During the summer of 2013, we had the incredible opportunity to study abroad in London, Scotland, Ireland, and Rome for 6 glorious weeks. It was a dream come true and was absolutely worth the pain and suffering it took to get there (coming up with $10,000 as a poor college student is no easy task. I only had to sell my body [for science] and my car). We saw so many amazing things that I never thought I would see in my entire lifetime, let alone one summer.
I fell in love with Europe almost instantly. I crave the access to history around every corner. I miss the thought-provoking modern art at the Tate that could only be completely digested after a late night run to Wafflemeister. My legs yearn for the billion stairs we walked every day up to our flat in South Kensington. Okay, so maybe I don't miss the stairs. But I do miss how the city just makes you active. You walk everywhere and nobody seems to mind. How could you be bothered when every step on the cobblestone streets brings you to a new adventure?
And now I'm completely off topic. If you, for some odd reason, want to read more about my past experiences, I'll eventually link to a post about that. But for now, let's move on to planning the next trip there!
When going anywhere, you have to start with the basics, so that's what we did.
#1: Where are we going?
London, of course! But what all is that going to include? Are we just going to stay in London, or will we visit other parts of England? What about other parts of the UK? This part we are still narrowing down. We have four friends coming with us, three of which have never been to Europe. So we've started the discussion on what everyone wants to see while we are there. In order to know how much we can actually fit into one trip, we need to know...
#2: When are we going?
Two of the first things that must be addressed are when will you go and for how long. In order to determine that, refer to some of your thoughts from #1. London is most touristy in late Spring and Summer (like many travel destinations) because you'll actually see some sun and royal gardens in full bloom. However, if you want to save money, try to go in Fall or Winter (excluding December). Rates are much better off-season. For us, we think the warm weather is worth the extra money, especially because we will be outside so much. Mid-May 2016 is the goal.
Once we get there, we want enough time to get out of the jet lag and into the culture, so at least two weeks feels like a good benchmark. Ideally, three weeks, but becoming adults makes it a little harder for everyone to get time off of work for that long. The amount of time we are there is also largely dependent upon...
#3 How much will it all cost?
Last time we were there, it cost Stephen and I roughly $18,000. That still blows my mind. I will never know how we came up with that kind of money. However, we were there for almost two months, had really expensive flights ($1,700 each), had to pay tuition (another $2,000), and took flights to Ireland, Scotland, and Rome. Needless to say, there is no need for our next trip to cost even half as much.
I wanted to come up with a ball-park estimate so our friends could know what they are getting themselves into. That can be really challenging when the trip is over a year away. Some important things to consider when trying to come up with a budget:
- Exchange rates fluctuate
- Flight prices change daily, and can only be booked up to 11 months early
- There are a million options for accommodations
- What you choose to do while you're there can greatly change the cost
After considering the above list, this was my thought process: We want to save as much money as possible, but still get the full experience (doesn't everybody?). Flights will most likely be the biggest part of the budget. There are several options I am researching in order to reduce flight costs:
- Try out a credit card with skymiles
- Watch for Groupon deals that include rountrip airfare to London or nearby countries (I have seen them as low as $800 for a week in Ireland. The only catch is they are for specific dates and may sell out).
- Pray that fuel gets really cheap...
Being realistic, our flight will probably cost between $1,000 and $1,800 a person (please don't be more than that). That could be over half of our budget. Luckily, much of London is free sight-seeing and museum visits, so we can save a lot of money by sticking to those sorts of activities.
The other costly part of the budget will be accommodation. These rates also change a lot, but I feel confident, after looking around, that we could find something for under $3,000 total for two weeks. That equates to $500 per person.
So some quick math: if flights were at $1,800 and the room is $500, that leaves $50 a day remaining to keep everything under $3,000. $50 is about 30GBP (pounds), which would be rough, but doable. $100 a day would give us a lot more breathing room, but would mean we need to find flights for $1,100.
Still just trying to figure out how possible this whole thing is. Hopefully just rambling about it for no reason will help. In the mean time, I'm keeping my spirits high and my spending low and dreaming of Ben's Cookies.
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