Since we’re almost done with the month of April, I should probably give you my travel budget break down from the last two weeks of February and the whole of March.

I’m a blogging slacker and I suck. Apologies my friends!

FEBRUARY - CALIFORNIA/ENGLAND

I only started traveling the last two weeks of February, but in that time I visited friends in San Diego, Long Beach, and Los Angeles, and then spent round one of four in London.

TOTAL: $620.53

AVG: $56.41/day

Toto I don’t think we’re in Asia anymore…

Southern California and London are not exactly the most budget friendly of places. Especially London. But for all that traveling, I think my travel budget faired pretty well!

In California I was fortunate enough to be able to crash with amazing friends during my time there, but I also rented a car for a week which was a substantial chunk of change.

Then in London, my accommodation alone was equal to my entire daily budget in Asia. Seriously. I averaged about $35/day over all of Asia (and often much less), and that’s about what I paid to sleep in a 10 person dorm room in London (and often more!). My travel budget protested…a lot.

MARCH - SCOTLAND/ENGLAND/WALES/FRANCE

I moved around a LOT during the month of March. I traveled around Scotland, the south of England (including 2 separate trips to London), Cardiff, Paris, and Northern France.

TOTAL: $1298.95

AVG: $41.90/day

Hey that’s actually not too much damage to my travel budget! About $42/day to travel around Western Europe is doing alright in my book.

How did I keep it that low you ask?

FOOD

I hardly ever ate out. Unlike hostels in Asia, hostels here in Europe have KITCHENS. That means I could go to the grocery store and buy my own food for cooking. I can’t even tell you how much money that saved me. My travel budget thanked me profusely.

I only spent $189 on food for the entire month of March.

Now that’s not to say I NEVER went out to eat or have a pint with new friends, but I kept it to a minimal.

ACCOMMODATION

I also am lucky to have family in England that I stayed with for 2 nights, and a friend from high school who lives/works in Paris who let me use her parent’s flat for 4 nights. Again my travel budget jumps for joy.

While that certainly saved me some money, I still spent $462 on accommodation during the month of March. It’s infinitely more than what I paid in Asia, but when you think of what you pay for rent back in the States, it’s really not all that bad.

TRAVEL

Travel in Europe is EXPENSIVE. Even the Tube in London costs over $3/ride. Trains? Forget about it if you’re on a budget.

I took the bus EVERYWHERE. Megabus will become your travel budget’s best friend if you’re traveling Europe on a shoestring. I got a bus from London to Glasgow, Scotland for 8 pounds (about $12) and from London to Paris for 20 pounds ($30).

My travel related expenses came to a grand total of $163. Had I taken trains or flew everywhere that could have been much higher.

SIGHTSEEING

I did my fair share of sightseeing this month, including castles, cathedrals, Stonehenge, the Doctor Who Experience, etc. I always saw things that I was really interested in, but would decide against seeing something that didn’t seriously spark my interest. It also keeps my travel budget from rebelling too much. This was also a good principle to have to stave off travel fatigue (which I still got). TOTAL: $106

GRAND TOTAL FOR FEBRUARY/MARCH: $2041.26

AVERAGE FOR FEBRUARY/MARCH: $48.60

And while that grand total for 2.5 months is over half of what I spent for 4 months in Asia, I still consider it pretty decent for the all expensive Western Europe!

Sometimes your travel budget sits at the bottom, sometimes the top. But keeping a travel budget doesn’t mean you NEVER do fun things, it just means you prioritize!

Have you ever traveled around Western Europe before? Do you still cringe when you think about it’s price tag?