Another long weekend, another trip.
This one was a little different, because I thought it would be a great idea to visit three different countries in one weekend.
(plot twist – it was!!)
Below is a photo of the budget breakdown I keep in my Excel spreadsheet:
Usually, I would break this down by things paid for – but maybe this one time I will separate it by each country visited.
Helsinki, Finland
Fun fact, I booked this trip while I was on the cruise in Antarctica, literally as I was floating in the middle of nowhere. I thought to myself ‘oh, I don’t have anything for Victoria Day, I should book something‘ and this is how this trip came to be.
Clearly, I should have looked at a map before booking because the sensible person would have gone Helsinki-Riga-Tallinn.
But.
When have I ever been sensible?
The first thing I booked was the roundtrip flight from Toronto to Helsinki, with a quick layover in Iceland. The cost of that was $785.00 CAD, roundtrip with Icelandair.
I would be staying in Helsinki for one night – May 15th to May 16th at Scandic Hotel Aviapolis. The cost of one night in a Standard Twin Room was $98.00 CAD, and this included breakfast!
I chose this hotel (and the other ones) with proximity to the airport in mind. I wanted to be as close to airports for arrival and departure because I would be there for such a short time and didn’t want to deal with transit / transport too much.
The plan was simple: land, drop bags, shower, head into the city with ride apps, enjoy the city, ride app back to the hotel, sleep, airport. Repeat in all three cities.
Riga, Latvia
From Helsinki my next flight was to Riga, and that flight was one-way, direct with Finnair at a cost of $78.00 CAD.
I should note, all the flights within Europe were ‘personal item only‘ prices, so I only traveled with a personal item. For full transparency.
My hotel from May 16th to May 17th in Riga would be the Sky High Hotel. The cost of one night in a Twin Private Room was $77.00 CAD, and yes, this one also included breakfast.
The great thing about this hotel is not needing any transport to get to it, as it is only 200m from the airport. SUPER CLUTCH. I will say, this hotel looks uh, ‘interesting‘ and kind of weird, was excited to see it. YOLO.
Vilnius, Lithuania
My final stop on this whirlwind trip was Vilnius, and that flight was one-way, direct with airBaltic at a cost of $65.00 CAD.
My hotel from May 17th to May 18th would be at Loop Hotel Vilnius. The cost of one night in a Twin Room was $87.00 CAD, yes, BREAKFAST INCLUDED AGAIN. Clutch.
I think out of the three, this looked like the nicest one. But, I just needed proximity. Can’t wait to report back on it!
From Vilnius I had to fly back to Helsinki to catch my flight home back to Toronto and the cost of flying from Vilnius to Helsinki one-way, direct was $127.00 CAD on May 18th with Finnair.
There were no visa/entry tax etc. items for this trip and I did not book any excursions, because duh, I was only there for under 24hrs in each city.
I chose 300 Euros as my spending money, so $485.00 CAD. Absolutely no idea if this would be enough. I like souvenirs, I like food, I need to take Ubers/Bolts, and Euros cost a lot more than Canadian money. Truly, never know.
The total budget for this trip is $1802.00.
Is that a lot of money for a damn long weekend? Yeah, probably. But covering my 77th, 78th and 79th country is priceless. Can’t freaking wait.
See you in the recap!
- Mirna