Europe Part III: Itinerary and Budget Breakdown

I should probably start blogging about this now. Grad school starts in two weeks. My blogging mojo has an erratic life. I have backlogs from my China 2014 trip. It is difficult to blog about the past and plan for the next trip at the same time. It is difficult to keep up with myself (Char!). So here we go.

Europe again. Can you blame me?

Crafting this itinerary took considerably less time that the previous two EU trips I did.

I didn’t feel that I “have to” hit a specific place just because I am in Europe. This time, I focused on Central Europe and did not travel via plane intra-Europe. I stuck with trains.

This is also the first time that I am travelling Europe during summer.

The table below is the itinerary I presented in my visa application. I just added additional columns for the contact details of the hostels. 

DAY	CITY/COUNTRY	ACTIVITY	ACCOMMODATION
Day 1	Philippines	23:55 Depart Manila, NAIA Terminal 3 via Emirates	N/A
Day 2	Budapest, Hungary	12:45H Arrive Budapest Old Town, Parliament, Chain Bridge,  Szabadság Square	The Grove,  Szt. Istvan
Day 3	Budapest, Hungary	Heroes' Square Vajdahunyad Castle Varosliget *it rained at night*	The Grove,  Szt. Istvan
Day 4	Budapest, Hungary	St. Stephen's Basilica Cross Chain Bridge to Buda Side Matthias Church (Matyas Templom) Fisherman's Bastion Buda Castle Night walk: Chain Bridge, view Parliament in  Batthyány Square	The Grove,  Szt. Istvan
Day 5	Budapest, Hungary/ Vienna, Austria	Check out Budapest Hostel Lunch: Train from Budapest to Vienna 2h45m Vienna Opera House Kärntnerstrasse	Wombat's City Hostels Vienna At The Naschmarkt
Day 6	Vienna, Austria	Morning walking tour Hofburg Palace Complex Kaiserappartments (Imperial Apartments) Schatzkammer (Imperial Treasury) Augustinerkirche Albertina	Wombat's City Hostels Vienna At The Naschmarkt
Day 7	Vienna, Austria	Schönbrunn Palace Night walk around the city	Wombat's City Hostels Vienna At The Naschmarkt
Day 8	Vienna, Austria/ Salzburg, Austria	Mozarthaus Shopping for sourvenirs Late afternoon: Vienna to Salzburg - 3 hours Night: Rest in Salzburg hostel, laundry time (it was raining)	Yoho International Youth Hostel, Salzburg
Day 9	Salzburg, Austria	The Sound of Music Tour Mirabell Castle and Garden Kollegienkirche	Yoho International Youth Hostel, Salzburg
Day 10	Salzburg, Austria	Alter Markt square Getreidegasse, Mozart's Home Franziskanerkirche – Franciscan Church Kollegienkirche – Collegiate Church Hohensalzburg Fortress Late afternoon: Train to Munich – 2 hours	Wombats City Hostel Munich
Day 11	Munich, Germany	Munich walking tour Marienplatz Surfer’s Wave St. Peter’s Church – view point	Wombats City Hostel Munich
Day 12	Munich, Germany	Dachau Tour English Garden Chinese Beergarden	Wombats City Hostel Munich
Day 13	Munich, Germany	Deutches Museum Viktualienmarkt Shopping in Munich Chill day (original plan was to go to Neuschwanstein Castle but weather was bad and I didn’t feel that the 2.5-hour per way commute jive with the weather)	Wombats City Hostel Munich
Day 14	Munich, Germany/ Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland	7 hours train to Lauterbrunnen Rest and chill in Lauterbrunnen (it was raining when I arrived)	Valley Hostel, Lauterbrunnen
Day 15	Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland	Ride train to Jungfraujoch: Kleinshedigg to Jungfraujoch then back via Grindelwald	Valley Hostel, Lauterbrunnen
Day 16	Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland	*rainy and cloudy day* Failed paragliding attempt Hiked to Murren Trümmelbach Falls	Valley Hostel, Lauterbrunnen
Day 17	Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland/ Lucerne, Switzerland	Lucerne Lake Old Town Lucerne Chapel Bridge (Kapellbrucke) Dying Lion of Lucerne Monument The Nine Towers Hofkirche Kornmarkt	Backpackers Luzern, Alpenquai
Day 18	Lucerne, Switzerland/ Heidelberg, Germany	Travel from Lucerne to Heidelbeg Heidelberg Castle	Lotte - The Backpackers, Burgweg 3
Day 19	Heidelberg, Germany/ Frankfurt, Germany	Jose Rizal Park Hauptstrasse and the Altstadt (Old Town) Marktplatz Kornmarkt Karlsplatz Chill time Shopping in Heidelberg Late afternoon: train to Frankfurt – 1 hour Evening walk around Frankfurt	Frankfurt Hostel,  Kaiserstr
Day 20	Frankfurt, Germany	Frankfurt walking tour Dinner with friend	Frankfurt Hostel,  Kaiserstr
Day 21	Frankfurt, Germany	Day trip to Mainz Helaba Tower Public Viewing of Germany vs. France UEFA EURO Semi-final in Frankfurt Stadium. (Germany lost)	Frankfurt Hostel,  Kaiserstr
Day 22	Frankfurt, Germany	Shopping day in Frankfurt Late night flight back to Manila
Day 23	Frankfurt, Germany	Arrival in Manila

