The actual numbers behind our recent vacations (a full budget breakdown)
In this episode, we’re doing something a little scary: sharing exactly what we spent on some recent vacations. No vague answers — just real numbers and honest thoughts about what felt worth it.
Cassidy breaks down her incredible 13-day Italy adventure through four different cities, while Emily shares what she spent on a Utah desert trip that was basically winter therapy. We're getting into the details of flights, hotels, food tours, e-bike rentals, and yes—even that overpriced airport sandwich.
Whether you're dreaming of your own big trip, trying to figure out realistic travel budgets, or just curious what people actually spend when they're being honest about it, we think this conversation might be exactly what you need to hear.
📌 Time Stamps:
[00:01:00] Why we decided to share our real travel spending
[00:02:00] Cassidy's Italy adventure: Rome, Cinque Terre, Dolomites & Venice
[00:03:00] Flights and transportation breakdown
[00:07:00] Lodging choices: paying for location vs. saving money
[00:08:00] Tours, activities, and food: what made the cut and why
[00:13:00] The comments that proved everyone thinks about money differently
[00:17:00] Emily's Utah escape: winter escape to the desert
[00:19:00] Flight sticker shock and why some trips are just worth it
[00:21:00] Credit card perks that actually saved the day
[00:24:00] The e-bike splurge that became the trip highlight
[00:26:00] What we'd definitely spend on again vs. skip next time
[00:29:00] Small wins that actually added up to big savings
[00:32:00] Why your travel budget doesn't have to look like ours
🎬 Watch Cassidy’s YouTube video detailing her trip’s cost here!
📩 Join The Finance Girlies on Substack: https://thefinancegirlies.substack.com/
💖 Email us your money questions: hello@thefinancegirlies.com
📸 Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefinancegirlies/
🎉 Join The Finance Girlies Insiders by upgrading on Substack and enjoy:
Bonus episodes, starting with anonymous wedding confessions, money drama, and a full script workbook
Juicier convos that are too real (or too spicy) for the main feed
Real listener coaching sessions + deeper stories from our lives
Early access to Q&As, exclusive polls, and discounts on future events and products
Plus, surprise extras we're cooking up behind the scenes
Transcript
Emily: [00:00:00] Are you drowning in money questions, but too embarrassed to ask? Tired of scrolling endlessly through conflicting financial advice that leaves you more confused than when you started. Welcome to the Finance Girlies Podcast, your cozy corner for all things finance. I'm your host Emily.
Cassidy: And I'm your host Cassidy.
We're both finance writers for brands like Forbes Advisor, USA Today Blueprint, and Yahoo Finance. Throughout our cruise and personal lives, we have come to one realization when we keep our money worries to ourselves. We end up feeling alone. That's why each episode we tackle those burning questions you've been afraid to ask.
With no judgment, no jargon, just real talk about real money. Ready to finally get answers. Let's dive in.
Cassidy: Welcome back to the Finance Girl's. We're doing something a little different today and we're breaking down what we actually spent [00:01:00] on our last big vacations.
Emily: Yeah, so Cassidy took an amazing trip to Italy in 2023, and I did a big trip to Utah actually earlier this year, and we're gonna walk you through the real numbers, including what we spent on flights, food, hotels, souvenirs, and we're gonna talk about what felt worth it, what didn't, and what we would change next time.
Cassidy: These aren't necessarily budget trips, but they're not luxury trips either. They're just kind of our trips and what we felt comfortable spending money on, because one thing that we've learned is that what every person is willing to spend money on is like, really personal and a bit different. So we're just gonna walk you through kind of the breakdown of our trips.
Maybe you'll get some ideas for how to plan your own travel and set a budget that actually feels good. Um, and then maybe also you'll walk away with some tips on how to decide, like, what's worth splurging on for you personally versus maybe what's not worth splurging on.
Emily: Okay, Cassidy, let's start with your trip to Italy. So first set the [00:02:00] scene, give us the overview.
Cassidy: Yeah. Okay. So I took a 13-day trip to Italy in June, 2023, and I went with my then-husband and we hit up four different places. So we spent four days in Rome, three days in Cinque Terre, four days in the Dolomites, and two days in Venice, and we mostly traveled by train, but we did rent a car in the Dolomites, which we'll get into all of those logistics later. Uh, but pretty much the entire trip, we did lots of hiking, eating, and sightseeing.
