2 Months on the Road: Opening the Books

Another month has passed since we took to the road on our European adventure, and we’re feeling very pleased with ourselves. Not only has touring in our campervan been a lot easier than we thought, we’re enjoying it more and we’re managing to more-or-less keep to our budget.

Our budget of $150 NZD per day was harder to stick to in the first month being in the more expensive Scandinavian countries, however spending the last 2 ½ weeks in the cheaper Baltic countries has helped get us back on track.

Finland proved to be more expensive than even Norway for campsites, averaging $46 NZD per night. Estonia averaged $37 NZD per night, and Latvia at $32 NZD was a big saving.

To see all we wanted to see of Scandinavia we had to cover huge distances, but now there are less miles to travel between destinations so our fuel bill has reduced significantly. Fuel has also been a lot cheaper in the Baltic countries – down to as low as $1.45 NZD per litre in Latvia and Lithuania.

Food costs have come down too in the last month, especially in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In Riga we paid $10 NZD a kilo for fresh cod at the central markets. At the same markets, we bought two broccolis for $1, carrots for 50 cents a kilo, 1.10 a kg for new potatoes, and $2 a kilo for grapes (all in NZD). The choice in supermarkets is fantastic especially the range of fresh bread, fruit, cheese and meat/fish.

Eating out is also good value. We went out for dinner in Riga to celebrate 8 weeks on the road, and the meal cost under $100 NZD for two entrées, mains and bottle of wine, and this was at a very nice restaurant.

We were staggered at how reasonable entrance fees to attractions were in St. Petersburg, at only around $7 – $11 NZD for palaces, national museums and cathedrals. The trend continued in Estonia and Latvia where they were slightly lower on average.

So, after two months on the road this is where we are at:

We have excluded the overnight ferry to St. Petersburg from our budget as this was a pre-booked trip, but we have included all additional costs incurred with that trip, including keeping the campervan at a campsite in Helsinki while we were gone. Also, we haven’t included the tolls from Norway as we are yet to receive the bill for these.

Mr. Love’s best investment this month: a double element electric cook top for $70 NZD.  He thought that if we’re paying for power in a campsite why use our own gas. It’s important to know that in Europe gas fittings are different from country to country so it can be difficult to re-fill your gas bottles. We have a UK gas bottle that is compatible with Norwegian fittings, but we’ve been told won’t be easy to re-fill in the rest of Europe. So rather than buying multiple fittings we’re conserving our gas as much as we can until we’re in Germany where we can get a more universally compatible fitting. The campsites all have kitchen facilities, some cleaner and better than others, but it’s a bit antisocial to send Mr. Love off to cook in the kitchen by himself. The electric cooker is well and truly proving it’s worth.

With another month under our belt we’re starting to get the hang of this campervanning lark. Here’s to life on the road!