Yay! We have made it back {home} to Germany, safe and sound. But you knew that already...
In this post you will find our final vacation report: With all totals, small hiccups, and the overall rundown of how things went.
If you have no idea what I am writing about while reading the above, you may need to backtrack!
*There are never before seen pictures in this post. I finally pulled stuff off of my cell phone. Also, I did not include every single restaurant's name/location. Only my favorites. If you would like to know specifics, leave a comment!
WHAT WENT WRONG:
Honestly, there isn't much to report back on what went wrong.
With Rome, I was mostly concerned about our airport transfer driver not showing up on time the day we flew out to Nice, but he did.
Not all things went as planned in Rome, but I wouldn't say that was a bad thing.
I mentioned in my previous post something about maybe 'winging' day two of Rome.
We sure did.
After visiting the Roman Forum on the second morning of our trip, we decided to stay in Rome and wander, rather than hop on a train to Tivoli.
We never saw Tivoli during our visit to Italy.
Instead, we were able to make time for the Doria Pamphilij Gallery that we didn't have time for on day one. It was 100% worth it, but it also added an expense to our trip while at the same time taking away the expenses of Tivoli transportation and attractions.
Once again, balance.
But that balance shifted what we did for the remainder of our time. This is why I say that strict itineraries are bogus, and {my favorite word} unrealistic.
Nothing went wrong in Florence. It was a pretty simple day. As expected, the queue for Academia Gallery was super long and I didn't opt to buy advanced tickets. I figured it would be crowded, so I wasn't let down. Because of that, we were able to have time for the Boboli Gardens, which was a nice change of scenery.
Nice, France.
Our trip to Nice was amazing, however, it was bittersweet.
We had one day to figure out if we still wanted to visit Nice before leaving Rome.
The horrific Bastille Day attack that took place in Nice was on the night of the 14th. We woke up to the news on the 15th, while still in Rome. We were set to fly out to Nice on the morning of the 16th. Yikes.
We chose to proceed with plans anyway. I'm glad we did, and I'll explain why in a future post.
Also, Brussels Airlines sucks. We flew with them from Nice to Brussels {then connected to Munich in Brussels via Lufthansa}. Our plane with Brussels Air arrived late as hell in Nice, about 50 mins late, thus we arrived in Brussels with 20 minutes to find our next gate, feed ourselves lunch, use WC facilities, etc,. It all worked out, but frustratingly so.
WHAT WENT RIGHT:
Well...most importantly, the weather!
We got super lucky with mild weather in Italy. The first full day in Rome was hot at 96 degrees, but it wasn't a sticky, humid hot, so we found it not to be too terrible {we're also from Arizona, so 96 degrees is a day in February to us}.
From that day forward, the temperature continued to drop. Our last day in Rome (in mid July, mind you) was a whopping high of 75 degrees! It was soooo lovely. Breeze and all.
The weather in Nice (and the rest of the Riviera) was a steady 80 degrees and sunny during the 2nd leg of our trip.
No storms. No rain. Not even a hint of fog.
All of our timed attractions and such worked out perfectly, which was great. It always freaks me out to pay so much money in advanced for a museum, train ride, etc, and hope that we make it on time.
I've learned in my travels to treat such things as if they are a bigger deal; like a flight. You wouldn't drag ass to the airport when needing to catch a flight. So why would you drag ass for a timed entry attraction? Money is money, whether it be a simple ticketed attraction or a plane ride.
Speaking of flights, we had zero complications with baggage, which is also something that worries me every now and then. I truly believe that if you read and follow the rules of each airline (albeit, some rules are pretty darn confusing), this part WILL be easy. Works for me every time, though I still feel a little apprehensive about carry-on sizes when boarding. We even brought back a beach umbrella through checked-luggage from Nice. Funny, we brought one home last year when returning from Barcelona!
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY:
Back to the luggage thing, I am an over-packer, and that's an understatement.
If you've followed our adventures for quite sometime, you'll notice something superficial about me...it's hard for me to admit it aloud (or in written form), but I know some of you notice:
I refuse to repeat outfits on vacations.
It's a completely stupid reason, too. I honestly don't want 3,000+ pictures of myself and my family wearing the same exact stuff every day! My exception to the rule is coats (they take up lots of space in luggage and are costly), but even in the winter, I'll bring at least three coats for a five day trip.
The ONLY person not on board with my hate of recycling vacation clothing is le husband. He don't give a rat's ass, and you may have noticed that by now in my photos, too. The kids probably wouldn't care if I weren't the person buying their clothing and packing their bags.
With that said, I always have backup outfits, so for every five days of travel {with individual outfits for each day}, I add three more outfits; just in case. In case I change my mind, in case I spill something on myself, in case I get rained on.
After two years of travel, I should know by now to ditch the 'extras', at the least. I never end up using them. To put it in a nutshell, I had six extra outfits and two extra pairs of shoes that I brought in check-in luggage that were a waste of space. That check-in luggage wasn't free. If I could go back in time, I'd slap myself and leave the extras at home.
Oddly, we didn't spend much time souvenir hunting and shopping. I'm slightly mad at myself for it. The kids have the most ridiculous key chain collection from all over the United States and now Europe. One for every city, and counting. Of course, we didn't forget those. But I wish I would've came back with something for myself other than my Made in China "Italia" tank top and my new, blue hat from Florence.
I did buy my bestie a rad birthday gift in Florence: A fancy metal tin {shaped like a book} of chocolates from a gourmet Italian chocolatier called Venchi.
I wanted one for myself SO bad, but I thought about the cost, bought only the one, and headed back to Rome. When I packaged her gift to ship back to the states, I was pissed that I didn't get one for me. I *almost* reconsidered sending it to her and keeping it for myself! Yes, I am terrible, but hey, I'm also honest. No worries, she received it, loved it, and I told her the story about how I wanted to keep it and she laughed.
My point: If there's something you see while out and about that speaks to you, just BUY it! Travel shopping isn't like shopping at Walmart: You can't easily go back just to pick up what you forgot. Once you've left, it's gone.
I didn't enjoy at least one espresso or cappuccino beverage in Rome. Enough said.
I didn't throw a coin in the Trevi fountain. I hadn't yet decided if I would want to return...
I didn't try Socca in Nice.
Speaking of Nice, I planned to visit The Cours Saleya flower market {Marche aux Fluers} on at least one morning of our trip, but every day we were there something was planned for the time of day the market was open (limited hours). If I could go back, I would have at least squeezed it in. I now know I could have squeezed it in.
RANDOM LANGUAGE BITS
American English has quirks, and so do other languages. I've always studied the basics of each local language for wherever we plan to visit, but some things do go amiss, or above my head. Basically, most things you are taught in a formal second-language class in America are not always *technically* correct in a foreign place.
It's all about dialect.
Most people know you say "Ciao" in Italian when greeting or departing. But all over Europe, you'll hear it now and again, too.
"Voila" is HUGE in France, and used for just about every instance. It's about the equivalent of saying "Okay", "So", "Presto", "And so it is", "And there it is", "Well", or "Here's your fill in the blank {receipt, bag, pastry, hamburger, ticket, key, etc,}.
It applies to a plethora of things!
But I had NO idea that there is a "Voila" equivalent in Italian.
In both Rome and Florence, we heard the word "Allora" A LOT.
It all began on day one, when my apartment owner showed us around the place; explaining how the gas stove worked, emergency numbers, linen policies, and everything in between. I swear, after every ten-twenty words he spoke, he'd throw in "Allora", and I thought he was asking if I understood, so I'd answer "Si" {"Yes"}, or nod my head. He'd just kind of stare at me like a baby owl seeing the light of the moon for the first time.
As soon as he left the apartment, I hopped on my cell to look it up. It quickly made sense; it's an expression just like "Voila" in French. Not a single app or basic Italian language website had mentioned this as a key word in the everyday Italian language. Know I know, and so do you! Ha dur.
THE NITTY GRITTY: COSTS and TOTALS
There is always a difference in what you think you will spend and what you actually spend while traveling.
For the sake of this post, I saved EVERY SINGLE receipt from every day of our travels, including airport days. If a store/restaurant failed to give us a receipt, I saved the total on my phone's notepad.
I don't want my interested readers to have to flop back and forth between posts, so I will include my original estimated daily totals in this post next to the actual totals, and we'll add them up!
I am doing this as I write (all of my receipts are sitting here, sorted by dates), so at this point in my writing this, I don't even know my final grand total!
You're learning with me as I go...
I'msofreakinscared.Forreals.
NOTE:
If you notice that a meal is missing, it is because we ate it in our apartment. Sometimes we like to cook in, rather than eat out. Those meal prices are factored into our grocery totals.
Also, I didn't write in the costs of pre-booked tickets (Coloeum, Borghese, Vatican Museum, etc), and flight/hotel costs, though they ARE totaled at the end with everything else. You'll see.
DAY ONE: FLIGHT + ROME
DAY TWO: ROME
Estimated Food total for Italy: €500
Actual Food Total (grocery included, which does include wine): €493.81
Estimated Incidentals: €300
Actual Incidentals: €154.60 (Gelato, souvenirs, slushies, bandaids, gifts, carousel ride)
Attraction Tickets Estimation: €511
Actual Total: €425 (includes round trip train to Florence and pre-booked tickets to Colosseum/Roman Forum, and Galleria Borghese)
Transportation (in Rome) Estimation: €136
Actual city transportation, including hired airport transfer: €157
OVERALL ESTIMATED COST for TOURING ITALY: €1,477
ACTUAL COST of TOURING ITALY: €1,230.41
We spent €246.59 less than I thought we would. There's obviously some give and take with things that I thought would add up to more, or less. Hey, I'm happy with spending less, any day!
DAY SIX: ROME TO NICE
Estimated Food Total Nice/Monaco:€750
Actual cost of food (including groceries, wine): €408.36
Estimated Incidentals: €300
Actual cost of incidentals (random drinks, beach umbrella, souvenirs): €58.49
Estimated Site Seeing Totals (including island boat transport): €350
Actual cost of Site Seeing: €318
Estimated Transportation costs in Nice & Monaco: €108
Actual cost of Transportation (including airport shuttle bus and train to Monaco): €159
OVERALL ESTIMATED COST for TOURING SOUTH of FRANCE: €1,508
ACTUAL COST of TOURING SOUTH of FRANCE: €943
Holy heck! We spent €565 LESS in the South of France than I thought we would! That's crazy. Yes, I just did the math, so I'm sitting here in disbelief typing!
Now I am able to share the airlines and our accommodations with y'all!
**Remember, we have a six person family, so flights below are totaled for six tickets, and our accommodation choices had to accommodate six people.
Our flight from Munich to Rome: Lufthansa $594 USD
Flight Rome to Nice: Easy Jet $273 USD
Flight from Nice to Munich: Brussels Airline/Lufthansa $539
Flight total in Euro: €1,261.21
Rome Apartment: Domus Minervae Private Apartment:
2 bedrooms, livingroom space, full kitchen, 2 dining areas, full bathroom, air conditioning, top floor:
$1,200 USD tax included
Nice Apartment/Hotel: Adagio Aparthotel Nice Promenade des Anglais:
One bedroom, full bathroom, balcony with sea view, large living room space with futon sofas and trundle beds, small (yet functional) kitchen, dining area, air conditioning:
$1,400 USD tax included
Total cost of overnight accommodations in Euro: €2,332.26
Grand estimated total cost, in Euro: €6,599
Actual Grand Total: €5,766.67
Total estimated cost in USD: $7,315.00
Actual GRAND total in USD: $6,427. 18
Allora!
Voila!
Our total cost for our six person, ten day, multi-country family vacation was $6,427.18!
For those of you that hate math, we spent $887.82 LESS than I estimated, overall.
That's an average of $1,071 per person, for a ten day, multi-country, inclusive trip, in Europe.
Not shabby, at all.
I'd say we did pretty darn good, no?
Whew. I was on the edge of my couch there for a minute.
But the point of this post isn't necessarily about how much money we spent, it is to show REAL people the REAL costs of REAL traveling.
We didn't fly into Rome via private jet, nor did we ride there cheapo style with cans of gas in our car trunk (I know someone who has stupidly done that from Germany. I don't advise it.).
We visited Rome and Nice like the average person would.
Not by budget backpacking off $5 a day.
Not celebrity style with a $10K hotel room, per night.
Average.
My Personal Tips for Traveling to Rome and Nice:
Ahhh. Alighty. This concludes my "Realistic Travel Planning" series.
Moving on, we have one final out-of-Germany adventure for the remainder of this year. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed where it is by the time this post is published.
