Iowa Teens

Hroswitha · Aug 22, 2014

Greetings to all.

I'm presenting my proposal for a Spanish camino for June of 2015 this Sunday. We have a group of 5 teens (1 boy, 4 girls) and three adult chaperons.

I have pared down the trip to the basics: fly to Santiago, public transport (preferably train) from Santiago to Sarria, walk for six days back to Santiago, and then perhaps a day trip to Finesterre by bus or train.

Here is my general monetary proposal:

Albergues range from 5 -10 euros per night (US dollars 7-12)
6 nights X $12 = $72
Food - $30 per day
6 days X 30 = 180
Total - $252

Rail travel from Santiago to Sarria $30
Hotel stay in Santiago: $20 per person X 3 nights = $60
Food in Santiago: $50 per day X 3 days = $150
Flight from Chicago to Santiago: $1300 (best guess)

Total for trip: $1792

I'm hoping to persuade the parents and church to add a contingency fund of around $250 per person for the trip. This would cover higher than expected costs along the way and the purchase of equipment we don't know we need until we arrive - like your rain gear or blister kits or such. That would bring my total to $2042.

Am I off on this?

What happens if we arrive in a town and the albergues are full?

If we have to say in a hostel or inn, how much more could we expect to pay? Is this contingency fund large enough?

Am I overlooking a basic expense in this list that would affect the overall cost?

Thanks to everyone for any advice you might be able to give.

Dutch · Aug 22, 2014

You shouldn't need your contingency fund for raingear and blisterkits.These are items you HAVE to bring. You need a blisterkit and i think in June a raincoat could still be usefull.

5-10 euros for albergues could be possible, certainly if you in municipal albergues. Some private albergues might me a bit more then 10 euro (not all). Say 12 to 14 sometimes.

22 euro for food a day is possible, but dont eat to much then. A pilgrim menu is around euro 10, so that leaves you with 12 euro for breakfast and lunch. Yes, it can be done, but your going to have to pay attention to what you eat and drink. Maybe better if you could stretch it to 30 euro instead of dollars.

Not sure if you can find a hotel in Santiago for 20 dollars. Again, maybe in euros you can. Albergues (and youthhostels) you will find for around the dollar amount.

Private rooms (for 2) along the way vary from as low as 20 euro without own bathroom to 30-40 euro with private bath ect. Depends on what a town has to offer, i guess.

I think you can fly for 1300 dollars, but there is a chance you will be on a long (30+hour) flight with 2 stopovers instead of one stopover with maybe 16-20 hours of traveltime. Be sure to check that and see if the money your saving is worth the longer trip and hassle.
Just a thought, but maybe some USA pilgrims have more information on this.

natefaith · Aug 22, 2014

Hi Hroswitha,
We've brought over several groups from the US and your numbers seem pretty accurate. We usually plan for 1.5€ per km for the on-the-Camino budget, and a little more per day for the days in Santiago. It is a good idea to have a backup contingency fund to cover hotels/ inns in case the albergues along the trail are full some nights (in June you should still be fine, but with $250 you have a great margin for emergencies).

Some thoughts in response to your questions:
- You can't take a train from Santiago to Sarria, unfortunately. You'll have to take a bus, usually from Santiago to Lugo, then Lugo to Sarria (I think it ends up being about 15€ total). Since the bus arrives in the early afternoon (unless you take a later itinerary and it arrives even later in the day), you may want to build in a night in Sarria before starting out the next day on the Camino. Most pilgrims are on the trail between 6 - 8am, and arrive at their hostels between 1pm - 4pm, so it might be a good idea to be able to start out the day with everyone else. But it's up to you. Recently I heard there's now a direct bus from Santiago to Sarria, so the timetable then might be different. Perhaps other members can pipe in about the direct bus route.

- If you arrive in a town and the albergue you want is full, you can either find a private hostel (usually around 10€ - 15€ per person, as Dutch said above), or a hotel (more expensive) in that same town. If everything is full, you may need to walk on to the next town.

