From Travel to Photo – Chapter 3 – How to fix budget for Europe tour

From previous chapters, we learned when is the best time to visit Europe and for how long we should travel Europe. In this chapter, we will discuss on ways to fix a preliminary budget of Europe travel. As we all aware of, traveling to and around Europe is a dream to many travelers mainly because of the much higher cost involved if compared to most other countries. The high cost of vacation travel are due to the high living standards in Europe as well as the still remained strong Euro, Swiss Franc or Pound Sterling currencies that are well perceived in Europe. So in order to plan for a budget tour to Europe to save as much money as we could, we need to plan well and ahead. That’s what this e-Guide is all about. With experiences gained from my previous Europe travels in last 2 years, I will at least share how to fix budget for Europe tour, with the reasonable cost, if not the cheapest, required in traveling Europe, so we could further confirm our period of travel and to proceed to book for our flights to Europe!

There are 5 main elements of cost incurred in any vacation trip to Europe, which are:

1. Flights to and from Europe – Since Europe is located centrally in between Asia and America, traveling to Europe from most of the countries will involve long haul flights that will cost a bomb. Sad news to all budget travelers: EU is imposing new ruling on Carbon Emission Tax which will further burden us as cheap flights to Europe will no longer be cheap and Airasia X has decided to cease flying to London and Paris after April 2012!;
2. Domestic transportation within Europe – Flight to Europe’s entry country is just a starting point to travel Europe. As Europe is a huge continent, traveling to other cities or countries involve domestic trains, flights or buses, and these will cost as much as your long haul flight to Europe;
3. Accommodations – Accommodations cost in Europe is much higher than any other countries in the world;
4. Foods and Beverages – High living standards means high cost in foods and beverages. Eventhough European economy is slumping, trying out a single scoop gelato in Italy will still cost you Euro1 (more expensive than a bottle of Lager!), and £10 for a standard dish of fish and Chips. This is Europe, and
5. Admission Fees – No travel to Europe would complete without visiting some of the most exciting and valuable museums and landmarks there, such as the Louvre Museum, Vatican Museum, Colesseum, and the Jongfraujoch snow mountain. And those fees are certainly substantial enough to be one of the main costs in budgeting purposes.

Each element is further affected by 5 factors:

1. Time of travel – As we have discussed in the first Chapter, season of year during which we travel to Europe will certainly affect the cost of transportation, accommodation as well as admission fees;
2. Period of travel – As we have discussed in Chapter 2, the longer you stay in Europe, the cheaper would be your averages cost of transportation and accommodation;
3. Level of expectation – Your level of expectation towards the quality of living and traveling will justify the money you are going to put in. If you can’t sleep with others in a Bed & Breakfast, you will need to spend more on accommodation to stay in private rooms or hotels. Same goes to foods where the quality of food you are expecting will decide the restaurants you are going to dine in;
4. Level of flexibility – The most important concept in budget travel is to prepare for any ad-hoc situation. We need to be flexible in terms of foods hunting as well as travel itineraries. We hope for the best and prepare for the worst. This is how I always achieve immaculateness in all my previous travel. If you can’t accept alternatives, you will need more budget to cope the changes, and
5. Willingness to explore – Quite similar to flexibility, willingness to explore is another important attitude in budget travel. Budget travelers always go off the beaten track to try those unfamiliar things or foods. This can avoid tourist traps hence spending less but gaining more experiences.

We will draft out a simple budget table which contains the above main expenses. Before that, to my best estimate based on my experiences, I’m listing out the average cost per element per city each day as below:

1. Flights to and from Europe – €500- €700 return flights in normal advance booking offer from low cost carrier;
2. Domestic transportation within Europe (Inter city) – Average €40- €70 per city transfer. Up to 50% more for peak season and 50% less during low season;
3. Domestic transportation within Europe (Within city) – €5- €10 per day;
4. Accommodations – €12- €25 per night, up to 30% more for peak season and 30% less during low season;
5. Foods and Beverages – Average €20- €45 per day;
6. Admission Fees – Average €30- €50 per city.

Now we can start tabulate them out to prepare a preliminary budget plan. Let’s say we are planning to visit London for 5 days, Paris for 4 days, Brussels for 3 days, and Amsterdam for 2 days. We calculate the average cost of each element by multiplying the total cost per city and number of days of staying. The preliminary budget plan should look like this:

Legend:

• Destination – Your home is where you are going to fly to Europe from.
• Fli/Tra – International Flights or domestic transportation between cities.
• Transport – Transportation within the city, ie. Subway, buses, taxi etc. (multiplied by x days)
• Hotels – Average Cost of accommodation per person (multiplied by x days)
• Foods – Average Cost of foods & beverages (multiplied by x days)
• Admission – Admission fees for museum, gallery, theme park etc.
• Others – Other general expenses for snacks, light meals, shopping etc.

You have just created your preliminary budget plan! From the plan above, a traveler will need an estimated cost of €1,820 to travel four (4) cities above in Europe for 14 days. Of course, we will review our budget after the next chapters, but for the time being, we are able to ask ourselves this question: “Is this the budget we are looking at?”

At the end of this chapter, you should have derived a basic budget plan for further refinement and confirmation of your Europe travel budget. In the next few chapters, we will discuss on the planning of our transportation, accommodations and places to visit, which will affect our preliminary budget just planned above. Stay watching this space or subscribe to our updates via email. 🙂 – Travel Feeder, your ultimate guide to Europe travel

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.