Financial Friday 15

Do I need an intro at this point? Off we go….

Travel

On Monday, I took a bus from Kuşadası to İzmir: $5.23. Supposedly, bus companies offer free transfers from the main bus station to the main train station. However, I was getting conflicting reports from locals as to how to get to said train station. Eventually, I gave up and just took a taxi: $9.50. Then, I walked 20 minutes to the hostel from there. Did I overspend? Definitely, but I was starting to get annoyed walking back and forth across the huge bus terminal, and getting different answers from everyone I ran into. So I’ll count that as a win for my sanity if not necessarily my wallet.

Accommodation

Friday to Sunday were at the BnB in Kuşadası. In retrospect, I think put less stock in when places say free breakfast as I had to ask for it every day. Given cheap bread and fruit are easy to find, I just went out and bought something. I did get the entire 5 person dorm room to myself though which was nice.

From Monday on I’ve been at a hippy-like hostel in İzmir. It’s a bit of a culture shock being in a place that emphasizes sharing so much. Also, we’re not allowed to keep meat nor cook it in the kitchen which is very strange for Turkey. It’s cool though. If I want meat, I can go out and buy some from the a plethora of restaurants. Oh yeah, Thursday’s number is a little off since I haven’t payed for that night yet. It’s about $10.

Food

I already mentioned the kitchen situation. There isn’t much else to tell. The very low spending days are when I had groceries from a previous day. I absolutely love how I can go out and get a small cup of freshly squeezed juice for under $0.40. I think I’ve ordered a cup of mixed fruit every day I’ve been in İzmir. It’s so good!

Other

Grossly overpaying for travel insurance: $8.64 per day.

On Friday, I payed for a guided tour of Pamukkale: $58.34. It’s expensive, but it came with 3 hour (one way) shuttle service, entrance, lunch, and the guide. So it wasn’t the worth thing ever. See the blog post for more details.

Also on Friday, I bought a coin purse: $1.47. Considering almost no one takes plastic here, I’ve been accumulating a lot of coins. I had been storing them in a small pocket in my jeans, but with the weather getting hot, I needed something that would fit in shorts’ pockets. Plus, it’s just convenient.

On Saturday, I bought a guided tour of Ephesus: $58.34. I definitely overplayed for this. The guide was nice, but not worth that much. Check my last blog post for more about that trip.

On Sunday, I did laundry…sort of. I wasn’t able to find a normal laundry place so I asked a waiter at the restaurant I went to every day while in Kuşadası. He had my laundry taken to a dry cleaning place: $11.88. Ouch! It could have been worse though. He told them it was his laundry so they only charged him the normal rate. If I’d tried it, I would have payed double. I should probably invest in a basin or something, and just hand wash my own clothes. We’ll see how badly I want to save money….

The Monday number’s a little off because I payed to use a public bathroom. Considering what it would look like if there wasn’t someone there cleaning it, I’ll gladly pay that every time.

Summary

So the tours cost me over $100. I still kept it to under $50 a day though so I kept the week under budget. Until next week….