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recent
Tomoe is leaving tomorrow, so tonight we sat down and tallied up all the money we spent while she was here, including our trip to Norway, Belgium, Poland, and within Sweden. We didn't pay much attention to the growing total as we were spending, but we are naturally stingy people. During the entire three weeks we only ate out four times (two of those were just three-dollar falafels). All other meals were from the grocery store (and much better, I might add). One night, instead of staying in a hostel which would have cost a little over $30 per person, we took the train the opposite direction from where we wanted to go, just far enough that we could catch an overnight train back. It just didn't make much sense to pay for a hostel when we had already paid for unlimited train riding within Scandinavia with our Scan-rail pass. When it came to museums with a $10 cover charge, our strategy is to just read the books in the gift-shop instead which often tend to be more informative than the actual exhibitions.
Despite our tight-fisted ways, I was sure that figuring out how much was spent would send me into a deep depression, but I was happy to find that we we only spent just over $800 each for three weeks of travel, food, shelter, skiing, biking, hiking, sauna, sight-seeing, Belgian beer and chocolate, and traditional Scandinavian delicacies. Considering that I may spend $200 anyway if it was not a vacation, I adjust the total to $600. Not as cheap as Thailand, but not near as bad as I expected. It gives me hope that I can afford to go back to Norway later in the spring for more skiing.
It makes me wonder though, what do people mean when they say "Europe on a shoestring"? We averaged $40 per day, which I would consider to be quite extravegant, yet, for over half of those days we stayed here in my apartment, and half of the days we were traveling we spent either at a friends house, my sister's apartment, or on the train (we only stayed in hostels or guest houses for four nights). How do people do it without such free lodging?
(the photos are from Bay City MI, USA. The Norway photos will come soon)
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