110 Days in Europe, on a budget (with Elisabeth)
Hi, Frugal Girl readers! I'm Elisabeth and I'm thrilled to be guest posting for Kristen today! (Some of you might remember me from my Meet a Reader interview back in 2024, and I also popped by to talk about my gradual transition from pessimism to something approximating optimism!)
In that Meet a Reader interview, one of Kristen’s questions was about frugal travel, and I ended my response by saying that while I’ll always look for ways to cut corners and save money, "I don’t want to do it at the expense (pun intended!) of a great vacation".
I said I was trying to live by the motto: It costs what it costs.
Well, earlier this year, my family put that philosophy to a rather extreme test when my husband and I took our two kids—a 15-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son—to Europe for 110 days.
During our time abroad, we set foot in 20 countries, lived for a month each in Vienna, Helsinki and the UK, road-tripped through the Alps, and spent time visiting family in Scandinavia.
We got to see and do incredible things. We toured castles, wandered through art museums, rode roller coasters, walked the Formula One track in Monaco, visited Dachau, saw the Vasa ship in Stockholm, ate an alarming amount of chocolate in Switzerland, and rode a gondola in Venice.
And through it all, we remained… relatively frugal.
I documented our European adventure in great detail on my blog (as a blogger, excessive documentation is an occupational hazard!), and one of the questions I’ve been asked repeatedly since coming home is: How could you afford to take a family to Europe for almost four months?
Before I get into details, it's important to provide some caveats.
We cashed in points to cover some expenses. My husband continued working—for a European company—while we travelled, so some business expenses overlapped with the trip (for example, he had to attend a conference in France at one point, and for the price of an inexpensive inter-European plane ticket, our daughter was able to tag along for free).
We also received almost $4,000 CAD in compensation for cancelled flights. (If you ever have a cancelled or significantly delayed flight, especially in Europe, it is always worth checking whether you’re eligible for compensation. Filling out the paperwork can pay off handily!)
But even allowing for those factors, the final numbers surprised me.
Over our time away, we spent about $12,500 USD. (The Canadian number isn’t quite so low, and since most Frugal Girl readers are American, I’ll gladly go with the nicer-looking exchange rate!)
I’ve written before about how we save money while travelling on vacation (for anyone interested, here are recaps from Rome ,Paris, Barcelona, and Portugal that break down travel spending), but I think the most important part of our approach has less to do with how we save and more to do with why.
We Weren't Trying to Win at Spending the Least
I love a deal.
I buy reduced produce at the grocery store. I thrift. I use coupons when I'm able. And those everyday frugal tendencies followed me across the Atlantic.
That said, this was also a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our family.
We didn’t want to come home saying, “Congratulations to us! We spent the absolute least amount of money possible!” if achieving that goal meant missing amazing experiences.
To that end, we spent a lot of money on amusement parks. BUT, we went on discounted days early in the season.
My daughter and I went to see an incredible light show at the Votive Church in Vienna. BUT, my son/husband weren't interested, so we only had to purchase two tickets (and she was able to get a student rate and we got the cheapest tier of tickets which, through a bit of research, I was able to discover were actually the best seats in terms of viewing the show).
We rode the aforementioned gondola in Venice. BUT, we took a gondola ride in the morning when rates are lower; not only did it save money, it improved our experience since the canals tend to become quite jammed in the twilight hours. Win, win.
My husband and I had a brunch date in Vienna where my latte cost €6.50 and my Smoked Salmon Eggs Benny cost €20. I nearly choked when I converted the total to Canadian dollars.
When I talked about the financial side of our trip on The Reframe podcast (check that out if you're curious to hear my voice and get more of a deep dive into our experiences on this trip), I kept coming back to the idea of return on investment (ROI).
Interestingly, I think I talked less about the financial ROI and more about life ROI.
In other words, how much joy, convenience, connection, education, or memory-making are we getting in return for the money we’re spending?
We tried to keep spending low when the ROI was low.
And we were generally happy to spend when the ROI felt high.
