An Afternoon in Amsterdam, an Overnight in Assisi, and a Mad Dash Through Rome: Photos with Report to Come
Feb 16th, 2009, 12:56 PM
#41
<b>Bills and skills</b>
For whatever reason, I had gotten it into my head that Rome is exorbitantly expensive. I think a few trips back I ran out of money while there and had a couple of very lean days before my next direct deposit.
Did that ever leave an impression!
So this time I gave myself a generous spending money budget of $225/day food/spending. This included train and hotel in Assisi, car service to and from airports and my portion of long-term parking bill at SFO (split between the four of us); I also included travel days in my "per day" planning.
I splurged as much as I could but I'm not a shopper so I couldn't come close to spending it all. We always had breakfast in the apartment but only cooked dinner once on New Year’s Day. We tended to skip lunch because we were usually sightseeing. Then we had snacks and wine before dinner each night (!).
I used my <b>Capital One</b> card as advised on this board to pay for whatever I could and then paid the balance upon my return. Based on my bill, this was the way to go as my bank charges me $5 for each foreign cash withdrawal. I will definitely try to charge whatever I can and pay the bill in full when I get home from now on. The exchange rate hovered between $1.34-1.40 USD to 1 Euro during our visit.
<b>Dinner for 2 at Ristorante Montevecchio: $148</b>
This included two bottles of pretty nice wine, one liter of water, two primi, two secondi, two desserts, two caffes.
<b>Dinner for 3 at Ristorante Montevecchio: about $185</b>
One bottle of wine, two liters of water, three primi, three secondi, one dessert, two caffes.
<b>Dinner for 3 at Checchino dal 1887: $157</b>
We wanted to indulge more here but were on an unfortunately tight schedule. One bottle Sangiovese, one liter water, three primi, three secondi, one contorno.
<b>Dinner for 4 at Antico Arco: $490</b>
This included three prosecci, a kir, a bottle of wine, two liters of water, the two truffle primi, two normally priced ☺ primi, four secondi, two desserts, two coffees.
<b>Dinner for 3 Antico Arco with tasting menus: @$375</b>
This is an estimate; J paid and insisted on treating so it’s been hard to get an exact figure out of her…I think we may have had two bottles of wine here. Definitely finished with grappa. <i>Why not?</i> Hic.
This list isn’t anything close to comprehensive, but just to give others an idea of what a not-strict budget might look like. I'd say I probably only spent about $125/day average including Assisi (some days more, some days way less)--and I was not cutting any corners. Never ordered house wine, only had pizza once, etc. And it wouldn't have felt like a sacrifice to do those things.
<b>Ciao, ciao!</b>
This was a fantastic adventure, in many ways a dream trip, but very, very exhausting for me. Working right up to Christmas Eve, cooking dinner on Christmas, driving to the airport the day after, etc., and then returning straight to work—not to mention the added stress of traveling in a family group.
But Rome is worth it, of course. We all love the city and its history. And if I haven’t made it clear enough, I’m personally pretty wild about the food and wine.
I had saved up for this trip and came home with quite a bit of extra money. So when I got a fare alert for late May for just under $700 SFO-CDG, I bought a ticket.
Some alone time in Paris: the perfect coda to family time in Rome.
For whatever reason, I had gotten it into my head that Rome is exorbitantly expensive. I think a few trips back I ran out of money while there and had a couple of very lean days before my next direct deposit.
Did that ever leave an impression!
So this time I gave myself a generous spending money budget of $225/day food/spending. This included train and hotel in Assisi, car service to and from airports and my portion of long-term parking bill at SFO (split between the four of us); I also included travel days in my "per day" planning.
I splurged as much as I could but I'm not a shopper so I couldn't come close to spending it all. We always had breakfast in the apartment but only cooked dinner once on New Year’s Day. We tended to skip lunch because we were usually sightseeing. Then we had snacks and wine before dinner each night (!).
I used my <b>Capital One</b> card as advised on this board to pay for whatever I could and then paid the balance upon my return. Based on my bill, this was the way to go as my bank charges me $5 for each foreign cash withdrawal. I will definitely try to charge whatever I can and pay the bill in full when I get home from now on. The exchange rate hovered between $1.34-1.40 USD to 1 Euro during our visit.
<b>Dinner for 2 at Ristorante Montevecchio: $148</b>
This included two bottles of pretty nice wine, one liter of water, two primi, two secondi, two desserts, two caffes.
<b>Dinner for 3 at Ristorante Montevecchio: about $185</b>
One bottle of wine, two liters of water, three primi, three secondi, one dessert, two caffes.
<b>Dinner for 3 at Checchino dal 1887: $157</b>
We wanted to indulge more here but were on an unfortunately tight schedule. One bottle Sangiovese, one liter water, three primi, three secondi, one contorno.
<b>Dinner for 4 at Antico Arco: $490</b>
This included three prosecci, a kir, a bottle of wine, two liters of water, the two truffle primi, two normally priced ☺ primi, four secondi, two desserts, two coffees.
<b>Dinner for 3 Antico Arco with tasting menus: @$375</b>
This is an estimate; J paid and insisted on treating so it’s been hard to get an exact figure out of her…I think we may have had two bottles of wine here. Definitely finished with grappa. <i>Why not?</i> Hic.
This list isn’t anything close to comprehensive, but just to give others an idea of what a not-strict budget might look like. I'd say I probably only spent about $125/day average including Assisi (some days more, some days way less)--and I was not cutting any corners. Never ordered house wine, only had pizza once, etc. And it wouldn't have felt like a sacrifice to do those things.
<b>Ciao, ciao!</b>
This was a fantastic adventure, in many ways a dream trip, but very, very exhausting for me. Working right up to Christmas Eve, cooking dinner on Christmas, driving to the airport the day after, etc., and then returning straight to work—not to mention the added stress of traveling in a family group.
But Rome is worth it, of course. We all love the city and its history. And if I haven’t made it clear enough, I’m personally pretty wild about the food and wine.
I had saved up for this trip and came home with quite a bit of extra money. So when I got a fare alert for late May for just under $700 SFO-CDG, I bought a ticket.
Some alone time in Paris: the perfect coda to family time in Rome.
