This guide will show you how I am going to budget for my upcoming trip to Portugal. I’ll show you how to budget as if you are traveling alone, but keep in mind that traveling with a friend/group will significantly decrease your budget!
Planning Ahead: The best thing to keep in mind when planning far enough in advance is BE FLEXIBLE. Flights are probably where you have the room to save the most money when planning ahead. This template has me leaving June 7th (Friday) & returning June 15th (Saturday). When traveling internationally 9 days is usually my preferred minimum, allowing for 2 days of travel (one on each end) and then 7 days of international exploration! I’m the type of person that will fly in the middle of the night and not sleep for 48 hours if it means I get to spend more time at my destination, but using this template, I’ve allowed for Sunday to be a recovery day in the US before resuming work the following week.
Flights
When I’m flying to Europe, I always fly out of Toronto as it is usually MUCH cheaper, since it is a direct flight. For reference:
- Buffalo to Portugal: $996
- Cleveland to Portugal:$1,350
- Pittsburgh to Portugal:$1,325
- Toronto to Portugal: $577
For this budget I’m allowing for $700 of ticket expense and $200 of Traveling Variable Expense (extra or overweight luggage/long term parking/gas/Uber/etc). That’s a total of $900 in Traveling Expenses.
*Long term parking in Toronto using a shuttle to the airport can be found as low as $8/day (for 9 days that’s $72). Using Parking Panda for alternative parking options, the rate can be as cheap as $62.75. Always plan your parking well in advance to avoid needless spending.
Lodging
Air BnB is a savior! For my last trip to Italy I Air BnB’ed in Venice, Florence, and Rome. It went smoothly and was incredibly affordable. For this template, let’s assume I plan on spending the entire time in Lisbon. “Private Rooms” on AirBnB can be found as low as $15/night or you can rent entire apartments/houses at an average rate of around $100 (but there are many decent options for closer to $60).
For the sake of being “bougie”, let’s pretend I’m going to rent an entire home for $100 a night. That’s 8 nights x $100 for a total of $800 in Lodging Expenses
*Make sure you check for fees not disclosed upfront, i.e. tourist tax, cleaning fee, deposit, etc.
Food
When I fly, I try to fast the majority of the day but for those who prefer to eat while you travel, you will receive 1-2 meals and snacks on your flight depending on flight times. For these reasons I don’t include the first and last days of your trip in the Food Expenses. There is a cushion built in to the Traveling Variable Expense, however, if food purchase on those days is necessary.
While traveling internationally, my meals usually look like this:
- Breakfast: Tea/Coffee and a small pastry or fruit
- Lunch: I usually stick to a small lunch that varies depending on where I am traveling (in Italy it was a lot of roadside sandwiches).
- Dinner: This where I will spend the bulk of my per diem. (In Italy it was almost always bruschetta, a pasta dish, and a bottle of red wine).
If you aren’t an outrageously extravagant diner, you will be more than safe budgeting $40 USD/day (this translates to roughly 35 euros).
That’s 7 days x $40 USD for a total of $280 in Food Expenses, but we will call it $300 to be safe.
Shopping
This is completely a personal preference. If I don’t have a specific item that I really want to purchase at my destination (i.e. gold jewelry in Florence, leather goods in Rome), then my shopping budget is almost nonexistent. I’m not a huge souvenir person; I prefer to spend that money on food or experiences…I’ll budget $100 in Shopping Expenses just to be fair to y’all.
Experiences
It’s always a good idea to check out TripAdvisor or similar sites. They’ll have the “must see/do” activities mapped out for you, but they will also have a list of really cool day trips, some for under $100 (most of the time these include a meal AKA saving your food per diem!). While TripAdvisor is a great resource, another good way to find free things to do is by searching Pinterest.
For daily transportation, I prefer to walk everywhere. Walking gives you a more authentic experience and let’s you see more of your surroundings first hand. However, public transportation in Europe is easy and cheap, I’ve accounted for a small daily allotment for transportation expense in the daily Experience Expense.
Budgeting for Experience Expenses will rely heavily on personal preferences and what kind of exploring you want to do. Without having any concrete plans yet, I suggest you budget $75/day. 7 days x $75 is a total of $525 in Experience Expense, we’ll call it $550 to be safe.
Other Variable Expenses
These are things you can’t concretely budget for, like seeing a $400 piece of art that you NEED to have, or destroying your Air BnB by hosting a wild international party and having to pay for it…
I like to do all of my budgeting in terms of real cash on hand, in other words, money sitting in my bank account that I am fully okay with spending on my trip. Keep in mind, just because I budget for it absolutely does not mean I’m spending it. I left my 2017 Italy/Greece trip with $500 unspent. So small variables I can usually work in to the food/traveling money I didn’t spend. However, a whole plethora of scary/wonderful/expensive things can happen while traveling abroad so I have a credit card (low interest) dedicated to just those occasions. Its only purpose is to be used while traveling, for expenses I wasn’t expecting. That way I don’t overwhelm myself by adding to the budget but I’ve also given myself some security in case of an unforeseen expense.
Recap
- Flight Expense: $700
- Travel Days Variable Expense: $200
- Lodging Expense: $800 ($100/night for 8 nights) High end of the spectrum!
- Food Expense: $300 ($40/day for 7 days, plus a small cushion)
- Shopping Expense: $100
- Experience Expense: $550 ($75/day for 7 days plus a small cushion. THIS SHOULD BE MORE THAN ENOUGH!)
TOTAL: $2,650…this number might be low for some people but it is VERY high for me. Last year I traveled to Italy with two friends for nine days. I spent $700 on my flight to Italy and all my other expenses together cost me only $1,000. It is doable for much less than the budget I gave you; it just depends on where you are willing to cut costs and whether or not you are traveling alone.
*Using this template and traveling with one other person you could AT THE VERY LEAST cut out $100 of your traveling variable expense, and $400 from lodging.
Once your personal budget is created, we can begin to plan how to save!
-XOXO, MaiaElizabeth