how much does it cost to go to UK for a week, from the US?

[rcpratt]

Each of the past two summers, our round trip flights DTW <-> LHR were $1,500-$1,650 on Delta. I'm sure you could get a bit cheaper.

Keep in mind that the exchange rate continues to be brutal. $1.64/GBP. In London, expect anything you buy to be priced relatively similar or higher to the # in USD...and then tack the exchange rate on top.

My parents live out in the burbs, so we spent probably 20-30GBP/day on Oyster cards for the tubes and the trains to get to the city. Museums/sites are not cheap. I have no idea what free sites you people are seeing.

A week is not nearly enough, especially if you want to hit both London and the country. I've spent 8 days in the UK each of the last two summers and I could still plan another two trips.

FWIW, we spent 16 days in Europe this summer. 8 days UK, 3 days Amsterdam, 2 days Rome, 2 days Florence, 3 days Cinque Terre. I'd estimate it at $8-10k. And we had a free place to stay in the UK. We did it pretty nice though.

 

[brianmanahan]

vacations are the last place i want to be budget conscious.

i am budget conscious in every aspect of life, i have never spent more than about 1.5$K on a vacation. never even flown before if i had to pay for the airfare (always used reward points or a work-related flight).

maybe when i save up 1$M or 2 i will let myself live it up a little.

 

[DigDog]

well, its your trip.

but if i was in the US and had a week of holiday, the UK is not where i'd go.

 

[brianmanahan]

yeah i am thinking about going somewhere in the US too

but i have been to many of the major places

eh, maybe i should just skip vacation for a year or two and save the money

 

[AznAnarchy99]

yeah i am thinking about going somewhere in the US too

but i have been to many of the major places

eh, maybe i should just skip vacation for a year or two and save the money

Canada? Asia where your money goes really really far? Europe in general is just expensive if you don't know the area and get stuck on the tourist track.

 

[purbeast0]

i am budget conscious in every aspect of life, i have never spent more than about 1.5$K on a vacation. never even flown before if i had to pay for the airfare (always used reward points or a work-related flight).

maybe when i save up 1$M or 2 i will let myself live it up a little.

you should live it up a little before you are old and can't even walk up stairs.

 

[brianmanahan]

Canada? Asia where your money goes really really far? Europe in general is just expensive if you don't know the area and get stuck on the tourist track.

hmm, canada is a good, never been there before. banff might be nice.

 

[K1052]

If you go off season round trip airfare DTW to LHR for $1K is definitely doable. Accommodations in London are the expensive part but I would think it's achievable within your price range...you just won't be staying at a luxury hotel.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Each of the past two summers, our round trip flights DTW <-> LHR were $1,500-$1,650 on Delta. I'm sure you could get a bit cheaper.

Keep in mind that the exchange rate continues to be brutal. $1.64/GBP. In London, expect anything you buy to be priced relatively similar or higher to the # in USD...and then tack the exchange rate on top.

My parents live out in the burbs, so we spent probably 20-30GBP/day on Oyster cards for the tubes and the trains to get to the city. Museums/sites are not cheap. I have no idea what free sites you people are seeing.

A week is not nearly enough, especially if you want to hit both London and the country. I've spent 8 days in the UK each of the last two summers and I could still plan another two trips.

FWIW, we spent 16 days in Europe this summer. 8 days UK, 3 days Amsterdam, 2 days Rome, 2 days Florence, 3 days Cinque Terre. I'd estimate it at $8-10k. And we had a free place to stay in the UK. We did it pretty nice though.

PSA: Don't go during the summer because prices will be considerably higher.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

maybe when i save up 1$M or 2 i will let myself live it up a little.

That may never happen, or it may happen and you'll be physically unable to travel or worse, die the next day. Don't squander your best years with the rationalization that you can accomplish all your dreams in retirement. That day may never come. I personally choose to sacrifice some wealth in retirement so I can live now. With my family health history, there is a good chance retirement will never come for me.

 

[Remobz]

A week is not enough, we have gone 4 times, twice for a week, twice for 10 days. Many museums in the UK are HUGE, figure a day easy at Victoria and Albert, British museum, portrait gallery, tower of London.

Airfare is the cheap part, hotels a bit pricey depending mostly on location, tube pass not essential but if you need it you need it.

Friend of mine did it on the cheap, staying in youth hostels etc, almost bumming around.

Easy to find you costs as you will want reservations in all the places you plan to stay.

We are thinking about going again, still haven't seen all we want to see, and some we want to see again, plus at this point I know London about as well as many locals if not better since I wandered all over, not a daily route always the same.

