Singapore - Brisbane, Australia

A pretty uneventful flight interspersed with a few movies and some very restful airline sleep in spacious economy class and we were back home in sunny Brisbane.  

Bleary eyed we were picked up by our champion house-sitter Dave who drove me to our car which was handily dropped off near the airport by our champion neighbours the day before.  

Back home and doing it tough.

A quick drive back to the airport to load the wife, the kids and all the luggage into the cars and we were on our way.  

Arrived back at the house to see it still standing and in one piece which was a winner.  The dog spotted us getting out of the car and started going off when he realised who it was which was nice to see. 

The house and the yard were just as we left them and we can't thank Dave enough for looking after the house while we were away.  A big thanks also to our good neighbour Kristen who looked after all of our mail and let us know which bills to pay and when.  (If only bills went on holiday for a few months too.)

Here's a quick summary and a few key hints, tips and facts for our trip that may help others considering the same sort of thing.  

THE TRIP:

Plans - Honestly we had none except booking our first night in Heidleberg and after that 5 nights in Untergassen.  After that, everything was done on the fly.  We decided where and when to go by reading our Lonely Planet, talking to fellow travellers and locals and by hitting up the internet.  

Once we decided on a general location we'd use a few websites to hunt for accommodation in a certain area, find out what was available and then fire off half a dozen enquiries.  Usually within 24hrs we'd have a couple of replies and we'd know where we were going next.  We got caught out once in Milan because we didn't pre-book but other than that we had no troubles.  (Other than inadvertently booking into the wrong apartment in Slovenia.) 

Tactics - besides trying not to have a nervous breakdown carting 3 kids all over Europe we planned to stay in self serviced apartments for 5 to 7 day stints.  We did this to make sure we were in an area for a decent amount of time so that we didn't have to rush from one sight to another.

We also intended to keep the costs down by shopping locally and taking care of breakfast at home and packing lunches for our day trips when we could.  

This actually worked quite well and to be honest eating out every night, as we did in some places that didn't have a kitchen, can be a bit tiresome.  Sometimes you just want a home cooked meal.  (And a salad if you're in Germany or Bosnia.) 

We also made a point of not trying to see too much each day and to go with the flow a bit.  I'm sure we could have seen many more things had we gotten up earlier and been more organised and motivated but you have to remember two important things.  

First, you can't see everything in Europe.  It's too big and there are too many things to do.  I mean, you could spend 3 months in one part of one country let alone trying to visit every country in continental Europe.

Secondly, we were on holidays and by 'we' I mean the kids also.  Sometimes the kids just wanted a day at home vegging out playing a game or heading down to the local park for a kickabout with the soccer ball so we did that.  Other times you just want to have a nice cup coffee, read the paper and watch the world go by.  We made sure we did that too.

Budget - We budgeted $40 000 AUD.  This was to include flights, insurance, car rental, fuel, accommodation,  groceries and spending money.  

At the time $1 AUD = $1 USD = € 0.80.  (Approximately)

Here's a breakdown of anticipated / budgeted costs vs actual costs.

All costs are in $AUD with the euro costs in brackets behind.  (For the fuel, accommodation, groceries and spending money we worked out what we'd roughly spend in a week and then multiplied that out for a 90 day trip.)

One off spends.

Flights:   Budgeted - $ 11 000      Actual - $  8 600
Car:       Budgeted - $  4 000      Actual - $  3 400
Insurance: Budgeted - $  1 000      Actual - $    700

Based on a 90 day stay.

Accomm.    Budgeted - $  9 000      Actual - $  6 400 (€57/day)
Groceries: Budgeted - $  3 250      Actual - $  1 750 (€110/week)
Fuel:      Budgeted - $  1 950      Actual - $  1 580 (€100/week)
Spending:  Budgeted - $ 10 000      Actual - $  7 420 (€67/day)

Other

Bike on the plane.    $      0      Actual - $    270 

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Total:     Budgeted - $ 40 200      Actual - $ 30 120

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We came in $10 000 under budget.  (We didn't deliberately set out to do this on the cheap but we were mindful of how much we were spending each day.)  As you can see above we saved heaps on our flights, accommodation and our spending money.  

$30 000 is a lot of money but for a 3 month holiday and the experiences we had with the kids it was cheap at twice the price.

Websites: 

For accommodation - airbnb.com, homelidays.co.uk, interhome.co.uk, holiday-rentals.co.uk, booking.com and just knocking on a door that said 'zimmer frei'.  Don't be afraid to do that.  We saved €30 a night by ignoring the tourist office recommendations and going for a wander in the car in St Wolfgang, Austria.  

