2024 South Europe Trip: Details, Expense report - eNidhi India Travel Blog

2024 South Europe Trip: Details, Expense report

Recently I concluded my 2 week trip to Europe. It cost me total of under 1.34 lakhs all expenses included. This post shares my plan, itinerary and expense details. 

What motivated my trip?

I saw an ultra cheap return ticket to Europe- Mumbai-Athens return for under 24k on Kuwait Airways. This is the cheapest ticket I had seen. Had seen similar priced ticket via Abu Dhabi with Wizz Air but that involved self transfer, visa, paying extra for bag and food etc. So regular one stop flight via Kuwait with food n bag included for 24k INR return was a very tempting deal.

When I saw it initially for December end I avoided as it is peak holiday season and too much cold, but when saw same price for Jan-Feb couldn't resist, booked instantly.

My trip plan was as below

Day

Plan

Details

-1

Udupi-Mumbai by train

 

00

Work from Mumbai

Urban POD at Mumbai central

01

Mumbai-Athens via Kuwait

Athens local

 

02

Flight to Tirana, Tirana local

 

03

Work, flight to Bucharest

 

04

Bucharest local

Palace of Parliament

05

Day trip to Dracula Castle

 

06

Bucharest local, flight to Catania

 

07

Work from Catania

 Local exploration in evening

08

Work from Catania

 Local exploration in evening

09

Day trip to Mount Etna, Night flight to Malta

 

10

Work from Malta

Malta first impressions

11

Work from Malta, evening flight to Athens & then to Santorini

 

12

Santorini local

Santorini Guide

Old Harbor

13

Santorini local

 

14

Flight to Athens, Athens local

Acropolis

15

Half day work, Flight to India

 

16

Back in India, train to Udupi

 

My expenses for this Europe trip are as below

#

Expense

Amount

Remarks

01

Mumbai Athens return flight

23720 INR

Kuwait Air

02

Hostel stay in Europe

 

31120 INR

  • Athens 2 night,
  • Tirana 1 night
  • Bucharest 3 night
  • Catania 3 night
  • Malta 2 night
  • Santorini 3 nights (hotel)
Hostels avg 12 Euro per night, hotels 30 Euro

03

Europe Local flights

19615 INR

  • ATH-Tirana (Wizzair)
  • Tirana-OTP (Ryanair)
  • OTP-Catania (Ryanair)
  • Catania-Malta (Malta Air)
  • Malta-Athens (Ryanair)
  • Athens-Santorini return most expensive at 8.5k, Aegean

04

Day tours

 20000 INR

Mount Etna, Dracula Castle

05

Local commute

 7000 INR

 

06

Food

 23222 INR

Self cook at hostel + few restaurant visits

07

Udupi Mumbai train & Stay, local travel

5000 INR

 

08

Shopping

2000 INR

Had to buy a towel, bought few magnets n chocolates

09

Museum/attraction entry fees

6000 INR

 

10

Visa

0

Already had multi entry Schengen visa, else 15k extra

11

Miscellaneous expenses

4500 INR

 Insurance 899, Roaming + TSIM, Laundry expense

 

 

 

 

 

Total

142177 INR

 

Things that worked for me:

  • Already had visa, so 15k saved
  • Could work remotely, so less leaves needed
  • Off season, so hostel, flights, entry fees were cheaper
  • Took some risks- tight connections etc- did work out
  • No checked bag, managed with one cabin bag & used laundry. This saved need to buy checked bag or extra bag in Ryanair flights
  • Multi entry Schengen visa gives access to few other countries like Albania and Romania
  • Extensive walking & use of public transport
  • Self cooking at hostel to save on food cost
Of the 14 days trip, I took leave for 4 days, had 5 days due to weekend+ republic day holiday and remaining 5 days I worked remotely. If I had taken more leave and booked more day trips that would have added another few hundred Euros to the expense list.

Risks I took
  • Just 1 hour transit time in Kuwait to Athens and next flight several days away, risk of missing Athens-Tirana flight next day
  • 90 minute connection between Malta-Athens and Athens Santorini flight- different PNRs, different airlines
  • Walked 4 km from Santorini airport to hotel to save 25 Euro taxi cost
  • Did not book day trips online- visited travel shops and booked previous evening
  • Managing with 3-4 sets of cloths, reusing them after using public laundry, to save spending extra on checked bags
  • Managed with one standard jacket, gloves and monkey cap in 1 degree or lesser temperatures.

Where I could have saved a bit

  • Ate generously at Kuwait airport spending about 7 KWD or about 2000 INR
  • Forgot towel at Bucharest hostel, so had to buy new one in Italy for 5 Euros
  • Could have saved a bit more on food if I had carried more food from India
  • Could have skipped visiting few museums, but decided to enter because there was nothing better to do at the time

Standby for detailed posts on various cities and attractions I visited during the trip.

Related posts: Pros and cons of visiting Europe off season * 2023 Schengen visa process

2 comments:

  1. Enidhi thanks for this post. I have been looking for one of the cheapest flights to fly on. You just revealed that Kuwait Air is one of the cheapest. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

Appreciate your efforts and interests to comment. Comments may be moderated due to increased spam. Will ideally respond to comments within few days.Use Anonymous option if you don't wish to leave your name/ID behind- Shrinidhi

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