Well as you all may know now that we have been home in Australia for a month now.
I just wanted to let you know that we did beat the budget.
We started with $20,000 (about $5,000 was the airfares to and from Italy). So we had $15,000 for the 3 months in Italy for accomodation, travel, food and other expenses.
We did extremely well and enjoyed everything we could do on a budget. All of our accomodation in apartments was at least 3 star by Australian standards. We treated ourselves to lunches out (when in Paris we ate out most of the time for a week). We also spent about $600 in one day at Paris Disneyland (big budget blowout).
But in saying all of this we came home and still had $500 in the bank.
If you have any questions for me about how we found budget accomodation and great travel deals please feel free to leave a comment or contact me by email to maleenah@gmail.com
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Monday, November 15, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Paris = fun + games!
In the begining of September we visited Paris for one week.
A great website to look for apartments in Paris is www.parisattitude.com. We got a small one bedroom apartment with sofa bed in the living/kitchen/dining area for less that 500euros a week in the Moulin Rouge area. They will send you an email letting you know if the apartment is available, then you will be required to get in contact with the owner and send them signed copies of the rental agreement and 100euros to half the cost of apartment for a deposit. Many of them accept Western Union (most expensive), Paypal (best) and Bank transfer (expensive). When you arrive you pay the owner the remaining amount + some will ask for the same amount again as a safety deposit that you will get back when you leave (this is to cover any damage that may occur). We have found that many look at our children and decide that they are old enough to not destroy anything and forgo asking us for this deposit.
The Moulin Rouge area is classed as "red light" so many of you are thinking - oh no I would never stay there with my children - Well trust me I thought the same thing when we arrived at the apartment and I could see all of the shops and "dance" halls lit up (we arrived at midnight). But the next morning I looked out of the window and it was like any other city, families out for walks, business people on the way to work, people walking their dogs and stores opening up for the day. The thing is when you are travelling with children you are not likely to go out a night except for dinner and normally with children that is quite early, so you don't really see anything that goes on at night. Also in Europe they quite often use double glazed windows for the apartments in built up areas, so when inside with the windows closed you don't hear a thing.
Back to our apartment, the owner met us at the door when we arrived and showed us in to a very secure apartment building. He showed us how to turn the key to enter and where all the household equipment was stored (extra blankets, iron etc...), how to use the washing machine and cooktop. He gave us a map of the city and showed us all the areas nearby that are "classic Parisien" and told us we must see this and that. He was very informative and extremely helpful.
If you are travelling with a pram/pushcar or buggy, please be aware that in Europe you will not find many apartments that have lifts, you will more than likely get an apartment that has between 3 to 7 flights of stairs to climb, so keep this in mind. Always ask if they are on the ground floor or 1st floor (you should be fine up to the 2nd floor).
A great website to look for apartments in Paris is www.parisattitude.com. We got a small one bedroom apartment with sofa bed in the living/kitchen/dining area for less that 500euros a week in the Moulin Rouge area. They will send you an email letting you know if the apartment is available, then you will be required to get in contact with the owner and send them signed copies of the rental agreement and 100euros to half the cost of apartment for a deposit. Many of them accept Western Union (most expensive), Paypal (best) and Bank transfer (expensive). When you arrive you pay the owner the remaining amount + some will ask for the same amount again as a safety deposit that you will get back when you leave (this is to cover any damage that may occur). We have found that many look at our children and decide that they are old enough to not destroy anything and forgo asking us for this deposit.
The Moulin Rouge area is classed as "red light" so many of you are thinking - oh no I would never stay there with my children - Well trust me I thought the same thing when we arrived at the apartment and I could see all of the shops and "dance" halls lit up (we arrived at midnight). But the next morning I looked out of the window and it was like any other city, families out for walks, business people on the way to work, people walking their dogs and stores opening up for the day. The thing is when you are travelling with children you are not likely to go out a night except for dinner and normally with children that is quite early, so you don't really see anything that goes on at night. Also in Europe they quite often use double glazed windows for the apartments in built up areas, so when inside with the windows closed you don't hear a thing.
Back to our apartment, the owner met us at the door when we arrived and showed us in to a very secure apartment building. He showed us how to turn the key to enter and where all the household equipment was stored (extra blankets, iron etc...), how to use the washing machine and cooktop. He gave us a map of the city and showed us all the areas nearby that are "classic Parisien" and told us we must see this and that. He was very informative and extremely helpful.
If you are travelling with a pram/pushcar or buggy, please be aware that in Europe you will not find many apartments that have lifts, you will more than likely get an apartment that has between 3 to 7 flights of stairs to climb, so keep this in mind. Always ask if they are on the ground floor or 1st floor (you should be fine up to the 2nd floor).
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
I guess I should tell you what our budget is...
Well to start off our budget for 3 months in Italy including all airfares, accomodation, passports, travel insurance, luggage, taxis, transport, souvenirs, food, utilities, international drivers licence and everything else needed for travelling overseas is $20,000.
Most couples spend $20,000 on a 2-4 week tour of Europe so we plan on stretching it to 3 months.
First things first you really need to be flexible on when you can go, so that when you find extremely cheap airfares you can book them. By buying Air Asia tickets when they were having a sale we saved thousands all up our tickets from the Gold Coast to London return were $1100 each including all taxes. From there we paid for cheap local flights with Meridiana, Ryanair and Easy Jet. If you do not want to go as cheap as Air Asia most of the time you can get a flight to London Return from Brisbane from about $1800 + taxes.
So our airfares have taken up a quarter of our budget ( I did freak out at this, but have done my sums over and over again and everything should work out alright).
Next post will be on the accomodation and also whether it was a good idea flying Air Asia :-).
Most couples spend $20,000 on a 2-4 week tour of Europe so we plan on stretching it to 3 months.
First things first you really need to be flexible on when you can go, so that when you find extremely cheap airfares you can book them. By buying Air Asia tickets when they were having a sale we saved thousands all up our tickets from the Gold Coast to London return were $1100 each including all taxes. From there we paid for cheap local flights with Meridiana, Ryanair and Easy Jet. If you do not want to go as cheap as Air Asia most of the time you can get a flight to London Return from Brisbane from about $1800 + taxes.
So our airfares have taken up a quarter of our budget ( I did freak out at this, but have done my sums over and over again and everything should work out alright).
Next post will be on the accomodation and also whether it was a good idea flying Air Asia :-).
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