Me! Shooting in Venice.

Prior to the trip, my phone was the biggest hassle. I don’t remember the costs exactly, but Sprint’s international rates were much too high for my liking. I was worried that given all the data my phone downloads, texts that come in, and calls I receive, my phone costs could tally up to more than $1,000 for one week. My boss wasn’t going to pay for it, so I abandoned the international plan real quick.

I looked into two other options while trip planning; either unlocking my iPhone and purchasing an international SIM card, or just turning my phone off and buying a temporary phone in Italy. I wanted an option coordinate with my family “on the ground” in case we all decided to go our separate ways.  However, both of these options seemed like so much work, and would take some coordination in Italy, so I opted for the far easier and zero-coordination route instead: Airplane mode on, Wi-Fi off unless at the hotel.

Airplane mode basically means that your phone can’t receive or send any data through the network at all. Your voice messages, emails, and texts will all wait for you, I don’t know, somewhere in outer space, until you return to your home country and turn airplane mode off. The downside is that you really cannot make a regular phone call with your phone, and you can’t use any of the apps you have likely come to rely on, like Google Maps. I took my chances. Like a tourist 10 years ago, I visited the TI (tourist info center) in each new town, picking up maps as I went. (Anyway, they make great keepsakes for scrap books.) We DID manage to lose each other for one very frustrating day, but we all eventually returned to the hotel about five hours later and found everyone.

When I needed to use my phone, I did it at the hotel. Each hotel had reliable Wi-Fi, so I could get e-mail once per day, check Facebook and Twitter, and schedule FaceTime hangouts with ManFriend – which were great fun, since by the time I reached him I”d already had a glass of wine or two and was completely exhausted with bags under my eyes. He always looked very good on FaceTime, while I was always a tired mess. Oh well.  Others on the trip had success with iPads using this method, too.

My Aunt used her iPad to talk to her family over Wi-Fi.

My phone turned out to be quite handy because midway through the trip I broke my camera lens. I’m incredibly lucky I didn’t break the entire camera; thankfully I have a shock-proof, water-proof case on it (also known as armor). The armor worked perfectly, unfortunately it did not cover the lens. The lens lock shattered all over the marble floor when I dropped the camera. I brought the camera home, found a tiny screwdriver and tried taking off the broken lens lock, intending to replace it with the functioning one from my telephoto lens. Unfortunately, it only made things worse.

In a moment of helplessness and frustration, I posted to my Facebook page (via Wi-Fi on the iPhone), inquiring whether anyone knew of a good camera shop in Rome, where we would be traveling the next day. Serendipitously, a friend from college who now is a photographer in Missouri saw my plea, posed the question on a blog he frequents, and got a recommendation from someone who studied photography in Rome!  I looked up the shop on my phone, got directions from our hotel front desk, and took the train to the shop, called Sabitini.

Sabitini was incredibly professional and helpful – they could not fix the lens lock in-store, but they did have a new lens in stock that was slightly better quality and under my price point of 200 Euro for a new lens.

Conversation on FB about my broken lens.

I am still in awe that this amazing connection happened. Without my phone and my personal network of talented friends, I would have lost at least a day wandering around to different stores looking for help, and could have possibly missed out on all my pictures in Rome. Instead, my family barely lost an hour of the trip, I came home with a great souvenir (and story), and I didn’t spend any money on a phone plan to make it all happen.

The post Technology: A Necessary Evil when Traveling Overseas appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

Our hotel in Trieste, on the Adriatic, fancy!

Some of you asked me how much my Italy trip cost.