We saved aggressively on the boring stuff
There are some vacation expenses that bring me zero joy. Buying bottled water is at the top of this list.
Not only is it wasteful, but it can also cost a small fortune. Paying €3 or €4 for a bottle of water ($5–7 CAD) when perfectly good tap water exists pains me.
Yes, there were days when we ran out of water and needed to buy it on the go. But we almost always left our apartment with multiple refillable water bottles.
Same goes for eating out.
Don’t get me wrong: we enjoy food. Trying local cuisines was one of my favourite parts of our trip. In fact, I rounded up 50+ interesting foods we tried across Europe (including haggis, Bled Cake, rarebit, bara brith, brunost, and koldskål).
But buying four mediocre lunches at a tourist attraction simply because we’re hungry is a low ROI. Instead, we packed a lot of sandwiches. (My kids were not always enthused by the number of sandwiches consumed.)
We ate overnight oats, which are filling and inexpensive.
I carried granola bars and cashews in my purse for snacks on the go.
While we were at an amusement park in Vienna, we walked a few minutes outside the park to a grocery store and bought sushi, a little charcuterie tray, protein drinks, and a few other finger foods for supper.
Then we happily spent money on the rides, which was the whole point of the adventure... not the food.
And I'd say that distinction basically sums up our entire philosophy.
Spending €125+ on amusement park rides we were excited about is a good ROI for our family.
Spending €60 on forgettable amusement park food is a hard pass.
Admittedly, none of these money-saving decisions are especially revolutionary.
But over 110 days, small savings happened over and over and over again, and they added up.
We lived like we were living there
One of the biggest reasons our costs stayed reasonable was that we weren’t treating every day like a conventional vacation.
During our month-long stays, we had apartments with kitchens and did regular grocery shopping.
We used up leftovers. We bought store-brand products. We adjusted meals based on what was on sale. We were walking to neighbourhood grocery stores (and carrying all our groceries back in reusable totes), so we visited frequently, which meant we had virtually no food waste.
In other words, we behaved pretty much the way we do at home.
This is one reason I think there’s an important distinction between long-term travel and a really long vacation. I wrote more about what 110 days of family travel was actually like, because there was plenty of ordinary life mixed in with the castles and cathedrals.
Lots of days we explored a new country. And other days we stayed home, did laundry, and ate leftovers in our pajamas.
Both were part of the experience.
We paid attention to the details
I'm a planner. This is occasionally annoying (sometimes this shows up as me trying to control things, ahem), but overall it is tremendously handy when travelling.
Before paying full price for an attraction, I would check:
- Is there a free day?
- A discounted evening?
- A student rate?
- A family rate?
- Does buying online cost less?
- Is one day of the week cheaper than another?
Doing this sort of research, I discovered that the Alte Pinakothek in Munich had discounted Sunday admission (adults were €1; kids were free). A Vienna aquarium had discounted weekday evening admission.
Helsinki’s amusement park, Linnanmäki, had special Fun Fare days early in the season, so we planned our visit for a discounted day and saved money on every wristband. (We also ate before we went and packed snacks and water.)
My takeaway after nearly four months of doing this?
Before paying full price for something, spend five minutes checking your options. This isn’t particularly glamorous advice, but those five minutes saved us hundreds (probably thousands) of dollars over the course of the trip.
We used public transit. A lot.
Public transit was one of our biggest money savers.
In Munich, a single Uber from the airport to our hotel would have cost more than a week of unlimited public transit for our family.
That made the decision fairly easy. We bought weekly passes. (And we also walked, a lot!).
We didn't book the cheapest accommodations
Accommodation is a place where I think “frugal” and “cheap” can diverge quickly.
We always set price caps when searching for places to stay.
That's helpful because we can't fall in love with pictures of a stunning apartment that costs twice what we want to spend if we never see it in the first place. (I talk more about this strategy in my guest episode on the Finance Girlies podcast.)
But within our price range, we don't automatically book the cheapest option.
- Location matters.
- Access to public transit matters.
- Having a grocery store nearby matters.
- For longer stays, having a kitchen and laundry REALLY matters.
