Is $12,000 per year in travel enough

[Marita40]

I like to eat but eating is just not a big thing to me! Just not a gourmand, I guess. When I travel in Europe I save a lot of money that way. The places I stay in Austria and Italy (my two prime countries of travel) all come with lovely breakfast spreads. These can hold me until mid afternoon, at which point a restaurant meal or picnic lunch suffices. Back at the hotel after a long day of sight seeing is the time for a glass of wine and a munchie or two. In short, I rarely will have a restaurant dinner and thus save $$$ that way. I also scope out smaller family run pensions or B & Bs, never opting for major ($$$) hotels. And I take local public transportation. These things save a lot of money; hence, I'm able to travel fairly inexpensively.

 

[Koogie]

To paraphrase Charlton Heston: "I'd be dragged on that one by my cold dead hands".

Here is another reason not to get on the super huge cruise ships. Well, at least not to stand on the upper decks anyway.

 

[explanade]

I like to eat but eating is just not a big thing to me! Just not a gourmand, I guess. When I travel in Europe I save a lot of money that way. The places I stay in Austria and Italy (my two prime countries of travel) all come with lovely breakfast spreads. These can hold me until mid afternoon, at which point a restaurant meal or picnic lunch suffices. Back at the hotel after a long day of sight seeing is the time for a glass of wine and a munchie or two. In short, I rarely will have a restaurant dinner and thus save $$$ that way. I also scope out smaller family run pensions or B & Bs, never opting for major ($$$) hotels. And I take local public transportation. These things save a lot of money; hence, I'm able to travel fairly inexpensively.

Going to a Tyrolean village in Austria towards end of August. Booked half board at a pension so quaint that I had to book by email and wire money to reserve.

Half board was a good deal so I wonder how the Austrian food will be.

Only other time I tried half board was in Wengen, in the winter. Figured I'd save money but also didn't want to have to hike in the cold, dark winter nights because the place I was staying was about a kilometer from the train station and the center of the village.

 

[Winemaker]

DW and I always eat breakfast in the condo/house where we stay. If at a hotel/motel, breakfast is included in the room. Lunch is usually cheese, celery, carrots, cuke slices, peppers, maybe some leftovers from dinner night before; eaten at a park, trail, parking lot, or scenic vista. Dinner maybe a $200+ experience with wine, but more often than not it is local seafood, steaks, chops, or chicken grilled with produce at the local farmer's market.
We have never bought a package, tour, except for a destination wedding. We make our own flight arrangements, housing, and car rental arrangements.
So far this year we've been to St. Pete Beach FL, Watkins Glen NY, Louisville KY, Punta Gorda FL, Albuquerque NM, Tuscon AZ, Maui and Kona HI, and Geneva OH. Still have 2 trips to wine country CA, and a FL trip scheduled. DW is trying to talk me to go back to Watkins Glen before fall, and church has a trip to Rome during wine season that I have to pass on.
All under $10,000 for the year; but I don't count food. We would eat the same way at home.

Also, if you are at a "pricey" restaurant with a wine list, the cheapest or next to cheapest wine is usually the somm's favorite if he/she is buying.

 

[NW-Bound]

... In our last trip, while people queued up to pay 3 euros for an ice cream cone (we got hit by a heat wave in early June), I found delight in paying 2 euros for a glass of draft beer in Antwerp, and again in Brussels in the street corner across the narrow street from Manneken Pis. With the price that good, I had to drink 2.

OK, found the photo where I got the 2-euro glasses of beer in Antwerp. It was right in the square in front of the Cathedral.

The owner was a super nice guy too. My wife does not drink alcohol at all, and when I saw a sweet Lambic cherry beer, I wanted to buy a glass of that for her.

He looked in his fridge and poured what was left in a larger bottle, and it did not fill up a glass, so he said it was free. It was near the end of the day, and he did not want to open a new bottle as it would not keep till the next day.

I could not get something free like that, so also bought in addition a small pint size bottle of the same cherry beer. When a small store owner tries to make a living selling a glass of beer for 2 euros where going to a public toilet to pee costs you 1 euro, I happily support his business. And it was a darn unseasonably warm day in early June too, and all that walking made me so thirsty.

... Wife yesterday received a cruise offer at the year end...

Need to work out the logistics, as DW now has to watch over MIL who is 92.

