» Vacation - Simon Lau

Europe Trip Planning – The Budget

paris I’m currently in the middle of planning a two person 5 week vacation to Europe. The places we intend to visit are: Paris, London, Rome, Venice, Milan, Florence and Pisa.
The Budget is 9K for everything with 1K as contingency for anything we can’t plan for. Items like bus fares to local attractions, taxi rides around the city etc will be lumped into this group.
I’ve put together a quick spreadsheet of some known costs. We don’t plan on staying in any 5* hotels, so the goal is to keep every night under $100CDN. The plan is to find cheap hotels/bed&breakfasts and avoid hostels. In Paris, the plan is to rent an apartment for the stay, this will keep the average nightly cost down and will allow for buying and storing local food in a fridge. I haven’t factored in any budget for food yet as I’m not sure what that will cost in Europe. If you have any experience on daily food costs in any of the areas I’m visiting, please let me know!
If you have any suggestions on how to keep the cost down, or things that we should plan and do, please leave a comment!

Item	Local Currency	In CDN Dollars	Qty	Total	Date Looked Up
Flight: Toronto to Paris	1474.8 CDN	1478.8	1	1478.8	03/16/08
Hotel in Paris		100	1	100
Breakfast/Lunch/Snack				0
Dinner				0
Train: Paris to London	240 USD	240	1	240	03/16/08
Hotel in London		100	3	300
Breakfast/Lunch/Snack				0
Dinner				0
Flight: London to Rome	61.64 GBP	123.56	1	123.56	03/16/08
Eurorail: Italy Rail Pass	294 EUR	452.83	1	452.83	03/16/08
Hotel in Rome		100	4	400
Breakfast/Lunch/Snack				0
Dinner				0
Hotel in Venice		100	4	400
Breakfast/Lunch/Snack				0
Dinner				0
Hotel in Milan		100	4	400
Breakfast/Lunch/Snack				0
Dinner				0
Hotel in Florence		100	5	500
Breakfast/Lunch/Snack				0
Dinner				0
Bus: Florence to Pisa		0	1	0
Flight: Rome to Paris	159.44EUR	245.58	1	245.58	03/16/08
Hotel in Paris	50 Euro	75	11	825	03/16/08

Grand Total				5465.77
Budget				9000
Remaining				3534.23

The next post will hopefully include more information on costs, a schedule and things to do.

Tags: Budget, Europe, Florence, Italy, London, Milan, Paris, Pisa, Rome, Travel, Vacation, Venice

. 17 Mar 08 | Travel | Comment (1)

Four New Contests – Feb 19th 2008

Win One Years Supply of VIM

Entry Page: http://www.homebasics.ca/viewcontest.asp?contestid=216

Rules: http://www.homebasics.ca/contests/vimiga08/rules_en.html

End Date: March 20th 2008

Prize: There is one (1) grand prize available to be won. The winner will receive a one (1) year’s supply of the complete family of Vim cleaning products. The prize will consist of an assortment of Vim cleaning products (sizes will vary). The total approximate retail value of the grand prize is $ 100.00 CDN.

Win a Designer Tea Set

Entry Page: http://www.homebasics.ca/ViewContest.asp?contestId=215

Rules: http://www.homebasics.ca/contests/redrose08/rules_en.html

End Date: March 27, 2008

Prize: There is one (1) grand prize available to be won consisting of a beautiful Portmeirion® Sophie Conran White Tea Set. From celebrated chef and food writer, Sophie Conran, comes this artfully designed collection. The tea set includes: 1 white Portmeirion® Sophie Conran tea pot, 4 white Portmeirion® Sophie Conran tea cups, 4 Portmeirion® Sophie Conran white saucers. The total approximate retail value of the prize is $100.00 CDN.

Win a Hockey Night in Toronto for Two

Entry Page: http://www.deltahotels.com/chelsea/leafscontest/index.html

Rules: http://www.deltahotels.com/chelsea/leafscontest/prizes.html

End Date: March 14, 2008

Prize: Two (2) tickets to The Toronto Maple Leafs versus The Montreal Canadians, Saturday, March 29th, 2008 @ 7 p.m. A one-night (1) stay for two (2) people in a Deluxe room on the evening of Saturday, March 29th, 2008 One (1) full buffet breakfast for two (2) people served in Delta Chelsea Hotel’s Bb33 Bistro and Brasserie on the morning of Sunday, March 30th, 2008 (approximate package value $800 CDN)

Win a Trip for 2 in the Dominican Republic

Entry Page: http://www.lavieenrose.com/contest/index.jsp?locale=en&id=61

Rules: http://www.lavieenrose.com/contest/rules.jsp?id=61

End Date: March 31, 2008

Prize: The grand prize of the Contest consists of a one-week trip package for two people, in the Dominican Republic (the “Package”), provided by Voyages Plein Sud. The Package shall be awarded to the winner selected from among all those who registered according to these rules. The approximate value of the grand prize is $3,000.

Tags: contest, Hockey, Tea, Toronto, Vacation

. 19 Feb 08 | Contests | Comment (1)