- In Santiago, there are several albergues that you could stay at to stay within your $20 per night budget: Fin del Camino, Santo Santiago, La Estrella, and Seminario Menor, among others. If you're looking for a nicer hotel or hostel, you may need to increase your budget.

- In your calculations, did you include your bus fare to and from Finisterre? It's about 15€ I believe for a round-trip ticket. Again, there aren't trains to Finisterre, just a 3-hour bus ride.

- IF you can find cheaper flights into La Coruña (LCG airport code), you *can* take a train from La Coruña to Sarria.

All that being said, I think your plan is a good one and is do-able, especially with the $250 buffer for the unexpected! Good job!

Feel free to send us a private message if you'd like to talk more. We're from Chicago and now we live in Santiago and bring over teams and volunteers, so budgeting like this is right up our alley

!

Take care,
Faith

Hroswitha · Aug 23, 2014

Thank you everyone for the comments and suggestions.

Faith - so you're estimating around $220 per person for the walking part of the camino, right? Instead of rail travel, we'd take the bus for only $20, and with a contingency fund in case the public albergues are full, the price I have listed is within reason, yes?

I am worried somewhat about the flight. It's hard to tell what to expect this far out. I can see September flights for under $1300, but we're not in season right now, so prices may be either high or low. I expect the $1300 will be more like $1400 after fees, but it's hard to tell.

I'll be traveling with a group of 8, so even if I can get one or two tickets last minute and they are cheaper, we won't be able to fly together.

I think I'll present costs to the group of around $2100 best guess for flights and hotels and food. That would include a contingency margin of $250. Then, if we need to stay in a private albergue or even a hotel, we have the means to do that without breaking the bank.

Dutch · Aug 23, 2014

$220 for 6 days and nights? Thats €160, about 26-27 a day. Again, it can be done and you wont be the first, but you cant afford anything out of the ordinary to happen. I've seen what some people who were on a strict budget eat a day and it wasnt much or any good. Skipping breakfast 'cause it costs money. Eating a roll of cookies for lunch because its cheap, filling and quick energy and calories.

Seems to me, seeing as your going to ask the parents of these kids for a lot of money anyway, your better of askimg for a bit more, so there is room for a good lunch and breakfast and or an extra coke, icecream or waterbottle along the way, without thinking....what if i dont find a €5 albergue?

Or give the parents two options. One for going on a budget and another that provides just a little extra room for food and drinks.
If it was my kid who was going and i have to pay alot of money anyways, i would rather pay a little more for food and drinks then for them to have to save money on something important like that.

Deleted member 3000 · Aug 23, 2014

Monk Moses · Aug 23, 2014

As far as airfare goes I got milwaukee to Paris, and Madrid home to Milwaukee for $800. You need to get your tickets as soon as you can. I got that price as soon as the airline posted the flight, about 11 months out. The price has climed quite a bit since.

Hroswitha · Aug 23, 2014

Dutch - if you think that $220 for six days is too little for food, I can up the ask to closer to $250 or $300. Right now, I'm just trying to get a general sense of costs.

Parents won't be paying huge amounts for this trip, though. This is the way we're working it.

Let's say the entire trip (with contingency fee) runs $2200 per person. 1/3 of that amount is the responsibility of the families - $733. Our church is sponsoring this, and will contribute $500 per person. $1233 is therefore already covered. The remainder of the costs will be paid for from fundraising activities. We have already raised $3000 as a group, and have about 10 months to raise the rest. That figure is $4736. The church will sustain about another $2000 in financial support through bake sales and other activities, so we just need to find $3000 total.

The contingency fund is supposed to cover expenses that are higher than expected - such as food along the camino. So if we arrive and learn that 30 euros per day per person won't get us far, we have the margin to allow for more. I am diabetic, and know quite well the necessity of priming the tank with healthy food. One of the other chaperons is a nurse in the military. I don't think cookies for lunch will go on long.

Monk Moses - that's brilliant! Thank you SO MUCH for that list. It's exactly what I need. Bless you for providing it.