This is why my travel budget is currently near zero.

And we are trying to squeeze in more travel before it's our turn to be watched. Life is so doggone short! But air travel is so tedious too.

 

[Danmar]

Probably going for an award: Most over paid food?

We have heard that many restaurants prefer to keep at 2 stars so they can focus on what their clients want.

Agree. I have enjoyed one star but the 2/3 stars have been awful.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We usually get breakfast for free with our hotel and eat in a park for lunch by buying from a grocery store. We eat dinner out on a trip every night and frequent small local restaurants. In Italy we always order the house wine. WE also don't stay in huge hotels so all of that has stretched our travel budget too.

 

[Nemo2]

Here is another reason not to get on the super huge cruise ships. Well, at least not to stand on the upper decks anyway.

That one, a Croisières de France vessel, (one of our favorite lines, now absorbed by Pullmantur), likely the Zenith, (although I couldn't immediately find verification online), isn't so big, only about 47K GT....the Oasis of the Seas OTOH is about 225K GT.

 

[Marita40]

Going to a Tyrolean village in Austria towards end of August. Booked half board at a pension so quaint that I had to book by email and wire money to reserve.

Sounds lovely. I stay in Innsbruck occasionally but mostly hang out in Salzburg and Vienna. Love the food!

 

[explanade]

Sounds lovely. I stay in Innsbruck occasionally but mostly hang out in Salzburg and Vienna. Love the food!

Planning to stay in Innsbruck, Salzburg, Hallstatt and St. Wolfgang on this trip as well.

Are there characteristic dishes to look for? I imagine it's things like stews or goulashes or Alpine fare like fondue, i.e. hearty food for the cold weather?

 

[Marita40]

I love St. Wolfgang and Hallstatt! The whole Salzkammergut is lovely. I'd recommend the salt mine tour in Hallstatt, and a boat ride on the Wolfgangsee. In fact, I really loved the Sound of Music tour, despite its cheesyness. Well worth it!

Wiener Schnitzel (and other schnitzels) is always a favorite of course, as are the many types of sausages with good mustards. Lots of good venison and rabbit dishes. Any one of the marvelous desserts made with Topfen; many different strudels as well. The area makes the famous Salzburgernockerl, a rather bizarre but good dessert. And of course lots of American and Italian style fare these days, too. You won't go hungry.

 

[Koogie]

That one, a Croisières de France vessel, (one of our favorite lines, now absorbed by Pullmantur), likely the Zenith, (although I couldn't immediately find verification online), isn't so big, only about 47K GT....

lol.. the last vessel I was on was about that same tonnage but it doesn't have quite the same allure..

 

[Nemo2]

lol.. the last vessel I was on was about that same tonnage but it doesn't have quite the same allure..

Yabbut, you were chained in the hold!

 

[explanade]

Remember in the '70s and '80s you hear about people stowing away.

Not just in boats but on airliners!

Maybe a colorful story. So cargo holds, which I'm not sure are heated or pressurized.

 

[Nemo2]

Remember in the '70s and '80s you hear about people stowing away.

Not just in boats but on airliners!

Maybe a colorful story. So cargo holds, which I'm not sure are heated or pressurized.

And airplane wheel wells:

British Airways stowaway dies after falling in London - CNN.com

 

[aja8888]

And airplane wheel wells:

British Airways stowaway dies after falling in London - CNN.com

More Darwin Award candidates..

 

[Koogie]

Yabbut, you were chained in the hold!

my reputation proceeds me..

Remember in the '70s and '80s you hear about people stowing away.
Not just in boats but on airliners!
Maybe a colorful story. So cargo holds, which I'm not sure are heated or pressurized.

there are, if you will forgive the pun, lots of horrible stories "floating" around my industry about stowaways. it definitely isn't romantic for them or for the crew.

 

[Nemo2]

stories "floating" around my industry about stowaways. it definitely isn't romantic for them or for the crew.

You must have heard the old joke about the young woman stowing away in a lifeboat.......the punchline of which is "But this is the Staten Island ferry"?

 

[Eagle43]

To paraphrase Charlton Heston: "I'd be dragged on that one by my cold dead hands". [emoji23]

I am guessing the Oasis had a room for cold, dead passengers. [emoji1]

There were 7 neighborhoods on the ship. Our cabin was in Central Park, where there are:

QUOTE "12500 plants including 56 trees some of which are 24 feet tall. All plant materials is contained in 2200 modules in 46 planters plus two living walls containing 70 tons of planting mix and all automatically irrigated with sea water that has been processed pure. UNQUOTE.

