Maintaining the habit of budgeting for special events.
The European adventure started in 2019. In August of that year, we purchased tickets for Wacken Open Air Festival in Germany. In March of 2020, the pandemic put everything on hold. We renewed our tickets for 2021. With international travel limited for another year, we renewed our tickets for 2022. Because Bloodstock Open Air did take place in 2021, we added tickets for that festival in January 2022.
With many Covid-19 restrictions lifted, we started booking flights, trains and buses for travel. Ouch. The annual budget needed modification to cover the increased costs associated with travel.
We plan to stay onsite at Wacken Open Air. Our Safari Lodge was booked initially in December 2019 and we respect the festival for allowing us to keep our reservation. We are happy to pay the additional costs, though the exchange rate with the Euro is now basically on par. This enhanced our incidental budget for food and spending.
We booked additional hotels for convenience to airports, train and bus stations and for places we wanted to visit.
We are taking our dietary preferences into consideration for the food budget.
Final thoughts. We have payed for many things in advance and set up tap-to-pay, notified our banks of travel plans and considered the cost of communication. Our cellular provider offers an international plan, but it is costly. We will limit in many cases to available WI-fi and choose to not use our devices except for essential uses.
Budgets are meant as a guideline, and when appropriate, a strict limit. A budget is only as effective as proper documentation. We will maintain receipts and keep an eye on spending. Once our tour is complete, we will evaluate the final breakdown and reflect on what we would plan differently for future events.
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