A little context here. 1) We publish all of our expenses publicly and the wife does short monthly expense summaries. This is my expanded version that will include expenses, the thought process, and lots of our travels.

2) Our goal is to travel on $20,000 a year. However we had a rough start to the year in that way (more about that here).

3) So now we’re trying to do around $900 a month to meet our goal. That’s like $30 a day. Nice hotels, no problem. Flights and transit, no problem. Food… is my kryptonite. I love trying new, interesting, and good food. Yesterday we spent $30 on dinner, so that’s where the majority of the back sliding happens.

4ish) We’re just setting off for a non-points hotel region. One reason I’ve been talking a lot about Booking Non-Points Hotels for Free, (gaming Airbnb and the BRG Experiments) is because some of our current travels are in non-points hotel areas. Croatia and Montenegro are decent examples. Few chain hotels, and the non-points hotels are super expensive.

In this post I’ll discuss stats, and travels. Our travels in June have included Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Montenegro, and Bosnia. I’m trying to finish up Europe in the next year. 😀

 

Stats

• Hotel points used:
  • Club Carlson =164,000
  • IHG =30,000
• Hotels with cash only =$132
• Flights = $139.24, 11,000 Citi TY points, and 20,000 AA miles
• Transit =$153.47
• Food =$688.12
• Misc =$121.50

Total=1,603.33

 

Hotels

So this total is extremely good, however, I have said that I calculate earning Club Carlson points at $0.00225 a piece. So on our stats page we’ll count these many Club Carlson stays as $369 in actual cost.

But really we only paid cash a few times and that was cashing in on Airbnb credits in Kotor, which brought the cost down to $37 for three nights. Learn the rules of earning Airbnb credits.

The other two hotels were in Bosnia and we paid $45 and $50 a night. And the hotels were totally 5 star. In any other country they would have been $150+ a night.

 

Flights

I knew going into this that I would have to start cutting costs and make less “good redemptions” in terms of maximizing miles on every single redemption, and just start burning points. So I booked an AA flight from Helsinki to Dubrovnik for 10,000 miles each. Smart? I don’t know, but the cheapest cash ticket was $250 each. I didn’t deal with that and given that we got hugely stung on AirBaltic, it was worth it for the free carry on bags.

We used Citi ThankYou Points to fly from Kiev to Riga. We actually booked a ticket to Tallinn because it was significanly cheaper, and we just got off the plane in Riga. Fine in theory.

We show up to the airport super super late (I mostly blame this on traffic) and we had the check in lady all to our selves. She informs us that the carry-on bags we use every stinkin’ day were far too big and we’d have to check them. Checked bags were like 40 Euros each and we each had a bag.

We contributed a decade’s worth of wasted plastic and decided to wrap our bags together with those plastic wrap things. Ya know, the people who put plastic around your bag so your stuff doesn’t fall out… or something. Then we paid for only 1 checked bag, oddly enough.

The best part about AirBaltic is that they charge you to print out your ticket and checkin at the counter. The only airline I’ve flown that’s crappy enough to do that is RyanAir, and I knew about that ahead of time. In this case we got hit with another fee.

 

Food

I love food. It’s a problem. My really cheap friends never understand how $30 a day is a challenge for us on food alone. But I can’t just do PB&J everyday, I want to ask locals about the best restaurants and then go eat in those places. I love the experience and more so, I love the food. In Bosnia that can be cheap. We went through the market today buying random stuff, like a ton of cheese, and I think we spent $1. But in Helsinki, or surprisingly enough, the touristy areas of Kotor, it can be hard.

Kotor was hard because the seafood was amazing, and that usually ran us $30 for the two of us for dinner. Ya know, our day’s budget.

 

Travels

Kiev, Ukraine (most underrated city in eastern Europe?)

The first days of June were spent finishing helping with Carrie’s sister’s adoption. Luckily we were able to book the Holiday Inn in Kiev. We booked 5 nights pre devaluation and 3 nights after. So 5 x 10,000 points, and 3 x 15,000 points. We spent 95,000 IHG points in all.

Despite Kiev being pretty cheap, the hotel was going for 100 to 200 Euros a night. Makes no sense. It’s like Africa being super expensive, or I guess Croatia. Just a place where there’s little tourist infrastructure and so nice hotels are super expensive.

Returning to Kiev was amazing. And let me say that it is 1,000,000 times better in summer! Just a fantastic and interesting city.

It is totally happening. People are always dressed up and out. The parks are beautiful and also happening. And there are a ton of sites; weird statues, more weird statues and monuments, etc…

We also ended up going to the “Ukraine Cup”. Some people we met were on the way to the game and we decided to show up late and got tickets for $2.50. This is the final championship game of the year, and $2.50 got us in like row 20. It was amazing, and the final goal (of the year) was shot right in front of us.

Obviously it ended in complete chaos and with people throwing powerful fireworks down at the field.