We could sit on our balcony and listen to violin music coming from a lower deck. And there were 24 dining options, and 37 bars and lounges.

We watched a show at the AquaTheater Pool which is 17.9 ft deep. Lots of diving by the professionals from that height. Etc. Etc.

We enjoyed the cruise and would go again.

 

[Nemo2]

A friend, whom we met on the Monarch this Spring, just linked us to the following review:

A 13-Night Cruise for $159!? Here's Our Pullmantur Monarch Review

Our trip, a year later, differs from theirs in a number of areas; among them:

- We did not find that the ship 'rocked', period. (Of course, if they are used to traveling on such monstrosities as the Norwegian Epic, (and you'd likely have to pull out at least some of our fingernails before we'd board a vessel that size), then the slightest, normal, shipboard movement might be construed as 'rocking'.)

- The ship had numerous English language TV movies.

- We saw no sign of vandalism by children in the (admittedly minute) 'library' area, nor did we encounter any of the rude/antisocial behavior they referred to, (we were lucky to have had a totally different crowd, I guess).

- Tecate Mexican beer was included, (although for some unknown reason the lesser brew Corona was extra).


As to not bothering to fly to Costa Rica/Cartagena to catch this (any?) cruise.....yup, been there, done that.

 

[FIYes]

Nemo, we are considering a Pullmantur cruise. We have been on other cruise ships ranging from smallish (for a cruise ship) to a mega ship. I had already read the linked review so I am very interested that your take on the cruise is more positive.

I guess as far as flying to get to the port....well we live in flyover country in the US so any cruise will require a flight to a port.

 

[Nemo2]

Nemo, we are considering a Pullmantur cruise. We have been on other cruise ships ranging from smallish (for a cruise ship) to a mega ship. I had already read the linked review so I am very interested that your take on the cruise is more positive.

We liked the ship, (which is just as well since we took three back to back cruises on it ), and we also like(d) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CDF_Croisières_de_France which, for the most part, has been absorbed by Pullmantur.

Also, we have friends taking the Zenith next Spring, (although this one appears to be selling fast).

I guess as far as flying to get to the port....well we live in flyover country in the US so any cruise will require a flight to a port.

Living, as we do, a two hour drive east of Toronto, we have to fly everywhere.

My comment about Costa Rica, et al, was directed more to becoming tired of the Caribbean (and the like).......hot, sticky, T-shirt shops and cab drivers...BTDT.

(If we were intending to go anywhere in the Caribbean region, we'd be more inclined to take an 'all inclusive' and enjoy the beach 'wherever'.......disembarking at various ports in the region and then catching a cab to a beach far removed from the Cruise Terminal is an expensive and time wasting PITA.)

 

[Bamaman]

Planning to stay in Innsbruck, Salzburg, Hallstatt and St. Wolfgang on this trip as well.

Are there characteristic dishes to look for? I imagine it's things like stews or goulashes or Alpine fare like fondue, i.e. hearty food for the cold weather?

I went to the University of Innsbruck Summer School in 1970. We're still drawn back to those incredible mountains. We have been staying out at the end of the airport runway In a B&B.

You have picked some great places to visit. We too love Salzburg and drinking beer in the garden with The Brothers at Augustiner, an authentic beer hall.

Food there is basically German food. Many dishes will have a big noodle on the plate. You will always find something to eat.

 

[explanade]

Yeah looks like a lot of places specialize on schnitzel, pork dishes and such.

But in Salzburg and Innsbruck, plenty of international cuisine too.

 

[Nemo2]

In the final throes of calculating our pending trip......sub total, (which also includes prepayment of medical coverage for our Fall trip), is currently at $4,960 Canadian, (approx $3,820 US), and we leave April 14, return May 17.

(I believe there is perhaps one night's accommodation not accounted for, plus food/misc items.....and since we don't shop or eat in restaurants that shouldn't be a substantial amount.)

- Fly Toronto to Santo Domingo
- Ship to Lisbon
- Fly Lisbon to Bucharest
- Wander around Romania
- Couple days in Munich
- Fly home from Munich