21 Days in Europe : How Much Did We Spend?

[@rebeccathompson5287]

Great video. Looking forward to your travel videos. This was good practice for y'all to know what style of travel you like best.

[@FIREWeGo]

It was definitely an eye opener! Travelling quickly was really tiring!

[@FIRE_DrNinjaTurtle]

I am going to monitor your channel so I am first to view, while I am on vacation 😀

[@FIREWeGo]

Lol...we always appreciate seeing your comments! Enjoy your vacation 🤗

[@alexandriaM.D.]

Accommodation was expensive! But you saved a lot on airfare using points.

[@FIREWeGo]

That is very true! It was a large savings. For our future travels, we are going to have to figure out how to spend less on accommodation, though!

[@andrewwalker9216]

I want to do this next year with my family

[@FIREWeGo]

You guys should do it. We had an amazing and memorable time.

[@TheNeighborhoodFinanceGuy]

My wife and I were there in November 2022. We did the same minus Gilbratrar. Driving was scary at first but then I got comfortable. Sevilla... I needed more days.

[@FIREWeGo]

100% We thought driving in Spain to be more challenging. On the other hand, beautiful scenery, which was totally worth it.

[@FIRE_DrNinjaTurtle]

I was not first, I am slacking 😀. Happy Sunday. I am traveling in June. I seem to be following your actions. I am doing my best to keep up and catch up. 😀

[@FIREWeGo]

Enjoy your travels!!! Can't wait to hear where you are and what you are up to!

[@ferdinis]

In Portugal if you want to tip you must do it in cash and a small amount like 1 or 2 Euros is more than enough. Credit Cards are not used the same way as in North America.

[@FIREWeGo]

Thank you!! It was definitely different for us!

[@vandanapatel1080]

You guys are beautiful couple love all your videos. What was the plan card or service you mentioned checked the show notes couldn’t find the link for it.Please share with us

[@FIREWeGo]

Thank you so much Vandana, what a lovely comment! We used Airalo...here a link for you! 😊

[@mikep4869]

Yep! Trying to do 12-countries in 12-days while sleeping on a train is for 20-something year olds. Pick a country, pick a smallish city (town) and stay there for one or two weeks. Then go to another town. Learn the local transportation methods and the best pubs to eat at. Get to know some locals and great things open up. Try that anywhere in the U.K., you will have an incredible experience - and very cost effective. Your hacks worked out pretty good for doing your trip on $275 per day all-in.

[@FIREWeGo]

Thanks Mike! We definitely think the travel method you described is more our style! We are also looking forward to seeing the UK...and taking in one or two EPL games 😊

[@singleparentfire2363]

Thanks for sharing the financial breakdown, I hope to travel one day in retirement

[@FIREWeGo]

We have no doubt that you'll travel before even then! You are very determined!! 🤗

[@gush5465]

Welcome back guys !!! 5800$ for 21 days isnt bad at all, last October me and my wife we went to Cancun for 7days and it cost us 4800$ for 7days. Europe is amazing and its on our bucket list hopefully next May. Thanks guys for the video and looking forward for the future ones .

[@FIREWeGo]

Thanks Gus! You will definitely not be disappointed if you end up in Portugal and Spain...so great!

[@vandanapatel1080]

You guys are beautiful couple love all your videos. What was the phone plan card or service you mentioned checked the show notes couldn’t find the link for it.Please share with us

[@FIREWeGo]

Thank you very much. We are sorry you couldn't find the details. Here you go: Get US$3 off your first eSIM data pack from Airalo. Use code GEAN8544 when you sign up or apply it at checkout. ref.airalo.com/KkND We hope it works 😊

[@sarahthompson5066]

Wow--what a WONDERFUL trip you two had and really, $5,800 for 21 days is not bad at all! Even though you were living like "Tourists" you could have spent a lot more. I know I don't like eating out all three meals because a meal at a restaurant is typically more than I eat at home. We like to pick up groceries and at least eat breakfast and possibly some lunches outside of restaurants not only because it's cheaper, but also for the nutritional aspect as well. Because you know most food prepared in restaurant is not as healthy. But this was a different kind of trip and part of the social aspect was eating out with your family so don't beat yourselves up over the cost. One thing I started doing in the last few years was keeping a "Budget" vs. Actual for each vacation. I keep it very, VERY detailed. Parking costs for our car while we are gone, food in the airport, what we are paying the pet sitter, the cash we draw out and how we spent it (tips, etc.) I go though all our receipts and get EVERYTHING! Then I calculate a cost per day for the different types of trips--road trip, cruise, all inclusive, etc. That helps us know what different types of trips will (or should) cost per day and helps us plan for other trips. PLUS when you are tracking, you are aware of what you are spending while you are gone and it forces you to make choices in how you spend your money vs. a surprise at the end. But try as I may, there are always surprise costs. However, now that I do detailed vacation budgets vs. actual, there are not as MANY surprises. Think of this as a trial run of "Early Retirement". Remember, the first few months of early retirement will be like a "Honeymoon" until you establish routines. I am so glad you both had a great time!!