Emily: It already sounds amazing. Uh, but let's talk about the numbers. So, where did you spend money on this trip?
Cassidy: So, the biggest expense, as you can imagine, was transportation. And I'll take you through, all of our transportation, give you the cost, but these costs are for two people. So flights for right at $2,400, so like $1,200 a person round-trip to Rome and back, that's where we flew into and flew out of. And then we spent [00:03:00] $470 traveling by train and we took the trains almost everywhere. Like we traveled by train from Rome to Cinque Terre, and then from Cinque Terre to Venice, and then from Venice back to Rome. And the only time we rented a car was while we were in Venice. We kind of broke our two days up there and ended up spending four days in the Dolomites, like in the middle of that time in Venice.
And then also, especially when we were in Rome and stuff, we rented a lot of Lime bikes to get around when we were walking, so, uh, we spent like some miscellaneous money on that. Our rental car ended up being $625 which it sounds like whatever for a rental car to me personally, but it was supposed to be $250, so it ended up being like, more than double the price of what it was supposed to be.
But yeah, all in, like all of our transportation ended up being $3,725. Once again for two people.
Emily: So what happened with a rental car?
Cassidy: Okay, so I mentioned that [00:04:00] we had traveled from Rome to Cinque Terre by train. It was like a pretty long travel day and I think that our transportation consisted of maybe like three or four different trains that day. I forget exactly how many. Um, and like we hit the first connection perfectly fine.
We hit the second connection perfectly fine. And then our like, third train ended up being pretty late and we ended up missing our final train, so we couldn't get on a train until later that day. And if you've ever been to a country in Europe, you know that. A lot of times their business hours are a lot shorter than business hours in the U.S.
So even though we were still gonna get into Venice at like 2:30 PM the rental car place closed at noon. Um, so they were like, yeah, we're not staying open for you. Like there's no way to pick up this car. So we had to cancel our $250 rental car reservation. And what we ended up having to do, because it was so last minute, and because, It was outside of normal business hours for a lot of [00:05:00] these rental car places. We ended up then having to take a bus, once we got to Venice off the train, we ended up having to take a bus to the Venice airport, renting a car from the Venice airport, which the airport is like, not in Venice, but next to Venice. So we had to like, bus to the airport and then get the rental car and come back. So it ended up being a little last-minute snafu that cost like double the price. But yeah, it's fine. You gotta roll with the punches. And you're on vacation so you're like, it's fine.
Emily: Right? Yeah. Well, nothing ever goes a hundred percent to plan. You know, this, I have a record of mishaps, so…
Cassidy: Don't you, though?
Emily: I understand. Um, oh, go ahead.
Cassidy: I was just gonna say, it is kind of a running joke a little bit between me, Emily, and all of the people who usually see her when we travel, but, um, it's, it, it, if Emily makes it and her flight makes it on time and there are no delays or [00:06:00] cancellations, it, it feels like a rarity. We're like, whew. Emily had a good travel day.
Emily: It is true.
Okay, now we're on lodging. So was this your, your next biggest expense?
Cassidy: Yeah, I would say so. And our lodging total came out to right at $2,400, and I would say, so $2,400 for 12 nights, 13 days. So, you know, that math breaks down too. Around two-ish hundred dollars, give or take, a night. And once again, for two people, you know, it is one room, but if you're traveling with other people and can split the cost, it can be a little cheaper.
I would say that we probably went like mid to high tier, depending on where we were. Like it wasn't the cheapest, but it wasn't like ultra luxury or anything like that.
Emily: Mm-hmm.
Cassidy: I liked where we stayed. Like the places were good, they were all centrally located, which may have also influenced the price a little bit, and that was important 'cause we did just wanna be able to like, walk out of wherever we were staying, whether it was an Airbnb or a hotel, and just like [00:07:00] immediately start seeing things or doing things and not have to travel like 30 minutes to get to where we wanna go. So.
Emily: Right. So you feel like it was worth it, what you paid?
