Aug 16, 2009 | Written by Patricia Murphy

Reflecting and Accounting

Reflecting

A seasoned traveler once told me that recovering from jetlag takes one day for every time zone crossed. In Europe we were 9 hours ahead of Phoenix time, so that means we should have recovered from jet lag in 9 days: August 11 from our August 2 return date. John and I both felt like we had a mild “flu” for several days after we got home, and we attribute that to jet lag. It took me more like two full weeks to feel back to normal, but that might have been half jet lag half sadness that I had to come home. I think we’re back on schedule now, though it did seem we needed to lounge a lot after our trip. I’m thinking now about what I would and would not change for next year’s “New Country” adventure.

Things I would not change:

I really love the opportunity to travel with friends, so I would not change the fact that we chose our destination to meet up with people we love. In fact, we’re taking rendez-vous ideas for next summer if any of you are planning trips abroad.

I would not change the way we planned the details of the trip. Reading blogs and travel articles has always been productive for us, and it led us to some of our best activities and meals.

I love the 2 bag system of backpack and 22” rolling carry-on. That worked so well and we moved from city to city, hotel to hotel easily with our light bags. Especially on a trip with lots of stops I live by the rule that if I can’t carry it myself I should not bring it.

My packing run-through produced great results. I used everything I packed except for my sun hat and my work-out bikini, but that had more to do with bad weather than bad choices.

Things I would change:

We did not buy maps, and I would do that for our next trip rather than relying completely on the GPS while driving.

I will always make sure my car doors are locked.

I will be willing to pay a little more for lodging. I have rented private properties through VRBO all over the world, but I really was not happy with how that turned out this time. I tried to cut costs on 3 nights of lodging by choosing a budget rental. While that has worked in the past, I now feel like it is worth it for security and simple enjoyment to spend the extra money.

Before we left on our trip I took out 2 of the 8 sundresses I had packed, and in the future I would be sure to load up on dresses. On about day 15 I was so tired of wearing the same outfits, and every other woman seemed to have on a beautiful dress so I was green with envy. But then again, my mother always did call me a “clothes horse.”

Accounting

So what about the budget? Our spending on travel has averaged $7000/year for the past five years. We knew this trip was going to take all of that, so we started depositing $800/month into a special savings account last November. When I ran the budget for the trip before we left, it looked like we would spend $7203.48. I have now sorted through all the expenditures, including all of the 12 Euro churches and 12 Euro bridges, and we came in $1000 under budget.

 

Budgeted

Actual

Activities

 $         370.00

 $        129.20

Airfare 

 $         346.00

 $        346.00

Car Fuel

 $         226.96

 $        227.17

Car Parking

 $           59.22

 $          51.05

Car Rental

 $       1,000.00

 $     1,209.07

Car Tolls

 $         143.30

 $        102.40

Lodging

 $       2,188.00

 $     2,481.09

Meals

 $       2,370.00

 $     1,752.91

Petsitter

 $         500.00

 $               –  

Total 

 $       7,203.48

 $     6,298.89

Cost per day

 $         400.19

 $        349.94

For activities and meals I budgeted a flat rate per day, so it’s not surprising that we were under budget there, since we skipped a few activities and a few meals. We went over budget on the car rental because there was a scratch on the bumper when we returned it and they charged us $200. I want to highlight that John did not do it—someone must have nicked us, but we were still responsible to pay for it. We went over budget on lodging because we didn’t feel safe in the vrbo rental and had to pay for a hotel.  Our dogsitters Jeff and Autumn refused to take the $500 we budgeted because they insisted that Penny and Rooster were a pleasure to live with. John and I are blessed to have friends who are so kind.

I’m so ready to go again. I can’t wait for our next “New Country” adventure. We don’t have any ideas or plans yet, but I’m sure something will crop up soon.




Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *