Category Archives: Our Planning

Our Favourite Websites, Our Planning

Our Favourite Websites

1 Comment
  • Tripadvisor: from food to lodging to activities, it’s a  traveler’s best friend.
  • Airbnb: meeting new people by sleeping in their homes, it’s a great way to save some money.
  • Wwoofing: working a little in echange for homemade meals and a roof over our heads, you got a deal!
  • Trivago: comparing hotels’ prices and bringing them all at one place makes you save a WHOLE lot of time, believe me.
  • Ret Tag and CheapOair: listing all the flight companies available from the least to the most expensive will make you want to kiss your computer screen.
Our Budget, Our Planning

Ups and Downs of Traveling on a Budget

Leave a comment

If you ask some people, especially those who like to shop, travelling on a budget is impossible. Nevertheless, if you’re motivated to travel, but, just like us, don’t have a thick wallet, you will find a way.

The first thing to do, is get any idea of staying at five stars hotels out of your mind. That is if you want your trip to last more than five days. Hostels and, in our case, even camping sites can be great alternatives.

The same principle applies to eating out. You have to make some concessions and accept the fact that you  probably won’t eat a three course meal every night. You’ll soon realize that non-expensive food tastes even better when your wallet is still filled!

This doesn’t mean that you have to be miserable during the whole length of your vacation. Saving money on things like food and lodging, especially if you only need a place to sleep when you stay outside all day, leaves you with more funds to treat yourself. In our case, it was the Blue Lagoon. Being one of the most expensive activities on our trip, it was only accessible by some sacrifices we made on transport, restaurants and hotels.

It was completely worth it and if anything, it made us realize even more the value of money you earn and discover the countries hidden behind the glamour of expensive establishments.

In the end, if you succeed on surviving for an entire trip without exceeding the amount you allowed to yourself, you feel like you can accomplish anything. The hours of looking up the cheapest rents or the days spent eating nothing but sandwiches are forgotten and you’re left with a pride you’ll carry with you all your life.

Our Budget, Our Planning

The Costs of Traveling

Leave a comment

Travel insurance for our trip (price for entire trip in day 0):

image

 

Train tickets from Montreal to Toronto (price included in day 0):

image
Please forgive the French, it was a French-Canadian company.

Plane tickets from Toronto to Reykjavik (price included in day 0):

image

Plane tickets from Reykjavik to Cork:

image

image

Plane tickets from Dublin to Montreal:

FullSizeRender (6)
This is per person so it must be multiplied by three. The tickets cost a total of $1 266.

Information:

http://secure.redtag.ca/flights/search?airlineList=ALL&air_class=Y&type=Return&segment=Y&flexible=Y&allInPricing=on&departure=2016-09-27&return=2016-10-03&trip=oneway&origin=Dublin+Airport+-+Dublin%2C+Ireland+%28DUB%29&originCode=DUB&destination=Montreal+–+All+airports+-+Montreal%2C+Quebec%2C+Canada+%28YMQ%29&destinationCode=YMQ&adults=3&children=0&numberOfChildren=0&preferedClass=Y
https://en.booking.wowair.ca/Flight/Search?interline=False&fromCityCode=YYZ&toCityCode=KEF&departureDateString=2016-08-28&returnDateString=2016-09-04&filterMethod=&adults=3&children=0&infants=0&roundTrip=False&useFlexDates=True&promocode=&fareTypeCategory=1&currency=CAD&taLogin=&taPin=&iataNumber=&apiKey=&allotmentText=
http://www.viarail.ca/fr/decouvrez-nos-destinations/trains/quebec-et-ontario/montreal-toronto

 

Our Planning, Our Savings

Our Savings

Leave a comment

Ines:

  • Worked at a summer camp for three summers. Eight weeks per summer, five days a week, seven hours a day at minimum wage.

Total for this job: $8 862

  • Worked as a clerk  in a grocery store for two years, forty weekends per year, seven hours a day at minimum wage.

Total for this job: $11 816

Ines’ total savings:  $20 678

Emily:

  • Worked as a cashier in a drugstore for nine months during two years, twenty hours a week at minimum wage.

Total for this job: $15 192

  • Worked as a cashier in a drugstore for three months during two years, twenty-five hours a week at minimum wage.

Total for this job: $6 330

Emily’s total savings: $21 522

Louis-Antoine:

  • Worked full time at a market selling skis and snows called “La Poubelle du Ski” during three repetitive summers. I was working 5 days a week, from 9am to 5pm and payed 11$/hour.

Total for this job: $10 560

  • Worked as an assistant in the department of human ressources at my father’s compagny as a part-time job during school year. I was working every Wednesdays and Fridays with a salary of 13$/hour, from the month of September to April. My shifts were from 4pm to 8pm and I worked in 2016 and 2017.

Total for this job: $5 824

Louis-Antoine’s total savings: $16 384

Our parents:

  • Gave each of us $1 000

Total: $3 000

Grand total:

$20 678 + $21 522 + $16 384 + $3 000 = $61 584

 

Our Planning

Our Destinations

2 Comments

Reykjavik, IS (Aug. 29th and 30th and Sept. 10th and 11th)

Thingvellir, IS (Aug. 31st and Sept. 1st)

Hveragerdi, IS (Sept. 2nd and 3rd)

Grindavik, IS (Sept. 4th and 5th)

Keflavik, IS (Sept. 6th to 9th)

Bantry – Cork, IRE (Sept. 12th to 19th)

Killarney, IRE (Sept. 20th and Sept. 21st)

Dingle, IRE (Sept.22nd and Sept. 23rd)

Kilkenny, IRE (Sept. 24th)

Dublin, IRE (Sept. 25th and Sept. 26th)