Cassidy: Yeah, I do. Whenever we were in Rome and Venice, we stayed in hotels and then we rented this super cute Airbnb in Cinque Terre that was like two blocks from the water. So, you know, you can just like, walk down and the views were really good. It was such a cute place and the Airbnb host was adorable. Like she left all kinds of little handmade goodies and was just really sweet.
And then in the Dolomites, trying to think where we stayed there. Some like little locally owned, I would say, maybe bed and breakfast or hotels, like smaller hotels, but family-owned and they were super cute too.
Emily: Nice. So what about activities? What did you spend on?
Cassidy: So, we ended up spending $513 [00:08:00] on tours and activities, and most of this was in Rome. So, we did a bike tour. I think it was maybe like a three hour bike tour in Italy, and it was so much fun. We were on e-bikes and you just got to ride around and see so much of the city that would probably be impossible to see on foot like, that much in one day. And the, like, tour guide was like this local guy who grew up in Rome and, just really knowledgeable and made the tour really fun.
And then we also did a food tour, which for me personally, like, whenever I go on vacation, especially if it's international, my absolute favorite thing to do is to do a food tour, specifically like, toward the beginning of the trip. Because then if you go to a spot that you really love, you can just revisit it again before you leave. And so that's usually my little hack for maybe discovering some like, lesser known restaurants that are still really, really good that like the locals usually go to.
Um, and then we [00:09:00] also did a colosseum tour. And that was cool too. You know, you gotta see the inside of the colosseum when you're in Rome. So.
Emily: The food tour idea is so smart. I cannot think of a food tour I've been on. I'm sure I've been on one, but it's not something I always think of.
Cassidy: So the very first like, international trip I ever took was to Iceland back in either 2021 or 2022. And I did a food tour. It was like the first food tour where I traveled somewhere and I was like, I think this will be worth it. And it ended up being the highlight of my trip, you know? We, I think we went to like 10 different restaurants.
And once again, the guide was like someone who grew up in Reykjavik, which is like the capital city. And he, like, knew all the people in these restaurants and he was able, like you, you're just, you're having lunch with a local at all these different spots. Um. And then we ended up going back to like so many of those restaurants while we were there over the course of the two weeks.
And then that kind of set the stage where like when, whenever I went to Paris, the first thing we did was a food [00:10:00] tour and then Italy, we did a food tour. And then I went back to Iceland last year, did the same exact food tour again. It was with a different guide. And he was just as lovely. He was like, this is my grandma's house. And I usually go to her house after work and she makes me pie and like, this is the school that I went to and like a lot of my friends go to this college. It's just such a cool experience to be able to get a little glimpse into someone's life while you're traveling, and you get to eat. So it's like, best of both worlds.
Emily: Yeah. Okay. I'm adding that to my list for all future trips. Thank you.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm. Love it.
Emily: Speaking of food, what did you spend on food?
Cassidy: Mm. I think food was surprisingly cheap for two people for a 14 day trip. We spent like a little over $600, and I will give the caveat that I think we got about $200 in cash whenever we first got there. And whenever we went to like, a cash-only spot or wanted a snack or something, we paid for that in cash and I did not track that at all.
So do with that what you will. It could be a, it could be a little more than [00:11:00] $600, but we did eat at restaurants almost every day, especially in Rome and Cinque Terre. Um, lots of pizza, like gelato every single day, no matter where I went. And Cinque Terre, they have these little like, fried seafood. It's like a little paper cone filled with fried seafood that you can get. Probably had five of those. Like my mouth is drooling just thinking about them. Um, yeah, the food was great.
Emily: Okay. Wow, that sounds amazing. and yeah, that does seem pretty reasonable for two weeks. Especially for eating out, I feel like you could not really do that for that amount of money here. Do you agree?
Cassidy: Yeah. Totally.
Emily: Seems like not that much. Okay. And anything else you spent on?
Cassidy: Uh, we did buy a few souvenirs, like a t-shirt and, I don't know, maybe some postcards and stuff like that, but the only other like, little miscellaneous expenses that we had is we did pay $38 for, for like an international phone plan for the time that we were [00:12:00] there. And then since we were driving, we did pay for one of us to get an international driver's license, and that costs $35 and uh, you can just get an international driver's license at AAA. And I think it's good for a set number of years, like five years, 10 years, I'm not really sure how long. But, we did get that beforehand as well.