I'm a little sad that we won't be going far for the time being, but I'm a bit travel 'burned out' at the moment (I honestly thought about cancelling our upcoming out-of-country trip, which I have never ever felt the need to do before).
However, I do want to appreciate more of this country {Germany} that I live in while it's still nice weathered. Winter is coming. Le sigh.
Ciao, peoples!
In this post you will find our final vacation report: With all totals, small hiccups, and the overall rundown of how things went.
If you have no idea what I am writing about while reading the above, you may need to backtrack!
*There are never before seen pictures in this post. I finally pulled stuff off of my cell phone. Also, I did not include every single restaurant's name/location. Only my favorites. If you would like to know specifics, leave a comment!
WHAT WENT WRONG:
Honestly, there isn't much to report back on what went wrong.
With Rome, I was mostly concerned about our airport transfer driver not showing up on time the day we flew out to Nice, but he did.
Not all things went as planned in Rome, but I wouldn't say that was a bad thing.
I mentioned in my previous post something about maybe 'winging' day two of Rome.
We sure did.
After visiting the Roman Forum on the second morning of our trip, we decided to stay in Rome and wander, rather than hop on a train to Tivoli.
We never saw Tivoli during our visit to Italy.
Instead, we were able to make time for the Doria Pamphilij Gallery that we didn't have time for on day one. It was 100% worth it, but it also added an expense to our trip while at the same time taking away the expenses of Tivoli transportation and attractions.
Once again, balance.
But that balance shifted what we did for the remainder of our time. This is why I say that strict itineraries are bogus, and {my favorite word} unrealistic.
Nothing went wrong in Florence. It was a pretty simple day. As expected, the queue for Academia Gallery was super long and I didn't opt to buy advanced tickets. I figured it would be crowded, so I wasn't let down. Because of that, we were able to have time for the Boboli Gardens, which was a nice change of scenery.
Nice, France.
Our trip to Nice was amazing, however, it was bittersweet.
We had one day to figure out if we still wanted to visit Nice before leaving Rome.
The horrific Bastille Day attack that took place in Nice was on the night of the 14th. We woke up to the news on the 15th, while still in Rome. We were set to fly out to Nice on the morning of the 16th. Yikes.
We chose to proceed with plans anyway. I'm glad we did, and I'll explain why in a future post.
Also, Brussels Airlines sucks. We flew with them from Nice to Brussels {then connected to Munich in Brussels via Lufthansa}. Our plane with Brussels Air arrived late as hell in Nice, about 50 mins late, thus we arrived in Brussels with 20 minutes to find our next gate, feed ourselves lunch, use WC facilities, etc,. It all worked out, but frustratingly so.
WHAT WENT RIGHT:
Well...most importantly, the weather!
We got super lucky with mild weather in Italy. The first full day in Rome was hot at 96 degrees, but it wasn't a sticky, humid hot, so we found it not to be too terrible {we're also from Arizona, so 96 degrees is a day in February to us}.
From that day forward, the temperature continued to drop. Our last day in Rome (in mid July, mind you) was a whopping high of 75 degrees! It was soooo lovely. Breeze and all.
The weather in Nice (and the rest of the Riviera) was a steady 80 degrees and sunny during the 2nd leg of our trip.
No storms. No rain. Not even a hint of fog.
All of our timed attractions and such worked out perfectly, which was great. It always freaks me out to pay so much money in advanced for a museum, train ride, etc, and hope that we make it on time.
I've learned in my travels to treat such things as if they are a bigger deal; like a flight. You wouldn't drag ass to the airport when needing to catch a flight. So why would you drag ass for a timed entry attraction? Money is money, whether it be a simple ticketed attraction or a plane ride.
Speaking of flights, we had zero complications with baggage, which is also something that worries me every now and then. I truly believe that if you read and follow the rules of each airline (albeit, some rules are pretty darn confusing), this part WILL be easy. Works for me every time, though I still feel a little apprehensive about carry-on sizes when boarding. We even brought back a beach umbrella through checked-luggage from Nice. Funny, we brought one home last year when returning from Barcelona!
WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY:
Back to the luggage thing, I am an over-packer, and that's an understatement.
If you've followed our adventures for quite sometime, you'll notice something superficial about me...it's hard for me to admit it aloud (or in written form), but I know some of you notice:
I refuse to repeat outfits on vacations.