Dutch · Aug 23, 2014

I think $220 for just food is ok, but i thought is was for food and albergues together. Maybe i undestood it wrong. If not, then like i said, yes you can manage it daily for that amount, but you have to be strickt about how you spend it. You wont be the first, nor the last, who has that daily budget, but still 26-27 euro per day isn't a lot. If you set aside 10 euro for an albergue, your left with 16-17 euro for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And a pilgrim menu is on average 10 euro, so thats 6-7 euro left for breakfast and lunch. That, i think, isn't a lot. The lunch and breakfast budget. I would struggle with 6-7 euro for those 2 meals and i am not a big eater.
I guess if you would spend the contingency fund on this, you'll be more then fine

I didn't understand that the fund was meant for food as well. I thought it was pure emergency money. I did not think of food as an emergency, but as a necessity

Good luck with the planning. I hope the parents are gonna vote your way. The kids will have a great experience, i'm sure.

Hroswitha · Aug 23, 2014

Dutch - what if I increase the budget to 30 euros per day - $39 per person per day. That's $234 per person. I've looked at albergues costs and see that most places we should be able to say for appx. 10 euros per night - that's $13.25 per night, $79.5 per person for the six days walking. total then would be $313.5 per person for the six days on camino.

I'm figuring more for food and lodging in Santiago, although one source I have on the ground there says the hostels offer pilgrims' rates of as low as $20 per night. If we fly in to Santiago and spend two nights before starting the camino, and I figure a more generous allowance of $30 per night plus $50 for food in the city, that would be $110 for those two days.

Once we return to Santiago, another night at $30 plus $50 in food, and figure at least $50 a day in food and associated costs while flying, and we add $180 to the travel costs. Total now is $603 per person.

If I can get flights for $1300 per person, the total would be $1905. Add $250 contingency fund per person, and the total is $2155 per person. Transit in-country by bus seems to be around $20 per person - that makes it $2175.

The way I want to plan this adds a bit of a buffer in along the way. If we stay in a public albergue one or two nights, the cost may be lower (given the prices I've found). Some places seem to offer really inexpensive pilgrims' meals, and that could reduce the cost of food somewhat. Everyone will also have some pocket money to purchase what they like in Santiago or in the villages along the way. Those things don't come from the contingency fund - they are extra. If we decide to go to Finesterra, we'll build that in to the costs of the trip before we go.

Total trip for 8 = $17,400. Parents will provide $5742 of that cost ($717 per person). The church pays $4000 toward the cost. That leaves $7658 to raise, of which we already have $3000. We need to raise $4658, and $2000 will come through church fundraisers. The rest will have to come from activities in the community - busing tables, cleaning stadiums, etc. We would have to earn appx. $400 a month as a group (beyond the church fund raisers) to do this, but I think it's do-able.

Dutch · Aug 23, 2014

With 30 euros and a contingency fund (also to be used for food, like i understood) and some private pocket money i'm sure you'll be more then ok

no worries.

natefaith · Aug 23, 2014

I should've clarified earlier- the 1.5€ per km guideline came with the assumption of eating a pilgrim menu or other nicer meal once a day, then doing groceries for the other two meals and coffee breaks the rest of the day. This usually works out fine if you're on a stricter budget, but I think where you landed with your last estimate is wise and should leave you guys plenty of margin to enjoy all that comes. Hope the bake sales and other fundraising plans go well!
Faith

Deleted member 3000 · Aug 23, 2014

For beverage selection, wine is the least expensive, followed by coffee. Only tap water is free, and restaurants will usually deliver bottled water if you ask for water. So water is more expensive than coffee, and about the same as beer. The most expensive is soda. So if your teens are addicted to soft drinks, they will need several Euro more each day. From a vending machine, a soft drink will be about 1.50E; in a restaurant 2E or a bit more. A 4E sandwich (bocadillo) turns into a 6E meal if Coca Cola is added. That is $8 total when it includes the hollow calories of a soft drink. The pilgrim menu, a three course meal with bread and beverage included, is 8-9E, and will offer several healthy choices, many of them pig-based.

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