The Do’s and Don’ts of Europe Spending
From luxury camping to $11 water bottles, I thought it would be fun to take you through the do’s and don’ts of my Europe spending. I’m going to spill the tea on my big brain transactions, and the ones that only perpetuated the silly goose accusations. Spoiler: my wallet has seen better days.
In the nature of full transparency, here’s a breakdown of how I was able to afford my trip.
Graciously got free accommodation with my friends in London and Amsterdam; the two cities I spent the most time in
Bought my Defqon ticket (biggest expense aside from flights) with my tax return, so basically free
Live with my parents, don’t pay rent, and earn a good salary
I left with roughly $3,000AUD, $300USD cash courtesy of my grandparents, and a couple hundred left aside to pay off hostels and my tattoo appointment. Additionally, I got paid my monthly salary halfway through my trip.
I’m pretty reckless with my money. I don’t budget, I splurge, and as Ariana Grande once said “I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it”. This attitude is amplified when I’m travelling, because when I’m travelling, I don’t like to think about money. I spent the last 6 months saving (not well I might say) for this trip, I’d be dumb not to blow all my money on what I spent ages saving for.
Here is a list of things I will and won’t spend my money on in the future (in AUD), and might work as a helpful guide if you’re planning a trip to Defqon or Europe in the coming years.
WILL
Flex Cabin - $1,300
This year, I decided to do Defqon camping in style, and opted for a two person cabin as opposed to a BYO tent situation. I think this was quite possibly the best decision I have ever made. The cabins fall into the premium camping category known as “The Sanctuary”, and when they say sanctuary, they mean SANCTUARY.
Here are just some of the perks of the sanctuary campground:
24-hour reception
24-hour bar serving food and drink
Sauna, hot tubs, massage
Hair and makeup artists
Bean bags, pillows, rugs, egg chairs
Fully stocked and serviced bathrooms and showers
The best part of it all was that the girl I was originally going to bunk with made other arrangements, so I paid half-price to have a cabin all to myself! The lockable cabin came with two single beds, a table and two chairs, storage hangers, and towels. As soon as I got in I pushed the beds together and settled in for what was now doubt going to be a luxurious experience.
The sanctuary was the best place to relax and take a breather from the festival grounds, and I’d come in multiple times over the weekend just to lie down in the shade and regroup. This place was like a fucking resort and I could not recommend the sanctuary campgrounds enough.
Any ride-share over $100
One thing about me, I will always choose comfort and convenience over cost. $100 for a taxi from Berlin airport to my hostel while I’m sick, sad, and lugging 30 kilos of luggage? Done. $100 over two Ubers because I accidentally chose the wrong address and it’s 1am and I’ve already travelled over 50 minutes from one side of London to the other? Done. If it means getting somewhere quicker, avoiding rain, or making sure no one sees me looking at my worst, I will choose to Uber every time.
SEFA - $25
I know I had my criticisms about Q-Dance charging extra to see one of the most well-known DJs in a more intimate and exclusive setting, but I must say, that shit was worth it. Held in a circus-like tent, adorned with masked ushers, tealight candles, and white-clothed tables, the 60-minute long show was like nothing I had seen before. What began as an intimate and emotional performance featuring Sefa and his piano, two musicians, and an aerial artist, turned into an indoor rave bursting with life and energy. Phones weren’t allowed, and because you had to pay for the experience, only the people who actually wanted to be there were there, making for an exciting and unique experience. If a similar experience is offered again next year, I would 100% purchase tickets regardless of the artist.
Nando’s - $28
I had Nando’s a total of three times while in the UK, and if I had the time I would’ve happily gone a fourth. $28 for bottomless post-mix coke, chips that aren’t salted to the point you’ll go into cardiac arrest, and exquisite customer service? You could charge $50 for a meal and I would still say yes.
Breakfast box - $90
Now this one had its pros and cons.The breakfast box at Defqon, which I was able to collect Friday through to Sunday, came with an orange juice, muffin, yoghurt, croissant, and a sandwich; a pretty decent spread if you ask me. It was nice knowing that each morning I’d be guaranteed breakfast, and because I had paid for it in advance, it was basically free (those are the rules). However, some mornings I just had no appetite. When I calculated the costs, I would have saved money if I had bought the items I wanted individually each morning from the kiosk.
The only reason I would purchase this again is because of one very important factor: efficency. I didn’t have to wait in line to order, it was something to look forward to each morning, and worst case scenario if I didn’t want one of the items, I would just trade them for tokens. The box also served as a reminder to eat each morning, something very important to remember when you’re tackling a four day festival.
