Honeymoon in the USA. Issue price
'30.04.2018'
Source: Nikolay Nedelchuk, blogger, author of the service for travelers and guides LOCALIE
Everyone loves useful travel information. That is why this time, before starting the story about our adventures in the United States, I will post a few notes on the rational aspects of the trip: features, differences, what I liked and what pissed me off the most, but today - a separate article on the financial side of the issue. It's good that the most convenient functionality of Tinkoff Bank allowed me to calculate all my expenses in a few minutes. In the end, I focused on the content of this article, not the math.
What is given. From Moscow we flew to New York, where we spent the first two days. On the third, right after breakfast, we went to Kennedy Airport, where I rented a car for the first time in my life (there will be a separate post about this), and set off on it on our long journey along the East Coast: through New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, both Carolines , Georgia almost to the very south of Florida - Miami. A total of 2825 kilometers. Which took us 7 days, including all stops. The remaining 4 days are Miami Beach, an exclusively beach holiday.
We only stayed in hotels, the level is four and five stars (honeymoon after all).
Booked in advance, in the period for 1-3 of the month.
The total cost of a trip for two people, including everything, was 349 thousand rubles (at the exchange rate in August 2016, it is $ 5,370). Under the cut - in detail how much it took. Attention - all prices are for two.
Route Map:
Hotels
America now seems more expensive than Russia. First of all, hotels cost a pretty penny. They became the first line of our expenses. 12 nights cost us 148,332 rubles ($ 2,300) at the exchange rate on the day of the transaction. On average, it came out 12,361 rubles ($ 192) per night. The situation varies greatly from state to state, from city to city. On our way there were excellent hotels, where we paid the equivalent of 6 thousand rubles per night, but somewhere they charged us 12,5 thousand for practically a motel. Especially expensive hotels are in Washington, and even more expensive in New York. Champion in inadequate value for money - islands Outer banks in North Carolina where I spent the summer of 2011. The most expensive hotel was in Miami Beach - Hyatt centric, 20 thousand rubles ($ 300) per night, but it was definitely worth the money.
Of course, for Americans, whose minimum wage is 15 times higher than in Russia, and the average salary is seven and a half (227,500 rubles in the United States against 30,000 rubles in Russia), the cost of living in hotels seems to be quite adequate.
View from the window of our room in New York. We lived in a hotel “The Paul ” - a network owned by Paul McCartney. A night in such a room costs 13,295 rubles ($ 200) including all taxes for non-refundable rates and early bookings.
Hyatt centric - our hotel in Miami Beach. Cost the most.
We were even more or less lucky with prices - we booked rooms with secret offers and promotions on Booking.com.
Flights
Summer is the worst time to fly to America. For the direction, which in the autumn months will cost 55-60 thousand for two, in the summer the airlines fight one and a half, or even two times more! Some kind of nightmare. Tickets for 85 I was looking for in the afternoon with fire! Most often, for my direction (flight Moscow - New York, and return flight to Moscow from Miami) they demanded 110-120 for two, which, if you figure it out, is a sheer robbery! Here's something to play with: check out Aeroflot's prices for flights Moscow-New York in August and September. The difference is phenomenal!
We caught tickets to the Finnish airline Finnair with transfer in Helsinki. On the way to New York, the transfer to Helsinki was just 45 minutes (it worked perfectly, we got about five minutes from the plane to the plane, along with security inspection), on the way back we decided to have an evening in the Finnish capital, we took the option with a transfer longer .
Finnair - quite a decent airline, their planes are excellent, the service on board is excellent. They are also gods of docking. Our flight to New York was joined by several others who had recently arrived. From the conversations of the neighbors in the row, I realized that in parallel with the flight from Moscow to Helsinki, a St. Petersburg one also flew, from where a significant part of those heading to New York migrated.
Car rental
We got a great beauty, brand new Chevrolet Cruze RS, in the maximum configuration. With your permission, now I will do without details - I'd rather write a separate note about this unforgettable experience of mine.
The indicated cost includes the rental fee (63,370 rubles), including insurance, taxes and all surcharges, as well as the cost of gasoline (6,965 rubles) and toll roads (2,806 rubles).
Food
Eating at a restaurant now in the States is significantly more expensive than in Russia. But all this, I must say, is relative. 38 thousand for 12 days is only 3167 rubles per day. I repeat - for two. Is it a lot or a little? Well, in Moscow or St. Petersburg it may take less. You just need to know where to eat. As it usually happens, in tourist places the cost of lunch is much higher than in a regular, but sometimes even more well-groomed establishment with an excellent menu, located away from popular routes among visitors.
Our most expensive lunch was in Miami Beach, in the most touristy place - on the main pedestrian street of the city Lincoln Rd. We ordered a whole pan of paella and two glasses of sangria. The final bill is $ 73.5, 4829 rubles. The absolute maximum.
Great lunch with the first, second for two, excellent sea food a couple of days before in a small town Cocoa Beach on the ocean coast in Florida - 1985 rubles ($ 30). More often than not, lunch cost us from 1700 to 2900 rubles, including taxes and tips.
By the way, since we were on this trip after the wedding, which means that we were aground, from time to time for breakfast, lunch or dinner in the restaurant we preferred to buy ready-made salads, fruits or dishes from Walmart (the largest network of hypermarkets in the United States). They actually made pennies, but there was such a choice and such a delicious food, mmm! Of the designated 38 thousands in Walmart almost half was spent.
Rest
This time we did not spend much money on the trip: we did not buy souvenirs, things or electronics. I have already named the main reason for this. Well, in general, on a honeymoon, the last thing you want to do is shopping.
Of the significant spending in categories not indicated above, only the cost of a local SIM card stands out. In America, you should forget about the Russian freebie in relation to the mobile Internet. 6 gigabytes (is not that much?) Cost me 4487 rubles - so much pre-paid the tariff of the local telecommunications giant - AT&T. But for the next 12 days I was constantly in touch.
