[dolcengabbana]

Hi All

I do realise spending money is extremely subjective to each persons idea of affordability, tastes, budget, idea of a good time etc

However, I am trying to work out a general guide to take to Europe for our Honeymoon. All flights, accommodation have been paid for and breakfast in both Rome and Istanbul. We are also going on a 12 night cruise which is paid for and obviously meals are included we have already pre paid a drink package each on board too.

Loosely I have thought approx Euro200-300 per day that way if we do some private tours, buy a special gift each etc we are fairly comfy for the trip however it sure ads up and looks a little extreme on paper to take so much money for spending!!!

I would rather take too much and come home with money to pop back into savings then to feel like we are watching the budget everytime we buy or do domething. Its our honeymoon we just want to enjoy it and not worry about much of anything.

[Phoenix Blue]

Don't take any - just use ATM/credit cards.

[kee]

Obviously you are asking more about budget rather than having cash on you or using credit cards etc.

DH and I are heading to Europe in 2013 and we've also looked into food/spending costs. My SIL and her hubby did Europe last year and said not only do you lose out in the exchange rate when compared to countries like the USA but the actual costs of things can be quite steep - especially in places like Venice. Even sitting at a cafe for a cappuccino and a slice of cake set them back a substantial amount.

As such, we have budgeted about 200 euro per day as well. We are doing a 7 day cruise of the Adriatic (Greece and Croatia etc) and then another 7 night cruise of the Med (Italy, Barcelona, France etc) so for those days, as you said, your food is supplied by the cruise line which has made the budget slightly less on those days.

We will pre-pay flights, accommodation, cruises and transfers etc so the only further budget we are taking into consideration is the food budget and a small-ish amount of surplus for a few souvenirs. I am a mad photographer and going there to experience the culture and capture the amazing architecture and people on film - not to hit the shops (that's what I have next year's trip to the USA for!).

I had my honeymoon in Hawaii on a cruise and we had a tight budget after dropping a bucket of money into our wedding. It wasn't fun penny-pinching when you are meant to be relaxing as newlyweds so I would advise that if it looks too much on paper, it's perfect. When it's meant to be the most special holiday of your life, the last thing you need is to be eating beans out of a can one night so you can afford a nice dinner the next night!

Out of curiosity (and because I am cruise obsessed) what cruise are you doing? I think there's no better way to holiday than cruising and have my checklist of all the cruises I want to do around the world. I am crossing them off one by one slowly!

ETA: I wanted to add that you should keep in mind that private tours can end up being around 100 euro per person and shore excursions on the cruises are around 70 - 150 euro per person too. Try to research the tours you want to do and what cities you can simply do a self-guided tour of for free so you know before hand and can pre-book if possible. I am in the midst of figuring out what tourist attractions (Colosseum, Sistine Chapel etc) have entry fees and internet sales for tickets so I can skip the queues.

This post has been edited by kee: 25/07/2011, 10:57 PM

[dolcengabbana]

Phoenix Blue - I should have been more specific. I am talking about budgeting spending money for the trip. Not how much cash to carry around europe. I will be distributing the savings/spending money throughout a number of card options. We will be carrying little cash.

Kee - Thanks for your info. We are cruising with Celebrity COnstellation for 12 nights from Amsterdam to Istanbul Via Belgium, France, Spain, Gibraltar, Italy and Greece. We have 4 days in Amsterdam first, then 3 days in Istanbul, 4 days in Rome and 4 Days in Paris and a final 2 days in Singapore on the way home.

We have paid for in full our Flights, Accommodation in all places, breakfast included in Rome and Istanbul, Cruise and all meals are included and we have pre paid our drink package also on board.

All we have to budget is meals, tours and day trips and any little souvenier shopping. We aren't going to shop we want to see the sights.

We have been advised by both Italy and France travellers in our position oand their websites that all the tourist mueseums and sights are free for our entry due to Andrew being in a wheelchair and generally they give you a guide also becasue they need to show you where you can and can't get access which is a lovely and accommodating thing to do. So that will save us substantially i would imagine.

