Venezuela was good on our budget. Well it was and then we decided to use all the left over money to remodel Kiko's mom's kitchen. (I hope to have a short post with some before and after pics soon). But in general the exchange rate for US cash is extremely favorable. So here is how our month broke down....
ACTUAL VENEZUELA BUDGET:
Total Nights in Venezuela: 33
Pre-trip estimated budget: $3300 ($100/day)
Costs:
Average $ per day: $65/day
Difference from Estimated budget: -$1,145
So we spent the balance on some repairs around abuela's house and a complete kitchen remodel.
Yeah! So even though the money all got spent in the end, seeing that we are capable of coming in way under budget (after Nicaragua!) is comforting. As you can see above a big chunk of the budget was used for flights to and from Venezuela. It is a 20 minute flight. The only other sizable expense category this month has been Food and Drinks, but just under $700 is not bad, especially considering we were feeding a lot of extended family members as well. We almost never eat out, except the 3 times we went to the local mall, which had sushi and gelato. Kiko or his mom cooked every other meal. The big $25 spent on entertainment was when we hired a van to take 16 of us the 30 minute drive to the mall and included all of our entry tickets to the movie How To Train Your Dragon 2. It was a fun time. We took advantage of the favorable exchange and got some much needed new clothing for Zuki and shoes for Kiko. (He gave his to his brother). And finally Education Supplies was a couple of Amazon Kindle Books as Zuki didn't seem capable of waiting for the books (Survivor Series by Erin Hunter) she wanted to read to become available on the public library site.
Humm, thinking expenses in Europe will be a bit of a shock.
ACTUAL VENEZUELA BUDGET:
Total Nights in Venezuela: 33
Pre-trip estimated budget: $3300 ($100/day)
Costs:
- Accommodation: $0 (Stayed with family)
- RT flight Aruba-Venezuela: $915
- Food & Drinks: $691
- Transport: $47 (local)
- Entertainment: $25
- Tips: $0
- visa/airport fees $38
- Misc supplies: $138
- clothing: $277
- education supplies: $24
Average $ per day: $65/day
Difference from Estimated budget: -$1,145
So we spent the balance on some repairs around abuela's house and a complete kitchen remodel.
Yeah! So even though the money all got spent in the end, seeing that we are capable of coming in way under budget (after Nicaragua!) is comforting. As you can see above a big chunk of the budget was used for flights to and from Venezuela. It is a 20 minute flight. The only other sizable expense category this month has been Food and Drinks, but just under $700 is not bad, especially considering we were feeding a lot of extended family members as well. We almost never eat out, except the 3 times we went to the local mall, which had sushi and gelato. Kiko or his mom cooked every other meal. The big $25 spent on entertainment was when we hired a van to take 16 of us the 30 minute drive to the mall and included all of our entry tickets to the movie How To Train Your Dragon 2. It was a fun time. We took advantage of the favorable exchange and got some much needed new clothing for Zuki and shoes for Kiko. (He gave his to his brother). And finally Education Supplies was a couple of Amazon Kindle Books as Zuki didn't seem capable of waiting for the books (Survivor Series by Erin Hunter) she wanted to read to become available on the public library site.
Humm, thinking expenses in Europe will be a bit of a shock.