It's a completely stupid reason, too. I honestly don't want 3,000+ pictures of myself and my family wearing the same exact stuff every day! My exception to the rule is coats (they take up lots of space in luggage and are costly), but even in the winter, I'll bring at least three coats for a five day trip.
The ONLY person not on board with my hate of recycling vacation clothing is le husband. He don't give a rat's ass, and you may have noticed that by now in my photos, too. The kids probably wouldn't care if I weren't the person buying their clothing and packing their bags.
With that said, I always have backup outfits, so for every five days of travel {with individual outfits for each day}, I add three more outfits; just in case. In case I change my mind, in case I spill something on myself, in case I get rained on.
After two years of travel, I should know by now to ditch the 'extras', at the least. I never end up using them. To put it in a nutshell, I had six extra outfits and two extra pairs of shoes that I brought in check-in luggage that were a waste of space. That check-in luggage wasn't free. If I could go back in time, I'd slap myself and leave the extras at home.
Oddly, we didn't spend much time souvenir hunting and shopping. I'm slightly mad at myself for it. The kids have the most ridiculous key chain collection from all over the United States and now Europe. One for every city, and counting. Of course, we didn't forget those. But I wish I would've came back with something for myself other than my Made in China "Italia" tank top and my new, blue hat from Florence.
I did buy my bestie a rad birthday gift in Florence: A fancy metal tin {shaped like a book} of chocolates from a gourmet Italian chocolatier called Venchi.
I wanted one for myself SO bad, but I thought about the cost, bought only the one, and headed back to Rome. When I packaged her gift to ship back to the states, I was pissed that I didn't get one for me. I *almost* reconsidered sending it to her and keeping it for myself! Yes, I am terrible, but hey, I'm also honest. No worries, she received it, loved it, and I told her the story about how I wanted to keep it and she laughed.
My point: If there's something you see while out and about that speaks to you, just BUY it! Travel shopping isn't like shopping at Walmart: You can't easily go back just to pick up what you forgot. Once you've left, it's gone.
I didn't enjoy at least one espresso or cappuccino beverage in Rome. Enough said.
I didn't throw a coin in the Trevi fountain. I hadn't yet decided if I would want to return...
I didn't try Socca in Nice.
Speaking of Nice, I planned to visit The Cours Saleya flower market {Marche aux Fluers} on at least one morning of our trip, but every day we were there something was planned for the time of day the market was open (limited hours). If I could go back, I would have at least squeezed it in. I now know I could have squeezed it in.
RANDOM LANGUAGE BITS
American English has quirks, and so do other languages. I've always studied the basics of each local language for wherever we plan to visit, but some things do go amiss, or above my head. Basically, most things you are taught in a formal second-language class in America are not always *technically* correct in a foreign place.
It's all about dialect.
Most people know you say "Ciao" in Italian when greeting or departing. But all over Europe, you'll hear it now and again, too.
"Voila" is HUGE in France, and used for just about every instance. It's about the equivalent of saying "Okay", "So", "Presto", "And so it is", "And there it is", "Well", or "Here's your fill in the blank {receipt, bag, pastry, hamburger, ticket, key, etc,}.
It applies to a plethora of things!
But I had NO idea that there is a "Voila" equivalent in Italian.
In both Rome and Florence, we heard the word "Allora" A LOT.
It all began on day one, when my apartment owner showed us around the place; explaining how the gas stove worked, emergency numbers, linen policies, and everything in between. I swear, after every ten-twenty words he spoke, he'd throw in "Allora", and I thought he was asking if I understood, so I'd answer "Si" {"Yes"}, or nod my head. He'd just kind of stare at me like a baby owl seeing the light of the moon for the first time.
As soon as he left the apartment, I hopped on my cell to look it up. It quickly made sense; it's an expression just like "Voila" in French. Not a single app or basic Italian language website had mentioned this as a key word in the everyday Italian language. Know I know, and so do you! Ha dur.
THE NITTY GRITTY: COSTS and TOTALS
There is always a difference in what you think you will spend and what you actually spend while traveling.
For the sake of this post, I saved EVERY SINGLE receipt from every day of our travels, including airport days. If a store/restaurant failed to give us a receipt, I saved the total on my phone's notepad.