- And space matters.
For our extended stays in Vienna, Helsinki, and Cardiff, one of my stipulations was that our teenage daughter have a room of her own.
So we booked two-bedroom apartments.
In Vienna, our apartment cost about $70 USD/night and had two bedrooms, a full kitchen, and a washing machine.
Could we have found something cheaper?
Probably.
But squeezing four humans into a smaller space for a month—or getting a place without in-apartment laundry—would have saved money at the expense of our collective sanity.
In that case, paying for extra space and particular amenities had an excellent ROI.
I don’t actually want to keep every dollar I save. Sometimes I want to move that dollar from something I don’t care about to something I care about A LOT.
We travelled light
All four of us spent 110 days in Europe with one small wheeled carry-on and one backpack each.
That’s it!
When I first mentioned we wouldn't be checking any bags, some people thought we had lost our minds. (I wrote a whole post about what worked—and didn’t!—when packing for 110 days with carry-ons, in case you're curious.)
There were obvious financial benefits: We avoided checked-bag fees, and we also didn't need larger vehicles to accommodate luggage.
That latter point is a very real possibility: when we took our seven-day road trip, it was a tight squeeze to fit our four little carry-ons into the vehicle—and we had an SUV!
We would have needed a much larger (read: more expensive!) vehicle if we’d been travelling with traditional-sized checked luggage.
But the bigger payoff was convenience.
We took a LOT of trains and buses.
We climbed countless staircases.
We moved between countries regularly.
And small suitcases made all of that easier.
Once again, the ROI wasn’t just money... it was less stress!
We didn't confuse "free" with "worth it"
I LOVE FREE THINGS.
Free museum? My eyes light up.
Free walking tour? Tell me more!
Free samples at a chocolate store in Venice? I will be there with bells on.
But one thing I tried hard to avoid was letting a low price dictate our itinerary.
Something isn’t automatically worth doing because it’s free. And something isn’t automatically wasteful because it’s expensive.
Our time had value too.
If nobody cared about an attraction, we didn’t need to visit simply because admission cost nothing.
On the other hand, if something mattered to us, a significant ticket price didn’t automatically rule it out.
This is the part of frugality I think gets lost sometimes. Because the cheapest decision isn’t necessarily the “best” financial decision.
Money is only one resource. Time is another. So is energy.
(And when travelling with kids, family goodwill should probably qualify as its own category.)
I wanted frugality to make the trip feel bigger, not smaller
My husband and I have spent years building our lives around a fairly simple financial philosophy: Save aggressively on things we don’t care about so we can spend more flexibly on the things we value most.
Travel is one of those things.
Taking our kids to Europe for almost four months was not objectively frugal. It would have been cheaper to stay home in Nova Scotia.
But because we’ve been intentional with money in so many other areas of our life, we were able to say yes to an experience that mattered to us.
And then, once we were there, we kept making the same basic calculation on a smaller scale.
- Does this matter to us?
- Will spending this money meaningfully improve the experience?
- Can we get the same result for less without adding a lot of inconvenience?
- Is there a cheaper option we would enjoy just as much?
- Are we about to spend half an hour inconveniencing everyone to save €3?
(We weren't literally running through a checklist of questions, but these are ingrained family/spending philosophies at this point.)
A simple way to think about travel spending
If you’re planning a trip—whether it’s four months in Europe or two nights a few hours from home—I think it can help to ask a few questions before you leave:
- What are the experiences we care about most? Give yourself permission to spend money there.
- What expenses add very little enjoyment? These are probably the easiest places to cut.
- What can we bring or prepare ourselves? Water, snacks, breakfast, and simple lunches can save a shocking amount of both time and money.
- Are there discounts we’re overlooking? Check free days, off-peak pricing, family rates, coupons, student rates, and advance tickets. (We once visited to Disneyland Paris on a Tuesday, and it was almost half the cost of going on the weekend. We were on vacation and had flexibility in planning our itinerary, so we VERY happily went on a week day when it was cheaper and less crowded!)
