Need help budgeting for student trip to Europe

[mrsbornkuntry]

I am super excited for my DD. We have agreed to let her go on a student trip to Europe in the summer of 2013 with her school. I have never been to Europe before, or anywhere else overseas for that matter, so I'm not really sure how much money she will need aside from the general cost of the trip. She is going for 28 days. What's not include is lunch, beverages, tips and of course souveniers. Is there something else she may want money for? All of their tours, breakfast, dinner, airfare/busfare/trainfare and lodging is included in their package. She is very good with money and pretty frugal.

Also, what is the best/safest way for her to take spending money? Do they still do traveller's checks? She has a student bank account with my bank and a debit card, I haven't looked into it yet to find out if that would work over there, but I think it will because my husband used his card in Ireland a few weeks ago.

 

[phred52]

Good for you figuring things out with plenty of time to put it into action!!


Travelers checks are rarely used anymore. The way to go is a debit card or credit card. BUT you want to KNOW what fees will be charged before your dd is over there. I believe Capital One visa credit card absorbs the fees as a perk. But you must check to be sure. I use a State Farm Bank debit card. A few weeks before I travel I mail in a check to cover expenses. They refund ATM fees. The worst fee I ever encountered was 4 Euro in the Rome bus station.

 

[Marionnette]

I am super excited for my DD. We have agreed to let her go on a student trip to Europe in the summer of 2013 with her school. I have never been to Europe before, or anywhere else overseas for that matter, so I'm not really sure how much money she will need aside from the general cost of the trip. She is going for 28 days. What's not include is lunch, beverages, tips and of course souveniers. Is there something else she may want money for? All of their tours, breakfast, dinner, airfare/busfare/trainfare and lodging is included in their package. She is very good with money and pretty frugal.

Also, what is the best/safest way for her to take spending money? Do they still do traveller's checks? She has a student bank account with my bank and a debit card, I haven't looked into it yet to find out if that would work over there, but I think it will because my husband used his card in Ireland a few weeks ago.

I went to France with my daughter's high school French Club. I found that having an ATM card worked well. Almost every rest stop on the highways had a machine.

Visa gift cards didn't always work at some of the smaller places. We had a few kids with Visa gift cards who would have gone hungry at those rest stops if I hadn't floated them a loan.

Having a credit card can be a godsend if something goes wrong but should be only used in emergencies since there can be pretty hefty fees for foreign transactions.

Travelers' checks were not a good idea. Too difficult to find a place to cash them. Language barriers make it even harder. They were a bigger headache than the Visa gift cards were. Kids got to the point where they would cash out for as much as they could when they found a place to take them. Which kind of negates the protections that the Traveler's check is supposed to provide.

If you are a AAA member, get her a tip pack of Euros (assuming that she is visiting EU countries) to have some local currency in hand when she arrives. It might take a while before she can exchange any American dollars or find an ATM. Plus the tip pack will have small Euro denominations which are good for tipping and paying for lunch after arriving.

ATM cards that are attached to savings accounts will not work in Europe due to banking restrictions. Make sure her card is attached to a checking account. Notify her bank and her credit card company that she will be traveling in Europe so that they don't deny any transactions she makes.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Thank-you for the advice so far, you've all been very helpful. I will contact our bank and see what kind of fees they charge, if any. Marionette, we are AAA members so I will make a note of getting the tip pack of Euros as well.

 

[eliza61]

Thank-you for the advice so far, you've all been very helpful. I will contact our bank and see what kind of fees they charge, if any. Marionette, we are AAA members so I will make a note of getting the tip pack of Euros as well.

I wouldn't worry about the prchasing just yet. The value of the Euro is all over the place right now and fees generally are based on the purchase price of the currancy at the time of purchase. So for example $200 dollars in Euro will cost our ~261 bucks right now but next month the value of the dollar could rise and $200 Euros will only cost you 235.

Commercial banks generally charge a % in foreign conversion fees, my credit union charged a flat 10 fee so look into that. so whether I got 100 bucks or 1000 bucks the fee was the same.

Also her trip is not until 2013, with all the countries in Europe having financial meltdowns some nations have been threatening to pull out of the Euro. remember England doesn't use Euros at all.

What countries is she visiting. I use to go to Portugal annually (visit family) and France.

Truthfully if her breakfast and dinners are covered she is good to go. In most of France, lunches are very easy sandwiches and drinks.

Now credit cards and AtM. I was in France this past May and the main problem I encountered was with atm machines. many of the credit cards issued in Europe have "chip" technology that allows them to be read, our cards do not so many of the ATM's in Paris and lyon did not accept my card. I had no problem with merchants.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I don't have it in front of me right now, but off the top of my head she is going to England, France, Italy, Greece, Germany and Switzerland. I think there was someplace else, but I can't remember right now.

 

[eliza61]

I don't have it in front of me right now, but off the top of my head she is going to England, France, Italy, Greece, Germany and Switzerland. I think there was someplace else, but I can't remember right now.

Yeah, I'd probably hold off on buying the Euros. So you know about Greeces economy being on the verge of default so who knows what will happen with that. Italy is right behind Greece. If there is another country I would hazard a guess and say it's going to be spain.

Oh your daughter is going to have a fantastic trip. wish her the very best for me. So I've been to Eng, France and Italy and those three really do enjoy visitors. Almost everyone in the big cities speak English. I had absolutely no trouble with language in Paris, Rome, Venice and lyon.

Oh check with your cell phone. If she has a cell phone that has all the bells and whistles it's pretty easy to add on european calling. I have a cell phone so I couldn't do that. I took mylap top and signed up for "skype". It worked great.