How much I spent on my month-long vacation (with actual numbers)
Hi, I’m Renée, a finance and business journalist, writer and content strategist. The Budgette is a chill newsletter about single finances and is published twice a month to more than 2,000 subscribers.
I prefer to write when I have something to say and it gives me time to speak to financial, legal and other experts. When I’m not here, I work on content strategy and execution for Canadian and U.S. publications and brands. If you want to work together, message me or you can find me on LinkedIn.
I’m in week three of four of not getting a regular paycheque. That’s fine, as I knew this was going to happen. All it means is that I have to be smart about what I want to buy. I’m currently limited to food, the occasional coffee and deodorant.
Yes, I ran out of deodorant the same day I came back from my vacation. Speaking of, this piece is about how much I spent, how I took time off, how much I saved and did I work. (Yes, yes I did.)
But first, I’m acknowledging the privilege I have to do this. I started planning this trip with my friend a year ago. She had been planning for two years. I had saved money for about four years knowing I was going to spend it on a trip when the world opened up. I hadn’t travelled since 2019 and no, going home for four days for a funeral doesn’t count.
Now, the numbers. All prices are in Canadian unless otherwise noted and were prepaid or budgeted for before we left.
We worked with a travel agent for the logistics, as we were country-hopping. No AI was used in the planning. Cost: $500.
The flights:
To Miami - $238 via Air Canada, one way.
From Rome to Toronto via British Airways through Heathrow - $350 plus 110,000 Scene points (value of $1,100). Prices include seat selections.
Flight from Barcelona to Florence via Vueling. $300 Cdn for a flexible ticket that let us change our flight times up to six times during the day.
The cruise:
We cruised with Virgin and my share was $1,000 US. My friend got an amazing deal.
The hotels:
We stayed in five: The Moxy in Florida, Ocean Drive Barcelona, Oltrarno Splendid and Relais Villa Olmo in Florence and Horti 14 in Rome. (All highly recommended). Breakfast was included. My share: $3,539 plus the city taxes which came up to about about 100 euros. Florence was the most expensive for city tax at about nine euros per night while Rome was the least at three euros.
Excursions:
Funchal, Malaga, Barcelona, Florence and Rome. These were historical and food/wine-based tours. $1600 as the Florence and Rome tours were semi-private. We hiked in Chianti and I highly recommend Out of the Box Adventures. We did the The Great Chianti Classico Crossing.
In Barcelona, we did the Castlexperience Wine Tour, specifically the Monsterrat, Food & Wine tour. Ask for Toni, he’s great.
Train:
We took the Italo rapid train from Florence to Rome. $178 per person for the flexible club-class ticket. We got to the station early, so got an earlier train and for 20 Euros each, got upgraded and got access to the lounge. Worth it. Also, Canada, can we get high-speed trains please?
Food:
Uh… anywhere from 30 to 120 euros depending on how many courses and if we had wine.
Tickets to things:
Like the Uffizi gallery, the Duomo, the Basilica, La Sagrada Familia with a trip up one of the towers, and the Ferragamo Museum in Florence. $400 but again, worth it.
Taxis to and from hotels and airports
Otherwise we walked or took the metro. $500 for about 12 trips overall across all the countries including Canada and the US. Rome, Barcelona and Florence had fixed rates.
Saved for the month of no regular paycheques: $3000.
So that’s the breakdown. I did buy a few things like Florence-made scarves as gift, rosaries because obviously and a pair of espadrilles and painted fans in Spain.
Working
Yes, I did work. Not as much as I usually do but I did fit it around actually vacationing. I did have to tell a client I couldn’t do a call because I was in transit. I suspect I won’t be working for them again but that’s more than fine. I also worked on the book, taking the opportunity to interview and talk with other single travellers. I also made lots of notes which you may or may not read later.
Would I do it again? Absolutely, I’d love to. I’m looking at my budget and seeing what I can put away after the usual food, bills, retirement, etc. I’m not sure where I’ll go next but I’ll be saving for it. Let’s hope I don’t have to wait and save for another four years.