The honest truth is that I don’t yet know the true cost of the trip. Several elements factor into that:

• The trip was a gift to my mom. Therefore, I started putting money into an account for her about 5 years ago. The first check I wrote was for $500, and since then I’ve put checks of about $50 to $250 in the account for her birthdays, mothers days, and Christmas gifts. I don’t have access to the account (my brother, who also contributes, managed the account), so I don’t know how much I’ve put in over the years. I’m not going to factor that portion in to this recap.
• I split a few costs with other members of the trip, including the cost of the rooms and the rental car and gas. We still haven’t settled the costs. But I estimate they probably even out, since we each paid for a different portion. I only included my estimated portion here.   
• I have a few hundred Euros that I still need to exchange and deposit in my account. Every time I’ve had the opportunity to go to the bank to change them back to dollars, the exchange rate has been lower than the price at which I bought them. Since I don’t want to lose as much as 10 cents on every dollar, I’m waiting for exchange rate to even out before depositing them. I don’t need the money right now, so I have luxury of waiting. It’s just going back into my savings account.
• Through no fault of their own, my parents underestimated how many euros they would need. I estimated pretty well, so I ended up serving as a bank for them at the end of the trip (they don’t use a bank card and the cash exchanges rates were ridiculously high). It was OK, because I anticipated that this would happen and loaded up my checking account before we left with some money for them. It ended up being a pain in the ass though, because I had to keep factoring exchange rates for money I had gotten in advance vs. money I took out in Italy (…they wanted to give me American dollars every time to stay squared away. Until they ran out of those dollars too. Oh well.). I tried to be very good about keeping financial records on the trip, but towards the end I sort of threw my hands up and pledged not to worry about it. After all, the trip was a gift, and if I spent all day bookkeeping and worrying about finances, I wouldn’t have had time to enjoy the scenery.

So what I’ll share with you are the costs I can account for right now. Obviously I still have some accounting work to do. But here is a good ballpark of what I spent. As I said, this is NOT the trip I would have planned for my cheap-o self. The costs were high for lodging and in-country transit (cars vs. trains).

Airfare: Via AirFrance, Chicago to Italy, roundtrip, with one layover in France
$875

The view from my bathroom in Trieste. What?

Lodging, 10 days: Goal was for each room to be no more than 100 euro per night. To accomplish this, I split my room with two other people on the trip. We stayed in rooms that were 250 to 300 euro per night, and split the cost among the three of us. These were very swanky hotels. Though these costs are not yet set, I think this would end up being just about right once we’re all settled. TBD, though. This is what was on my card:
$1,414

Spending money: I estimated 100 euro (or $130-ish) per day for three meals, drinks, transportation (including gas for our rentals and any taxis, buses, or trains), sightseeing costs (entry fees) and souveniers. I did not spend all of this. I probably spent closer to 600 or 700 euro.
$1,369.50

So, before I include any major purchases, I’m already at $3,658. Ouch. But, I returned with 200 euro and $300 American dollars in my wallet. The American dollars were for Euros other travelers bought off me on the trip, including one trip to the ATM. The euros were from my original stash. I never went to the cash machine for me, only for others. (Can you see how this was a headache?)

Our hotel in Venice, on Il Lido.

I have been saving for this trip for about five years. I didn’t need to put anything on credit; I bought the whole trip in cash, and I didn’t  dip into my downpayment savings account for it. So whatever the hell happened with my cash while I was there was fine. I kept focus on my bottom line and tried not to worry too much about anything else. Was my wallet and my brain messy? Yes. Was it worth it? Yes.

Prior to the trip, and on the trip, I made a few purchases outside of the spending money I brought.

On the trip I spent 170 euro unexepectedly on a camera lens after mine fell out my hand in Assisi and crashed onto a marble floor, breaking the lens lock. I was trying to do too many things at once, such as taking a photo, holding stuff, and watching a baby. That teaches me my lesson. The lens ended up costing $226.14 American dollars, because f’ing Chase charged me a fee on top the exchange rate. Dang.

I also bought some new boots, walking shoes, jeans, and a backpack prior to the trip, but I’m not counting those as solely trip expenses because I’m using all of these items heavily at home. I did feel I should at least share that cost in this recap, about $300.

Entrance to our Florence hotel. So pretty!

For my accounting, 10 days in Italy and Slovenia, with very swanky digs in many different cities and a sweet European ride, appears to have cost me about $3,600 to cover my own costs. I have a side job this month that will make about $1,000 of that back, which is awesome.  It all came out of cash, no credit. It’s more than I’ve spent on any other trip, ever. But I remain glad I went, and because we planned so far ahead it didn’t make a dent in my finances.

