Welcome to Travel Diaries, a Refinery29 collection in which we tag along as actual women embark on trips around the world and sing their travel costs down to the closing cent. Here, we provide an in-depth, intimate account of while, wherein, and how our friends spend their vacation days and disposable profits: all the food, adventures, indulgences, setbacks, and surprises.
This week’s journey diary: A 29-year-old vintage senior copywriter goes to Paris with her boyfriend to finalize the acquisition of their Parisian condo.
For questions or comments, or if you’re interested in tracking your tour costs during an upcoming ride, could you email us? Updation: Senior Copywriter
Salary: $85,000 (plus $1,000 – three,000 a year freelancing)
Annual Number Of Vacation Days: Last year, my company introduced a flexible day-without-work policy, which has grown increasingly famous because it allows personnel mental freedom while saving the business enterprise from having to pay for unused vacation time. In addition to the week off between Christmas and New Year’s, I took 25 days, so I assume the alternative is a win-win.
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Trip Location: Paris, France
Trip Length: five days
Travel Companion: Boyfriend
Travel Companion Salary: $two hundred 000 (plus annual bonus)
Travel Companion Number of Vacation Days: 20
Transportation
Cost: The value was $545 for my price ticket from NYC to Paris, Bordeaux to Madrid, and Madrid to NYC. After Paris, my boyfriend and I spent four nights in Bordeaux (we offered to buy tickets from Paris for $50), and from there, I met a friend in Madrid before flying home. My boyfriend’s ticket was priced at $625 from NYC to Paris and Paris to NYC, including the value of 1 checked bag. He took the education to travel back to Paris from Bordeaux (the price tieducationcome miraculous; the only $was a day off).
When did you e-book? Do you believe you studied and got a good deal?
I booked my flight approximately a month ahead of my departure. Given that I booked a multi-town ticket, I assume I got an exceptional deal.
Total: $1,239
Accommodations
Costs: I am very into lodge credit score playing cards, so I always try to e-book resorts using points or a mixture of coins and factors to help keep trip expenses down. Plus, European lodge rooms are notoriously small, which enables us to have a loyalty card for upgrades! We stayed inside the Opéra district at the Marriott Ambassador Hotel in Paris for $250 a night.
Total: $746.93
Miscellaneous pre-holiday spending
The day of my flight, I saw a Retrofit pop-up pattern sale happening. They are a favorite Israeli clothing line throughout social media, so I excitedly ran over there to score a lovely dress for my journey. They were out of the robe to get dressed, I wanted, but I discovered something higher in its place. Typically $six hundred, I scored an adorable black-sequined bodysuit and flare pant set for $ hundred and fifty. It’s also the appropriate outfit for my 30th birthday, so I already have a few occasions to wear. Update: If I needed extra validation, the emblem came up in a verbal exchange with friends while I was in Madriwas. My buddy’s friend who turned into us seems close to the clothier couple. He sent them a photo of me in my outfit, and they spoke back at once, announcing I appeared fantastic!
– 2 Tickets to Atelier des Lumières: $32
– 2 Tickets to Taste of Paris: $127
– three tickets to the Louis Vuitton Foundation: $53.86
Total: $362.86
Miscellaneous submit-holiday spending: I had more than one clothes dry-cleaned for the price of $24.80
Do you have credit score card debt due to booking this excursion?
No, I do not have credit card debt because I reserved this holiday. I am big on saving, so I can enjoy holidays without stressing about finances!
Day One
8:45 p.m. — The Uber arrives at our Brooklyn cop, and my boyfriend, B, masses our luggage into the trunk. I usually percentage a big suitcase to test, and each bribing carry-on. The driver confirmed our destination, JFK, and earlier than I could have comprehended it, we were cruising along the Belt Parkway. Finally able to relax, I take one of those deep, shuddering sighs that simplest takes place once I understand I have zero responsibilities for the next week, or in this situation, ten days. I currently switched groups at paintings and don’t begin the brand new one till I return, so in a way, it seems like a ruin among jobs. $forty.50
10:30 p.M. — After an extended queue to test our bag, we were seated at a café through. B is munching on a ham and cheese sandwich ($eight. Fifty-five) and some mediocre bites. As we wait to board, I crack open Jane Eyre, a traditional piece of literature that somehow slipped through the cracks of my excessive school analyzing listing. It is rather relevant, and I am right here for the increase and electricity of Ms. Eyre! $8.55
eleven:25 p.M. — Wheels up! I plan to sleep in this purple-eye but assume two times once I spot A Star is Born inside the entertainment selection.
Daily Total: $ forty-nine .05
Day Two
12:20 p.m. — We land and head immediately to baggage claim. Our bag appears after several minutes, and we stroll out of the doors to the Roissybus price tag device. There are other public transit options. However, this bus immediately goes to Opéra, almost an 8-minute walk from our inn, Paris Marriott Opera Ambassador. $27.50
12:50 p.m. — On the forty-minute bus trip’s direction, B and I discuss our plans for the next few days. This is our fourth ride to Paris collectively at some point in our 3-yr courting. While we don’t want an excuse to keep coming back, we are here to finalize the acquisition of a bedroom condominium! I am in disbelief that my francophile fantasy of getting my pied-à-Terre is coming.
Here’s how it took place: I spent over a year looking at homes online, lusting after tiny, overpriced flats. One search yielded a new construct in Puteaux, a suburb just west of Paris, with rental plans that seemed relatively inexpensive for my rate range. First, I inquired about a studio condo, something I may want to come up with the money for on my own. Still, after discussing the prospect over dinner, my boyfriend and I decided to go 50/50 on a two-bedroom, 1.5-bath unit. My 1/2 of the down payment and prices turned into $65,000, nearly all of my liquidity. However, it was worth it. To attempt to place it into words: following creator George Clason’s recommendation in The Richest Man in Babylon, adhering to no-spend days, and taking over facet hustles, I fed every little bit of financial savings to my proverbial piggy financial institution. The day I signed for the apartment changed into the day I smashed that piggy bank and went out, oui, oui, all the manner to my new French home.
While I don’t have the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre at my doorstep, it’s only a 12-minute metro ride to downtown Paris and greater space for a rate I can afford. During my second year residing in Brooklyn, I truly see the cost of getting more dwellings as an alternative to a quick commute.
Two forty p.M. — Once we throw our luggage into the room, we walk to a nearby department of Banque Populaire to transfer the remaining budget to the notary earlier than our assembly the next day morning, and we slice the switch piece close. For the 20% down price, B and I invest in a shared French account. However, we’re chargeable for ensuring the budget from the lender who authorized our mortgage is transferred to the developer; that is what we’re looking to do now.