If I missed any “you-should-absolutely-see-this” place, I can just go back anyway. :P 

 EU III Budget Breakdown:

Saving up for a Europetrip takes time. It helped that the EUR was at the Php 54 level during the time of the trip but the strong dollar (Php 47) is annoying in terms of buying plane tickets.

This entire trip cost me around USD 3,714/ EUR 3,232. Please refer to the pie chart below for the breakdown (so business-y sounding phrase).

Forex rates:

USD to PHP: Php 47.00

EUR to PHP: Php 54.00

The story of each slice:

I don’t have pre-shopping trip costs.

Visa Related Fees – Visa fee, Photo, Travel Insurance, Bank certificate fee,

Shopping – for myself and for pasalubong

Airfare - I flew via Emirates. This is my 2^nd flight using Emirates (the first one was a part of the Holy Land tour package). My entry point was Budapest and I had limited flight options that had only one stopover. I flew in to Budapest, and flew out of Frankfurt. I included Frankfurt in my itinerary because I wanted to visit a friend who is already working there. It is always good to meet up with people you know when you are travelling solo. Airfare costs $1,219.50/ Php59,031.78. Ugh, I blame the strong dollar. The airfare includes the terminal fee but excludes the travel tax. I bought the airfare four months before the trip, even before the visa application (not required for visa application. Book and pay at your own risk!).

Accommodation - Booking fees, downpayment and payment of balance for hostels. This is the first time I stayed in mixed dorms. I booked the rooms as early as February for my June trip and the beds in the female dorms are sold out. I did not want to resort to hostels far from the main center just so I can stay in an all female dorm, so mixed dorm it is.

Tours – tickets, reservation fees, audioguides, tips. I may not tip regularly in the Philippines, but I did following the tipping customs in Europe.

Food – meals, various snack items, water. One scoop gelato a day for me! Hey, it’s summer!

Others – travel tax, toilet fees, laundry, towel rental, church offering

Transportation – intra-Europe trains, city trams/buses, city transportation passes. I bought the intra-Europe train as soon as I received my Schengen Visa.

Here are the tickets I booked. I used the website of the operator (I didn’t use any intermediate booking website). Make sure your credit card has enough available limit.

Operator	Route	Amount	PHP
OBB	Salzburg to Munich	EUR 30,70	1,649.26
OBB	Vienna to Salzburg	EUR 19,00	1,20.86
DB Bahn	Munich to Lauterbrunnen (bus+trains)	EUR 39,00	2,095.47
OBB	Lauterbrunnen to Lucerne	CHF 39.60	1,926
DB Bahn	Lucerne to Heidelberg	EUR 39,00	2,095.47
DB Bahn	Heidelberg to Frankfurt	EUR 19,00	1,025.91

I didn’t buy my ticket from Budapest to Vienna online because I wasn’t so sure about my departure time in Budapest. I do suggest that you buy it ahead of time because it took me 1hour and 15 minutes to get a ticket. I was at the train station at 11AM to buy a ticket for a train that departed at 11:30AM. I got to the window counter at 12:15PM. Keleti station has a number queue system for international departure.  

Since I am enjoying this school break, I decided to compare some of my expenses from all my Europe trips. I am a nerd, with a penchant of recording my travel expenses in a spreadsheet, with a blog, with lots of time. So here’s a table:

Expense	EU I (2011)	EU III (2013)	EU III (2016)
Airfare	43,913.67	59,055.93	59,031.78
Transportation	18,945.28	32,721.44	22,921.23
Accommodation	37,671.68	19,009.39	31,817.71
Tours	42,943.04	10,643.49	12,473.42
Food	36,480.00	40,667.46	30,782.60

 Hope that helps. Now let's see if I can finish blogging about the rest.