Lucky for me I stay for free with relatives (Aunts, Uncles and a crap load of different cousins). For me its all about the family time and reuniting with relatives. I been going to England from the 70's when my mother was pregnant and even lived there for awhile from ages 4 to 6 (medical reasons). I been there and done that with most of the historic sites through the decades.


I would NEVER stay in any Country on the cheap. Either I have money to go and enjoy myself or forget it.

I have seen so many tourists roughing it out and they looked dirty and were smelly. Some even caught bed bugs and other diseases because of cheap food and cheap sleeping areas. How the hell can someone call that fun?

 

[Exterous]

I would NEVER stay in any Country on the cheap. Either I have money to go and enjoy myself or forget it.

I have seen so many tourists roughing it out and they looked dirty and were smelly. Some even caught bed bugs and other diseases because of cheap food and cheap sleeping areas. How the hell can someone call that fun?

Depends on what you consider cheap but there is a difference between staying on the cheap and getting bed bugs\food poisoning. One of my fond memories of Scotland is getting food from a grocery store and having a picnic-ish style lunch in the Nevis Mountain Range. Since we got food for a couple of different meals and snacks it was only about $3 ea for lunch and we certainly had fun enjoying the scenery

 

[radhak]

vacations are the last place i want to be budget conscious.

That is so limiting - to only places you can afford to visit regally, or to the times when you have the money to do so.

i am budget conscious in every aspect of life, i have never spent more than about 1.5$K on a vacation. never even flown before if i had to pay for the airfare (always used reward points or a work-related flight).

maybe when i save up 1$M or 2 i will let myself live it up a little.

Interestingly, this is also limiting, at the other extreme: if you are too worried about costs to consider the intangible gains from vacations, then you might look back at time lost with regrets, later in life.

Lucky for me I stay for free with relatives (Aunts, Uncles and a crap load of different cousins). For me its all about the family time and reuniting with relatives. I been going to England from the 70's when my mother was pregnant and even lived there for awhile from ages 4 to 6 (medical reasons). I been there and done that with most of the historic sites through the decades.


I would NEVER stay in any Country on the cheap. Either I have money to go and enjoy myself or forget it.

I have seen so many tourists roughing it out and they looked dirty and were smelly. Some even caught bed bugs and other diseases because of cheap food and cheap sleeping areas. How the hell can someone call that fun?

Well, that says you have only visited family, and managed a few outings while there. Visiting a new city, country or continent is a different type of pleasure. 'Cheap' is relative. There's a huge gap between white-gloved treatment at the Ritz and living under a bridge.

We have traveled a lot, and we have kept costs low by cutting out inessentials; we only remember the great times, not a missing swimming pool in the hotel.
We were quoted $4700 for a 10-day packaged trip to Costa Rica for our family of four. Instead, I compromised on some stuff (like, booking my own hotels instead of the '3 starred' ones suggested, traveling on local buses some of the time instead of renting cars all thru), and wrapped up the whole thing under $2600! We came back not with bugs or disease but with very fond memories, especially of unplanned happenings, like us getting lost and a village turns out to help!

A new place is a pleasure; the plushness (or not) of the bed does not detract from it.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

That may never happen, or it may happen and you'll be physically unable to travel or worse, die the next day. Don't squander your best years with the rationalization that you can accomplish all your dreams in retirement. That day may never come. I personally choose to sacrifice some wealth in retirement so I can live now. With my family health history, there is a good chance retirement will never come for me.

Definitely. Go while you're young. Go when you have more freedom to improvise and explore rather than a strict itinerary. Live it up. Everyone who has told me that they planned to travel always say a few years down the line "I regret not going".

I studied abroad for 6 months, living in Rome and traveled all throughout Europe and had some of the most amazing experiences in my life. Sure it costs a lot and I'm still paying it off but when will I ever get the change to live in Europe for 6 months?