So all in, the trip ended up being like, right at $7,780 for two people, which broke down to like $3,900 a person for like a 13-day trip, which honestly feels more than worth it to me.
Emily: Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me. I have not done much international traveling, so I don't have much context to base that off of. But based on, I guess what I can base that off of is my own trip, which was much shorter than yours, so it seems pretty reasonable.
But you also made a YouTube video about this trip and it kind of went viral.
Let's talk about that.
Cassidy: Ish. Yeah, for me. Um, so. [00:13:00] Whenever I went on this trip, I was in a period where I was posting a lot of reels and stuff to my Instagram and I was also posting a few things to YouTube, mostly like personal finance related stuff. And so I did do a YouTube short that was a breakdown of the total cost of pretty much what I had just walked you through. And it ended up getting over 10,000 views, which you know is not a lot, but for someone who has like 20 something YouTube followers. It was a lot. It was a lot.
Emily: It is a lot.
Cassidy: Um, yeah. But the funniest thing with the video is that the YouTube comments, this video got so many YouTube comments in, in my opinion, and the comments were all over the place.
Emily: Well, obviously we need to share some of them.
Cassidy: Okay. Um. So some good ones were people being like, you spent a fortune, and then one person being like, that's one month's salary. No thanks. Um, and then another person being like, Italy can be done in a hundred dollars a day. [00:14:00] Like, what are you doing? You must be doing it wrong. Um, and then another person was like, I spent $15k and thought that was cheap. Like.
Emily: Wow.
Cassidy: This is cheaper in comparison or something. So those were all of the people for the most part that were just like, what are you doing? That was so bad. And then there were other people that were like, this is very helpful. I don't think you went overboard at all. This is a blast. Or like, I think this is perfect. I'm a little more frugal with hotels. But all in, I think that's great.
Emily: Well, I like the person who said, why not go all out? No regrets, right?
Cassidy: No regrets. Exactly.
Emily: The person who said you have to manage transportation better. It shouldn't be that much.
Cassidy: Oh, I'm like, I'm glad you know how much a flight from Seattle to Rome costs, I don't know. Your airplane ticket out there is always gonna be the most expensive thing. But the comments were. [00:15:00] Cracking me up. And then another person was like, when I traveled to Italy and I've been a few times, I never pay more than 80 to 100 euros for a hotel night. I also would've skipped the tours. That's just me though.
Which once again, I think a comment like that just shows you, like, how personal your travel spending can be. 'Cause some people wanna go cheap and. On some things and others wanna splurge on other things, and some people splurge on things that seem, you know, they're like, I don't consider this a splurge, but it seems like a splurge compared to someone else.
Like, do I wanna spend $80 on a hotel? I would need to price check some things, but probably not. Like, I'm willing to spend a little bit more than that. Um, but it just all comes down to like what you value and how you can make it like a fun vacation for you.
Emily: Yeah, that is so true.
Cassidy: Okay. Do we wanna move on to your trip and tell us about your most recent getaway from this year?
Emily: Yeah. So I decided to break down a more recent trip. Just because I could more easily access that data. So we went to southeast Utah, specifically St. George, in March of this year. We were there for about five days and we flew into Vegas and then drove the like, hour 45 minutes over to St. George. And this was my husband and I. We did a lot of hiking, a little bit of biking, and the goal of the trip was to get out of the gray winter and just get some sunshine and warmth, and [00:17:00] we love the desert, so it was really nice to get there in March.
Cassidy: Mm, that sounds lovely. I feel like especially when you live in an area with harsh winters, which yours is harsh because of snow and like they're also dreary seasons. Right now, mine is just harsh because there's so little daylight and lots of rain. But being able to take a trip in February or March makes such a big difference, especially if you're going somewhere sunny and warm, just kind of fills you back up and whenever you get home you're like, okay, I can do this.
Emily: Totally. And that's something we've learned since moving to northern Michigan. Um, there have been a year or two when we didn't get out during the winter, and we regretted it. Like, we are willing to spend a little bit more money because March, April, it's like, you know, a pretty expensive time to travel.
Spring break, everyone's doing it. but we decided a few years ago that we're just [00:18:00] gonna make it a priority because it makes winter and spring like a million times better. So it is worth it.
Cassidy: Alright, so let's now get into your numbers. You wanna start at the top?
