Week 3 of 52 – I wish I was traveling (I wish I were traveling?)

I’ve been tying to collect some statistics on my fourteen-week trip to Europa. Everyone loves numbers, not just the Count. So here are the quantities along with a timeline because time is also numbers – just hard-to-visualize ones.

• Friday June 3 – Last day at work
• Monday June 6 – First day of French training (in Ottawa)
• Tuesday August 9 – Obtained my B-level French language written comprehension (that’s a pass)
• Wednesday September 14 – Had my oral comprehension evaluation
• Thursday September 15 – Left Ottawa for Europe
• Friday September 16 – Flew to Rome Italy via Siegburg Germany, Obtained my B-level French language oral comprehension (that’s a pass) – French language training is complete
• Tuesday September 20 – Took the train from Rome to Milan
• Saturday September 24 – Took the train from Milan to Munich and then to Berlin
• November 4 to 6 – Visited with friends in Lyon, Grenoble, and Bonn (train)
• November 12 to 20 – Flight to Helsinki with the gf and the rents, one day in Estonia
• Sunday November 27 – Day trip to Bremen (train)
• December 2 to 6 – Visit to Mainz, Mannheim, Neustadt, Siegburg, Eindhoven, Munster (train)
• Thursday December 15 – Day trip to Leipzig (train)
• Tuesday December 20 – Flight home to Ottawa
• Friday December 23 – Return to work

And the non-time numbers:

• Number of days away from Canada – 96
• People visited – 57 (SG, NS, BL, HW, AH, DH, JL, JL, JB, AP, TM, FG, EB, PA, NM, CM, LL, SH, DD, AS, GC, JR, AM, MM, NN, NS, DS, JP, JH, RH, BH, AH, FW, AG, FW, MA, SM, SM, TM, KP, SJ, KH, MH, KJ, EL, HL, LL, GG, LA, GS, BE, EH, AS, NO, KO, NT, JI)
• Pregnant friends – 2 (that I could tell)
• Classical music concerts – 3
• Four and a half hour operas – 1 (thank God)
• Days of train travel – 12
• Taxi rides – 4
• Number of flights – 6 (on 4 different days)
• Nights in hotels – 6
• Night on sofas – 46
• People that stayed at my apartment – 6 (14 nights)
• Countries visited – 8 (NL, DE, IT, BE, FR, EE, FL, AS)
• Jigsaw puzzles completed – 2 (1000 and 1500 pieces)
• Days where it rained – about 8
• Sick days – 3

Costs – $6 438 CAD

• Inter-city train travel – $850
• Metro passes – $350
• Flights – $700 (plus 60 000 Aeroplan points)
• Rent – $1863
• Taxi rides – $100
• Hotels – $500
• Museums, concerts, ancient Roman ruins – $500 (Roman Forum, Coliseum, The Last Supper, Paragon Museum, Checkpoint Charlie, TV Tower, opera, classical concerts, soccer)
• Laundry $25
• Gifts for $150 for the kind people who let me stay on their sofas
• German lessons $1400

Refunds / Shared Costs – $3 120 CAD

• Rent from Ottawa $2 000
• Hotel savings $1 120 (14 nights at $80 CAD per night)

Total Costs Minus  Refunds / Shared Costs

$3 318 CAD

Note: I did not include costs for entertainment, drinks, restaurant, food, mobile phone because these would have evened out anyway. I had a prepaid phone in Berlin but I canceled my Ottawa plan. Going out for drinks is two to three times more expensive in Ottawa than it is in Berlin. Case in point: at my local the day I got home I ordered ten chicken wings, a beer and a twelve inch pizza.

Wings – $8.40
Pizza – $12.25
Beer – $6.15
——————–
Sub-total – $26.80
HST1 – $1.65
HSTL  – $0.49
HST – $1.34
——————-
Sub-sub-total – $30.28
Tip $3.94 (13%)
Total $34.22

So this comes down to a per day cost of about $35.00 CAD. I think this is pretty awesome. I mean, how much does it cost to live in ones home city?

So I guess that’s it for the travel part of this blog. I will finish up by clarifying one thing, If I’ve written anything during my travel blogging that offended you, I want you to know that it’s just a reference from a Simpsons episode you have not seen.

Also, the viola is the big violin.

End transmission.

The Voyage Home