Starting in May, my social media feed has been full of friends and influencers traveling around Europe and it begs the question, how are people able to afford an international adventure?
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While planning this trip, the costs just kept adding up and I thought we would each end up spending $3,700 for a 14-day trip to Europe in London, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Nice. There wasn’t a certain dollar amount I was trying to stay under, but I knew we were both fairly low maintenance and wouldn’t be doing anything super luxury. We ended up spending less than I thought we would, and I think we got to do a lot for the money we spent. Shout out to Sarah for going along and letting me plan this trip!
A few notes before we get into the costs:
- Our parents paid for our international data through Global Travel Pass through Xfinity Mobile for the trip, which was $10/day per line. I used it most days so that we could Google directions to places, but Sarah only activated it a few days when she was alone. Other than that, we financed the whole trip ourselves.
- Sarah and I each paid for our own travel and accommodation costs before the trip, but when it came to expenses on the trip, we took turns paying. Instead of Venmo-ing each other for half of every meal, Sarah and I just purchased things for each other and hoped it evened out in the end, and it pretty much did. I ended up paying for more of the bigger meals and spent around $150 more, but I also make more money so that’s fine by me and I got a lot of Chase Sapphire points 🙂 So when looking at my vs. Sarah’s costs for things like food or public transportation below, it’s not that one of us took more public transportation or ate more, we just put our card down for different things.
ALL-IN TOTAL COST:
Laura: $3,136
Sarah: $2,984
Grand Total: $6,120
TRAVEL
Sarah and I each booked roundtrip flights to and from London Heathrow, as this was the cheapest airport to fly out of at the time. We were able to use our Alaska Airlines credit card miles to book flights on American Airlines via their partnership with Oneworld airline alliance, as Alaska Airlines doesn’t fly from the US to Europe. We did have to buy some miles during Alaska’s sale in order to cover the full roundtrip flights which cost 60,000 miles. I bought 4,500 miles and Sarah bought 14,000 miles. That way, our roundtrip flights only cost around $200 per person instead of $1,100. Sarah was living in Baltimore, Maryland at the time and it was cheaper to fly out of JFK in New York, so she also bought train tickets to and from New York.
We took the Eurostar between London and Paris, and we took the train to Lyon, Marseille, and Nice. We booked tickets online in advance and didn’t have any trouble, thankfully avoiding any labor strikes. Because of our itinerary, we ended in Nice in the south of France and needed to get back to London, so we also purchased flights from Nice to London, which were $76 each.
UBER & LYFT
Sarah and I each used Uber or Lyft to get to the train station (Sarah) or airport (Laura). We also Ubered in Europe a couple of times to the train station, once in London because the tube wasn’t running at 4 am and once in Lyon because I was worried about the metro running at 6 am but it was running. But I paid for the Uber so no harm no foul.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IN EUROPE
Sarah and I took public transportation in each city. London was by far the most expensive, as taking the tube from London Heathrow to the city center was like $35 alone and we spent the most time there, so overall we spent $163 on the tube. Nice was the cheapest and we spent $14 total on the public transportation card for the metro/tram/bus.
ACCOMMODATIONS
My sister and I don’t work in big pharma or big tech and aren’t nepo babies so we could not afford hotels, especially since it was just the two of us. I had stayed in a few hostels when I studied abroad in college and I couldn’t really imagine sleeping in a room of 20 bunk beds again, so thankfully we found that Airbnbs were pretty affordable. We didn’t know which dates we were going or book our flights until about 3 months ahead, so I think we could’ve found cheaper options if we had extra time to plan. But overall, we did find some decent places in good central locations.
Our Airbnbs were all under $80/night including all fees (booked in March 2023): London ($73/night), Paris ($79/night), Lyon ($46/night), Marseille ($63/night) and Nice ($79/night). Price was the guiding factor when choosing the Airbnbs. Since we didn’t plan to spend much time in the Airbnbs, just showering and sleeping at night, we didn’t pick the most aesthetic ones and we shared a bed in all of them. The London Airbnb was a private room in an apartment that had other rooms and a kitchen. The Paris and Nice Airbnbs were studio apartments. The Lyon and Marseille Airbnbs were one-bedroom apartments with a full kitchen.
On our last night in London before going back to the US, we booked a room at the Premier Inn connected to Terminal 4 at London Heathrow which was actually super convenient and was $58 for the night.
FOOD
Of all these categories, food was the biggest expense of the trip (even more than flights/trains). I am a big foodie and I guess Sarah is as well, so we wanted to eat well and we did. We ate 2 bigger meals a day and always shared food, supplemented with extra snacks and pastries. Sometimes we ate quick meals from Pret and other times we dined at Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants (still only $20-$35 per person). We only drank alcohol one day in London and Sarah got a drink in Nice, so that definitely cut down our costs here. The only time a meal cost over $100 was tragically at Sketch London, which we would not recommend as it was so expensive and the food and service was a 5 out of 10.
ATTRACTIONS & ACTIVITIES
We booked all of our museum tickets and activities online ahead of time. Some we didn’t book until 2 weeks before the trip, but I’d recommend booking tickets a month in advance to make sure you can get the time and day you want. The only thing we spontaneously booked in person was a paddle boat in Lyon.
The most expensive activities were going to see Harry Styles in Paris ($76/person on Stubhub) and doing the boat tour in Marseille ($55/person). The attractions were the most expensive in London since The Shard, Kensington Palace, and Westminster Abbey tickets all cost over $30 per person. Most of the places we went in Lyon, Marseille, and Nice were free.
SOUVENIRS
Some people like to go shopping while they’re on vacation. That was not a priority for us, and we didn’t have room in our suitcases for a lot of souvenirs or gifts for friends and family. Sarah got a tote bag from Notting Hill Bookstore, some postcards in Paris, and a few soaps in Marseille. I bought a magnet in each city to put on my fridge in LA and a tote bag in Paris.
MEDICAL
My knees hurt from the 2 weeks of walking 10 miles every day and I had allergies so we got tissues and ibuprofen in London and 2 knee braces in Paris. I also had to pay a euro to go to the bathroom at the train station in Marseille and just categorized this as medical as well.
Overall, these were our expenses by city. It’s a little hard to compare by city since we stayed in each city for a different amount of time, but I do think London would truly be the most expensive city regardless since the tube from the airport to the city and all the attractions were more expensive.
For another view, these were our expenses by category. Travel, accommodations, and food were our biggest expenses and I feel like that’s true of most trips.
OTHER EUROPE 2023 BLOG POSTS:
3 Days in London
4th Timer’s Guide to Paris
2 Days in Lyon
2 Days in Marseille
24 hours in Nice
OTHER BUDGETING BLOG POSTS:
My Budget Template & Tips
Money Diaries: 1 Week of Spending in Los Angeles
How to Save Money: 5 Tips for Young Adults
