Anyways, here's the breakdown according to expense type:
| Cost Breakdown | |
| Food | $1,692.58 |
| Transport | $1,258.06 |
| Accommodation | $620.01 |
| Sightseeing | $833.78 |
| Entertainment | $1,541.53 |
| Souvenir | $140.86 |
| Gift | $493.38 |
| Miscellaneous | $87.24 |
| Leftover | $27.19 |
| Total | $6,694.65 |
Of interest, $550 of the total entertainment expenses were from London and its amazing West End shows and musicals. I was also quite surprised that I spent almost $500 on gifts/souvenirs for other people, while only spending $140 on things for myself (mainly on clothes). I'm such a giver haha.
Taking a closer look at the data, here's the breakdown by city (in the order that I visited them):
| City Breakdown | |
| Zurich | $133.41 |
| Lucerne | $218.64 |
| Munich | $533.68 |
| Lugano | $20.94 |
| Milan | $282.31 |
| Ljubljana | $294.52 |
| Zagreb | $129.55 |
| Budapest | $477.62 |
| Krakow | $207.15 |
| Warsaw | $106.43 |
| Stockholm | $446.27 |
| Copenhagen | $448.47 |
| Berlin | $262.76 |
| Bratislava | $135.03 |
| Prague | $238.54 |
| Paris | $643.69 |
| London | $1,472.42 |
| Dubai | $382.72 |
| Doha | $212.41 |
| Melbourne | $10.00 |
| Sydney | $38.10 |
| Total | $6,694.65 |
I then wanted to determine how much it cost to "live" in a city, so I minused all travel expenses from the applicable cities. Furthermore, out of my 79 nights, I spent 42 living for free with family and friends (in Lucerne, Milan, Berlin, Paris, London, Dubai, and Doha), and 6 on overnight transport. Therefore I only paid for 31 nights - win!! As such, I ended up minusing accommodation costs as well in order to compare expenses between cities. The final daily costs of each city (after removing accommodation and travel costs) are below.
| City Breakdown | Nights | Daily Expenses |
| London | 7 | $197.20 |
| Munich | 3 | $177.89 |
| Paris | 7 | $87.52 |
| Stockholm | 4 | $77.49 |
| Ljubljana | 3 | $76.52 |
| Dubai | 4 | $71.49 |
| Copenhagen | 4 | $60.70 |
| Krakow | 3 | $57.91 |
| Budapest | 6 | $56.75 |
| Prague | 2 | $54.19 |
| Zagreb | 2 | $50.35 |
| Berlin | 5 | $48.58 |
| Milan | 5 | $48.12 |
| Bratislava | 2 | $46.51 |
| Lucerne | 8 | $27.33 |
| Warsaw | 2 | $26.54 |
| Doha | 6 | $19.28 |
Please note:
London - I saw 8 shows, ranging from $30-150 each
Munich - was on an Oktoberfest package tour which included accommodation (camping) costs
Lucerne and Doha - nearly everything was paid for by family, hence the extremely low cost
So as expected, London, Paris and Scandinavian cities are up there as expensive places to visit. Also it's mainly the Eastern European countries in the latter half of the table. I should remind you that these figures are excluding accommodation. By far the most expensive European city was Copenhagen for accommodation with me paying almost $52 a night, compared with the cheapest in Prague at $6 a night (and it was actually better than my Copenhagen hostel). Before I was offered free accommodation in Dubai, I was looking at $80-100 a night for a cheap hotel since hostels apparently don't exist there.
Now for the overall cost of the trip. The total figures above were excluding the cost of things I paid for before I left for the trip, such as flights, insurance, my rail pass and anything else I needed. After throwing in everything else:
| Qantas Flights (SYD-ZRH-DXB-SYD) | $2,216.69 |
| Insurance (Southern Cross) | $212.00 |
| Eurail Pass (15 days in 2 months) | $836.05 |
| Power Adapter | $9.75 |
| Backpack (80L) | $60.00 |
| Travel Expenses | $6,694.65 |
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | $10,029.14 |
So there you have it: $10,029.14. Compared with three years ago when I spent about $7,500 in 90 days, this is quite a large increase. However I learnt from my mistakes last time and decided to live it up more this time. I didn't let cost stop me like three years ago. Anything I wanted to do, I did. And I'm glad I did. Some of my biggest highlights are from the large expenses: Oktoberfest, Moulin Rouge, and all the shows in London. I also didn't skimp on meals as much as I did last time. Saying that though, I still was only doing two meals a day again this time (and going hungry quite often) but at least I enjoyed at least one three-course traditional meal in every city.
Thanks to everyone who has been so generous to put me up and show me around while I've been on the road. Apart from saving me money, I also had so much fun living with you guys, and got to have a much more authentic "living" experience and experience a more local perspective of those cities. I know I'm so lucky to have so many friends in such amazing cities and hopefully I wasn't too much of a burden/distraction to you while I was there.
It's still hard for me to believe that I've now been to Europe twice, and also that I've seen a slice of the Middle East. I've been incredibly lucky to have been able to do this while still young. At times, I have been a bit jealous of friends who have put down deposits for houses or have gotten engaged, but I guess it just comes down to priorities. Plus who knows, maybe they're jealous of my adventures haha. My goal is (was?) to travel and experience the world while I'm still young enough to not care too much about the future. I think the future has caught up to me, and it's probably time to put more effort into being a responsible adult. However, that's not to say, I can't take shorter trips (two months is short right haha?).
As of this trip, I've now visited 18 countries in Europe, and 24 worldwide (excluding Australia). Still have a lot of the world to see. But for now and the near future, it's back to normal life and holding down a regular job. No worries, I've got the rest of my life to bring that country count up. Where to go for the next trip? I think I hear South America calling my name...
HBL signing out from home. For now.
Previously: Dubai, the final leg...
My next adventure? Outback Australia!
What did I do before this trip? Three weeks in USA!
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