We live in the most connected world in history, and any dream destination, event, or experience is a booking away. However, with all the resources and noise we find online, it can be challenging to plan your trip and get the most value from it.
Foremost, each one of us has different priorities, and your plans should reflect your lifestyle goals and be realistic. Of course, I would love to travel first-class every trip and dine out at Michelin restaurants every night. However, this would quickly deplete my resources, and I instead prefer to visit new places, live new experiences, and never miss the important moments. Those are my priorities, and my lifestyle reflects them. Based on these priorities, I booked a fantastic trip to Europe for New Year’s Eve 2020 and visited ten countries (four of them for the first time) in two weeks.
Here I’ll share with you how I planned my trip, how long it took, and how much I spent. Hopefully, through my experience, I can help you plan your travel and experiences better.
One of my travel priorities is to visit new countries and cultures, and since I’m fortunate enough to have lived and have visited most of Europe in the past, this time, I wanted to do a microstate tour. I decided to visit San Marino, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, and Andorra for the first time. While getting to these new destinations, I also went back to Italy, The Vatican, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and France. My trip dates were from December 28th, 2019 until January 12th, 2020, departing from Boston and returning to Dallas.
The Core
First, you need a core for your trip, and these are your arrival and departure cities. Even though most trips are roundtrips from the same airport, if the price is the same (or less), I prefer to pick different cities to visit and explore more. How did I choose my core cities? I spent time looking at a map, trying different flight combinations, and I prefer to start my trips further east and travel back to the west for a shorter flight back to America. I decided that Rome and Barcelona, due to their locations, were the best options to be my core cities.
Maximize Layovers
A layover doesn’t have to be a waste of time. If planned correctly, they can be fantastic parts of your trip and allow you to visit a new city and leverage your paid ticket. I searched for both paid and reward tickets and decided to book a reward ticket. Paid tickets were over $1000, and even though that’s a reasonable price for such a long trip, I preferred to use miles. After comparing several airlines, United Airlines had the best reward availability and price.
Value your miles
The price for the core of my trip was 60,000 miles and $92.75. If this is a good deal or not, that depends on you and how much you value your miles. A similar flight during those dates costs $1200 (notice the terrible return flight of 32 hours). If I wanted the same trip reserved with United Airlines, the cost is $3,678. Even though I wouldn’t have paid that much for the ticket, these prices provide us with a value for our United Airlines miles between 2 cents per mile (1200/60000) and 6.1 cents per mile (3678/60000) plus $92.75. Since booking with points usually gets you between 1 and 1.5 cents per mile, I consider these values between a good and a terrific deal. Now that I was confident that my core trip was a smart decision, I started to book the rest of my transportation and accommodation.
Get there
I consider all of my options to travel. Flying might seem like the fastest method, but you must also add the time you need to spend to get there, check-in, and security. Trains are convenient and comfortable, but they can be more expensive than flights. Buses are usually the slowest ones but, most of the time, the most affordable. Renting a car can be very flexible, but when you are driving, you often can’t enjoy your trip while driving, and you can get exhausted before you reach your destination.
In my destination cities, I walk as much as I can and use public transit when possible. I’ll break down all my other transportation expenses.
After comparing all my options, I drafted the following route:
Roma-Rimini-San Marino-Rimini-Firenze-Munich-Zurich-Liechtenstein-Zurich-Madrid-Sevilla-Algeciras-Gibraltar-Algeciras-Barcelona-Andorra-Barcelona
Aeroporti di Roma (Fiumicino) – Roma: Public transit $9
Roma 3 day public transit ticket – $14
Roma – Rimini train – $30.74
Rimini – San Marino roundtrip bus – $11
Rimini – Firenze train – $38.07
Firenze – Munich flight – included in core ticket
Munich – Zurich flight – included in core ticket
Zurich – Sargans/Liechtenstein roundtrip – $68 for train and $10 for bus
Zurich – Madrid flight – $52.73
Madrid 1 day metro pass – $ 9.40
Madrid – Sevilla bus – $48
Sevilla – Algeciras bus – $30.16
Algeciras – Gibraltar roundtrip bus – $4.4
Algeciras – Barcelona – $98.95
Barcelona T10 metro pass – $12.62
Barcelona – Andorra (and France) car rental and tolls – $18.39 and $70.29*
Barcelona taxi to airport – $55/3 = $18 (shared with 2 others)
The total I spent on transportation was 543.75, about $38.84 per day.