Emily: Yeah. So similar to you, transportation was, was big. It was like the biggest chunk of our budget. Um, we spent a little over $900 on flights which feels like way too much. I think we had anticipated spending more like $600 on flights. For context, we live in a small town with a smaller airport, and so we definitely have to pay a little bit more usually to, travel, to, to fly. However, the tickets we bought did not come with a carry-on.
So what we ended up doing was just checking one bag, cause it was like, the same price as a carry-on, and then packing, each packing, like, a small backpack as a personal item. And that worked out pretty well. But we [00:19:00] did have that extra cost of the checked bag. So yeah, not super happy with the flight prices, but again. It was worth it to get somewhere warm.
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: And then we did obviously rent a car, 'cause, there is some public transportation and where we stayed, we did walk downtown and that kind of thing. But really to get to the things we wanted to see, we definitely needed a car and we needed some way to get from Vegas to St. George. So we rented a car for about $480, and I don't really have many thoughts on that. Seems… fine. I don't know, it's always expensive, but it did the job. Uh, I will say we got a crack in our windshield. Um, yeah, which would've cost, it was a crazy bill. It was like, I wanna say $700. That sounds insane, but I think it was something like that.
Uh, but we booked it with a travel card that had [00:20:00] rental car protection, and so we got it reimbursed.
Cassidy: Name drop the card. Name drop the card.
Emily: Chase Sapphire Preferred, baby.
Cassidy: Oh my gosh. That's the card I just opened based on your recommendation from our credit cards episode.
Okay. Note to self use it if you're ever renting a car.
Emily: Yes, for sure.
Cassidy: Okay. Quick side question. Do you usually ever get the, like, rental car insurance that they recommend? Is it usually a No, because of the credit card.
Emily: Yeah, so you have to, that's kind of like the rule from Chase, is like you have to decline the rental car insurance in order to use your Chase insurance.
Cassidy: Okay.Do you wanna name drop? Which, uh, budget airline you took?
Emily: Oh yeah, we took Allegiant. And I was a little nervous about it to be honest. But it's like, one of the airlines that does direct flights during that time of year to warm places. And so yeah, we just went for it and it actually ended up being totally [00:21:00] fine. It was a direct flight, so there were no issues.
Cassidy: That makes a big difference.
Emily: I will say I wish we could have stayed longer since we were spending that much on airfare, but it just didn't work out with work schedules and that kind of thing.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's like another thing to always weigh, too. It's like, do you spend the money to go somewhere for a shorter amount of time because you still get the experience of going versus staying home, or do you try to wait and do fewer trips when you know that you can go to those places for a longer amount of time?
Emily: Yeah.
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: Yeah, it's a lot of logistics too.
Cassidy: Yeah. Alright, so that was your take on transportation, flights, rental car, and gas. Probably like 14, $1,500 total for the both of you. And then do you wanna move on to lodging next?
Emily: We spent about $500 on an Airbnb for, I think, four [00:22:00] nights. And then we used points from our credit card to pay for a hotel for one night, on our way out of town.
Cassidy: Also Chase?
Emily: Chase Sapphire Preferred. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I felt pretty good about that. I mean, that's about a hundred bucks a night for what I thought was a great little Airbnb. We had, we could walk to downtown. It was very comfortable. Had a private little patio. It was perfect for us.
Cassidy: Lovely.
Emily: Yeah, the next biggest expense was food and drinks, including airport food, I noted here, because airport food is so expensive, it makes me so angry every time I travel. And you try to avoid it, but there's just nothing worse than being hungry on an airplane. So I'd rather spend the money and.
Cassidy: Yeah, and even with a direct flight, it's like you don't know if you're gonna be stuck on the tarmac for two hours before you take off, which has happened to you before, I think, either taking off or landing. So yeah, you want food [00:23:00] on you.
Emily: And our, on our way back, we had to go to the airport before the free hotel breakfast opened. It was so disappointing. So then we bought, you know, a meal at the airport. But. Anyway, we also had several dinners out and, I think we cooked a couple nights, but splurged on a meal or two.
