With a budget of about $2,000, I traveled across Southern Italy and enjoyed a leisurely day in London over tea

  • I just went on a 10-day vacation to Italy and London with my closest buddy to celebrate a vast financial goal-saving $100,000 before 25. If you want to travel and another country but don’t save money, there is an option to get a loan from PaydayChampion.
  • It was the vacation of a lifetime, and we ate the most OK food of our lives on a family farm.
  • Including transportation, food, entertainment charges, and the cost of our Airbnb, it cost me roughly $2,100.

The last time I went on a lengthy holiday was nearly two years ago when I went to London and southern Italy with my closest buddy. At 25, you’ve saved a cool $100,000, so why not celebrate?

As our annual “#friendmoon” — a honeymoon-style vacation with our closest friends — rolled around, I couldn’t contain my excitement.

At first, we considered traveling to Greece, but the itinerary would have required more planning (including ferries and planes between islands), and the cost would have been more. We wanted to eat excellent cuisine and enjoy the sunshine, so we decided to go to southern Italy.

The 10-day vacation cost me a little over $2,100, but it was worth every cent.

$923 for travel expenses (flights, vehicle rental, rail fare, petrol, and parking).

With a round-trip ticket to London costing less than $500 and a direct route from Seattle to Seattle on the way back, we took a short flight from London to Bari, Italy, where we stayed for a few days before flying home. It was a fluke that I spotted this offer on Google Flights instead of TheFlightDeal.com.

In Bari, we picked up a rental vehicle and returned it to Naples five days later when we flew back to London (and unexpectedly incurred an extra charge for dropping it off in a different city).

We relied on public transit while in London and had to find a place to store our bags for our short stopover on the second day of our trip.

Accommodation: $448.50

When I travel, I usually aim to stay in Airbnbs rather than hotels since they tend to be less expensive and provide a more memorable experience. You’ve acquired the air of a local.

Our first Airbnb was a Trullo villa in Cisternino, Italy, that I had bookmarked on my Airbnb profile three years earlier. Airbnb was the focal point of our trip; it was exquisite.

On the Amalfi Cliffs, we slept in a modest cottage with a jaw-dropping soaking tub surrounded by lemon and olive groves.

Only the two of us stayed in a room towards the end of our London visit, which was perfect since we barely slept for around 12 hours throughout our two days in the city.

$320 for activities and entertainment.

Two of our adventures in Italy were made possible by the services of Airbnb Experiences. The first was a tour of a local farmer’s homestead (the highlight of our trip). While there, we saw farm animals and learned to make cheese and pasta. We also drank a lot of wine. We both burst into joy at how excellent the encounter had been.

Second, we took a boat to Capri, where we swam, explored caves, and drank limoncello as the sun went down on the horizon.

We attended two West End productions in London, “Matilda” and “Waitress,” and both were excellent. We paid roughly $30 apiece for day-of rush tickets.

$70.40 was spent on trinkets and souvenirs.

The olive oil for a friend and the sunglasses I got for myself were gifts from Italy. As a result of my trip to London, I bought three different kinds of tea from Harrods, as well as a coffee and cocoa mix for my parents.

Amount spent on food and beverages: $430.03

Our vacation to Italy would not have been complete if we hadn’t indulged in plenty of spaghetti and gelato (most days were “two gelato days.”)

When it came to pricey meals, we had an eight-course dinner on the cliffs in Positano in Italy and a three-hour high tea in London, one of the most memorable portions of our vacations.

A total of $2,191.43 was spent.

Our vacation was surprisingly affordable for all we got to see and do, including a two-day stay in London and a road trip across southern Italy.

A once-in-a-lifetime bonding moment with my closest buddy was the ideal way to mark my $100,000 fundraising goal. As of this writing, we’re still talking about our trip four months after we returned from it.