- What is the true cost of the cheaper option? Saving $20 isn’t necessarily a win if it costs two hours, three meltdowns, and everyone’s patience.
- What’s the ROI? Not just financially. Think in terms of memories, joy, convenience, and connection. One day in Copenhagen, my husband and I each bought a latte that cost almost $20 CAD. OBJECTIVELY RIDICULOUS. But those lattes bought us an hour of sitting together, relaxing, and people-watching. It remains one of the highlights of my time in Denmark. In this case, the ROI was very high—even though the drinks were overpriced.
There also isn’t one “right” answer. The attraction I’d happily spend $100 to visit might bore you senseless.
You might spend lavishly on restaurants while I’d rather eat a peanut butter sandwich and use the money somewhere else.
That’s the point!!!
Frugality isn’t about following someone else’s list of Things You Should Never Spend Money On. It’s about knowing what matters to you.
For our family, that meant 110 days of grocery-store meals, reduced produce, public transit, carry-on luggage, and free museum days.
It also meant lots of roller coasters (not cheap, even with discounts!), the occasional fancy coffee, and a gondola ride in Venice.
I appreciated both ends of the spectrum.
At the end of the day, I can say with absolute confidence that frugality didn’t make our European adventure smaller.
In fact, it made the bigger adventure possible.
Come find me!
If you’re interested in hearing more about how I approach frugality in regular, non-European-adventure life (fewer gondolas, more thrift stores) you can find me at The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist.
I write five days a week about frugal wins, travel, family life, books, gratitude, and all sorts of other ordinary-life miscellany.
I also write more personal, behind-the-scenes essays for my Lighthouse Keepers community on Patreon, where I tend to dig a little deeper into family life, gratitude, relationships, and whatever happens to be occupying my brain at the moment. (I know this is a frugal blog, and while there are a few free posts each month, the majority are paywalled; it's about $5.75 USD/month—and annual subscriptions shave 25% off that.)
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Elisabeth, thank you for sharing all this helpful info with us! I have an unused passport waiting for me to use after I graduate, and I will keep all of your tips in mind. 🙂
You just gave a masterclass in frugal traveling!
I think the idea that time and energy have a cost is where people who want to be frugal fail. And that individual preferences can change what aspects of an expense make it worthwhile. (I'm a picky eater , so spending big money on a fancy meal would always be a waste - but that's some people favorite thing about traveling!)
You really show how the frugal mindset doesn't put barriers up to having fun!
I try not to "yuck someone else's yum" when it comes to spending choices and think it's fascinating how two people—with the same budget!—could end up with wildly different (even "opposing") priorities and both people could design a wonderful experience that suit THEM.
Your example of eating out is usually the first thing that comes to mind. I have friends whose #1 favourite thing about traveling is trying out unusual/fancy eating places, doing food tours, etc. And that's just not overly appealing to me. I'm unlikely to enjoy eating out at a Michelin star restaurant any more than a local hole in a wall. (Plus, I don't like to get dressed up, I'd probably leave hungry, and I'd be fretting about how much it cost the whole time.)
Lol that your kids complained about too many sandwiches. JUST LOOK at those delightful, gourmet-looking sandwiches.
My kids have a great life, Heather! But they have to find something to complain about and sandwiches fit the bill 🙂
Elisabeth, I love it when you and Kristen hang out and we get to come along!
The two biggest takeaways that I see is that not everyone needs to go to every activity. and grocery store meals FTW! Sure you *could* have dragged your husband and son to the light show, but they wouldn't have enjoyed it. It's more fun that you and your daughter got to have this experience. The money savings is the least important part of it.
I'm not opposed to eating out when I travel, but the reality is that it's almost always a waste of time and money for breakfast and lunch. It's much better to have that one special meal and to get a semi-sane eating plan going for the other meals.
Yes! This was one of the first times where we "divided and conquered" certain activities. In addition to saving money, it made some of the experiences even richer, I think. That light show with my daughter was extra special because it was just the two of us. (While we were doing that, my son and husband went on a walk all across Vienna looking for supercars—a free activity!—and it was one of their highlights of our time there.)