 

Riga, Latvia (meh)

We spent 6 nights at the Radisson Blu Duagava and it was 15,000 points per 2 nights, because we booked before the devaluation (credit card and points costs). So we spent 45,000 Club Carlson points.

Flight to Riga was $40+ a headache. I’ll explain in the expense section.

The hotel was right across the river from old town and we had a good view, but the other Radissons would be better locations. Riga’s old town is pretty but a total tourist trap atmosphere.

There is seriously a souviner shop every 20 feet, and the only things more populous are coffee shops and bars.

I know what you’re thinking, nothing sets a good local vibe like coffee shop and “Aussie” bars. But apparently the things that really set the mood are “medival times” themed restaurants. Waiters dressed like the characters of Robin Hood and an obligitory helmet somewhere. The fact that anyone eats there is annoying. There was a cafeteria not far away where it’s like 1 eur per pound.

 

Tallinn, Estonia

We stayed at the Park Inn Central Tallinn also for 15,000 Club Carlson points every 2 nights, but we stayed 10 nights total. Glad we did too. Besides the fact I was sick the entire time and glad not to be in transit, I liked Tallinn a lot more. 75,000 Club Carlson points total.

The bus from Riga to Tallinn was $33.73 for 2

The Park Inn is really close to old town, although the area around it isn’t the local hip part. Locale was good enough that we could walk anywhere. Tallinn is the same touristy old town era and ridiculousness of Riga, except the old town is bigger (so you can get away from the square with a casting of Robin Hood) and it’s hilly, which just makes it a little more scenic. I thought it was prettier, and there was more to explore in walking distance.

In terms of the Baltics, I think I like Vilnius slightly more than Tallinn, just because I tend to prefer less touristy. But Vilnius is a more typical European style city, maybe. And Tallinn really does the castley hill thing well. Frankly, Tallinn is where the Finnish come to drink. So you have more strip clubs and bars open for partying tourists than a lot of places.

 

Helsinki, Finland (almost half as cool as Berlin)

We stayed at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Helsinki for 50,000 points and that got us two nights. Short time, but it was much colder than I expected given that it was late June.

The ferry from Tallinn to Helsinki was $50.42 for 2

Helsinki for me is another European city. It’s beautiful and I love seeing the little green islands surrounding the city. However, I wouldn’t recommend it over Berlin, or many other big cities in Europe.

 

Montenegro (most scenic country… I’ve been to?)

Holy cow, the former-yugoslavia area is cool! Can’t believe I haven’t been to Montenegro or Bosnia before. I will have to do a post of its own on this, but it’s all amazing.

The coast of Montenegro is crowded in summer. Like mini-Croatia kind of super crowded.

But it’s still absolutely amazing, especially the inside of the Kotor Bay.

The coast is beautiful too, but the interesting parts are east, and it’s the opposite of crowded. I almost wish for easier access to some of the lakes that are blocked off by old ruins or buildings. But that’s what makes it so special.

I used Airbnb coupons (read about Airbnb coupon earnings here ) to get a 3 night stay for $37 in Kotor. We also have a car rental for $22 a day, (which we’ll tally into the stats upon returning it).

 

Bosnia & Herzegovina (my new favorite country)

If the countryside of Montenegro wasn’t interesting enough, it was easily topped by Bosnia. Just wow. The drive from the Kotor bay area to Mostar, Bosnia is amazing. The most scenic border crossing… I’ve ever seen. Then when you start going down the mountain into Bosnia it continues to be amazing and the interesting stuff begins.

Ruins are everywhere. Remnants of buildings tell stories I’m not too clear about. Perhaps the war, perhaps just abandoned. We’re driving down past this little lake and the top half of stone homes are sticking out of the water. I guess I’ll save the details.

But we spent one night in Trebinje, and this town and the drive from the border are probably my highlights from the last month.

Then we moved on to Mostar.

Both hotels in Trebinje and Mostar were ~$50 and 4 star quality on an Asia quality level. Very nice. In fact, the one we randomly stopped at in Trebinje was much nicer than many many InterContinental and Crowne Plaza hotels I’ve been to. And that was $45 for the night.

 

Conclusion

Kiev was way better than I remembered, the Baltics are more boring than I thought, and the Balkans always have amazing spots.

The thing about the Balkans is that you have a beautiful coast and a mountain range coming together. You have a bit of east and west coming together, Europe meets Russian influence, or Europe meets Turkish influence (or both). And you have a mix of economic recovery and well-kept sites of interest.

This was the first month trying to do the budget under $900, and that didn’t really happen since we are at least counting the Club Carlson points as they have earning costs. So our pre-planned stuff isn’t dead on. But $15 a night isn’t exactly a crime.

We’ll finish up our car rental in Bosnia and Croatia for the first half of July, and I don’t expect that to be much cheaper. But then we have tons of award hotel nights planned for the second half. If I can keep the hotel costs in Croatia down, then July we’ll be pretty good.