Kostas PapanikolaouTalking about trips and expenses
Well, we finally did it! Our roadtrip from Crete to Iceland became real, we are back home full of memories! We have already posted our experiences from the Balkans, Slovenia and Austria. Before sharing info about Liechtenstein, Switzerland and many more countries, let’s talk about an issue that is definitely important for everyone. How much such a long road trip costs?
We have already talked about our ways to save some money while travelling, so let’s see how much these 16000 km accross 20 countries cost!
Fuel, tolls, vignettes
We needed approximatelly 1000 litres of diesel, plus 14 litres of adblue. Fuel prices vary from just 1.02 per litre in “poor” Luxemburg, up to almost 1.60 per litre in Iceland, we spent 1310 euro for fuel. Not that much, I would say.
Adding 117 more euro for tolls, vignettes and tunnels, and approximately 30 euro for parking, we get 1457 euro for all our transfer expenses, excluding the ferry tickets to Iceland and the Faroe.
We chose to avoid motorways in several countries not only for economical reasons, but also because we prefer moving slowly and getting to know the agricultural areas, towns and villages. We paid for parking places just few times, when absolutely necessary. For example, in one of those small villages on the the Swiss – Liechtenstein borders we kept looking desperately for a free parking space. Not that easy, though! Only private parking places everywhere and an automatic machine working just with swiss franks. So take care to have some local coins just in case 😉
Accomodation expenses
When we were planning the trip, we counted that we will stay only in our rooftop tent in Iceland and Faroe, and in Europe we will spend around 30 euro per night. But, it was a back-up plan, because we had in our mind to make it as much low-budget, as possible.
Finally, even to our own surprise, we got hosted through Couchsurfing by so many people all over Europe, that our trip became completely different of what we could imagine. We’ve mentioned many times to friends here in Greece, that the word “filoxenia” with its original ancient greek meaning is far more usual in other countries nowadays, than in Greece. This simple action of hosting someone that you don’t know, is something we love doing back home. And this is actually what the greek word means, “to be friendly with strangers”.
As a result, hospitality of all these lovely people we met, meant zero accomodation expenses for at least 50 days, plus meeting new friends and living real local life. Ektoras was playing with other kids in families, we were spending time with wonderful people, learning their way of thinking, getting advices about our trip and exchanging experiences. Opening ourselves to the world!
We finally stayed just 6 nights in hotels (220 euro) and it was mainly our choice. All the rest days were spent on our rooftop tent, that costed us 140 euro in Iceland, plus 60 euro more on the Faroe islands.
We bought this camping card in Iceland, having access to 38 campsites all around the country, for 28 overnights. If you are planning to stay more than 12 nights, it is really worthy deal, otherwise, it would be the same money staying in any campsite you want.
We also spent some nights next to a river on Pindos mountains in Greece, in a small forest in Germany, even in a truck stop!
Food and drink
That was the easy part, finally. Since we had a 12V car fridge, gas and electrical cooker and all the kitchen stuff, we only needed grosseries during our trip. And, especially in central Europre supermarkets are cheaper than in Greece! As a result, we had good meals and it cost us less than our initial plan. We spent about 100 euro per week for food, coffees and wine, just like being home or even less.
Iceland is expensive
And we knew it, so we had filled our car with all the necessary products before leaving Germany, and we had to buy there only meat and dairy products on the daily basis.
It makes no sense counting exactly every cent spent, you already got the spirit of our road trip. We lived in every country like locals, used to drive in villages and towns and spend our time in a way our hosts used to. We loved every single part of this trip and finally it was much more affordable than we counted in the beginning.
To conclude: Travel!
Just start! Travel in any way that pleases you. Without thinking what you “should” or “shouldn’t” do. Without being obsessed eating just in restaurants, sleeping just in hotels, or doing whatever most tourists do. Of course, if this is what entertains you, then just do it!
Live every moment of your trips, try to get to know locals, open your mind and soul to foreigners. Our world is small and big at the same time, we all are so different, but we face the same problems and enjoy the same things. This is what we love about traveling and what makes us planning more and more fascinating trips!