Daily Budget Question

IF the majority of your day to day expenses are covered, then 75 euro/day should work with the majority of that being for food.

I think you'll be fine since you're avoiding Switzerland and Scandinavia. If some of your hotels include breakfast, that will help. I often buy something like local cheese and some sort of bread and create a very casual meal. I really don't want two full restaurant meals each day. I try to stay hydrated as I walk around so I don't enter a restaurant so thirsty that I polish off $6 worth of water before the food shows up. A restaurant is by far the most expensive place to acquire a beverage. Buying something to drink may not be avoidable --and I got some minute bottles of water on my 2015 trip to Germany (they held less than 8 ounces!). With care, buying multiple beverages may be avoidable. If more than one of you wants water, you'll save a lot by ordering a large bottle. Be sure to specify still or sparkling.

Think about the sights you want to see. Focus on those clearly of interest to you and allow enough time to really see them. What can bust a budget is jogging from one 20-euro sightseeing experience to another and then to a third, doing a forced march through each one. That can be very costly. All four of you don't have to go to the same sights! A lot of the big museums in London are free/donation requested. They are an incredible bargain. The British Museum is absolutely thronged with people, but the other freebies haven't been bad for me.

Another great bargain in London is the London Walks tours. They cost 15 euros per person. For that you get a tour of about 2 hours conducted by a licensed guide. There are many dozens of tours offered, usually at least ten per day. LondonWalks website. Choose each of your London dates on the calendar at the upper right to see what your options will be. Since these are walking tours, you don't usually have to book far in advance. As a solo traveler, I have been able just to show up (after checking on the weather and what I was in the mood to do that day), but I wouldn't recommend that if the four of you want to take the same tour; it would be theoretically possible to find so many people had prebooked that the guide didn't feel he or she could include you.

Since the UK is more expensive, try to have the less expensive meal options while you’re there. Also, just mention to everyone that you want to enjoy being together, but you might opt for some fast food or picnic options to keep your expenses in line with your budget while they’re Sometimes it’s easier to overspend in a group setting.

$75 is £60.

You can easily spend that on meals if you eat lunch and an evening meal at cafes or restaurants. If that is too much, lunch could be a sandwich and a banana. Or the evening meal might be a cheaper takeaway. It depends on managing your expectations.

One great thing about being young is that, unless you have medical issues affecting your diet, you can probably eat just about any old thing during the trip with no risk to your health. Those of us who are older have to give some though to maintaining a decent diet. I first traveled to Europe at the age of 20. I had very little money so I ate at the cheapest places I could find. Think paella with nothing much in it except rice and some green peas. I survived three months of that. At my current advanced age I look for lean protein and lots of veggies rather than making meals out of cheap street food.

I now enjoy the Pret a Manger salad boxes that include a protein like chicken. They're very tasty and cost less than 10 GBP. Pret's sandwiches are also good. Similar products at supermarkets will generally be less expensive, but I find them less interesting.

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE your user name!? That made me laugh so hard this morning, which I needed badly after a full day of flying back to the US. It's still making me laugh every time I look at it! 🤣

Thank you, everyone. I appreciate your help and insight. Thank you, Mardee! It’s my blog name too haha.

I hope that's enough, because I have a similar budget for my trip in a few weeks and I was wondering if I should save up some more money.

I recommend that you build a contingency percentage into your budget for whatever reason. Doesn't have to be to be much, but some dollar figure so that you are not stressing about running over your budget.

Dont stress. You can always adjust your spending down to what you feel comfortable with. Just dont succumb to the urge to eat in nice restaurants every meal. It can be not that much different than planning for travel domestically.

PS dont forget parking costs which sometimes people assume is as readily available as at home.

In the UK, the Marks and Spencer at each Tube station will have a sandwich meal deal.

Are you staying in hotels, hostels, apartments or ???

If you have access to a microwave, you can buy meals that just need heating from many different supermarkets. I traveled 2 weeks alone in England this June and spend 318 DKK/day on food. Approximately 37 GBP/day on food.

Eating sandwiches during the day (often in a museum cafeteria) and heating a meal in the evening. Or stopping for a meal for lunch and eating a sandwich in the evening. In a hotel room I will eat a store bought sandwich; in an apartment i would make a sandwich from the bread, ham and cheese in my refrigerator (same as I eat for breakfast).

My policy is that I stay in an apartment if I am in one place three days or more. Then I have access to a kitchen and a washing machine.

I budgeted my trip to London last year very carefully. If you want to see what my expenses were, take a look at my spreadsheet.. It did work out to be about $100 a day. I went cheap on accommodations and stayed in hostels. Idid, however see a lot of pay sights.

In the UK, the Marks and Spencer at each Tube station will have a sandwich meal deal.

They are the most expensive meal deals you can find, and not every store now offers meal deals.

Tesco and Boots do better value deals. The best meal deals are at Sainsbury if you can find one- eg at Victoria Station. Sainsburys are the only store (at some branches, like Victoria) to offer hot options with your meal deal- especially good for breakfast.

One warning. My flight from Copenhagen to Chicago was cancelled last minute last month. I remarked to my travel companion that I was glad I had a reserve fund as I booked us for two unexpected nights at a hotel and embarked on two more days of food and activities (I wasn't going to sit there doing nothing!).

There was some reimbursement from the airlines as the late cancellation and inability to immediately return us home was within the legal definitions of their responsibility. However, I am still out of pocket after "reimbursement". Additionally, the reimbursement after the fact didn't supply the extra money at the time needed.

I would have a back-up plan for emergencies. This is not the first time a cancellation added a day or two to a trip of mine abroad. Going into credit cards farther than expected would be a plan, I suppose. When I was also a broke teacher, I had to do that once!

Edit - I've just noticed the date of the original post, followed by more recent postings. OP, I hope you had a great trip with no unexpected expenses!!

so, Fatty, how did everything go?