Not For the Squeamish…
The most common question I received about my previous site on Scotland was “How much did it cost?” To be entirely honest, we didn’t really keep track when we were there. It was our anniversary, and we had saved for quite awhile.
It’s bit different this time. Since we’re doing the whole “tour thing” — albeit with just the two of us — there was a much bigger up-front cost, and most everything was lumped together in one big expenditure. The tour company pays for airfare, hotels, some meals, tickets to the listed sites, etc. We’ll still had incidental expenses, but I can’t get much more detailed than that for our actual costs.
What I can do is list average prices for this trip, hotel rates, airline tickets, etc. It’s a comforting thought that US$1 = £E6 right now, even if most of our costs are in dollars. Most of the 4-and 5-star hotels set their prices in US Dollars or Euros.
You know, maybe I don’t really want to know how much all of this comes to. It might be better to just not look at it. It’s not for the easily frightened.
Just keep in mind that we’re splurging big-time with this trip. Egypt can certainly be visited for far less than we spent! There are any number of books and site offering tips for the budget traveler. Probably the biggest expense for us was hotel stays — as noted on the Hotels page, I have a penchant for staying in the old historic hotels, and be damned the cost. It adds up. I think it’s worth it, but others may not.
Whenever possibly, in the travelogue and photos pages, I’ve noted when we thought that the price of something is too high, or that we felt it wasn’t worth the cost. In most cases, don’t skimp on seeing monuments just because they each have an entry fee — it’s not much (in most cases just a dollar or two) and you might miss out on something fascinating if you’re trying to save a buck.
This section has a listing of our costs, a general list of hotel prices and flight prices, and a table of the entrance fees to most of the major monuments. it also has some general essays on money and tipping to get you started.