I don't want my interested readers to have to flop back and forth between posts, so I will include my original estimated daily totals in this post next to the actual totals, and we'll add them up!
I am doing this as I write (all of my receipts are sitting here, sorted by dates), so at this point in my writing this, I don't even know my final grand total!
You're learning with me as I go...
I'msofreakinscared.Forreals.
NOTE:
If you notice that a meal is missing, it is because we ate it in our apartment. Sometimes we like to cook in, rather than eat out. Those meal prices are factored into our grocery totals.
Also, I didn't write in the costs of pre-booked tickets (Coloeum, Borghese, Vatican Museum, etc), and flight/hotel costs, though they ARE totaled at the end with everything else. You'll see.
DAY ONE: FLIGHT + ROME
- Lunch: €23
- Groceries: €43.79
- Gelato Stop: €12.50
- Restaurant Dinner: €36
 |
| Woot. On a plane. Always choose the cheese sandwich when flying via Lufthansa...trust me. |
 |
| A bad cell pic of us in our private transfer ride after landing in Rome |
 |
| The handpainted ceilings in our apartment were awesome! |
 |
| Our first dinner in Rome |
 |
| Vino shop under our apartment |
- Gelato: €15
- Cafe Lunch: €41
- Grocery: €50.12
- Souvenirs: €8
- Bandaids: €3.50
 |
| Early morning start in the Colosseum. |
 |
| Gelato stop #2 |
 |
| Dinner in our apartment. My chef is handsome. |
 |
| Ravioli and salad, via our apartment stove. |
DAY THREE: ROME
- Groceries: €30.49
- Tickets Doria Pamphili: €48
- Lunch: €31.50
- Gelato: €15
- Tickets Terrace of Chariots:€28
- Restaurant Dinner: €26.80
 |
| My son turned THIRTEEN on this day of our trip. I came to Rome with a child, and left with a teen :-( |
 |
| One of the many gorgeous halls in Doria Pamphili |
 |
| Terrace of Chariots. |
 |
| Gelato stop #3 |
 |
| My cantaloupe gelato! Didn't know it existed until we hit up this place! So good. |
 |
| The breezeway into our apartment |
DAY FOUR: FLORENCE
- Breakfast: €22.00
- Gifts: €27.60
- Souviners: €24.00
- Restaurant Lunch: €42
- Slushies: €18
- Restaurant Dinner: €45
- Boboli Gardens: €40
- Carousel ride: €8
- Gelato: €15
 |
| Train time. Rome Termini station |
 |
| Slushies in Florence |
 |
| Boboli Gardens |
 |
| Carousel ride |
 |
| Dinner in Florence. This is an eggplant toast appetizer. Yum. |
DAY FIVE: VATICAN CITY
- Lunch: €34.90
- Restaurant Dinner: €68.00
- Souvenirs: €8
 |
| Dinner just outside of Vatican City @ The Meat Market. Best fresh, made to order, burgers in Rome.Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, 320, 00186 Roma, Italy https://www.facebook.com/TheMeatMarketRoma/ |
Estimated Food total for Italy: €500
Actual Food Total (grocery included, which does include wine): €493.81
Estimated Incidentals: €300
Actual Incidentals: €154.60 (Gelato, souvenirs, slushies, bandaids, gifts, carousel ride)
Attraction Tickets Estimation: €511
Actual Total: €425 (includes round trip train to Florence and pre-booked tickets to Colosseum/Roman Forum, and Galleria Borghese)
Transportation (in Rome) Estimation: €136
Actual city transportation, including hired airport transfer: €157
OVERALL ESTIMATED COST for TOURING ITALY: €1,477
ACTUAL COST of TOURING ITALY: €1,230.41
We spent €246.59 less than I thought we would. There's obviously some give and take with things that I thought would add up to more, or less. Hey, I'm happy with spending less, any day!
