How Did We Do?

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. ~ Susan Heller

There's really no better travel advice than this. We over-packed, and went a bit over budget, but only because we could. Had we only had a certain amount, we would have spent that. But after 7 days of eating cheaply while standing up, I wanted a few sit down dinners in Barcelona, and those turned out to be the budget busters.

So here’s what we spent:

Lodging
9 nights in hotels, plus foreign transaction fees for taking the money out of ATMs - $760

Transportation and Sightseeing
Train tickets (bought in advance) - $200
Additional bus fare for day trips, plus taxis and metro fares – about $40
Sightseeing and wine tasting fees (plus the purchase of two bottles of wine) - $120
Cooking class - $200

Food and Wine
We were doing really well in Logrono and San Sebastian. We grabbed a bit on the go for breakfast and lunch and we had tapas and very cheap glasses of wine for dinner 4 out of the 6 night. But we got to Barcelona and though, well we’re doing okay on money, and we’re sick of standing to eat, so let’s splurge. We had 2 really great $60 dinners that were worth every penny, one $120 dinner that I would take back if I could (it was good, but not $120 worth of good) and one overprice $80 dinner on our last night. Had we just grabbed a tasty sandwich or one last jamon y queso sandwich (my favorite) and some drinks, we could have spend about $150 less. Our total food and drink spending was about $900.

So we went over budget by about $220.

Airfare
Round trip from Chicago to Barcelona on Swiss Air, with a connection in Zurich - $1200

So for 10 days in Spain we spent a grand total, not including shopping, of about $3200.

Now, when it comes to clothes, we way over-packed. Of the 3 short-sleeve shirts I brought, only 2 saw the light of day (once each) and of the 6 sweaters I brought, only 4 were needed. Both dresses were worn at least once, as well as the jean skirt and boots, but the heels were a waste of space. And both Dan and I brought one pair of non-jeans pants that we never ever considered wearing. And each of us came home with one pair of boots, and I found two new winter coats. I need to always remind myself = pack less and I can shop more!