Once we determined we wanted to go to Italy, the next step was how much we were comfortable spending.  We determined the minimum, most likely, and high spending amounts for the key travel categories: Food/Dining, Activities, Hotel/AirBnB, and Flights. The initial budget chart is found below.  If you can’t tell, I was in my MBA Project Management course when I did this, thus inspiring the min, most likely, high estimates and ensuing predictive analysis in At Risk.  But anyway, this is the initial budget.  In an ideal world, we would spend $11,000 or less and if things got crazy no more than $18,500.  Ekkkk.  That’s a lot of money, right?  REMEMBER this is a budget for four adults, traveling for 11 days, in Europe where the dollar is slightly weaker. Better now?

Budget	Min	Most Likely	High
Food/Dining Out	2000	2200	3500
Activities	3000	4000	5000
Hotel/AirBnB	2000	2500	3000
Flights	4000	5000	7000
Total Cost	11000	13700	18500

Once we had the max budgets, we could do research on activities, hotel vs. AirBnB cost, and find flights that weren’t too expensive. So how much did we actually spend?  In the end, we spent a total of $10,882.57.  UNDER BUDGET! And roughly $2,700 per adult.  In this post, I’ll share our budget hits and misses and tips on how you can save on your next trip.

Budget	Min	Most  Likely	High	Actual
Food/Dining Out	2000	2200	3500	750.77
Activities	3000	4000	5000	910.25
Hotel/Airbnb	2000	2500	3000	3772.25
Taxis/Bus/Train				351.2
Miscellaneous				298.1
Flights	4000	5000	7000	4800
Total Cost	11000	13700	18500	10882.57

Food/Dining

When we made the budget we must’ve thought we would be eating literally everything we saw.  We did eat quite a bit, but we were able to save by eating one meal out each day.  Deciding to stay at an AirBnB really helped this category.  With a full kitchen, we really could’ve made every meal at home, but that’s just wrong in Italy.  So how did we eat one meal out each day?

Prior to leaving, I grabbed some oatmeal packs to last a couple days, two days worth of pancake mix, as well as some granola bars, Belvita Biscuits, Tuna packs from my Tuna Tuesdays post, popcorn, hot chocolate mix, and fruit snacks for snacking.  This way we could have some quick snacks on hand and not have to fully stock a fridge and pantry.  Starting from these essentials we went to the markets and grocery store to pick up eggs, fresh fruit, salad, bread and jam, meat, and a couple of things to make dinner.  With our days generally starting late (we were really trying to vacation) we would have more of a brunch and then head out to the activity for the day.  In my last post, you’ll notice we typically did one activity each day, this is part of the reason why.

Bringing essentials and keeping eating out to a minimum that still allowed us to have the Italian experience while staying under budget.  We ate every breakfast in, skipped most lunches in favor of a brunch, and ate dinner out six times while in Italy.  Implementing these tips, we spent $750 on food and dining out.

Activities

In Rome, there is so much to do, you could literally spend thousands on all the different museums, tour options, and entry fees.  We budgeted our most likely to be $4000.  However, this also included a trip to Florence as an activity, but we wound up not taking that day trip.  Not doing that, alone saved about $500 when factoring in transport costs, entry fees and hotel.  It’s something we would have liked to do, but we knew our limits and were just too tired to enjoy it.

Having a general idea of what you want to see, researching tickets prior, and booking early is the best way to save in the activity category.  Knowing what we wanted to see, the Free Walking Tour allowed us to check some of that off the list at a low price.  The most expensive per person activity we did was the AirBnB experiences Pasta, Pizza, and Tiramisu cooking class.  This was about $90 per person.  We were willing to spend more on this since it included a meal and was a class versus a tour. Other than that, and the On the Run Tour Tickets (only $75 USD!) most entries were free or about what was expected of a museum.  The Big Bus Tour added $40 per person, but it was well worth it for the first trip to Rome.  Spa Night was a pleasant activity that allowed us to relax and was about $20 versus the mani/pedi price of €70 per person (not cheap!).

