First of all, if you are not the king of spreadsheets, you need to marry someone who is. I totally married right!
Blessed with a continuous job during our trip, we were able to spreadsheet our budgets for every single month and pay day. We didn't plan day to day but planned each month.
With a list of must dos in every country and to keep the budget low we each had to make some sacrifices (clearly no one is as into Harry Potter as I am... the betrayal!) and our "must dos list" ended up being our "budget must dos list" which would turn our trip into a semi-budget trip instead of a pretending we were sitting by Lake Como with George Clooney and the twins trip. Yes, I'm gutted too.
It wasn't easy. I gave up Harry Potter (so sad), Hadrian gave up Legoland (not as sad) and Nathan sorta gave up Disneyland (perhaps maybe it could possibly be still on the cards.. probably). But, we will definitely see an endless amount of castles and churches so... YAY!
TIP: To help prevent managing money for day-to-day things becoming a nightmare, a few tricks we learned and practiced while we were still getting paid in NZ$ while working and living in AU$, was to 1) AVOID using a bank to exchange money and 2) NEVER transfer money at the airport! It's a total rip. TransferWise seemed to be a fast, hassle free way to transfer money at better exchange rates and lower fees than most banks. And even better, ING Australia offers ZERO fees for international transactions either online or at overseas ATMs and retailers. You can't beat free! Except... if you're thinking about joining ING Australia - they are currently giving away $25 to new customers (woohoo!) if you use my promotional code: EXP668. Feel free to share 😍😍
Next: Accommodation
Transportation
Mental State
Schooling
Spiritually
Visas
A kiwi family of three travelling around Europe. We're getting out of our comfort zone, living simply, shedding the burden of "things" and replacing them with rich experiences. Follow our adventure!
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