*Also notice that I spent $70.29 in tolls in one day, I didn’t expect this such a large amount, but a learning experience for future trips.
Always feel safe
When I travel alone (and that’s 95% of the time), I usually stay at cheerful hostels. When I have traveled with someone or in a group, we consider other options such as hotels or renting an apartment, since it’s essential that everyone feels comfortable and safe. Since I traveled alone this time, I searched for hostels with great reviews, location, and activities. I’ve met fantastic people on my trips, and with many of them, I’m still in touch. In Spain, I had previously stayed with the Hostel One chain and enjoyed my time. Their staff is friendly and joyous, and they always have fun activities and tours. As a solo traveler, I recommend staying with them.
Rome – 2 nights for $107
Rimini – 2 nights for $36
San Marino – Day trip
Florence – 1 night for $23.73
Munich – Day trip
Zurich – 1 night for $40
Liechtenstein – Day trip
Madrid – 1 night for $18
Sevilla – 1 night for 19
Algeciras – 1 night for $14.70
Gibraltar – Day trip
Barcelona – 3 nights for $52
The total I spent on accommodations was $310.43, an average of $22.17 per day.
Never hungry
One of the most important aspects of a trip is trying new dishes. In my case, I enjoy food, and I enjoy it a lot. I come from a family and culture where many interactions revolve around food. When I visit new places, I try to experience as much of the local cuisine as possible. However, if I’m staying for more than one night, I go to the supermarket to get some basics such as water, juice, bread, ham, and cheese, enough for a snack.
I will encourage you to experience new foods and restaurants, especially when you are visiting new places; however, do it for the thrilling experience of enjoying a fresh cuisine for the first time rather than to be seen and post about it. We live in a world of oversharing in social media, myself included, and sometimes we pay more attention to what others think of what and where we are eating rather than appreciating the moment. Hopefully, we can share to motivate others instead of some superficial bragging.
I try to find a balance between street food, places recommended by friends and locals, and famous restaurants. For this trip, I spent $358.17 in food, an average of $25.58 per day. I enjoyed some fantastic dishes for $9 and fancier dining experiences for $80.
Social Budget
Finally, visiting historic landmarks, discovering new sites, meeting people, etc.. are lovely parts of a trip, but an unforgettable trip should include some international partying. I go out a lot, and I enjoy it. Bars, lounges, and clubs can be very representative and an essential part of the city you are visiting. Many cities around the world will try to prove to you that nobody parties like them. I understand that not all travelers go out or drink alcohol, even when drinking alcohol, everyone has different preferences, and spending varies.
Also, my social budget was higher than usual since I celebrated my birthday in Barcelona, and I spent more than usual. In total, my birthday weekend, in Barcelona, cost me $398.3, equivalent to $132.76 when going out Thursday, Friday, Saturday.
The cost of being home
If we add all the expenses from my two weeks in Europe, the total is $1,703.4 (transportation + accommodation + eating + social + airline fees) and 60,000 United Airlines’ miles. The daily rate for my trip was $121.64. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t consider this amount to be the cost of the trip because even if we stayed home, we still spend daily on food, transportation, and going out. I can compare my spending in Europe during New Year’s Eve and my birthday to the two weeks surrounding Halloween, a time with a lot of social spending.
Between 10/20/19 and 11/03/19, I spent $683.33 (food and social) and $178.49 on transportation (rides and gas) for a total of $861.82. If this is what I spent staying home, then the difference with my trip expenses is what I consider the real cost of traveling.
Happiness might not have a price, but getting there does
Conclusively, I had to spend $841.58 ($1,703.4-$861.82) and 60,000 miles to experience my trip to Europe, visiting ten countries in fourteen days. Each one has different priorities and spending habits, and I consider that my trip was a great value and worth every single minute.
I hope that with this analysis, you have more resources and ideas to plan your trips and make sure you get the most value and the best experiences that you deserve. Thank you.
Safe travels and adventures!