We don’t have any trips planned this winter (bummer, we usually try to spend a frugal weekend somewhere warm to escape the bitter cold here) or for next spring. After Yellowstone and Italy, we need to curb expenses for a bit before the holidays. Frankly, I’m really glad to be done planning and accounting for this adventure, and am looking forward to thinking about our next budget trip in 2013!

The post Italy Costs appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

My parents, dancing in the streets of Rome.

That’s the overall impression I’m left with more than three weeks after returning from my first trip to Italy.  For all of us, it was a rather exhausting and expensive trip. We took eight people (including a toddler) to seven different cities in two countries on a ten day trip with no guide.

Part of the Italy crew, at dinner in Trieste

Only three of us spoke anything that remotely even resembled Italian (I’m semi-fluent in Spanish and bought Italian for Dummies a few weeks before the trip).  Only two on the trip had been to Italy before. It was ambitious, and truth be told, I’m not sure we all understood what we were getting into before getting on the plane.

Navigating in Verona.

We had trouble agreeing on schedules and activities. At times we offended each other. We stepped on toes. We couldn’t find food options that worked for everyone. We were tired. We were cranky. We underestimated our expenses. We spent more time split up in groups than together, it seemed.

Cappuccino in Florence.

In short, we could have planned better.

But despite all the chaos, flaring tempers, and out of touch walkie-talkies, we managed to have an inspiring, exhilarating, and overwhelmingly positive trip.

Tasting slivovitz with two of my brothers in Predjama, Slovenia.

We saw villages where our great grandparents grew up.

View from Perugia, the town where my great-grandfather was born.

We explored castles and caves.

Miramare Castle, Trieste.

We wept in churches and lit candles together.

The Papal Alter, by Bernini, in St. Peter's Basilica.

And somehow, between admiring the Colosseum, fountains, and statues, ordering vino at every meal, cruising through the countryside in our diesel Volvos, and finding our Italian and Slovenian heritage, my parents had the trip of a lifetime, which was always the intended goal.

Colosseum, at night, Rome.

As for me? I loved venturing into smaller towns, shooting photos from dusk to dawn, taking my mom and my aunt for “girls’ nights” on the town, sipping espressos while staring out at the night sea, listening to live street music, talking with local shop owners, and discovering beauty around every corner. I’m not sure I would do the same trip again; there are parts I loved more than others, certain areas I didn’t get to explore, and a whole food culture that we glossed over in favor of convenience. But I don’t think this trip to Italy and Slovenia was my last.

I posted all of my pictures from the trip to Google Plus and made them public. You can get them here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/102803741296616623807/albums
(The trip starts with Venice and ends with Rome. )

I’ll have a few more thoughts/lessons learned in coming days, such as what to do when you shatter your fancy camera lens in a foreign country (yep). I’ll also discuss the trip’s expenses. For now, please enjoy the pictures and send me your feedback on them.

Buena notte,

Nicole

The post Mama Mia! Thoughts on Italy appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

Plus I’m trying to pick up a little Italian to speak there, and my eight years of Spanish are not making it easy. Who knew there were so many ways to pronounce the letter c? Or that all of them were exactly opposite of espanol?

The itinerary at this point is pretty much set: Venice, Trieste, Florence, and Rome. We hope to day trip to Slovenia (the country representing my dad’s heritage) while in Trieste and to Assisi while in Florence. For those who missed my last post, my Mom is half Italian so some of the cities we’ll see along the trip are tied to her heritage too.

Now that all the hard planning work is mostly done (and truthfully my brother did most of it) we can focus on practicing Italian, packing, and getting pumped for the trip. It will be quite a whirlwind and I’m sure we’ll all be annoyed with each other by trip’s end, but for now I’m very excited to wrap things up in Chicago and get this group in motion!

