Paris and Rome, here we come!!

Ryan and I decided to join his mom and sisters on a trip to Paris and Rome in May, even though it's quite a bit out of our budget! We decided that the memories we will make with them are priceless and worth the splurge ($900/person to fly to Paris...ouch). This doesn't mean, however, that we will go willy nilly (who says willy nilly??) with our budget.

Planning a vacation on a budget isn't exactly the easiest thing to do when you're planning on visiting two of the most expensive cities possible and they're both pretty far away from sunny Florida. Really, visiting the main cities of any country are going to cost you more than staying in the small villages and towns where prices are cheaper or visiting a country much closer to your own (For example: our flights to Honduras in 2010 were about $250/each, plus the hostels were like $10-20/night). And since it's a big vacation for us, we also don't want to miss out on things just for the sake of saving money...in other words, we don't want to be cheapskates! We want to have a good time. So, how can we do the things we want to do and not deplete our savings completely?? I'll tell you how we're doing it, step by step:

1. Stay with friends or in a hostel OR buy a package deal

We are super lucky to have friends that live in Paris and have (graciously) offered to let us stay with them. Not only will we be able to spend time with friends and hear about Paris from a local's point of view but this is also a huge money saver. The only cost for lodging will be a nice thank you gift to them...which, I assure you, is quite a bit less than 4 nights in even a Parisian hostel.

In Rome, we have found an adorable hostel online, The Beehive, where for about $100/night, we will have a shared kitchen and a clean, well reviewed place to lay our heads not too far from the train station and the hotel where Ryan's mom and sisters are staying.

I'm usually against package deals and tours because I feel that, overall, you can usually save money if you're willing to stay in a hostel or some other form of cheap lodging. In Paris and Rome....hostels are expensive! Instead of $10-30/night, you will pay $100+/night for even the most homely of rooms (The exception being, of course, if you stay on the edge of the city or in a nearby town).

The deal that the in-laws got, $1500/person, includes airfare to Paris and from Paris to Rome PLUS lodging in both cities for 10 nights. Not bad when you consider that the rooms they're staying in go for $300-400/night normally. We will still save money because we're staying with friends for half of the trip, but otherwise, it would have been cheaper to get the package deal when you factor in the flight from Paris to Rome and the 11 nights lodging.


2. How to pay for the trip?

We have decided that, rather than clean out our savings and stocks, we will lower our student loan payments for a few months. We're still paying at least the minimum, but normally we pay 2.5 times the minimum to accelerate paying the debt off. It's not ideal but again, the memories of a family trip are worth the splurge (to us). I do not suggest using a credit card to pay for any trip! An expensive trip can quickly become an un-Godly mountain of debt when you factor in the interest you'll be paying on that trip.


Total spent so far (in USD):

Airfare for 2 from Orlando to Paris: $1800
Airfare for 2 from Paris to Rome (We love you RyanAir): $185
(We will hit up a total of 8 airports...direct flights cost more!)

Estimate for hostel in Rome: $440 (includes 2 Euro/day/person "tourist tax")
____________________________________
$2,425 (Made me a little nauseous to type that)

These are pretty much non-negotiables...our only opportunities to save money will be how we choose to get around the cities (bus vs. taxi), how we choose to eat (restaurants vs. utilizing grocery stores), places we choose to visit, etc.

Since we're still about a month away from going, that's as far as we've gotten! I'm still researching the best options for getting around the cities, where and what to eat and how to see the sights without paying too much. Any tips you have would be greatly appreciated! Let me know in the comments :)