And while it's special to have family memories, I think it's also really special to have individual memories with one kid/one parent. My daughter and husband's highlight from the whole trip was a sunrise walk they did to the top of a mountain, just the two of them. There's something extra bonding about one-on-one time. It almost feels like a bit of an inside secret, in a sweet way.
I love everything about this. Especially -- save on things you don't care about, so you can splurge on the things you do.
I have a 15 yo son and a 12 yo daughter, and family dynamics are now very important when travelling for more than a night or so. No bed sharing for kids. Minimal room sharing with parents. Two bathrooms. Ample space for all. The family peace dividend is worth it.
"Family peace dividend" is an awesome way to summarize things. I'm borrowing that phrase for our family vocabulary <3
Well done! Thanks for the excellent recap. I agree with everything you're saying. We're frugal so that we can spend on the things that matter. It's so different than being cheap for the sake of being cheap on everything.
What an amazing experience you gave your children and yourselves!
It really was the adventure of a lifetime. I'm grateful we were able to make it happen.
And yes! Cheap and frugal can lead to wildly different experiences, even if the financial bottom line isn't necessarily very far apart.
Thank you for writing this post! It looked like you had a wonderful time! So interesting!!
This lovely post is right up my alley. Our kids are now grown, navigating their careers and raising families. They also regularly travel with their families in tow. When our two sons were little, we took them on travels, here and abroad. We wanted them to feel comfortable, whether it was in New York or Vienna. And, yes of course we visited the Prater and rode the Riesenrad (Ferris wheel) and also The Eye in London. It was an education in itself. They each ended up in careers that have conferences sometimes in European cities and I feel that early travel led them to that. Big congrats to you for doing the same!
We did Prater (as I mentioned) and that picture from the park is actually waiting in line to ride Riesenrad!!!
Traveling is a (very useful) life skill and something you can't really learn about in a traditional academic setting!
My husband travels internationally as a major part of his career, and it's not something that comes naturally to a lot of people, so I'm really glad our kids have a solid grasp of how to navigate public transit, communicate in a foreign country, etc. I think it will stand them in good stead later in life, for a variety of reasons. It's nice they get to learn these skills with an adult safety net in place (at the end of the day, we're ultimately the ones responsible for making sure we get to the airport on time), but they are absorbing a lot of the knowledge. By the time we left Vienna, they knew which subway we needed to take to get to certain points of the city and I could send them off at the grocery store to get certain products.
I love hearing that your kids now travel with their own families, and I'm sure their experiences in childhood gave them a unique level of confidence.
What an amazing trip! Thanks for sharing.
My family of 5 spends the summers seeing the US in a travel trailer, and make most of our own meals to keep costs low. We grocery shop, keep a well stocked pantry in the camper, use up all our leftovers, and in general eat really well for being away from home.
I keep a "chuck box" in the tow vehicle with bread, peanut butter, jam, apples (they hold up best on the go), and other snacks for days we're not in camp. The kids call it "parking lot picnics", and it saves time as well as money if we're on the go and don't want to have to find food. Especially in national parks and other remote locations where food options are few and far between. We save our dining out budget for local foods we want to eat.
We have a museum membership that gets us reciprocal entry to other science museums around the country, so I always check along our route. I check Trip advisor and filter for free and budget friendly activities in towns we will be in, along with the cheap eats filter in case there's a cool local place we want to eat on a day outing. We have been to lots of free museums, zoos, beaches, historical sites, etc.
When I'm planning our trips I check to see if it's cheaper to get a parks pass than pay single entries. The first year we were traveling we knew we were going to stop in Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone, so we bought a parks pass, and then dropped into other areas on our route that I might not have visited if entry wasn't free. It's amazing all the places a national parks pass can get you into, that aren't even the main places you'd think!
I have also bought a state parks pass if we're going to be spending a few weeks in the state camping. Some campgrounds charge you a daily parks entry fee in addition to your camping fee, and its usually worth it to get the parks pass and then plan some other adventures in the area.
