So you think you have everything covered? Well yes, most would think that everything has now been booked, including flights, accommodation, ferries, cars, trains and some attractions, but is that everything? As I was doing all this research, there were costs I was setting aside in the budget for things such as petrol, attractions and general entertainment, food and incidentals. All that got me thinking – what else do we need to consider?
A few years ago my husband and I went on a 14 day cruise. We had booked as part of our “package” a laundy bag. Now this was our first ever cruise, we thought it was a bag for the whole time we were on the ship. But alas it was not, it gave use one lot of washing – fill the bag with as much washing as possbile for a set price. Of course for a 2 week trip we should of had at least two of these.
Laundry
Thinking about laundry got me looking into how we were going to manage this over the 6 weeks. I’m not so worried about smalls such as lingerie and underwear, and even t-shirts. Anything small and thin is relatively easy to hand wash and dry overnight. My worry is more about shorts, jeans, jumpers and heavy or bulky clothing. While we are in the UK during their summer, you never know what the weather is going to be like so I am sure we will have a varied wardrobe while we are there.
To manage this I went back to see what accommodation that we were staying at, had laundry facilities either in our rooms/apartments or a laundry facility on site. Thankfully there were a few that had this available on site in some way. Unfortunately they were not necessarily at dates that were close enough together that we could do laundry every week. So next was checking for laundrettes close by that could be used. Several options are available to find this out. You can contact your accommodation directly as ask the quetion, and you can also use maps to search around the hotel/motel etc you are staying at. Record any that you find so that you have a plan in place of when you can potentially do laundry.
Petrol
Petrol will be an ongoing cost for the month we have a rental car. To pay for petrol while in the uk, I have a Worldwide Wallet Credit Card to which I have transferred money into UK pounds. This will mean I can pay for petrol easily using this credit card in the correct currency and I won’t need to worry about cash or using a credit card with international transaction fees.
Another thing you might want to think about is downloading an app that has locations of petrol stations throughout the UK. While you can use maps for this, a more dedicated app might be more accurate and give you more information.
There appear to be several available for this but you will likely have to wait until you are in the UK to download it. Ones listed in a google search include: Fuel Genie, Waze, Fuelmate, and e-route.
Food
Another very important consideration for the trip. Yes we will be staying primarily in or close to large towns and citys. But that does not mean we will always be close to food while we are travelling around. Also, you will not want to live on takeout or fast food for much of you stay away, and eating at restaurants most nights could prove expensive. Of course if you want to do any of that, go for it, its your trip. However, I waa thinking that as we will have a car for much of the trip, there are a few things we could do so that we don’t have to rely on fast food, being close to towns with bakeries or cafes, or resaturants. I was also wanting to keep costs down to a realistic amount.
So first, I went through each of the accommodation booked to see what had breakfast included. I’m actually not a big breakfast eater, but coffee is a must, so if this is available with the chance to grab a little something to nibble on later, that that helps.
The next idea is that as we will be travelling a lot, it might be nice to have a small chilly bin/Esky/Cool box (the name depends on where you are from lol) to have in the car so that we can have small things to maybe make a sandwich or a hot drink etc. Simple things such as uht milk, some butter, maybe some ham etc. Then my other thought is to buy a cheap picnic hamper (maybe off Amazon etc and have it delivered to our London Hotel). That would give us the essentials to eat, picnic style, wherever we are on our travels. Other groceries can be brought and kept in the car, i.e. bread, snacks etc. That way we will always have something on hand and not have to buy expensive food while out and about.
Telecommunications
An absolute must, we will need to have data for our trip. Mostly so that we can use navigation in the rental car but also to be able to use apps etc while we are there. Several options are available from many different places. All can be purchased well in advance of your trip. I purchased a sim each (a physcial sim, but e-sims are definitely available if your phone can use them) for the UK only and then another sim each for Europe. I broke these up as I could buy a sim for the UK with with Unlimited Data for way cheaper than the same thing that covers Europe. Given we are only in Paris for a few days, I did not see the point of buying a dearer sim for that purpose. I purchased my sims off a website called Prepaidsims.com.au – a 30 day UK Unlimited Sim was $AUD69 each, while a 12GB data Europe and UK sim was around $AUD40. The good thing about these is that you can nominate a day for them to be activated, so putting a future date on it set to the day before we were due to arrive is perfect. The second set for Europe are set to activate a week before we reach France.
Travel around London
As we are not having a rental car while in London, or Paris, I considered how we were going to get around to do our sightseeing. Given the underground and trains are the most popuar I decided that I would purchase and Oyster card for each of us. An Oyster Card can be used for most of the public transport in London. You can also select an activation date. You can buy it before you go and have it delivered to you. This is a more costly option, but to be prepared for any eventuality, I purchsed two with £15 on each of them and had then sent to my home in Australia. Check out the Oyster Card here.
Attractions around London
As we are going to be some of those typical tourists in London, we are hoping to visit the usually sites in a few day stay in London before we head out on our trip around the rest of the UK. To help towards the cost of these I purchased two London Passes. These are purchased on the basis of the number of days – so be careful when choosing what one to puchase. We are in London for 4 days, 1 of those is our arrival date and the 4th is the date we pick up our rental car in the afternoon and head to our next destination. So I choose a 3 day pass. Once activated at your first attraction, the countdown is on!
It works on a credit based system that you use towards your preferred attraction and you can goto as many attractions as you can fit into your time and credits. It can give you savings of up to 50% on attractions so should save you money in the long run if done right. You do still have to book some attractions and you will need to download the GoCity app to load your pass onto. If you want to find out more check it out here.
Travel Insurance
An absolute must when you are doing travel such as this. I have found with travel insurance that certain insurers specialise in certain types of travel. For instance with a cruise, search for insurers that specialise in cruise travel cover, for travel where you are hiring a vehicle for a length of time, find insurers that have comprehensive cover for rental excesses. It is much cheaper getting cover through your travel insurance than it is getting cover through the rental company. You may have to pay any initial excess if you have an accident but if you are covered for this in your travel insurance you can claim it back. Of course, there are different levels of insurance but if you can afford it get comprehensive or a level that covers as many options and costs as you can. Remember, you need to have an amount of cover that covers for any loss if there are issues, delays etc. But this cover will be off-set by the cost of the insurance, so be aware of what you are happy totake a risk of not being covered. For instance, if you are not worried about clothing being lost, then you might reduce your cover for loss of luggage, but if you are taking expensive camera equipment or other technology, you might wan to ensure this is covered. It also may be cheaper to get the insurance closer to your departure date, but get yours quotes and find the insurance and cost that suits your budget.
So these are just some of the things you might want to consider over and above the usual and obvious. As always, these have been my thoughts and observations. They will not suit everyone and others may have different experiences, knowledge and thoughts. Alwyas do your research, do what you are comfortable with and what suits your travel and budget.