The post Italy in a week! appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

The Colosseum, Rome

My brother and I have been saving for a few years to send my parents on a trip to Italy, a lifelong dream of my mother’s. Her father was born in Italy, and she’s always talked about going. So, more than two years ago, he and I opened a savings account and started putting money in it. We made deposits for birthdays, Christmases, mother’s day, and father’s day. And we encouraged our parents to start saving, too, in case our deposits didn’t cover their trip.

During this two-year savings period, the trip has evolved into a substantially bigger extravaganza. My parents, it turned out, didn’t want to travel to Europe for their first time alone. We’re now up to eight travelers, which includes my parents, me, my brother, his wife, and their child, another of my brothers, and an aunt. We’re planning to visit Venice, Rome, Florence, and Trieste on this trip. And though we’re trying to do it frugally, with travelers ranging from a baby that can barely walk to my father, whose arthritis also renders him in the “barely walking” category every once in a while, we have to make more expensive choices than I typically make while traveling.  

The finances for such a large trip are more than I care to think about, especially since I’m hoping to buy a home in the next six months and am also taking a trip to Yellowstone in coming weeks. This is not the behavior of someone trying to save every last penny for a downpayment. It just means I need to be really smart about how I spend the rest of my disposable income during the next several months; I’ll need to really dial back the restaurants, races, shopping, and entertainment. Nothing I haven’t done before.

One bright spot: we booked our flight for about $850 this week when prices came down. So that’s one BIG expense out of the way, for about $200 less than I thought it would be. Now it’s on to finding hotel rooms and finalizing our itinerary….

The post Italy is Booked! appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

The Arch in St. Louis

2011 was my second trip to St. Louis. I have a cousin who studies at Washington University, we decided to do a half-marathon together, and St. Louis was the destination. It took almost five hours to get there by car from Chicago, but I’m glad we decided to check it out. Aside from the always fabulous Ted Drew’s custard, it turns out St. Louis has interesting restaurants like Bridge and Cafe Osage, a tasty craft brewery in Schlafly, great neighborhoods to check out like Central West End, and lots of parks to stroll through – including the Arch park, which officially is called the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, and gorgeous Forest Park.

After the race, which traveled through loads of beautiful city neighborhoods, ManFriend I spent a leisurely afternoon chilling in Arch park. We went up in the Arch, which was fine, but the vibe was actually way more peaceful just sitting in the grass, watching birds in the trees.

The one mistake we made with St. Louis was that we stayed at the most budget hotel we could find, the Missouri Athletic Club, which was just not up to code for us. I originally meant to book that place, then Priceline a nicer hotel closer to our stay, but totally forgot to make the change (lesson learned!). If I was going to St. Louis for anything other than a race or a game, I would not likely stay downtown. On the positive side, though, it was walking distance to the starting line and a perfect location for our itinerary.

View from the top of the Arch, St. Louis

In all, I had a great time in St. Louis. If you happen to be headed there, make sure you do your research and try to talk to locals about which neighborhoods to visit and where to stay. I think it will make all the difference in your experience.

About Budget Travel Friday – Photo Inspiration

The idea is this: I am a champion budget traveler. I have traveled to beautiful places, both remote and urban, across the United States, every year since I’ve had my own job, and have never needed to dip into my savings to do so. I have this crazy wanderlust that drives me out of the city every so often and pushes me to learn about new places, explore them, and meet new people along the way.

I also happen to love photography and while I’m less great at it than budgeting, I have a collection of photos from the east coast to the west coast and everywhere in between to share with you.

You know the tactics behind budget travel: research and plan ahead, go off-season, use Hotwire or Priceline for hotels – or try camping, purchase air fare when prices are cheap (or just fly Southwest ;), shop at grocery stores and local markets instead of eating at fancy places, visit museums on free days, etc.

OK, you have the tools, but where should you go? I hope you’ll check in with me every Friday for a photo example. If I’ve been there, you know it’s on the cheap, and you’re only a few clicks away from being there yourself.

