$850 USD? For:

Lodging, food, drinks, activities in London

Food, drinks, activities in Bruxelles

and

Lodging, food, drinks, activities in Dublin?
Basically, 2 weeks in London, Bruxelles and Dublin. But we are staying at my families in Bruxelles.

I guess +200 USD additional for emergencies wouldn't hurt..but I'm traveling with 3 other college students..trying to see if a budget like this would be feasible..We are looking into apartment shares and usually doing everything FREE like our own walking tours and 2 for 1 museums and stuff like that but I thought I'd budget for activities. Mostly food and lodging is what we're concerned about.

Hi M,

I think that even for students that is very low.

Have you tried the Thorn Tree Forum at www.lonelyplanet.com?

Nope - no way. Even if you were staying w/ family for the whole time that would be an unrealistic budget (but it would be in any US city as well)

$850 only = about £30 or €40 a day for 14 days. In London £30 will get you a room if you share but not much else besides one cheap meal at most. No drinks or transport, or activities, except for museums which are mostly free. Dublin will be as expensive as London - even youth hostels will cost you at least £20 or €25 a night.

How many night are you staying w/ your family?

We're staying in Bruxelles for 5 days. We have my aunt's apartment all to ourselves and were hoping to get 1 or 2 meals a day at my family's restaurant or w/ my aunts.

Here is my pseduo breakdown (a little more than the original $850)..can you tell me if I should allocate more to other areas or need less. These are in USD

London (7 days, 6 nights)
-Housing: $300 (sharing with 4 other people we're looking at places between $1056-$1400 big range I know)
-Activities: $50
-Drinks: $70
-Food: $300
-Shopping: $100

Bruxelles (5 days, 4 nights)
-Housing: FREE
-Food: $120 (my family is buying us groceries too)
-Drinks: $40
-Activities: $50
-Shopping: $50

Dublin (4 days, 3 nights)
-Housing: $100
-Food: $100
-Activities: $50
-Drinks: $60
-Shop: $30

Right now it is at $1420 for two weeks..is this more reasonable? Too high? Where can I shave it off?

obviously the drinking part..but I'm trying to be realistic..I'm going to be with my 4 friends and we are going to do a bit of drinking..i put a lot into the drinking budget even though i don't drink a lot because i'm not sure how much drinks cost? just whatever is on tap

You asked for $850 and now are up to nearly $1500. That makes a HUGE difference.

some thoughts:

You haven't included any $ for transport.

What do you mean by "activities". If that is museums, sightseeing tours, boat rides, admissions -- you really need to increase those numbers. As examples, the Tower of London costs $32, the London Eye - $32, a Thames boat ride about $13

you are only talking £21 a day for food in London. Unless you get breakfast included w/ you rooms its possible but will take a bit of scrimping.

Also - you haven't counted any $ for concerts, theatre, clubs, etc.

Well, first 0 your total as broken down is over $1400 - nowhere near $850.

second your costs are completely out the window. Four night in Dublin for $100 - that's $17 per night. I can't imagine any hostl you can get for that price.

I really think you need to do a daily budget based on actual prices (and Thorn Tree will give you a realistic idea).

And - what have you allowed for getting for one place to another.


And forget shopping at all - since your costs for food and drink are WAY too low.

(You have to stop thinking in dollars and think in euros or pounds. For instance - you're showing 35 pounds in London for drinks for a week. If you stick to one beer in a local pub you may be OK. But - one evening in any sort of club is more than that - since liquor or mixed drinks are easily 5/6 pounds and up - way up in trendy places.)

we're not staying in london for only 6 days and 5 nights because i forgot we don't arrive until the 9th of jan.

we bought our tickets to get to get to dublin and bruxelles on ryan air so transportation costs have already been included in the 600 we spent on flights to europe and internal flights..

but the 'activities' fees are mainly transportation/metro cards and not museums or anything else..we plan to go to free museums or free walking tours and do FREE things to do. sightseeing or 2 for 1 price museum visits. so no concerts, theatre, clubs, etc. also we work for EMI records so if the artist is under our label we can see the concert for free anyways.

breakfast IS included as part of our hotel (which we booked 80 pounds to split between 5 people) and my allocation of money was based on prices i saw from menus i looked at online which are vegan fast food restaurants and menus from restaurants featured in the cheap eats section i found on time out london and a pint is normally all i need to last most of the night we're beer people anyways.

we're only staying 3 nights in london and we're going to stay at the gogarty..about 20ish USD a night for each of us

i went to thorn tree, which i hate the way the forum is set up so that's why i don't usually go there but i feel that there's more people willing to scrape by too so i'll pose the same general type of question there and see what i get.

so with that said i understand now that 850 may be unreasonable and 1400 is too high. but i've done my research..this isn't the same vacation that most of you have experienced so maybe we're looking at different things, different places, different activities.

thanks for all your help and considerations! hopefully i'll make it back alive and be able to give a trip report

I think you mean the Oliver St John Gogarty in <u>Dublin</u>, not London - right?

They have different types of rooms - but a 4 person room w/ bath will be more than $20 pp - plus the towel rental, etc.

oh yes i meant dublin! and right after i posted the gogarty moved us to a 4 bed ensuite so you're right it will cost more than $20 but just $20 over my $100.. i'm hoping that i won't really use everything in the other allocated budgets

i think that'll have to suffice though because i think that is the cheapest place that is somewhat decently rated..any other suggestions or do you think that is also the cheapest fare i can find? that isn't completely scummy

and i meant to say we are staying in london for 6 days and 5 nights but that is a correction from the 7 days, 6 nights i previously stated..