We are also easily entertained, and enjoy a good scenic drive and hiking just as much as a museum.
Such wonderful ideas, Michelle H! A bit of time can open up so many fun experiences (a park pass, for example) without taking a financial hit.
"We save our dining out budget for local foods we want to eat." Yes! Also, sometimes I will try to combine the eating experience with a cultural touchpoint on multiple levels. In Helsinki, we went to the city's oldest bakery for a treat. So we were trying a traditional Finnish cake (tippaleipä) at an iconic spot to get them.
Many of our favourite experiences on this trip were free! Getting to a location might cost money, but the views/hikes, etc are free entertainment once there. And I find it makes the paid-for bigger activities feel more decadent and special.
Even though I have no children and my long-haul traveling days are done, this post was both fun and educational to read. Thank you, Elisabeth.
As a dedicated traveler myself, this is fascinating. I have two questions for you: one, what did your kids do for school and two, where did your son sleep (you specified your daughter got her own room)? Inquiring minds what to know!
I look forward to digging more into your blog. It'll be a treat after I catch up on some work myself.
I have a go-to response to your first question.
I give us a D in traditional schooling and an A in organic schooling.
I went into the trip with very noble intentions. We were going to keep up with math! We were going to have a regular reading schedule!
We did one day of math. Then the kids got a stomach bug and that was more or less the end of structured schooling. So: D.
But the organic learning was unbelievable.
We went to Dachau Concentration Camp and when my kids continue to learn about the Holocaust in their classes (it's happened already this term), they have a completely different level of appreciation and understanding for the subject at hand. They saw works of art by van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir and Vermeer and original Banksy’s on the streets of Bristol. We toured museums, Roman ruins, a Cold War bunker, and saw Viking ships. My kids can find every country in Europe on a map and tell you the capital.
So, admittedly, we didn't do very much algebra. But I feel really good about the education they got.
And that's part of our broader parenting philosophy anyway... that learning doesn't just happen in a classroom.
Oh, and I also should add that both schools my kids attend were very positive and encouraging about us going on this trip. Our son was in Grade 5 (still elementary) and doesn't struggle academically, so we felt quite confident he would be fine. Our daughter was in Grade 9 which, where we live, is a bit of a transition year. Grades don't go on your final high school transcript and count for things like college admissions and scholarships. This was our last good chance to pull them out without significant academic upheaval.
My son slept in the living rooms of each apartment on a sofa. And not a single time did he complain about the arrangement. I think being a tween boy helped him not really care about this sort of thing!
I’m going to make an assumption that your kids attend private schools- only because our public school district would never approve several weeks off - even for a great experimental event
Very sensible approaches! I would like to add the use of the internet in planning what to see and do. Read about history, culture, and geography and look at organized tours, all free research. It will help you decide what you want to see and do, so you don’t get home and then discover that great thing. You can also sort out famous places, why they are famous, and whether or not you really care to see them. And you will discover wonderful options early enough to plan them. Art history and history are important in my travels, and I have used all the classes I have taken in photography. I truly enjoy the planning as much as the actual trip!
I can't imagine trying to pull a trip like this off without the internet and all the travel blogs, for inspiration (a great search string is: free things to do in _______).
The planning is part of the adventure, for sure! The anticipatory self, experiencing self, and remembering self all get to benefit from the adventure!
PS: planning time to rest is really valuable on any trip. Sounds like you did a good job of this! It’s a way to keep everyone healthier and happier. I learned this the hard way, used to get home with sinus infections. Now I plan better! And use coats with hoods!
A day can be derailed by trying to squeeze too many things in or not the right clothing or low blood sugar. I'm definitely better about managing all three things now!
One quote I love to keep in mind is aiming for a few good memories (paraphrased from Laura Vanderkam). Every minute of a day isn't going to be perfect. Kids get sick or cold or hungry. But once we fit in a few good memories in a day, that can be a cue to stop while we're ahead. Go back to the apartment and hang out and play a game or read a book or watch a movie. This was especially important since we were "doing life" in these places, not just vacationing. We didn't have the time crunch that is so typical of a short-term stay.