The post Budget Travel Friday: St. Louis, Missouri appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

Haystock Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon

This photo is a little blurry, but it’s from 2005 and was taken with my old camera. We got a great deal on a little inn when we stayed there – our own fireplace, a walk-out path out to the beach, and convenient access to all kinds of cute little places to explore. It was cold when we went, which is why everything was so cheap, but still a great place to visit. 

Plus, you can drive to some wonderfully scenic hikes, full of tall trees and forests that I call “magical,” like this:

Nice Bridge in Oregon

And at nearby Ecola State Park, you can spend hours exploring tide pools to find gems like this…

Starfish at Ecola State Park

Those who live on the west coast probably know about Cannon Beach, but in Illinois I’ve only ever run into a handful of people who have heard of it. When we went, we flew into Seattle, where we spent a few nights before driving south along the coast to reach the beach. You can also fly into Portland if you can find a good deal on the fare. If you’re looking for a new place to vacation, I would recommend checking it out during the off-season. There’s plenty to do, the food is fresh and tasty, and the locals are friendly. We will definitely go back one day!

About Budget Travel Friday – Photo Inspiration

The idea is this: I am a champion budget traveler. I have traveled to beautiful places, both remote and urban, across the United States, every year since I’ve had my own job, and have never needed to dip into my savings to do so. I have this crazy wanderlust that drives me out of the city every so often and pushes me to learn about new places, explore them, and meet new people along the way.

I also happen to love photography and while I’m less great at it than budgeting, I have a collection of photos from the east coast to the west coast and everywhere in between to share with you.

You know the tactics behind budget travel: research and plan ahead, go off-season, use Hotwire or Priceline for hotels – or try camping, purchase air fare when prices are cheap (or just fly Southwest ;), shop at grocery stores and local markets instead of eating at fancy places, visit museums on free days, etc.

OK, you have the tools, but where should you go? I hope you’ll check in with me every Friday for a photo example. If I’ve been there, you know it’s on the cheap, and you’re only a few clicks away from being there yourself.

The post Budget Travel Friday: Cannon Beach, Oregon appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

Dingle, Ireland, 2007

But if you can’t make it to Ireland, Chicago is always a great destination to spend St. Patrick’s Day weekend. I was going to show you one of my own pictures, but I realized most are taken from my phone and are horrible quality. So here is one from Flickr, courtesy of multisani… thanks for the creative commons license!

Chicago on St. Patty's Day, complete with green river and green crowds. Photo credit multisani.

And Chicago isn’t the only US city with a festive St. Patty’s Day celebration. If you have pictures from Boston, New York, or any other big city or small town, be sure to share them here so we all know where to go next year!

About Budget Travel Friday – Photo Inspiration

The idea is this: I am a champion budget traveler. I have traveled to beautiful places, both remote and urban, across the United States, every year since I’ve had my own job, and have never needed to dip into my savings to do so. I have this crazy wanderlust that drives me out of the city every so often and pushes me to learn about new places, explore them, and meet new people along the way.

I also happen to love photography and while I’m less great at it than budgeting, I have a collection of photos from the east coast to the west coast and everywhere in between to share with you.

You know the tactics behind budget travel: research and plan ahead, go off-season, use Hotwire or Priceline for hotels – or try camping, purchase air fare when prices are cheap (or just fly Southwest ;), shop at grocery stores and local markets instead of eating at fancy places, visit museums on free days, etc.

OK, you have the tools, but where should you go? I hope you’ll check in with me every Friday for a photo example. If I’ve been there, you know it’s on the cheap, and you’re only a few clicks away from being there yourself.

The post Budget Travel Friday: St. Patty’s Day Edition appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

The lighthouse at Key Biscayne

Most people think about clubs, restaurants, and expensive drinks when they think of Miami. I think about the nearby Keys, ocean kayaking (we even kayaked with dolphins once), people watching on South Beach, long walks in warm weather, and yes, fabulous food!

