Travel Budget Update
Our travel budget for the first 52 days on the road covering The East coast of the US, Ireland, and England.
We did better on travel budget than I had hoped for! Better in that we were under budget almost $1500 for this period. If you break it down, at less than $50 / person / day for US and Europe travel, it isn’t so bad.
The total travel budget for this period was $11,740. I know, seriously ouch. But if you break it down it is just over $56 per person per day. This number is much more reasonable and my heartbeat calms down when I look at it compared to the larger number!
Some things to factor in:
- I have used US dollars exclusively. Everything was converted at the exact exchange rate we got either for cash or that our bank changed us.We were in Dublin for St Patrick’s Day, so everything was more expensive than usual.
- We already had Disney annual passes, so we didn’t have to pay for Disney admission.
- We had to pay for some travel changes in NYC / Hartford due to a blizzard.
- We rented cars. With 4 people this was generally more affordable than public transport, but with less than 4 people, the math starts not to work in favor of a car. Some locales like rural Ireland require a car however.
- We both like/love data. We are keeping track of everything. There are no expenses that are no included except for the annual rate that we pay for our Travel Insurance. I’ll cover this under another post.
This was our budget for the first 52 days on the road broken down.
| Days | Location | Accommodation plan | Date | Cost PPPD | Total per day |
| 2 | Melbourne | with friends/Fam | 2/24/2017 | $ 35 | $ 280 |
| 5 | Disney | Hotel | 2/26/2017 | $ 50 | $ 1,000 |
| 4 | NC | with friends/Fam | 3/3/2017 | $ 40 | $ 640 |
| 4 | DC | Airbnb | 3/7/2017 | $ 80 | $ 1,280 |
| 3 | NY | Hotel | 3/11/2017 | $ 100 | $ 1,200 |
| 2 | Hartford / Flight | Hotel | 3/14/2017 | $ 60 | $ 480 |
| 3 | Dublin | Airbnb | 3/16/2017 | $ 80 | $ 960 |
| 6 | SW Ireland | Airbnb | 3/19/2017 | $ 45 | $ 1,080 |
| 7 | Near Galway | Sykes Cottage | 3/25/2017 | $ 45 | $ 1,260 |
| 3 | Belfast | Hotel | 4/1/2017 | $ 60 | $ 720 |
| 1 | Dublin | Hotel | 4/4/2017 | $ 80 | $ 320 |
| 3 | Bebington | with friends/Fam | 4/5/2017 | $ 30 | $ 360 |
| 7 | Yorkshire | VRBO | 4/8/2017 | $ 60 | $ 1,680 |
| 2 | Bebington | with friends/Fam | 4/15/2017 | $ 60 | $ 480 |
| 52 | Total | $11,740 |
Actuals Spent in each location
| Location | Total $ Spent | Budget | Budget – Actual |
| Melbourne | $214.81 | $280 | $ 65.19 |
| Disney | $873.24 | $1000 | $ 126.76 |
| NC | $772.77 | $640 | $ (132.77) |
| DC | $1311.42 | $1280 | $ (31.42) |
| NY | $1129.77 | $1200 | $ 70.23 |
| Hartford / Flight | $414.25 | $480 | $ 65.75 |
| Dublin | $916.05 | $960 | $ 43.95 |
| SW Ireland | $1062.26 | $1080 | $ 17.74 |
| Near Galway | $736.55 | $1260 | $ 523.45 |
| Belfast | $894.74 | $720 | $ (174.74) |
| Dublin | $405.56 | $320 | $ (85.56) |
| Bebington | $191.53 | $360 | $ 168.47 |
| Yorkshire | $1298.60 | $1680 | $ 381.40 |
| Bebington | $52.81 | $480 | $ 427.19 |
| Total | $10274.36 | $11740 | $1465.64 |
$49.40 ended up being our per person per day and we were under budget by $7.04 per person per day. Based on our budget, we were under our plan by about 12.5%
So where did all this money go?
| Activities | 1138.59 |
| Clothing | 79.32 |
| Entertainment | 76.3 |
| Food | $2,627.05 |
| Gift | 45.23 |
| Lodging | 3494.94 |
| Misc | 194.56 |
| Transportation | $2,618.36 |
| Grand Total | $10,274.35 |
Breaking out a couple of the big categories:
Transportation:
| Flight | 392.4 |
| Gas | $194.89 |
| Parking | 5.02 |
| Public | 151.79 |
| Taxi | 281.38 |
| Tip | 5 |
| Tolls | $20.08 |
| Train | 463.44 |
| Grand Total | $2,618.36 |
$12.59 per person per day for transportation
Food:
| Coffee | 21.8275 |
| Delivery | 40 |
| Fast Food | $247.99 |
| Grocery | 810.1463 |
| Restaurant | 1454.774 |
| Snack | $22.44 |
| Treat | 29.87 |
| Grand Total | $2,627.05 |
$12.63 per person per day for food
Lodging:
| Airbnb | 1513 |
| Gas | 32.1 |
| Hotel | 904.82 |
| Sykes | 340.81 |
| VRBO | 704.21 |
| Grand Total | 3494.94 |
$16.08 per person per day for lodging
In my next budget post, I’ll cover what a month in London costs!
