Vacation Spending: How'd I Do?

[ezorn33]

Just got back from a week in Ireland and took a look at my Capital One account online to see how the spending ended up breaking down. I think I did pretty well in terms of finding bargains, but I'd love to know if there's an area where I could have done better without sacrificing too much quality, for future reference.

Airfare (2 roundtrip tickets with an open-jaw itinerary): $1200
Rental Car (automatic): $350
Gas: $250
Dining: $550
Lodging: $625 + ~$150 worth of credit card reward points
Cash (entertainment, snacks, probably a meal or two): $600
Souvenirs: $100

Total: $3675 + $150 in credit card reward points

[Cookies Galore]

I say, if you had fun and made a lifetime of memories, it was money well-spent.

[wodehouse]

I learned something new, "open-jaw ticket. I've not seen this phrase used at Travelocity, etc, but apparently it's a standard, maybe even legal, term. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-jaw_ticket

Anyhow, sounds like you had a great time for a reasonable cost.

[Deleted]

Last time I checked, DH and I were spending about $200 per day in Europe excluding airfare and hotel, so your numbers are ballpark. Usually we're able to get most of our hotel nights free due to loyalty programs and that helps.

We're pretty relaxed about expenses when we travel now. My job still looks good, we're meeting our savings goals and we're very careful with money at home. We do tend to use local grocery stores for bottled water, alcohol and quite a few meals, though, and if the souvenirs appear to be overpriced we buy a refrigerator magnet and that's it.

[kdamron]

Looks like you did great! We were in Scotland over Christmas and spent more (helped along by the airlines that stranded us for two days in Orlando and then lost our luggage).

I agree with Meghan - money well spent!