We did have an advantage.  Apparently handicap visitors and one accompanying guest can entry most site for free.  We received this at the Colosseum saving €24, €40 on the St. Peter’s Basilica dome elevator fee, and probably any skip the line fee that may exist.  The downside is you can only get the free entry on arrival so we didn’t get this at the Vatican museum since we did the special Friday night opening and wanted to make sure our tickets were guaranteed.

So how much did we spend?  Our actual spend was $910!  Again, under budget.  What helped here was the handicap advantage, not trying to see everything possible in Rome, and regrettably cutting out the Florence trip.

Hotel/AirBnB

We opted to stay at an AirBnB for this trip.  First of all, we needed space.  We had four adults coming on the trip so we ideally wanted a space with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  Going the hotel route, this would mean booking two separate rooms, but we also wanted to be together. Booking the AirBnB we knew we would also be able to save on food by cooking some meals at home.

Here’s what we did wrong.  We booked a fabulous AirBnB Plus, the hosts were super nice and it was a little farther out from the city, thinking we wanted a place away from the city noise for full-relaxation.  Then mobility changed and we knew being farther would turn into a burden.  So we canceled the booking.  With AirBnB most cancellations will be refunded, but fees are not.  On this booking, we lost fees.  We found another place in the heart of Old Rome, literally across the street from Castel San Angelo and the Vatican, but it turns out a few steps really means like 12 very steep, limited railing supported steps.  We did this for the first four days and it was painful.  With my dad’s mobility issues it was stressing everyone out and we decided to change places again.  We moved at 11:30 PM…we were really not about that stair life.  This meant we lost fees and paid for the original night and the night at the new place without stairs.

How much did we spend?  With all the changes and fees, we spent $3,772 on housing.  Over budget ☹. This is the only item we went over budget on, but we all agree it was worth it.  If we booked at stayed at Maria’s place for the duration, we would’ve saved about $800 accounting for the fees, double night, and the price difference in apartments.  Lesson and limits learned for the next trip.

Flights

Ahh flights.  Our most expensive and unavoidable expense.  We may have been able to save a little by booking early, but doing some quick research of next summer, pricing is the same.  A major cost saver would be to travel during off-peak season in the Fall or Winter, but this didn’t work for our schedules.

How much did we spend?  We spent $4,800 on flights for four. Given the timing of travel and destination, it is what it is.

Other

I’m sure you’re adding this up and noticed it’s not balancing.  For some reason, we didn’t make set budget items for transport in Italy and miscellaneous items like souvenirs, drug store items, and the candied hazelnuts I had to have (they were delicious).  We used taxis the latter half of our trip, to and from the airport, and to the cooking experience.  I also accounted for a few bus passes.  Transportation accounts for about $350 of the total spent and miscellaneous, $200.  I would still say this isn’t too bad.  We could have spent much more on taxis, but since we were willing to work (sweaty, hot work) and manage with a wheelchair on cobblestones we were able to limit taxis to leaving and return to the apartment.

Saving for the Trip

As soon as I knew we were planning an Italy trip, I started saving.  I’m a fan of sinking funds and was trying to do the Dave Ramsey Baby, so I opened a new savings account with Barclays specifically for vacation saving.  At the same time, I’d recently paid off my car early, so that payment was designated for vacation.   Each month I moved anywhere from $150-300 to this account.  By the end of the 8 months, I saved about $2,000.  A little short of the $2,500, but I knew I had the rest in another account.  I’m only speaking for myself here and I definitely could’ve moved more if I wasn’t also saving for something to be discussed in another post (hmm).  Everyone’s situation was different.  Because my car was paid, I didn’t make any special sacrifices, but you could cut out eating meals out, shop based on grocery sales and meal plan, and lower monthly entertainment/shopping to save for a trip like this.

 

That’s what we spent $10,800 on and where we cut to save!  It breaks down to about $2,500 per person on an 11 day trip to Rome.  Given the cost of flights at $1,200 and housing, I’m satisfied with the amount spent.  We didn’t make any major sacrifices but also didn’t go overboard and still had a memorable authentic Italian experience.

-Me

 

How do you save on vacations?  What’s your must-have travel splurge? Make sure you follow to get the next post Italy Part 3: Bloopers and Mishaps