How to ensure you have realistic expectations for your next trip
It’s all about the money…
Wait, no it’s not. I mean, don’t get me wrong, money is important, but travel is definitely not all about the money. I’ve traveled on minuscule budgets and had an amazing time, felt safe, and had reasonable accommodations, so money is definitely not the precursor to experiencing culture and enjoying your trip. That being said, there is such a thing as an unrealistic budget.
Ok, so how can someone tell if their budget is realistic or not? And for those who aren’t sure what a good budget should be for the trip they have in mind, how do they figure that out?
Easy answer of course is use a good travel agent. Longer answer for those who wish to come into the travel agent/client relationship prepared (or for those DIYers) is below.
To get a rock bottom minimum required for your trip, plug in the origin and destination into Google Flights to check what flights are pricing at for your preferred dates. You know you gotta get there somehow, so your budget will have to be larger than this.
Check how much the average hotel is per night in the area of the city you’d like to stay in. Add this to the amount you got in step 1 to get the ballpark range for simply arriving and having a place to crash at night.
If you want to have planned activities each day, add on about $50-200/person/day for tours. While some tours may be less than this, and of course the sky’s the limit for how much more than this they can be (private tours, as opposed to group tours, can get spendy fast), this is a good rule of thumb.
If you are planning to visit multiple areas, add about $200-500/person for each destination change to account for transportation between cities.
Because inflation is real, as is the pent up demand to travel after COVID, take the number you have and increase it by 10-20% to account for that.
Finally, because travel insurance is always recommended, add another 15% to your total to account for the cost of protecting your travel investment.
So let’s take an example of this. Let’s say you want to go to Santorini and Athens for a week. As of the time of me writing this, here’s the numbers:
Flights from MSP to Athens, and then from Santorini to MSP end up being about $3000/person.
Hotels in Athens are averaging about $130/night, and hotels in Santorini are about $400/night. I want to stay in Athens 3 nights, and 3 nights in Santorini.
I don’t want a tour everyday, but want one 3 of the days - so I’ll add $100/day for 3 days = $300.
I’m moving from Athens to Santorini, so add in $200. That brings the total to: $3000 + $390 + $1200 + $300 + $200 = $5,090.
10% of $5090 is $509, so $5090 + $509 = $5,599 for my actual travel expenses. Travel insurance would likely average out to be about $840 for this trip.
So, if you came to me with a budget of $5600 for a week long trip to Greece, that is very doable! I could whip up a great trip for you that hits all the items on your bucketlist no problem. Now if you didn’t want to do all that math (after all, isn’t that what you are paying me to do as your travel agent??) then even just looking up the airfare and realizing that at minimum your budget should be over $3000 would be sufficient. We’d talk through the logistics of the other items during our consultation.
Places to go, people to see, babies to kiss…
Now that we’ve figured out the budget, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty of the logistics of your trip.
How can you tell what’s a realistic itinerary that is at a pace that you get to ENJOY the destinations?
Don’t worry, I’ve got a list for this too…
First things first, check out how long the flight takes! I’ve got colleagues who have had clients come to them wanting a “quick Bora Bora weekend” when Bora Bora is at least a 24 hour series of flights away from the Twin Cities, (where I live in Minnesota). So a quick weekend getaway to Bora Bora means you’ve taken a plane, got out, looked through the window at the airport, and gotten right back on the plane to fly home.
Next, consider that transferring between cities takes up a lot of travel time - checking out of your hotel in the morning doesn’t leave a lot of exploration time, then you get your transfer or catch a taxi to the airport/train station/port and be a bit early to ensure you don’t miss it, consider the flight/train/ferry will probably be a few hours, then the transfer/taxi to your next hotel, check in there, and it’s already dinnertime and you’re exhausted. Each transfer between a city eats away at nearly a full day of your trip. Your weeklong trip to Europe where you want to check off 4 countries won’t be very full of meaningful experiences.
Lastly, remember that delays and cancellations can happen to anyone, even people who have used a travel agent to book their trip. Unfortunately, I am not a genie, able to ensure your wish of a smooth and seamless trip is an absolute. I am a magician, able to assist if something goes awry, but flight attendant, pilot, and baggage handler shortages are out of my control, as are tour operators having to cancel tours due to remaining COVID regulations, guides being sick, or weather. Packing too much into your trip can make these unfortunate incidents a bigger deal than if you had some breathing space.