You don’t need to stay on South Beach to have a great time, either. We usually stay in Coconut Grove (because my cousin lives there and we stay at his place) and drive to the beach, the Keys, and more. We love shopping the local markets for fresh foods and exploring the city and its beaches and parks. Rarely do we venture into a club or lounge. But there’s plenty of that, if that’s your scene

More photos:

Kayaks in B'hai Honda State Park, a day trip away from Miami (long drive)

Palm Trees in Miami

About Budget Travel Friday – Photo Inspiration

The idea is this: I am a champion budget traveler. I have traveled to beautiful places, both remote and urban, across the United States, every year since I’ve had my own job, and have never needed to dip into my savings to do so. I have this crazy wanderlust that drives me out of the city every so often and pushes me to learn about new places, explore them, and meet new people along the way.

I also happen to love photography and while I’m less great at it than budgeting, I have a collection of photos from the east coast to the west coast and everywhere in between to share with you.

You know the tactics behind budget travel: research and plan ahead, go off-season, use Hotwire or Priceline for hotels – or try camping, purchase air fare when prices are cheap (or just fly Southwest ;), shop at grocery stores and local markets instead of eating at fancy places, visit museums on free days, etc.

OK, you have the tools, but where should you go? I hope you’ll check in with me every Friday for a photo example. If I’ve been there, you know it’s on the cheap, and you’re only a few clicks away from being there yourself.

The post Budget Travel Friday: Miami and the Keys appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.

A beach at Big Sur

Big Sur, land of oceans, mountains, and forests, is my happy place.  I know this because during the worst of the half-marathon I did in St. Louis this year, I was visualizing myself running along Highway 1.

I’ve been to Big Sur in 2004, 2006, and 2011. And I intend to go back often throughout my life and perhaps one day run the Big Sur half-marathon or full marathon. Even if you’re not a runner, consider the photo above. It was taken while we sat on a beach with our shoes off after a day of hiking to watch the sun set, a slight chill in the air, drinking an adult beverage, and listening to an impromptu acoustic guitar trio that had set up next to us.

And there’s more:

I could ride on Highway 1 all day.

Our "private" pebble beach at Lime Kiln State Park, as the fog rolls in

Hiking among sequoias in the state parks

The most budget trip we took to Big Sur involved staying at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, in the main lodge. That was very rustic, but very affordable (you need to book well in advance though). Next time we stay inside any of the three parks that make up Big Sur we’d prefer to camp. In addition to the parks, we have found very affordable lodging at Inns in Carmel-by-the-Sea for around $100 per night during the months of June and September — I haven’t posted pictures of Carmel here since that’s technically another Friday feature. If I were planning a trip here, I’d fly Southwest into San Jose or Oakland during the next flight sale (just bargain shop for the best price to any relatively close airport). Of course, if you’re already living in San Francisco or Los Angeles, why not make a road trip up the coast and take in the sights, sounds, and smells (hint: strawberry field) of Highway 1?

If you go, spend the $15 on a good guide book; you’ll need it to navigate restaurants, trails, and activities. Big Sur can be quite posh at some of the four star resorts that overlook the ocean, and certain restaurants cater to the upscale crowd.

About Budget Travel Friday – Photo Inspiration

The idea is this: I am a champion budget traveler. I have traveled to beautiful places, both remote and urban, across the United States, every year since I’ve had my own job, and have never needed to dip into my savings to do so. I have this crazy wanderlust that drives me out of the city every so often and pushes me to learn about new places, explore them, and meet new people along the way.

I also happen to love photography and while I’m less great at it than budgeting, I have a collection of photos from the east coast to the west coast and everywhere in between to share with you.

You know the tactics behind budget travel: research and plan ahead, go off-season, use Hotwire or Priceline for hotels – or try camping, purchase air fare when prices are cheap (or just fly Southwest ;), shop at grocery stores and local markets instead of eating at fancy places, visit museums on free days, etc.

OK, you have the tools, but where should you go? I hope you’ll check in with me every Friday for a photo example. If I’ve been there, you know it’s on the cheap, and you’re only a few clicks away from being there yourself.

The post Budget Travel Friday: Big Sur appeared first on The Budgeting Babe.