Europe 2012!! I am getting more and more excited about the prospect of leaving gloomy February in California and heading off to… gloomy February in Paris. 
I’ve been quite liberal with spending lately, so I wanted to use this opportunity to really buckle down and save. We are planning on staying for 6 days and 6 nights, 4 nights in Paris, France and 2 nights in Lisbon, Portugal.
My Paris + Lisbon Budget
Airfare x 2: $1,000 for fees and taxes. For 50,000 miles, I can get a round-trip economy class ticket to Paris. Since my British Airways Visa Signature card allows me to rack up 100,000 miles fairly quickly, I should have enough for tickets for both CB and myself. I am going to budget $1,000 for fuel charges and taxes that we will incur when we exchange the miles for tickets. I am going to try to get an openjaw ticket – flying into Paris and out of Lisbon.
Hotel: $1,000 for Paris x 4 nights and Lisbon x 2 nights. I haven’t done much research into hotel options. The one that I’ve found, Hotel Muguet near the Eiffel Tower and Palace Invalides, charges 115€ per night including tax during our dates. A few readers have suggested renting an apartment, but for my first trip I’d be more comfortable at a hotel. For the two nights in Lisbon, I imagine hotel would be cheaper than that in Paris.
Food: $1,400 at $100 or 70€ per person, per day. Obviously, one of the big reasons why we are going to Paris and Portugal is for the food. I don’t expect to spend time in Michelin starred establishments, but I do want to frequent the cute little bistros and neighborhood cafes, enjoy goodor local wine and drink lots and lots of cafe lattes.
Internal transportation: $200. One way ticket from Paris to Lisbon. Apparently EasyJet has some options for one-ways at around 50€ per person.
Tours and entertainment: $600. To be honest, I picked this figure only because it will make our total trip budget a nice round number. We will probably get the 4-day Museum Passes. Other than that, I am not quite sure how much this will cost.
Books and shopping: $300. I plan to pick up a Rick Steves’ guide books to Paris, and maybe a small book of French phrases. I also want to have a little bit of money to buy some scarves (from everything I’ve read, Parisian women are always stylin’ with scarves!) and perhaps a few pieces of custom jewelry at flea markets.
Total: $4,500 If we are very conscientious, perhaps we can cut this down to $4,000.
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