Question about making a traveling budget for trip to Europe/Asia?
I want to try and travel to Europe and Asia (Paris, London, Greece, Italy, Egypt, Croatia, Thailand, etc) next year. I’m saving half of each paycheck I get (about $100 every two weeks) and plan on getting a few jobs in the summer, hopefully making about 200-300 dollars a week. I have places to stay for free in each city I visit. About how much money would I need for food and transportation from city to city? I don’t plan on buying a lot of souvenirs but I’m sure I’ll pick up a few things along the way. I don’t want any of my trips to be extravagant. I just want enough money to keep me fed and not destitute and be able to get me a safe means of travel. Do you think $2000-$3000 would be enough money for a 4-6 month trip? I wouldn’t mind doing odd jobs here and there to make extra money if I needed it.
I’d really appreciate people who have feedback from experience. Thanks.
Here’s how I did my trip…
I went and did ALL of this online…
Found websites for everything that I would need. Money, really, is going to run you roughly the same as if you were here…so for food, you just figure out what food costs here, and then figure that’s roughly what you will pay there…if you are going to be eating at restaurants every day, three to five times a day (including snacks) then go and price what such a diet would run.
Museums/monuments, etc., again, much like here…you figure you can do between three and five a day (rather ambitious, that) and how many you WANT to do…then figure roughly $8 each. If you have a valid student ID, many places are free, so you could cut that almost to nothing. You can check those costs online, as well. The most I paid for an entry was about 10€. I think the Louvre is a touch more. maybe 12. but then, it’s free to students with valid ID, and I believe it’s also free on Sundays….that is in the website.
Then you find travel sites that you can use to find your ticket costs. That will be cheapest by rail for some and by discount airlines…ryanair, easyjet, cheapflights, etc., you must go to the airlines’ direct websites, I believe, and book directly through them…so you have to do comparison shopping, and all, online.
So, you take all the information you can get, add it all up, then add 20% for inflation, extras, things you didn’t account for, and other surprises, and see what you come up with.
I’m REALLY sure that 3000 is NOT going to be enough! I spent $5000 just for one month! (I had to pay for lodging, too, but still…you have enough for about a month!)
And don’t count on being able to take any sort of jobs there. In most places, it won’t be legal, unemployment is rampantly high, and you aren’t going to be able to find illegal work washing floors.