mattprendy
Answer
where is NZ
if you don,t get much rain yes if you do then NO
where is NZ
if you don,t get much rain yes if you do then NO
Traveling around Europe for 2-3 months. How much money do i need?
Lavender
I'm saving up money to travel around europe for maybe 2-3 months and i'm wondering how much money i should expect to need to live comfortably.
Of course it depends on what exactly i'm going to do there, but i'm wondering if it's expensive to travel from one country to another. I don't know how much money i should save up.
P.s. I live in Australia, so how much australian dollars please.
Thanks
Answer
Hi,
I spent around 6 months in EU this year, working and traveling. I am American but I live in Melbourne now...I suppose I spent around 1500$ US (2100$ AU) for each week traveling...but read on as comfort means different things and can come at different costs.
Use this site as a guide for airfare prices & booking http://www.skyscanner.net/
Use this for trains (though the German site doesn't give you a price if the service is originating in another country like France etc )
http://www.bahn.de/db_uk/view/index.shtml
http://www.raileurope.com/index.html
It is often quicker and cheaper to fly from one place to another. However, the trains will bring you right to the heart of the city & the airport is often outside the city. So you will have to take a train/shuttle/taxi into the city if you fly factor that in when pricing travel and allocating time.
If you want to go by train you can look into youth rates (especially for multi-country get on get off passes) (under 25-26). No, they don't care that you are a 30 yr old grad student...you get no discount unless you are under 25/26. http://www.eurorailways.com/products/trains_passes/multi_countries/index.htm?gclid=CKC6qOKdiZgCFQghegodh0psDQ
But some services will take the ISIC card, its very useful for discount entry fees etc. http://www.isiccard.com.au/cpa/htm/htm_home.asp
The AU dollar is not great at the moment. Expect to see the same currency amount you pay here but in ⬠(Euros)...so that means a standard sit-down meal with a server is around 25.00 for your main, but it's 25⬠(not 25$ AU) & at the moment that is 48$ AU. Cheap eats are all over though so think Samosas and cheap Thai etc. In Rome at an outdoor cafe that looks nice it could be 10⬠to reserve the table for later and 45-65⬠for the main. Be warned NZ and AU wines are WAY overpriced in EU. They wanted 150⬠for a bottle of 2007 Oyster Bay Sav Blanc...no kidding...it's good, but not that good.
Use this site to check to see what your AU dollar will get you in Euros, it changes all the time; recently it has seriously moved up and down, so no one can give you are real $ amount. http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Some countries like Switzerland and Italy can be especially pricey. We spent 12 days from Geneva, (flew) Budapest, (train) Bratislava, (train) Prague, (flew) Rome, (train) Venice, (train) Geneva and spent around $4500.00 US (not including intl airfare) but we stayed in 4 star hotels, that is 'comfortable' for me. But your level of comfort may be different.
I spent 17 days in April/May in EU and UK and stayed in 2-3 Star hotels and "nicer" hostels...and I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy because: almost every single room smelled like cigarette smoke (yes even the non-smoking ones, as smoking is still very popular in EU and not as restricted as here); the noisy drunk students; the really, really bad breakie food, lack of late night transport other than taxi etc. Hence, when I started traveling again in Oct-Nov I stayed only in very nice hotels.
Also, watch the bed size and number when booking hotels in Europe. On more than one occasion they gave us one double/full size bed for 2 adults who did not want to sleep in the same bed together. We got the "Oh, you are not married? But you booked together." reply when we said we had specifically asked for (but had not confirmed by actually speaking to them), 2 twin beds. So twin rooms don't always mean 2 twin beds, you should call, write, or email them about this specifically if it is a concern for you.
Don't forget to look at staying at Universities, I stayed at an Oxford College and ate breakfast each morning in the "Hogwarts" dining hall for a very reasonable rate.
Do yourself a favor and really read the online reviews about the hotel if you aren't booking on the spot site seen...some claim to be close to everything but 'the bus' only runs until 10pm and then you are stuck taking a 70⬠taxi ride home on a Sunday night.
Trains: they are nice but take forever compared to flying and aren't well equipped food or power wise. We took a train from Bratislava to Prague that was more than 40 yrs old and have never been updated and when I say never, this is exactly what I mean, the whole outside was totally rusted, the toilets where appalling, and we immediately locked our cabin door and a good thing as we had some men thinking it might be nice to come pester us. I don't think they would have hurt us, but at 1am on a train with hardly anyone, you just don't want that kind of hassle.