DAY SIX: ROME TO NICE
- Airport Shuttle {round-trip, return paid for in advance}: €72
- Breakfast: €17.50
- Groceries: €96.80
- Souvenirs: €12
- Restaurant Dinner: €55
 |
| Chinese dinner. I can't for the life of me remember the name or area. |
 |
| The reporters I mentioned in a previous post sitting at a table next to us, editing footage. |
DAY SEVEN: NICE
- Restaurant Lunch: €40.20
- Bus Fare: €18
- Beach Umbrella: €20.49
- Grocery: €24.70
 |
| Kebab lunch |
 |
| The best kebabs in France. This is a Nan Kebab; Indian (not Turkish) style. It was heaven. Shout out to Indian Fast Food Restaurant Located at 4 Boulevard Jean Jaurès, 06300 Nice, France Check them out if you go to Nice. There's not much to the place, but we loved it so much we ate there twice! Nice people, Great food. http://www.indianfastfood.fr/ |
DAY EIGHT: MONACO/NICE
- Bus: €18
- Lunch: €41.05
- Train Fare: €33
- Tickets Oceanographic Museum: €68
- Grocery: €48.41
- Drinks: €12
DAY NINE: ILE SAINTE-MARGUERITE
- Bus Fare: €18
- Beverage on Boat: €3
- Restaurant Dinner: €45
DAY TEN: NICE to BRUSSELS to MUNICH
- Breakfast: €17.50
- Snacks/Water: €23.00
- Lunch: €22.20
 |
| Dirty airplane window photo. If you look closely, you'll see Iles de Lerins. |
So, my estimations with Nice weren't estimated day by day, but rather an overall picture of what we planned to see and do.
Estimated Food Total Nice/Monaco:€750
Actual cost of food (including groceries, wine): €408.36
Estimated Incidentals: €300
Actual cost of incidentals (random drinks, beach umbrella, souvenirs): €58.49
Estimated Site Seeing Totals (including island boat transport): €350
Actual cost of Site Seeing: €318
Estimated Transportation costs in Nice & Monaco: €108
Actual cost of Transportation (including airport shuttle bus and train to Monaco): €159
OVERALL ESTIMATED COST for TOURING SOUTH of FRANCE: €1,508
ACTUAL COST of TOURING SOUTH of FRANCE: €943
Holy heck! We spent €565 LESS in the South of France than I thought we would! That's crazy. Yes, I just did the math, so I'm sitting here in disbelief typing!
Now I am able to share the airlines and our accommodations with y'all!
**Remember, we have a six person family, so flights below are totaled for six tickets, and our accommodation choices had to accommodate six people.
Our flight from Munich to Rome: Lufthansa $594 USD
Flight Rome to Nice: Easy Jet $273 USD
Flight from Nice to Munich: Brussels Airline/Lufthansa $539
Flight total in Euro: €1,261.21
Rome Apartment: Domus Minervae Private Apartment:
2 bedrooms, livingroom space, full kitchen, 2 dining areas, full bathroom, air conditioning, top floor:
$1,200 USD tax included
Nice Apartment/Hotel: Adagio Aparthotel Nice Promenade des Anglais:
One bedroom, full bathroom, balcony with sea view, large living room space with futon sofas and trundle beds, small (yet functional) kitchen, dining area, air conditioning:
$1,400 USD tax included
Total cost of overnight accommodations in Euro: €2,332.26
Grand estimated total cost, in Euro: €6,599
Actual Grand Total: €5,766.67
Total estimated cost in USD: $7,315.00
Actual GRAND total in USD: $6,427. 18
Allora!
Voila!
Our total cost for our six person, ten day, multi-country family vacation was $6,427.18!
For those of you that hate math, we spent $887.82 LESS than I estimated, overall.
That's an average of $1,071 per person, for a ten day, multi-country, inclusive trip, in Europe.
Not shabby, at all.
I'd say we did pretty darn good, no?
Whew. I was on the edge of my couch there for a minute.
But the point of this post isn't necessarily about how much money we spent, it is to show REAL people the REAL costs of REAL traveling.
We didn't fly into Rome via private jet, nor did we ride there cheapo style with cans of gas in our car trunk (I know someone who has stupidly done that from Germany. I don't advise it.).
We visited Rome and Nice like the average person would.
Not by budget backpacking off $5 a day.
Not celebrity style with a $10K hotel room, per night.
Average.
My Personal Tips for Traveling to Rome and Nice:
- If you are traveling in the middle of summer, you may want to note that the cheaper accommodation choices often lack air conditioning. It's harder to fall asleep comfortably when sweating balls, especially if you are not used to it. Also, just because it says it has AC doesn't always mean it does. I learned this in Barcelona last year. Ugh. Call or email your choice hotel to be sure before booking.
