't include June because that was a weird travel month in which we were mostly with Jon's family):
So this actually made me feel the tiniest bit better although there were some surprises.
#1: We are spending the same amount on food in terms of how we budget units of money. In fact, we're pretty consistent on that over the months. Go us!
#2: Transportation is where I thought we would make up some ground in our budget but thanks to some unfortunate decisions, poor planning and one disastrous day involving a train re-route and lost tickets, this category did not decrease enough to make up for the huge increase in lodging.
#3: Lodging: I freely admit that our lodging expenditure could be lower if we were not so picky about wanting a private room and ensuite bathroom. But really, I'm ok with paying a little extra so we can lie around naked covered in wet towels when we're hot.
#4: Anyone notice Jonathan's allowance spending this month? He spent it all!
Looking Forward
We may just have to amend our plan after our Eurail passes run out (we booked for 10 days of travel within a two month period). As much as I joke about sliding into my parents place on our last dollar, I don't actually mean it! We'll keep you posted...
Here are the dirty details:
Thanks, crappy exchange rate!
As if that amount is not already obscenely large, I need to add that we also purchased our Eurail tickets which were an additional $1,427.55. In case you don't feel like doing the math, that is $7,192.58.
Oh. Holy. Crap.
There is really no way to rationalize around spending that much in one month but just for fun, I compared our spending this month vs. our spending during the US travel months. In the comparison, I included what we are spending in Euros (when applicable) because that is what we "feel" like we are spending. I did not include the Eurail tickets because they were a one-time only purchase that will span two months of travel and because I didn't previously include the cost of our flights over here.
Here is how we are traveling now vs. how we traveled in the U.S. (I didn't include June because that was a weird travel month in which we were mostly with Jon's family):
So this actually made me feel the tiniest bit better although there were some surprises.
#1: We are spending the same amount on food in terms of how we budget units of money. In fact, we're pretty consistent on that over the months. Go us!
#2: Transportation is where I thought we would make up some ground in our budget but thanks to some unfortunate decisions, poor planning and one disastrous day involving a train re-route and lost tickets, this category did not decrease enough to make up for the huge increase in lodging.
#3: Lodging: I freely admit that our lodging expenditure could be lower if we were not so picky about wanting a private room and ensuite bathroom. But really, I'm ok with paying a little extra so we can lie around naked covered in wet towels when we're hot.
#4: Anyone notice Jonathan's allowance spending this month? He spent it all!
Looking Forward
We may just have to amend our plan after our Eurail passes run out (we booked for 10 days of travel within a two month period). As much as I joke about sliding into my parents place on our last dollar, I don't actually mean it! We'll keep you posted...
Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand about the shared bathroom thing - somehow I just feel like I am too old for that ;)! Fun to read as always and great to catch up with you today. I did mean what I said about making this into a book - you guys should really think about that when you are done and yeah I do think that might mean you could write the whole trip off on your taxes (but you might want to check with an accountant on that one ;))!
It was great catching up with you, too! We just stayed in our first hostel while in Cinque Terre (the regular room rates were just too high for us - the "cheap" hostel price was €110 per night!). Although it was a lovely private room with a shared bathroom in a three room apartment with very nice college kids from Vermont, I just didn't really like not having a totally private space!
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