Typically Eurostar trains are the nicest, first class usually has power points for your laptop, camera etc. Coach does not have power points and was not an option after we spent 4 hrs with some drunk blokes eating KFC and yelling and swearing the whole way from Paris to Geneva. We were sitting in the tabled 4-seat-er, which meant we were facing them the whole way in close quarters using the same table space. Having beer spilt all over you in a
Hi,
I spent around 6 months in EU this year, working and traveling. I am American but I live in Melbourne now...I suppose I spent around 1500$ US (2100$ AU) for each week traveling...but read on as comfort means different things and can come at different costs.
Use this site as a guide for airfare prices & booking http://www.skyscanner.net/
Use this for trains (though the German site doesn't give you a price if the service is originating in another country like France etc )
http://www.bahn.de/db_uk/view/index.shtml
http://www.raileurope.com/index.html
It is often quicker and cheaper to fly from one place to another. However, the trains will bring you right to the heart of the city & the airport is often outside the city. So you will have to take a train/shuttle/taxi into the city if you fly factor that in when pricing travel and allocating time.
If you want to go by train you can look into youth rates (especially for multi-country get on get off passes) (under 25-26). No, they don't care that you are a 30 yr old grad student...you get no discount unless you are under 25/26. http://www.eurorailways.com/products/trains_passes/multi_countries/index.htm?gclid=CKC6qOKdiZgCFQghegodh0psDQ
But some services will take the ISIC card, its very useful for discount entry fees etc. http://www.isiccard.com.au/cpa/htm/htm_home.asp
The AU dollar is not great at the moment. Expect to see the same currency amount you pay here but in ⬠(Euros)...so that means a standard sit-down meal with a server is around 25.00 for your main, but it's 25⬠(not 25$ AU) & at the moment that is 48$ AU. Cheap eats are all over though so think Samosas and cheap Thai etc. In Rome at an outdoor cafe that looks nice it could be 10⬠to reserve the table for later and 45-65⬠for the main. Be warned NZ and AU wines are WAY overpriced in EU. They wanted 150⬠for a bottle of 2007 Oyster Bay Sav Blanc...no kidding...it's good, but not that good.
Use this site to check to see what your AU dollar will get you in Euros, it changes all the time; recently it has seriously moved up and down, so no one can give you are real $ amount. http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Some countries like Switzerland and Italy can be especially pricey. We spent 12 days from Geneva, (flew) Budapest, (train) Bratislava, (train) Prague, (flew) Rome, (train) Venice, (train) Geneva and spent around $4500.00 US (not including intl airfare) but we stayed in 4 star hotels, that is 'comfortable' for me. But your level of comfort may be different.
I spent 17 days in April/May in EU and UK and stayed in 2-3 Star hotels and "nicer" hostels...and I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy because: almost every single room smelled like cigarette smoke (yes even the non-smoking ones, as smoking is still very popular in EU and not as restricted as here); the noisy drunk students; the really, really bad breakie food, lack of late night transport other than taxi etc. Hence, when I started traveling again in Oct-Nov I stayed only in very nice hotels.
Also, watch the bed size and number when booking hotels in Europe. On more than one occasion they gave us one double/full size bed for 2 adults who did not want to sleep in the same bed together. We got the "Oh, you are not married? But you booked together." reply when we said we had specifically asked for (but had not confirmed by actually speaking to them), 2 twin beds. So twin rooms don't always mean 2 twin beds, you should call, write, or email them about this specifically if it is a concern for you.
Don't forget to look at staying at Universities, I stayed at an Oxford College and ate breakfast each morning in the "Hogwarts" dining hall for a very reasonable rate.
Do yourself a favor and really read the online reviews about the hotel if you aren't booking on the spot site seen...some claim to be close to everything but 'the bus' only runs until 10pm and then you are stuck taking a 70⬠taxi ride home on a Sunday night.
Trains: they are nice but take forever compared to flying and aren't well equipped food or power wise. We took a train from Bratislava to Prague that was more than 40 yrs old and have never been updated and when I say never, this is exactly what I mean, the whole outside was totally rusted, the toilets where appalling, and we immediately locked our cabin door and a good thing as we had some men thinking it might be nice to come pester us. I don't think they would have hurt us, but at 1am on a train with hardly anyone, you just don't want that kind of hassle.
Typically Eurostar trains are the nicest, first class usually has power points for your laptop, camera etc. Coach does not have power points and was not an option after we spent 4 hrs with some drunk blokes eating KFC and yelling and swearing the whole way from Paris to Geneva. We were sitting in the tabled 4-seat-er, which meant we were facing them the whole way in close quarters using the same table space. Having beer spilt all over you in a
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