Europe - Let’s Make It Happen

Back in 2008, I was a working as an associate in a large auditing firm here in the Philippines. If you know someone working in an audit firm, then you've probably heard how low the pay is. Working in an audit firm gave me a fantastic training ground but unfortunately, it cannot fund my dreams. Not just dream of going to Europe, but dreams of traveling in general.

In 2008, I resigned and moved to a better paying job - with better working hours too. Around mid-2008, I read that World Youth Day 2011 will be held in Spain. This is my chance! I made it my goal to attend the WYD 2011 in Spain. Oh, I wasn't able to attend the one here in the Philippines with Pope John Paul II. A former officemate attended the WYD 2008 in ___. She told me that I should prepare USD 2500 for two weeks. Now I knew how to convert USD to PHP but I had no concept whatsoever how much that money is. However, I realized I wanted to conquer Europe, in a certain way: carefree!

I devised other methods of how I can travel to Europe:

• Defer until am old, settled and retired with loads of money to spend. But at that age, my health may not allow me to travel or I do food trip adventure due to dietary restrictions.
• Find a company here that will send me in Europe for trainings and assignments (Company sponsored trip? Why not?)
• Find a way how to study in Europe. I like my life to much here in the Philippines to seriously consider this back then. Of course, this is still an option.
• Make Europe happen now. I have a job right? Now how can I save for a trip like that? - I chose to do this one.

A goal, without a plan, is just a wish.




















I decided that I would do a three-week trip in Europe. Why 3 weeks? Well, that’s the number of vacation days that I get a year – that simple, hahaha! An officemate went to a EU tour back on 2009 and he said that I’ll need around 3,500 to 4,500 USD for three weeks. I did some minor research and USD 4,000 sounds about right – inclusive of everything. I pegged it at 5,000 to cover for unexpected expenses, impulse purchases and pasalubong.

So Loraine’s Europe 2011 Dream Destination Travel Extravaganza will approximately cost: $5,000 x Php xx = Php 2xx,xxx. That is the target goal. *Gulp*

I was doing some mild saving before I really had a solid idea how much that dream will cost me. Whoa. So this dream would cost me that much. I actually don’t have any inclination much THAT is. I never owned nor bought anything near that amount. After a couple of breaths, I set out a plan how to carry this out. Yes, I really opened an Excel workbook and started budgeting. Plotting it in excel will let me see how realistic it is.