- Hit your bank up before traveling and ask if they have rolls of Euro coins that you can buy. At the least, get a roll of 50 cent Euro. It comes in handy for toilets and bus fare. Not every bus ticket machine takes bills. And I have never seen a WC toilet accept bills. It really sucks when you don't have the correct change and cannot break a €5 bill, but are about to pee on yourself.
- Learn the basics of the language. Generally, every shop, restaurant, or ticket counter person in a touristy city knows English. But greetings and the basics go a LONG way in their native tongue. Locals are a bit more friendlier if you use them. You do not have to take a language course. Learning the basics are as simple as downloading the DuoLingo app on your phone.
- Not every church in Rome is strict about dress codes, but do assume they all are. The churches that gave people the biggest grief about their shoulders and knees being covered: St. Peter's Basilica, Santa Maria Novella, Sistine Chapel. The Pantheon and Santa Maria Minerva didn't seem to care, though we were dressed appropriately. Like I've said before: Ladies, keep a small bolero and long skirt in your day bag and you can easily throw them over your outfit without the need to change. They aren't so strict about mens clothing; as long as a guy isn't wearing booty shorts and a muscle tank top, he's good to go.
- Always note the days of the week that attractions are closed. You'd be surprised to know that not everything is closed on Sundays in Europe, but some places are closed on other days of the week.
- Rome is VERY walk-able. I worried about dealing with buses and stuff on a daily basis, but we hardly used them, or the metro. Just make sure you wear comfy shoes.
- It is okay if you don't want to eat pizza or authentic Italian cuisine everyday. There are other options. Be warned that real Italian food is NOT like the Italian food you are used to in America. The Olive Garden is not Italian food, y'all. That's like saying Taco Bell is Mexican food. Personally, I've never seen Chicken Parmesan or endless bread sticks on a menu in Italy. And by the way, a Peperoni Pizza (yes, with one P) means pizza with peppers. If you desire something similar to American pepperoni, you'd order a salami pizza in Italy!
- Do yourself a favor and buy advanced tickets to every attraction you plan to visit. Yes, there is an online fee in addition to the ticket cost, but seriously that extra €2-4 fee is 100% worth it. Don't forget to bring your printed vouchers. I booked advanced tickets for every big attraction in Rome and do not regret it. Those poor people waiting in the hot, non-shaded, 2-5 hour lines...we passed them by!
- Do enjoy a bottle of Italian wine in Italy. I love a good Chianti.
- FCO (Rome International) Terminal 3 does not have many options for a quick bite to eat beyond security.
- Nice Airport is tiny and food choices in both Terminal 1 & 2 are scarce.
- If you plan to hit the beach in Nice, bring water shoes. Especially if you want to get into the water.
- The transportation websites for Nice are limited on information about child travelers. A city bus driver informed me that kids under nine ride free with an adult...Go figure, we learned this on the last day we were there. *None of my kids are under nine years old, but he refused our money when we attempted to pay fare for my daughters. I didn't argue.
- Nice has a large array of world cuisine, should you not care to eat native dishes.
- Do not assume that the elevator to Chateau du Colline works. It did not while we were visiting. Many stroller families around us were let down.
- If you have some extra cash to spend and time to kill, book a parasailing adventure over Côte d'Azur.
- The Nice train station is a cluster-duck. Be prepared for long lines in peak season. Oh, and the ticket machines are not multi-lingual.
- Book your Nice accommodations somewhere along the street of Promenade Des Anglais and ask for a sea view. You will not regret it!
- The most important tip I have for both cities: Get lost! Wander a back street. Take a different route than what your GPS is telling you to do. You may discover some beautiful corners in either city that no one seems to post on Instagram or mentions on Tripadvisor.
Ahhh. Alighty. This concludes my "Realistic Travel Planning" series.
Moving on, we have one final out-of-Germany adventure for the remainder of this year. If you follow me on Instagram, you might have noticed where it is by the time this post is published.
I'm a little sad that we won't be going far for the time being, but I'm a bit travel 'burned out' at the moment (I honestly thought about cancelling our upcoming out-of-country trip, which I have never ever felt the need to do before).
However, I do want to appreciate more of this country {Germany} that I live in while it's still nice weathered. Winter is coming. Le sigh.
Ciao, peoples!
Comments
Post a Comment