We had a fair bit of travel expenses for the month

Well, another month has gone by and here we are at October 1st!

Just a recap... we started September in Nova Scotia and then flew to Ottawa for a ten day visit. From there, we flew Montreal to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to London. We spent 4 nights in London, then took the bus to Leeds where we bounced around for just over a week. Then took the bus to Bristol and spent a week in the village of Keinton Mandeville.

So we had a fair bit of travel expenses for the month. Fortunately, our flight from Montreal to Amsterdam was paid for with credit card points, so overall we still had a reasonable month.

We spent a total of $2,243 CAD which at today's exchange rates is $1,621 USD.

Church in West Lydford, England.

Here's how it all broke down... (the following figures are in $CAD)...

Gas: We spent $136 on fuel. That was all while we were house sitting in Ottawa and had the use of a car. And it included fuel for our friend Kim who dropped us off at Montreal airport (thanks Kim!).

Groceries: Our overall grocery expenses at $336 were fairly low, but we made up for it in the next category!

Meals out: We haven't eaten out this much in a long time. We spent $256 on meals out. But we enjoyed every bite. I think the eating out will continue in October!

Alcohol: At $170, it's actually lower than we had budgeted. But beer and wine are fairly inexpensive here in the UK compared to Canada.

Miscellaneous: We spent $256. We did not spend anything on cellular data because we had enough credit left over from our Czechia SIM card to do us for the whole month here in England. And of course we had a lot of free WiFi available as well at our various accommodations. We did spend a fair bit on local transportation though ($83) and Ruth bought some clothes ($34) and a new pair of sandals ($73).

Entertainment: A total of $210, but that included our English Heritage membership ($108) that we plan to get a lot of use out of when we return with Max next spring in Ireland, Scotland, and England. We had also spent $206 to go to the theater in London, but my mother had given us an early birthday/Christmas gift (thanks Mom!) so we used some of it towards that so is not included in our expenses for the month.

Overnight: A total of $97 for the two nights we spent at the hostel in Leeds. We had been house sitting for the first ten days in Ottawa, and since then we've been staying with friends and family here in England the rest of the time. (Thanks everyone!)

Travel: Even though our flight from Montreal to Amsterdam was free, we still had $782 worth of travel expenses. Our short flight from Halifax to Ottawa on September 1st was fairly expensive at $189 each. And the short flight from Amsterdam to London City Airport was also quite high at $140 each. So there was $658 right there. The balance was long distance buses and trains while in England.

So really, not a bad month. In fact, that's probably the most expensive month we'll have for the rest of the year. October, November, and December should all be at or below $2,000 per month.

We leave for Albania tomorrow! Tony and Helen are joining us for the first two weeks, then Ruth and I will carry on in Albania and Kosovo for the balance of October. We are getting up at 3am (silly o'clock!) to get to Gatwick for our 9am flight to Tirana. 

I should be able to post an update from Gatwick airport while we're waiting to board.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Record low deal on Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K.

And in Canada...

Record low deal on the Echo Dot Smart Speaker.