Which cruise line are you going on and which ones are on your list???

We can not wait. We are so excited. 4 days today til we leave home.

[kee]

dolcengabbana: (love your name by the way!) That is awesome that wheelchair accessibility is accounted for so well in those high-tourist places. That should significantly decrease your stress levels while away.

It sounds like you have all your plans organised thoroughly and you have thought out your spending money options really well. I had a quick look at the Celebrity Cruises site and your cruise looks lovely. It was so hard for DH and I to come up with cruise itineraries in the Mediterranean that allowed us to see everything we wanted to see. Though we normally cruise with NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line) we have this time agreed to cruise with MSC Cruises. We sail out of Venice on the MSC Musica to Bari, Katakolon/Olympia - Greece, Athens - Greece, Mykonos - Greece, Santorini - Greece, Corfu - Greece, Dubrovnik - Croatia and back to Venice where we have a free transfer to Genoa - Italy provided by the cruise company. Then we board MSC Fantasia and leave Genoa to go to Rome - Italy, Naples - Italy, Palermo - Sicily, La Goulette - Tunisia, Barcelona - Spain, Marseille - France and then back to Genoa. Before the cruise we are flying into London and having 4 nights there, taking the Eurostar train to Paris and having 4 nights there, again taking the train to Milan for 2 nights there, train again to Venice for 2 nights pre-cruise then the two cruises, then we take the train after the 2nd cruise to Florence and then Pisa for 2 nights at each and then lastly, the train into Rome where we are staying for a week (my DH's family are there but we are staying in a hotel rather than there tiny, cramped, non-airconditioned stone house). It's a big itinerary but one that we love, we get to see everything we have always wanted to see. I am most excited about beautiful Paris and the stunning "Gaudi" buildings in Barcelona - especially the Sagrada Familia. We have booked an internal tour of this cathedral. I'm studying interior design and architecture so I cannot wait to see this masterpiece that has been under construction for over 700 years!

I should stop now or I will go on forever! I hope you have an amazing time and I hope you'll pop back on here once you return as I'd love to hear all about it. Enjoy!

ETA: Cruises I have on the list: NCL cruises of Hawaii (I have done this 3 times already!), we are doing an NCL cruise of the Bahamas next year in June, hoping to do Star Cruises Malaysia/Singapore end of next year, 2 MSC European cruises in 2013 and I still want to do the Norwegian Epic cruise of the Carribbean, a cruise on Oasis of the Seas (don't care where too, I just want to see that mammoth ship!) and we'd like to do a Pacific Islands cruise with P&O sometime in future too. We are constantly finding more cruises that we are interested in so that list is bound to get longer. DH seems to be getting more obsessed than me now! Since we are Hawaii obsessed, DH has suggested we should cruise from Sydney to Hawaii at least once as well. Who am I to say no?!

This post has been edited by kee: 26/07/2011, 12:21 PM

[julzely]

Just a note on using credit cards/debit cards overseas: Make sure you look at all the fees charged by the bank. An everyday debit account often charges you $5 to use an ATM and then an international conversions fee which can be 5% or more of the amount you spend. Credit cards usually have slightly lower fees, but you need to be very careful with withdrawing cash as this gets charged at a higher rate to credit transactions and usually does not have an interest free period.

I personally traveled Europe for 8moths using 28Degrees MasterCard which does not charge you an international conversion fee and doesn't have an international atm fee. I used it all over Europe. The trick with this card is to overpay it before you go, and then when you make a cash withdrawal you and using your own money so don't get charged the cash withdrawal fee. It also has a pretty good exchange rate.

As for your budget you can pretty much spend as little or as much as you want. I was backpacking and my budget was 100 euro a day which included everything. So long as you are a aware of how much you are spending $200-$300 would be fine for food, tours and spending

[secret~sammy]

My spending money budget is $100 per person per day and I've always come home with a lot of money left over. We're the kind of people who eat at cafes and restaurants and go to museums but we’re not big shoppers or drinkers - if that helps at all

I budget day tours etc separate - usually because I've spent the months in the lead up to the trip researching what I want to do and know exactly which ones I want to do and what their cost is.