 

[purbeast0]

That is so limiting - to only places you can afford to visit regally, or to the times when you have the money to do so.

it's not limiting at all, you just have to make traveling a priority like my wife and i have done since before we were married like 9 years ago. he says he has money he just saves saves saves. you can do both, which i've done plenty of. like i said, you just have to make traveling a priority.

the ongoing "joke" if you want to even call it that, with my wife and i, everytime we go to a party or see people we haven't seen in a while is "so when is the next tropical location we will see pictures of on facebook?" because we're usually always trying to plan trips and go places. most people wish they could have gone to the places we've gone to, and many of my older family friends always tell us that we're doing it the right way and they wished they had dont it younger.

meanwhile, everyone in our family has been pressuring us to have kids the past 5 years or so, and gladly we did not want to. neither her family or mine has gone anywhere, partially because of money, and partially because of the kids they have (which comes back to money and being able to afford it).

so yeah, i'll keep going on my vacations, all the while saving, and having a great time in my youth. next up is my trip to the keys in december (pushed back from october since it just came up so quick) to get scuba certified. turks and caicos was this past may, and north carolina beach trip was the past july. also drove to the beach 2.5 hours from here for a bachelor party in june, and a 2 day trip with my wife in early july. gotta live it up while you can!

my only regret about traveling (as far as going out of the country) is that i wished i had started earlier than i did at 23 years old. really regret not going on spring break trips in college to places like cancun. or backpacking europe over a summer. i have a buddy who backpacked europe and they ran out of money, and he knows how to juggle, so he did a street act to get enough money to last a little bit longer there.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Definitely. Go while you're young. Go when you have more freedom to improvise and explore rather than a strict itinerary. Live it up. Everyone who has told me that they planned to travel always say a few years down the line "I regret not going".

I studied abroad for 6 months, living in Rome and traveled all throughout Europe and had some of the most amazing experiences in my life. Sure it costs a lot and I'm still paying it off but when will I ever get the change to live in Europe for 6 months?

Exactly. I'll never understand people who save every spare dime for retirement on the hope they can "live" then. A $3,000-$5,000 vacation every few years will let you see much of the world and give you memories that last a lifetime. I went to France last year and toured Normandy and I still smile and am happy whenever I think about the vacation or look at the pictures. I'm going to Germany and Austria in a little over a week and hope to get some good memories from there. Next year? Ireland, England/Scotland, and Greece are probably the finalists.

Experiences >> possessions

 

[Exterous]

I'm going to Germany and Austria in a little over a week and hope to get some good memories from there.

Hopefully you'll post some pictures here. Where did you decide to go in Austria?

 

[rcpratt]

PSA: Don't go during the summer because prices will be considerably higher.

PSA: my SO is a teacher and my family is home during the holidays.

 

[brianmanahan]

PSA: my SO is a teacher and my family is home during the holidays.

get a divorce, disown family, problem solved! :awe:

 

[DigDog]

i've been to a ridiculous number of countries on holiday (insert peen here), and if i were you, i'd shoot for the caribbean.

i just like nature better than cities, but thats just me.

if you want museums and architecture, rome or paris are great choices.

 

[StinkyPinky]

Don't forget the smaller places. The best part of Europe IMO is the smaller cities and villages. Each have so much stuff to explore.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

PSA: my SO is a teacher and my family is home during the holidays.

Spring break and fall break FTW (they have 2 week breaks here, not sure about there)

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Hopefully you'll post some pictures here. Where did you decide to go in Austria?

Salzburg and Vienna will be our bases of operations.

 

[WelshBloke]

Museums/sites are not cheap. I have no idea what free sites you people are seeing.

As no one else chipped in on this point.

The Victoria and Albert, National history Museum, Science Museum, British Museum, National Gallery, (and a few others) are all free and well worth at least a day each.

 

[Wonderful Pork]

For budgeting purposes, I like to use the government M&IE rates as a baseline. They vary by city & country (and even month), but I find its a fair estimate for lodging & meals to use as a starting point. Then I generally add about $100/day for local travel and misc expenses and go from there.

So for visiting London it would roughly be $950/flight (assuming travel in May or June) and estimate $573/day total for lodging & meals, and then another $100/day for misc. expenses (local travel, tickets, souvenirs, etc).

So the total would be:
$1900 + 8*573 + 8*100 = $7284 total for 2 people.

So that's what I would save prior to taking the trip. Then I would go on vacation and have the time of my life, and if it ended up being less than that, I'd put the extra in the "new car fund" and if its more then pull it from the "new car fund". (I haven't purchased a new or new-to-you car in 10 years, so its really just a slush fund)

Usually we underspend, mainly on portion budgeted for meals because we don't have huge appetites. Generally pretty close for airfare & lodging because we like to stay in nice places.

In 2014 we've toured 3 different countries, with 2 other CONUS trips completed & 2 more planned. Next year I think we're going to visit Spain & Portugal, but then we'll slow down the travel to start a family. I don't want to be attending PTA meetings when I'm 58 - that's retirement time!

I usually start a framework about 10-12 months ahead of time so we can book international travel about 8 months ahead and have everything paid off/saved before we leave for the airport.