My apologies for missing the round up this week. I wasn’t feeling well last night, so I didn’t get a chance to get it posted. Then I was up and at ’em for work this morning, and I didn’t have a chance to catch up.
I do want to give my sincere thanks for the words of encouragement on my post about planning our trip to Europe. I have to confess, I was really nervous about sharing my plans. I had no reason to believe that my wonderful readers would be anything but supportive, but I also know that all of us in this community are committed to being debt free. I was worried that announcing such an expensive endeavour while we’ll still in debt might result in some judgment. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The comments I received were so supportive and encouraging. Thank you.
I’m excited, but also overwhelmed. We’ve never made a trip like this. So I’d also like to request advice if you have any to give. A couple of you have already offered some tips (thanks Susan and Claire!). If you’ve ever traveled to Europe — or to any other country for that matter — I would love to hear about your trip, especially if you’ve done it frugally!
I really want to have the trip of a lifetime, but since we’re still in debt and living on a modest income, we’re going to have to be creative if we want to do it without throwing off our goals too much.
I’ll be sure to write more as we continue to plan. First priority, though, is saving! :)
I hope you all had a wonderful Friday!
I hope you’re feeling better today. We try to be somewhat frugal when we travel too. But we have never traveled outside the country (well, we haven’t as a family). We do try to get a place with a fridge so that we can buy milk and cereal (and plastic bowls and spoons) and we eat breakfast in our hotel. You can also either buy sandwich fixings and make yourself a lunch to take with you as you sightsee or get a microwave and buy some food to heat up in your hotel.
Part of the fun of being on vacation is not cooking so we do try to eat at least one meal out (usually dinner). For souveniers we buy things like t-shirts or sweatshirts or mugs or something.
You might try googling to see if anybody has any ideas on this. Sorry I’m not more helpful.
momstheword’s last blog post..MY GROCERY STORE HATES ME
I think I’m going to travel vicariously through you. Are you planning on going the hostel route, or are you thinking hotel?
Do you have a passport? If you do, you might go ahead and update it with your new name, and if you don’t — might as well get it soon!
One thing I’d like to see is a breakdown of how you think the $6k might be allocated. Every little bit of it. Then, we can all get to work to help you figure out how to cut costs without sacrificing.
Kacie’s last blog post..I have a cold, ugh. And some link love
Kacie – Good idea! I’ll post a breakdown today.
We’ll probably go the hotel route. I think hostels are a great idea for solo travelers or friends, but as a married couple we’d really like the privacy of a hotel room.
No passport yet, but the plan is to get that taken care of this summer!
The passport requirements are going to change soon. Not sure what they are chaing to, but you may want to check them out here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738_2.html.
I went to Switzerland 2 years ago and it was expensive. We were lucky and had someone to stay with the whole time we were there. Food was outrageous and your best bet is to eat like the locals. My mom just got back from France and they ate big in the morning, small at lunch (if at all) and then dinner at a B&B. (Might want to check those out too). For lunch sometimes they would just eat wonderful bread, fruit and cheese! Most from the local people. Yummy!