Everything is almost always more pleasant if there is time set aside for rest and recuperation.
I think it is splendid that you took your time. And living the local life is the best way to learn anything about a culture.
I am going to have to read your blog. I love this philosophy. And wow, $12,500 isn't much more than we paid for 2 weeks in Denmark several years ago. (Most of our costs were the flights). We even had some free accommodations because: relatives.
I think on the packing light thing - 110 days is a long time. It feels like you can pack in one backpack and a small suitcase/ carry on for a short (5-7 day) vacation and long (multi-month) vacations. For 110 days, you are doing laundry. For 7-10 days, can you escape without doing laundry? When it comes to food, I eat a lot of overnight oats on travel too.
Where to stay: now that my kids are adult-sized, we need space. Everyone is happier if we have space.
Flights add up so quickly (!), and we are VERY fortunate to rarely pay full-price for any flights because of my husband's frequent status miles. A few years ago we all went to Paris (return) for less than $500 out of pocket for flights; the original retail on those same tickets was over $7,000! So we have an "unfair advantage" in the fact that because he travels so much for work, he accumulates a lot of points.
Agreed that you take about the same amount for a short trip as you do on a long one. Those in-between lengths without easy access to laundry is tricky. The only fly in our ointment was the fact we needed to be prepared for hot sun and literal snow! It's cold in Europe in March! But we found great workarounds and have no regrets about travelling lightly.
Thanks, Elizabeth! You've given a master class on traveling frugally and it's full of wonderful information. I've been lucky to have traveled to Europe several times (though not for nearly as long a trip as yours) and your advice is spot on - use public transit or walk; if renting a short-stay, definitely use the kitchen and laundry, and determine your ROI for all your activities. This is a marvelous overview and I gathered some great new tips. From your pics, you and your family obviously had a fantastic time!
Aww. Thanks, Melanie <3
We really did have a great adventure. There WERE moments of course (we arrived at a much-anticipated activity and the fog was so dense we couldn't see anything; the kids DID fight, as siblings do, and there was a nasty stomach bug). But, overall, it was the trip of a lifetime.
One of my favourite memories is from our return flight. We'd been together around the clock for 110 days, and I heard my kids and husband laughing in the row behind me. It was a special moment of: we can spend all this time together and still really enjoy each other's company. That said, it was nice to send them back to school a few weeks ago 🙂
Thank you for sharing! I will be coming to check our your blog 🙂
Mr. B and I are also Canadian, and we have managed to arrange 4 weeks where we'll both be on parental leave or vacation when baby is 9 months old. We can't quite believe it--should we go to Europe for 10 days? For two weeks? For...3 weeks? I'll be getting tips from you!
Ohhhh! So many options. I love that you're going to be able to carve out a fun adventure in that joint time off.
Feel free to e-mail me with any questions (optimisticmusings {at} gmail {dot} com. I love to chat about all things travel.
Your carryon-only packing blows me away, because my husband and I each checked a large bag for our recent 10-day trip! And yes, it was a huge pain maneuvering through the public transportation system with them, but at least we were staying in one place.
I was wondering if any of you wanted to buy souvenirs or presents while you were there? Did you restrict it to only small things that could fit in your bags, or did you ship a package or two back home?
We did buy souvenirs, but only very small things. We didn't ship anything home, BUT we donated some clothing items (we buy everything thrifted, so when a few warmer-weather items were no longer needed, we found donation boxes in whatever city we were in and left them behind knowing we could easily replace them again if needed once we were back to our local area; my son grew out of a few clothing items while we were there and I was able to give them to a blog friend we met up with) AND we left a medium-sized bag of things at my husband's office in Helsinki (my daughter's UGGs, a few Christmas ornaments I bought, a few clothing items), so there's the equivalent of a large bookbag's worth of stuff he can slowly bring home over subsequent trips.
It would have been an absolute nightmare travelling with full-sized luggage. So many public transit options we used were crowded enough with just carry on!
