Prague is too expensive, flying to Hawaii instead

A friend is putting off his solo trip to Europe because he says it will be too expensive to go to Prague for 9 days next month. He is flying to Hawaii instead.

I say, WTF?

Dollar for dollar, there is no way he is going to Hawaii for a week on a budget for less money than travel in Central Europe.

Cost for my October 2-week Prague trip

My two week trip to Prague, Warsaw, Nice, Athens, Sofia, Plovdiv and back to Prague cost $367 in airfare for San Jose, California to Prague flying British Airways. I paid $101 to fly Prague-Warsaw-Nice on LOT Polish. I paid $130 to fly Nice – Athens – Sofia – Athens – Prague on two Aegean Airlines tickets.

Airfare cost: $598

Hotels cost: $260 for 11 nights (about $700 if no hotel points)

24,000 Choice Privileges points for 3 nights in Prague ($176 to buy 24,000 points today).

2 nights Marriott Riviera Cap d’Ail France $115 in auction win.

1 night Best Western Nice 8,000 points ($80 to buy points, but I already had them).

2 nights Starwood Luxury Collection Sofia Balkan ($35 + 2,000 points/night).

1 night Days Inn Nice earned 8,500 Wyndham Rewards points for $80.

2 nights Ramada Trimontium Plovdiv, Bulgaria $110 + 3,000 points and earned 8,500 Wyndham Rewards points.

11 hotel nights cost about $630 for someone with a modest number of points, including cost to buy most hotel points. Or in places like Sofia, Bulgaria, there are plenty of other hotel options for $70 per night.

Since I balance earning and burning points on my trips, my actual out-of-pocket expense for 11 nights was about $270. My costs for hotel points and Marriott auction had been paid for months or years ago.

Daily expenses: $20 to $30 for food, drink and transportation

$160 to $270 for 9 day trip.

On average, daily expenses for a solo traveler need only be $20 to $30 for a place like Prague for two restaurant meals and four or five drinks. I spent about $300 for food, drink and transportation for 12 days in Europe with about $100 of that amount in gift purchases. Add a couple of museums or some other activities for $10 to $25. 

Prague for New Year’s

I put together a trip over the past few days to spend New Year’s in Prague.

This will be my fourth trip to Prague in 2017.

Romania Next Winter

For winter travel, I am currently looking at visiting Romania for the first time. Based on airfare availability today and Hilton Hotels in Romania, I think I can fly from San Francisco Bay area and spend ten days drinking and dining around Romania at Hilton Hotels for under $1,000.

My plan is to outline details of a Romania in winter 2018 trip showing the travel deals I currently see for an article later today.

Denver Today

That Romania article will need to wait for this evening. I am flying to Denver today.

My more immediate challenge is figuring out what to pack in my underseat carry on backpack without paying $76 additional for an overhead bin carry on bag or checked bag on my Frontier $96 round trip ticket.

The real challenge is Colorado temperatures are dropping down to the 20s over the next five days, and making packing even more challenging is I change hotels four consecutive nights.

Warm socks seem in order. Not like I will be hanging out in Hawaii.

Loyalty Traveler Oct 27, 2017 - Travel Planning Romania $1,200 to 1,500 for 15 days.