And yeah, felt like the, the food budget was pretty reasonable.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: Next we spent about $185 on activities, so that was mostly park passes. Like getting into different recreation areas, state parks, national parks, those were a bunch of, you know, like little $15, $20 fees. And then the majority of that cost was for an e-bike tour that we did, that I think was like around a hundred dollars, if I'm remembering correctly. So that was the majority of that. And then the last category was [00:24:00] just like souvenirs and miscellaneous, and that was around $120, bringing our final total to just under $2,600.
Cassidy: Okay. I don't think that's bad for two people. So split down the middle. You're looking at what, $1,300? Yeah.
Emily: Right?
Cassidy: Yeah. 1$,300 for flights and everything. That does not seem bad. So. Do you ever buy the National Parks Pass?
Emily: Yeah. and we forgot it at home.
Cassidy: Oh. What a tragedy.
Emily: Yeah, I've done that so many times. Yeah. 'cause we live near a park and so we typically have one to get in there, but don't always remember to bring it traveling.
So yeah, I will say we budgeted more like $3k for this trip, so seeing the final total feels good, even though to me it kind of seems like a lot for the amount of time we were gone.
Um, I am glad [00:25:00] we could stick to that budget and our planning paid off. Yeah, and as I was saying, like we have just kind of built a trip into our budget for this time of year for our own mental health to like get some sunshine and really just get a break from the winter. So. We feel very happy to spend that on this kind of trip.
Cassidy: Yeah. So what do you think about that balance of like splurging on some things and being more budget conscious on others, like are there things that you would consider splurges?
Emily: Yeah. The e-bike tour felt like a big splurge, because typically when we travel we don't spend much on activities. We like to hike and sightsee and just kind of explore and usually don't spend much on that kind of stuff. But the e-bike tour just sounded so fun and it was, it was like a [00:26:00] highlight. We got to ride down this road into a canyon in a state park, um, that's closed to cars, but it was long enough that you couldn't really walk there like it, you know, it would've been a long day. And so, yeah, we just got to see so much more. And yeah, it was, it was so fun. So that felt like a splurge. We did have one kind of fancy-ish dinner, that was just worth it for, it was delicious and the, view. It was like this beautiful outdoor patio right outside this canyon, so that was just totally worth it. But typically we don't, like splurge on meals. I would say when we're traveling, we do a lot of like, picnic lunch and breakfast, and casual brew pub-style or like, street food-style kind of food for dinner.
So. Yeah. And then I will say, I think we splurged a little more on like, souvenirs and treats than we normally do. [00:27:00] But I have no regrets on that either.
Cassidy: Yeah. What are some of the souvenirs or traits that you splurged on this trip specifically?
Emily: Oh, ice cream, uh, a really beautiful handmade mug at this art village we went to, my new favorite shirt, which has, all of the different, like Zion, cacti that are found in Zion National Park on it.
Cassidy: Cute.
Emily: A couple books, because we always spend on books.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: And. Oh, when we went on our e-bike tour, we, we beforehand, we went to this amazing bakery and got some pastries and brought 'em on our e-bike tour and then went on a little hike from one of the trailheads and like, just ate them with the most amazing view.
So that was fun too.
Cassidy: That sounds lovely. One of my favorite things to do, like as you start going on [00:28:00] vacations is to look back and try to focus on like, what your favorite parts about your previous trips were. And I then that can like, tell you a lot about how you should think of and plan your future trips. Like it took me going on a trip where I was purely in the city the entire time for me to realize like, oh, actually getting out in nature, going for some hikes, seeing some type of view, is actually really important to me on vacation, you know, or maybe I am willing to spend to spend on certain tours because some of my favorite tours I've ever been on, or like this food tour and this e-bike tours, like maybe I want to incorporate more of those into the future.
So, I feel like that's such a good way to figure out what quote unquote, splurges actually matter to you as you plan future vacations, is to think about what really is standing out to you about previous trips that you took.
Emily: Yeah, I think, that's really [00:29:00] smart and this e-bike tour will definitely, I think, inform future trips, so we'll see.
Cassidy: Yeah. But it sounds like you also had some budgeting wins?
Emily: Yeah, like I said, we um, you know, we were in an Airbnb, so we did cook one or two dinners and did like, entirely picnic lunch, you know, where we bought groceries and just had them for the week, had our own breakfast at the Airbnb. Most of the activities were low cost. Just those little park passes here and there.