[Lokum]

Wheelchairs and Strollers in Istanbul and Rome - nothing to do with budget, but I have very recently spent time in Istanbul and Rome with a stroller. I'm sure you've looked into wheelchair issues, but anyway...

Italy was very baby-friendly for us. We by-passed some massive queues at major sites recently just because we had DS in a baby carrier - so just walk to the front of any queue, be polite, smile and they will probably let you straight in without even having to ask if you can queue-jump.

I did note special arrangements being made for people in wheelchairs in St Peters and in the Vatican Museums - despite unbelievable crowds, someone was shepherded all the way around so she could enjoy the Sistine Chapel in peace without everyone's bum in her face.

Even so - there are cobblestones in parts of Rome which are a b*tch - forget about Castel St Angelo, taking the metro at all, getting close to Trevi Fountain (there are tiered steps down) unless you have your own muscle men, and note that most disabled toilets leave a lot to be desired in terms of function and hygiene and are often locked. I peaked into MANY disabled toilets in Rome a few weeks ago, as I was looking for baby change facilities - didn't find any but was shocked at what I saw. At the Colosseum the elevator was out of order (although this may have been a ruse to keep lazy old people away!).

What they lacked in baby-friendly infrastructure though, they made up for in good will and eagerness to find solutions.

In Istanbul - the wheelchair is a big issue! I have been wrestling with my stroller here for a couple of weeks, and it is MURDER. I hope your husband's chair has good shockers! People park across footpaths, foothpaths are often rough, broken, uneven or just suddenly disappear with a 6 inch drop to the road. It's not so bad around the big sites in the old neighbourhood where they've recently done quite a bit of work, but everywhere else is ROUGH.

Theoretically there is a ramp to the upper gallery in Aya Sofia - but it is incredibly rough old cobblestones, and there are a few steps to get to the ramp. If you do manage to get up - take the 'up' route back down. The 'down' route is really smooth, until you get to about 15 steep steps at the end!!!

The metro in Istanbul is much nicer than in Rome, but I have still been caught out down in the subway with an out-of-order elevator. Good stops seem to be Taksim and Levent (though you probably don't want to go to a massive shopping centre in Istanbul, so don't worry.) The Blue Mosque has good ramps. People around Sultanahmet (the beautiful old neighbourhood) can be particularly feral on Saturdays and Sundays - it's a day off work and people from the countryside with no manners crowd in and misbehave on footpaths and anywhere near public transport. I've been reduced to frustrated tears, shouting and ramming people in the ankles with DS's stroller when he was in danger of being squashed. On every other day it's lovely.

Can't remember much about Topkapi Palace or other major tourist places - but Turks are incredibly friendly, and if you look helpless and call out asking for help, people will JUMP forward to help. Make sure you take a trip down the Bosphorus by ferry, and if you have time, eat baked potatoes (called kumpir) in Ortakoy, smoke nargile on bean bags in Tophane and drink beers in the little side streets off Istiklal Street. These are some of the favourites for locals this summer, and they give you a much better idea of the city than just staying in the Sultanahmet neighbourhood!!! Can you tell I have a love/hate relationship with this city?

I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon.

[dolcengabbana]

Hi Lokum

We pretty much imagined Turkey to be as you have described. We have a lot of friends in professional wheelchair basketball teams in Europe and they were pretty open with their opinion and information for us on our destinations.

We can't wait. Fortunately i have been getting fit and am at the ready to give him a push up steep ramps, hills and obstacles.

We have been to Indonesia and we bounced off a number of large curbs and street sides and found pushing a wheelchair up the road instead of the foot path was MUCH smoother. he may have a disability but we don't see it and live that way. We know it will be hard sometimes but we want to see what other people get to see.

[Lokum]

he may have a disability but we don't see it and live that way. We know it will be hard sometimes but we want to see what other people get to see.

Good on you! Everyone's life gets 'hard' one way or another at times, but how you deal with it is what's important. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic time.