We’re just back from a 3 night mini break visiting friends in Inverness, Scotland. I love Scotland; the scenery is gorgeous and it makes the near 7 hour car journey all worth while! We spent a day in Inverness last year visiting friends during a ski trip to Aviemore but as our friends have just welcomed their first baby into the world we decided to spend a bit longer in the area this year.
I got a good deal on a hotel by booking back in November on the Amoma website which I found through the Trivago website which I use a lot. This is my basic level of travel hacking but I am determined to learn more about this over the next few months and join those in the FIRE community traveling the world in first class for peanuts! We paid less than £60 per night at the Jury’s Inn which is an older 4 star hotel on a very busy and noisy main road. But the rate included parking, breakfast and access to the pool and spa facilities which we made full use of so I think it was good value for money.
We drove my car there as it is more fuel efficient and it took about a tank and a half of fuel for the whole trip. As noted above, breakfast was included with the hotel and we were treated to some meals by our friends which was very lovely of them.
We spent our time mainly chatting with our friends at their house or at a cafe or restaurant so we spent nothing at all on entertainment other than food and drink. We did have a drive out to Loch Ness to see if we could spot the legendary monster and although we were disappointed the view is spectacular and completely free!
So our overall expenses for the 3 night trip were:
Hotel £172
Fuel £90
Food and drinks £175
Total for two people £437
I’m happy we stuck below the £500 although we probably could do better by bringing down the cost of food and drink. An evening meal for two was costing around £50 and wasn’t particularly fancy but we did enjoy an alcoholic drink or two so it’s perhaps not an unrealistic benchmark.
I’m curious to know what others budget for food when you’re on holiday. Do you try to stick within an overall budget? Or do you have a meal by meal budget? And how do you find low cost options in unfamiliar surroundings? Let me know in the comments!
The Saving Journey 