Thankfully, we're not big into souvenirs. I can see it being very challenging if someone likes to collect antiques, for example. In that case, I would have had to ship things home.
There is no "better" way to travel and I know a lot of people who always check baggage, but it gave us a lot of freedom having minimal things to cart around.
We travel a lot and we usually do a house and car swap. This is not only a huge saving but also makes traveling much more interesting, we have gained friends over the years. We also eat kosher so with the exception of a few cities and one country, we eat home cooked meals. We also want to enjoy our traveling and budget for it but I am a way bigger spender when traveling ( also because our island doesn’t offer much shopping). My grandfather always said, put your money in your brains and no one can steal it, but putting your money in experience is a other thing no one can robbed you off
"Put your money in your brains and no one can steal it." This is such brilliant advice. I've never heard it (I presume he's speaking about education) this way. Love it!
And yes, experiences can stay with us forever and sometimes it really does take spending out to get those memorable adventures.
I've never done a house OR car swap, but love that it both saves money and fosters new connections. Win, win.
Elisabeth, just wow! This post is fantastic, fascinating and delightful. Full of wisdom and joy. Your kids learned some great lessons on this trip. Great pics, too. You got a lot for your money. Thanks so much for sharing all of this!
This is such a great post. I have a similar travel philosophy as you and we did a lot of this when we went to London this summer. It was better to stay a little outside of the London core in a bigger flat that allowed my teens to have their own bedrooms, a kitchen and washer/dryer and ride a few more stops on the tube than something less ideal for the family but closer to the "main attractions". We ate a lot of meal deals for lunch (sandwich, drink and snack for £5) from the grocery store than stopping for fast food or at a restaurant. We didn't make everyone do everything if they really weren't interested, like going to see a West End show that only I really wanted to see (but my husband still had to come with me, haha).
You have some fantastic tips I will put to use on our next trip!!
We made use of that same meal deal (for us it was Sainsbury's) over and over again in the UK for on-the-go picnics!!!
My biggest regret from London is not having time to go see a show on the West End! Another time.
Love this! Thank you for sharing, I love to hear about how you prioritize spending money in on that are more interesting/exciting for your family and frugal on things that won't be remembered in the long run. Following your blog now!
The seat bar on the prater turm ride in Copenhagen DID NOT LOCK when my son went on it- back when he was 12! He held on for dear life. It’s an awesome little place, but I’m traumatized
Kim, I'm traumatized just reading about your experience!
MB I asked him why he didn’t get our attention to let us know. His response, “ Mom, it was dark, I was very high up, you couldn’t hear me yell, plus waving at you would have meant I’d need to take one of my holding on hands off whatever I was grabbing onto, and I was NOT going to do that!” All made perfect sense to me !
Smart boy!
KIM! Until we got up in the air, the same thing rang true for us that the seat bar wasn't locked.
YEA, Elisabeth! Great post, as always.
HEY EVERYONE, SUBSCRIBE TO ELISABETH'S BLOG! She is an excellent writer and her commentariat is just as civil as Kristen's.
Thank you, Kristen, for doing the Meet A Reader on Elisabeth because she and I have become friends because we "met" here.
Jana, you're too sweet!
What a great journey, that is truly something you will all remember forever.
A Great Post, enjoyed immensely. We like to do this with our grandkids. Thanks
This was incredibly fun to read! Thanks for sharing, Elisabeth!
What a great post! I love to travel and I like to be frugal, where I can, but especially as I've gotten older I've come to realize that my time and energy are valuable too. So getting the 6 am flight instead of the 10 am one might save me some money, but I'll be tired all day. Or staying further from the area in a place I want to be in, be it by the sea or the things I want to see and do, like museums, means I'll spend more time travelling from A to B.
One thing I've found is that trips that are shorter usually cost more per day than longer trips. If you are somewhere longer, you don't mind travelling a bit. And while I enjoy eating out, it is also nice to have dinner "at home" while you travel. Your trip is a great example of this.
wow! that is all i can say - oh you hate hagus (i spelled it wrong but omg, can't believe it).