[@FIREWeGo]

Love this idea! We will definitely be implementing it on our future trips!! Like you, normally we like to eat breakfast and either lunch or dinner in our Airbnb when possible! Restaurants are great, but like you mentioned, they may not be the healthiest option, and more expensive 😊

[@globalexpress11]

Tipping in Portugal isn't like in Canada. 1 or 2 euro is common for restaurants. If you're in touristy areas, Tipping is more common.

[@FIREWeGo]

Thank you!! It seemed like it was less common, excellent to know for future trips!

[@andrewwalker9216]

How was it driving in portugal and Spain?

[@FIREWeGo]

It was so easy! Great roads and highways!

[@LastBrown]

Do you mind sharing which credit card you guys are using for points accumulation. Thanks!!!

[@FIREWeGo]

Here are the links mentioned during the video (note that we might get a referral from using the links): - Wise (Travel/debit money card): firewego.com/go/wise/ - HSBC (No international foreign fee in credit card in Canada): firewego.com/go/hsbcworldelite/ - American Express (Perks with Air Canada): firewego.com/go/aeroplan/ - Best Card to accumulate points in Canada (Amex Cobalt): firewego.com/go/amex-cobalt/ Also, we ALWAYS pay the balance in full. We're sure you know this is a must :)

[@africantraveler9]

Hi guys, I stumbled on your videos and enjoy your content. So, about tipping - if it isn't customary there, what are your thoughts on blending in and doing what the locals do, which is presumably not paying tips? Is it a good idea to bring economic practices from Canada there? One of the things I've seen in my home country, is that locals typically don't tip (given the standard of living and the corresponding incomes for locals) but tourists do, which results in locals often getting very poor service - even being served last when they may arrived earlier - because they cannot match tourist tips. So the flip side of the appreciation you saw in the servers can be that locals that can't match your tips may get a backlash (i.e. not great service) if they cannot match what tourists do.

[@FIREWeGo]

Hello!!! Thank you so much for the comment, and we never actually thought about the impact that over tipping may also have on the local community...and that is a great point. We will definitely make sure to read up a bit more before striking out on our next adventure! 😊

[@mazskefinance7818]

I love travel hacking. I have talked about it on my channel. I am FI and its great. We plan to travel a lot once we get our house sold.

[@FIREWeGo]

Congrats on reaching FI and the plans to travel! We love travel hacking, and it certainly helped with the costs on this trip!

[@mazskefinance7818]

@@FIREWeGo Sounds great! Hopefully we can meet up sometime. I always have an email in each description of my videos where you can contact me at.

[@stacked3112]

May I ask why your budget is 40k? Is that your spend budget for the year? Or is it your travel budget for the year? I appreciate any insight as I am trying to put together my fire as well. I’m 34 now and giving myself 10 years

[@FIREWeGo]

So originally, our budget was 40k for the entire year of spending. It was this amount as we were planning to use Geoarbitrage to lower costs by living in less expensive places. We are realizing that we may need to increase this, though, as the costs have risen in the past few years!

[@stacked3112]

@@FIREWeGo That’s so incredible! I need to go back in videos to see if you’ve posted your current income from investments! Thank you for everything

[@livingtheslolife]

$5800 for 3 weeks isn't bad at all, agree with other commenters. I took a 2 week trip to Spain and Portugal in August 2017 from CA with my two college aged kids and my daughter's boyfriend (they were studying abroad in Barcelona and we met them there with our son, and the 5 of us traveled to San Sebastian, Madrid, and Lisbon, and also stopped in Boston to visit family for a day on our way back to CA). It was quite a bit more expensive, but we had no airfare points, and going to Europe in the summer is a lot more expensive. But how often do you plan to travel when you retire? If it took a year or two to get the points for this one trip, the airfares could tack on significant costs in the future. Also, I don't think spending $2,200 total for food and entertainment is that bad as it comes out to only $100/day for 2 people to eat 3 meals AND do excursions? I mean, what's the point of traveling if you're not going to go out and experience the local cuisine and do some exploring. That being said, I do think retiring with a $40K/year TOTAL budget is going to be a challenge if you plan to do significant travel. I'm budgeting $25K/year JUST for travel when I retire. When/where is your next trip?

[@FIREWeGo]

Hey Mike! Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! The trip was definitely worth every penny for the memories created! We are definitely working hard to build up as many travel points as possible to help offset airfare and some hotel expenses as well. We are planning to travel more or less full-time, and spend a month or more in any given country. Moving g from place to place can hopefully be achieved using points, or inexpensive methods of ground transport as well. We completely agree that 40k no longer seems feasible, so we just increased that amount to 60k...fingers crossed this will all work out for next year and we will stay on track!! Thanks again for the wonderful comment 😊

[@chickolat]

tipping is only a north American thing. The rest of the world does not expect it.

[@FIREWeGo]

Thanks for letting us know