For flights - jetabroad.com.au.  We used this website to research our flight options before we went to our travel agent.  You can build a multi-leg trip using this website and that's what we did to make sure we visited Singapore and ended up in Frankfurt.  It meant booking 2 sets of flights on 2 separate airlines but by using this website we managed to travel where and how we wanted.  (And we had access to far more flights than our travel agent and we got excellent fares that I didn't see using local websites such as webjet.) 

For car hire - We leased our car (far cheaper than a hire car for extended stays) from Renault USA www.renaultusa.com.  

It was $1400 cheaper through the American website (thank you Bernard) rather than the Renault Australia website for exactly (and I mean exactly) the same thing.  The car, the pickup location, the delivery fee, the length of stay, everything.  (Just another thing that Australians get ripped off on because we are here and not there.)  
Hey Renault Australia, there's this thing called the internet.  Clowns!

For information:  Locals, tourist offices and fellow travellers.  The internet in general also but wikipedia is an unbelievably good source of information for the history and general knowledge of various sites and countries. 

Airlines used - Brisbane   - Singapore return - Etihad 

                   -  Singapore - Frankfurt return  -  Finnair

Weight of luggage allowed - 115kg - 23kg per person

Weight of luggage taken excluding bike - 63kg all up.  Well done Nicki.

Weight of bike plus bike gear - 23kg  (total including bike 86kg.)

Distance covered - 32 800 kms by plane.  11 600 kms in the car.  100's of kms on foot.

Countries visited - 10.  Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Singapore.  (In that order.)

Other stuff - Australians get ripped off for almost everything we buy here.  In no particular order the following is miles cheaper in Europe: accommodation, eating out, food in a supermarket, buying a drink in a bar, buying a gelati in a tourist spot, entrance fees, clothes, shoes, you could go on and on.  

Don't get me wrong, I love Australia, it's just that we are getting gypped big time.

Get a local sim card from the country you are visiting but make sure they activate it while you are there in the shop.  Ran into strife in Germany and Bosnia because I didn't get it activated on the spot.  Get a data allowance and know what it is.  Perfect to check if anyone is emailing you to tell you they have accommodation available rather than having to wait until you get home that night to log in on the laptop.

Money - Unfortunately you need it.  We took some cash but basically we used a credit card to withdraw local money from the ATM wherever we were.  We carried 2 cards in case one didn't work which happened on 2 or 3 occasions.  

As Australian banks are well known for being the most profitable in the world, and ergo the biggest bastards at home, we sidestepped their exorbitant fees by getting a 28 degree Mastercard.  You apply for this card, deposit some money on it and make sure you always keep it topped up above your limit and you will avoid all the fees associated with a card organised through one of the big 4 here in Australia.  You get the international exchange rate, you pay no currency conversion fees and no local ATM fees.  You save a motza.

This sounds like an ad but I'm telling you right now to get one if you are going overseas.   Google 28 Degrees Mastercard and you will never travel with another card again.  (An ING debit card was our backup. Same as above but a $2.50 withdrawal fee for using a foreign ATM but that was it.)

Regrets - Nothing major really.  Possibly could have gotten up a bit earlier each day and got moving earlier but apart from that the only other thing I can think of is not extending our trip.  Oh, I may have lost my patience a few times with the kids in the car but they can drive you stark raving bonkers so I guess that's par for the course.  
I do regret (lets say I am disappointed) not to have been discovered, as yet, as a travel writing comedy blog genius, sponsored to travel the world and write for a major newspaper with 3 kids and a wife in tow.  (I'm still open to all offers.)

The finale - We loved it.  Quitting your job and travelling wherever the wind blows is an experience we'll never regret.  

As for the kids.  Well they loved it too.  It broadened their horizons immensely.  They got to see sights unavailable to their eyes in Australia, had a look at other cultures and saw just how lucky they were at times.  They also found out that sometimes when you're hungry and you're in a car, in the middle of who knows where, you just might have to wait a while because buggered if we know where the next shop is or even if it'll be open or not.  Hell it may not even sell bread or have the electricity on in it. 

The other thing that was nice was that without their mates around they played amongst themselves, and I think grew closer to each other, which was really nice to see.

Would we do it again?  In a heartbeat, YES! In fact, look out Brazil, the 3 monkeys, their mother and their mad father are coming to visit you for the 2014 World Cup to cheer on the mighty Socceroos.

Until then.  Chooooooos!!