Well, it's official: I got up enough guts to quit my physically and mentally draining job at OSUMC. I was so scared to quit, but going to Europe was a must. I had saved up and was financially prepared to come home to no job. I also had enough in my pocket to cover my entire expanse of a trip. A lot of my trip was prepared only a month in advance (you can always save more when doing your homework), but I must reiterate that I looked for savings wherever I could.
Flight:
My plane ticket was $1,000. I was going to go to Europe by myself, but Momma got upset and so I searched for a travel buddy. My friend waited and waited to let me know so my price kept climbing. I finally just bought the ticket (with or without a travel buddy, I was going). If I had gone alone and not had to wait for my friend to make a decision on whether he was going or not, I would have been able to buy a ticket overseas for $700.
Train:
We bought our train tickets together and saved quit a bit by getting the 2-adult saver pass. If it's more than just you traveling, definitely buy the Adult-Saver.
Had we known that we really wouldn't have used all days of train travel, we would have gotten the Flexi-Eurail pass. This pass allows you to travel for a set number of times, instead of the consecutive day pass. The Consecutive-Pass (what I had) is good for each day that you bought it for. Example: 30 consecutive days. We did not travel by train every single day, so next time, I am going to make my itinerary early and buy the Flexi-pass.
Accomodations:
Before we left, I told my friend that we would be roughing it and camping a lot of the time. He agreed and said that it was fine, but when we got there, he refused to camp. Let's just say that I was not a happy camper (no pun intended). Instead of paying $12-$13/night for a platform tent, we had to pay $25-$30/night for a hostel room with a bunch of other people. Be sure to really sit down and talk with your travel buddy face to face (I hadn't seen mine in 6 years) before you "agree" on travel accommodations.
If you are staying in hostels, get the rooms with the highest number of bunk beds. The rooms will be cheaper, but they are still safe. Most hostels have lockers that you stow all of your stuff in, so why not just stay in the cheapest room and bring earplugs and an eye mask. Sure, you lose your privacy, but it's so much more adventuresome to sleep with a bunch of strangers and meet a ton of cool people from around the world.
Make travel accommodation arrangements before you go and sign up for the
Hostel World savings plan (you save on booking fees when you become a member). In not knowing where we would be each day, we paid more, especially in Spain and Paris, since we had no plans. For example, my friend did not want to make hostel accommodations for Paris, he just wanted to walk around Paris and find a hostel. Well, they were all booked and it was pouring down rain. We eventually spent $98/person on a fairly crappy hotel room ( we didn't even have a bathroom door).
Making International Friends:
Chat up fellow backpackers. I got so much advice from people on my travels, which really helped me to save time and money; had I not talked to them, I would have spent more money on groceries, waited in really long lines, and paid a lot more out of pocket.
Food:
Try to find the hostels with kitchens and research grocery stores in each country before you go. Shopping in out-of-the-way grocery stores really saves you money. For example: bottled water in a touristy spot cost me 3euro for a liter, whereas when we walked to a residential area, I paid 25eurocents! What a price difference!
Money:
Plan to get a lot of money out in Euros from your bank at least 3 weeks before you go, as well as find a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees. I regret changing my money over when I got there because I wasted a lot of money in service fees, etc. It was cheaper just to pay by credit card and pulling money out of ATM's. When I got home, I called my credit card companies and simply asked for the ATM and international charges to be removed.
Final Tip:
When traveling, don't make rash decisions and try to plan out as much as humanly possible before you go. You will most likely have tremendous savings and an amazing time!
Happy Traveling my Dear Friends :)
