money, money, money; must be funny; in a rich man's world

Being the neurotic, organized person I am, before I set about traversing Europe, I spent probably 4-6 weeks planning everything. From housing to transportation to estimations on the cost of food, I budgeted for everything. Before I left, I was going to know exactly how much money I would be spending. I knew there would be some additional expenses I wouldn't be able to account for exactly such as night train fees, but even these I put into my budget. What I didn't plan for, which is bad because it made me frustrated that I would have to spend more, was expenses due to unknown fees as well as what I will call "cultural expenses."

Reservation fees for the trains was the first big shocker. The EuroRail Pass was great and all the information provided online was quite helpful in terms of telling me what I needed to do when I got to Europe. In Paris and Italy, most of the trains I would be taking needed advance reservations, so when I got to Paris I went to the train station and made reservations. From what I remember, the EuroRail information said there would be fees for reservations, but I took that to mean that the fees were going to be only a few Euros. NOPE! Some had fees as much as 10-15 while others were as little as 5. And that is PER train ticket, not just for the collective purchase. With all the train travel I had planned on, those fees added up quick and sooner than I could blink I was out 75 Euros.

Another un-thought-of expense: internet. Some of the hostels I stayed in were really nice and had free internet. Some were not as nice and made you pay. And the fee was, in my opinion, a little high. Something like 1Euro for 10 minutes. Then when the hostels didn't have internet, or I needed to kill time and didn't feel like reading for fear of dozing off, I ventured into the internet cafes and depending on the location, some were nice (4Euro+soda for 1 hour) and some where pricey (5Euro for 30 minutes, I think). Though I probably could have done without some of those visits and held myself back from paying at the hostels, I am a sucker for the internet, and did, on many occasions need it to communicate with Anne in Vienna.

Lastly, there were the "cultural expenses." There were 2 that I encountered that, while I love many aspects of Europe, these things made me miss home a LOT: 1) Paying to pee and 2) Paying for tap water. I call these "cultural expenses" because almost all the other things I spent money on are kinds of things I would spend money on back home in the USA: reservation fees, museum entrance tickets, etc. Paying to pee and paying for tap water are both things I've never seen at home and have attributed as ways of the Europeans.

To me, going to the bathroom is part of human nature. Heck its part of all breathing creature's nature. Therefore, no one should have to pay a fee to use a facility that is built for this aspect of human nature. That's just cruel. What if I didn't have change on me, and my bowel decided to go on an adventure one morning? Or my monthly visitor decided to come a little early? What would I do then? The cities of Europe don't want me to relieve myself on the street corner, do they? No...because its unsanitary and I would get arrested. Therefore, you shouldn't have to pay to pee. It's just cruel. Especially in a train station!

Water is another thing I think is ridiculous to pay for when it doesn't come in a bottle. Before ordering water in the Italian restaurants I went to with Anne and Lauren, we had to ask if the it cost anything. If it did, I wasn't getting it. I had my water bottle on me and would gladly drink from that instead. We're already paying for the food and service, so I was not going to pay for water I could get by going into their bathroom and refilling my water bottle from the faucet.

I don't know where either of these "cultural expenses" come from and why they are in place, but I don't like them. I know someone could probably tell me why there are fees like this, but it doesn't make them any less annoying.

Cece's Advice #2: Don't Purchase Anything Without Checking the Price

Cece's Advice #2: Don't Purchase Anything Without Checking the Price

I fell victim to purchasing items, mainly food ones, without double-checking or asking about the price quite a few times. By assuming food items like a bag of chips, or even a box of small granola bars would be reasonably priced, even with the currency conversion, I quickly learned to ALWAYS check the prices for further purchases. My issues really only occurred in Paris but I'm not blaming the French for my problems. France, along with Austria, is an expensive country to begin with and as it was the first I visited I had all my problems there. But I did learn from them, hence why I am writing up this advice.

The first case of not asking the price was at the Opera Garnier. Since I was not able to see inside the theater, I decided to purchase postcards...something I imagined would cost 0.50-1 Euro each. I bought two and they ended up being like 3.50-4 Euro. I didn't think about it initially but when I did the Euro-Dollar conversion I'm pretty sure I swore a little. The 2nd instance was at the Eiffel Tower right before my night bike tour. I hadn't had time to get a mini meal or anything so I grabbed a King Size KitKat and a bag of potato chips. Yes, this was the Eiffel Tower so I expected the prices to be a little inflated, but it was 4.50Euro for both items. Once again the Euro-Dollar conversion hit me hard.

Finally, when I went to the mini-market store in Montparnasse I got cheese, small granola bars and pudding. The granola bars didn't have a price on them, but the box next to them which was bigger did so I assumed these would be around the same price. Doing the math after purchasing, the granola bars were priced at 5Euro, 1.5 times the amount of the other box. My reaction: GAH! Maybe I got the cheese price wrong or the pudding price wrong, but either way I didn't check on the price and language barriers made it hard to me to question it.

Which gets me to my advice for anyone traveling in a foreign country while trying to maintain a budget: don't purchase anything without checking the price first. This will make you feel better and maybe you'll save a few bucks. When abroad, and as money-conscious as I am, shocks to the system because you've spent way more than you expected aren't fun. They're just not. So take a few minutes of your time to make sure you're getting what you want for the price you think.