And then another thing we did was I mentioned we stayed in a hotel last night, and that was because we had an early flight and needed to get, you know, be in Vegas the night before to catch our flight. So we booked that hotel with points and then turned in our rental car a day early so we could save on that extra day. And then just caught a shuttle to the airport in the morning. So, just little things like that, but I think they added up. [00:30:00]
Cassidy: Is this also the trip where you had to figure out how to use DoorDash for the first time
Emily: Uber Eats. Yes. It was. Success. Yeah.
Cassidy: Yeah. Amazing. Okay, so adding in some final thoughts, what's one thing that you're really glad that you spent money on? And I think you've already said it, but let's hear it again.
Emily: Yeah, the e-bike rental for sure. It was so fun.
Cassidy: Yeah. And can you think of anything that you'd probably skip next time?
Emily: No, I don't think so. But I would like the, the thing I'm most unhappy with in the budget looking back is the amount we spent on flights. So I would try to get a better deal plan ahead. I think we kind of waited a little too long to book those.
Cassidy: Sometimes you're at the mercy of like whatever's available for the time that you know you're gonna have off. So it's harder to be more flexible,
Emily: Yeah. What about you? Anything you would skip?
Cassidy: Honestly, as [00:31:00] we're talking to throw this in, I think there was a fourth tour that we did in Rome, and it meant so little to me that it dropped out of my brain until this moment in time, but it is included in, in the total price that I gave. But it was a tour. I can't even tell you what it was around.
It was like. It was like an audio tour, essentially. The group was huge, like maybe there were 50 of us and we all had these little headsets and the lady was just taking us through like all the different ruins and like what they are and the history behind them and stuff.
And it was good, but I remember it being so hot. And so crowded. And because our group was so big, we had to walk so slowly. And I just, and it was a long tour too, like two or three hours. And I just remember by the end of it being like, I would've rather found an audio something online and just like, walked through this myself. So yeah, maybe little things like that. And that was the first like, truly audio tour that I've ever gone on. Yeah, I think I need more pizazz than that, like throw in some [00:32:00] food in the mix or some like, hike or bike or something, but.
Emily: Yeah.
Cassidy: Yeah.
Emily: I'm with you on that.
Cassidy: Mm-hmm.
Emily: So, I think you kind of already said this, but for me too, the biggest takeaway is that there's no one size fits all travel budget, and you kind of just have to find out what matters to you through experience and then plan around that. Sometimes after trips I do wish we'd done things cheaper, but this time I was really happy with the experience and I keep looking back on it fondly and I know I will for a long time.
So. It all feels worth it to me.
Cassidy: Yeah. I think there's also something to be said for those moments where you're like. I spent a little more on travel maybe than I wanted to, but like, overall, this was kind of the budget that I wanted to stick to for this trip in total. And I did do that. And so I think that that matters a lot.
It's kind of like when you just budget for a regular month too. It's like you may end up spending more on groceries than you [00:33:00] anticipated or some other unexpected expense, but if you're spending for the whole month when you add up, everything is around what you wanted to. Like, maybe you had to shuffle a few things here and there. Like that's kind of the most important thing.
And so I feel like that plays out in budgeting for travel as well. but yeah, I do love the whole concept of like, not really feeling shame about whatever feels worth it for you, because what, what feels worth it on vacation looks different for everyone else, but you know, just like using your money and your values to end up going on a trip, that means a lot to you because that's kind of the whole point of like using your money to travel.
Emily: If you like this episode, we'd love to do more travel budget breakdowns and maybe even include some listener submitted ones, or future trip planning ideas. So if you're into that, we'd love to hear it from you.
Cassidy: On that note, we are really interested in learning how to save money on travel, and we bet that you are too. So just to give you a little plug, we are going to be bringing on a guest soon who is an expert [00:34:00] at travel hacking and using credit card points to travel on the cheap, cheap.
So stay tuned for that soon-ish episode.
Emily: Yeah, and follow us on Substack at the finance girlies.substack.com to hear when that episode and others drop. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.
That's a wrap on another episode of the Finance Girlies podcast. Nothing in this episode is meant to be taken as financial advice.
Cassidy: Please do your own research and talk to a professional if you need advice. As always, if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Love you. Bye.