WON’T
Bottled water - $11
Q-Dance can get fucked with this one, but I’m the dumb bitch who FELL for their TRAP. A bottle of water was 1.5 tokens. 5 tokens were $32, so one token was roughly $6. 1.5 tokens for a bottle of water is literal daylight robbery. If I had one complaint about Defqon, it would be the lack of water supply over the weekend. If you didn’t want to pay 1.5 tokens for a bottle of water, the alternative was to pay 2 tokens for a 250ml refillable water pouch. The catch? The only place to refill these pouches were at one of the four tap refill stations that were approximately a kilometre away from one another, or the bathroom taps which already had a line of 20 trying to refill their bottles. Not to mention that the tap refill stations would exclusively only refill the pouches, so if you wanted to refill your $11 bottle of water, you would either have to go to the bathroom taps or just fuck yourself. No one even knew if the bathroom taps provided drinkable water, but that’s just the risk we had to take. Piss poor on Q-Dance’s behalf, especially when they had signs around the festival grounds reminding you to drink water.
Kendrick Lamar jumper - $98
I bought this for one reason and one reason only, I was cold. It was 8pm at Rolling Loud. I was violently stoned, by myself, reluctant to make friends, cold, and the next act I wanted to see wasn’t on for another two hours. I decided to mosey down to the merchandise stand, because if I was going to make it out of this festival alive, I needed some source of warmth. To my demise, all the Rolling Loud specific merch was sold out. I opted for the next best thing - a grey acid wash hoodie with some green text on it. I didn’t even realise it was a Kendrick Lamar jumper until I googled what the fuck Oklama meant. I BOUGHT THIS JUMPER TO KEEP ME WARM AT THE FESTIVAL AND I ENDED UP GOING HOME EARLY ANYWAY?!?!?!?! Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice hoodie, it served it’s purpose, but next time I would just bring a fucking jumper or suffer the cold like an adult. Hot tip: no mirror at the merch stand and no friends to take a photo of you? Just ask the lady at the counter!
No SIM card - $177
Why buy a sim card for a different country when you can just spend $5 a day on roaming and rack up a phone bill $100 over the usual amount? This wasn’t much of an issue in 2018 when I was only overseas for 10 days and could justify an extra $50 on top of my phone bill, but this year I was straight up lazy. When I landed in the UK, I spent $47 on a sim which I gave up on by day 3 because the reception was absolutely useless. I told myself I would get a European sim when I landed in Amsterdam, but when it took me an hour to get through passport control and the clock struck 11pm, I knew that plan was out the window. By day 3 in Amsterdam my fate was set in stone, and I never got around to buying a European sim. In hindsight, I would’ve much preferred a $50 sim with mediocre reception than a $177 phone bill, but that’s the price you pay for being lazy.
Pre-ordered drinks - $17
Before the festival weekend, Defqon allowed you to pre-order drinks which you were able to pick up when you got there. I went ahead and purchased a 4-pack of seltzers so that I had one less thing to worry about once I was there. I ended up drinking 1.5 of the seltzers before trading the remaining two for a token each. Turns out room temperature seltzer on a 25-degree day isn’t the best refreshment. I also HATE day drinking, and relied on other substances in the evening, so there was honestly no reason to purchase these in the first place. Sure it meant getting to skip the queue, but I’d rather wait 10 minutes in line if it meant getting to devour an icy cold bev.
Magic truffles - $30-40
I’m literally gagging writing this because it makes me think about the consumption and the events that followed at Defqon. Word of advice: if you’ve taken shrooms three times and have had a bad trip all three times, it’s not going to be any better the fourth time! I wasn’t planning to take psychedelics, especially in the form of shrooms, but when I walked past a dispensary, the silly goose inside me kept yelling “WHEN IN ROME”, and I just couldn’t say no. I went against all advice given to me, and digested the truffles sandwiched between oreos. An hour in, standing balls deep in the red stage mosh, I start to feel queasy. I was able to just make it out of the crowd before I spewed all along the grass behind the bar. It wasn’t my finest moment, but it’s what I get for ignoring not just my instincts, but professional advice. Worst $40 I’ve ever spent.
Flights with United - $2,138
Everyone laughed at me when I said I was travelling via San Francisco to London, and they were right to do so!!! Look, I’m not here to complain about United as a company. I had a great time on board their flights. The staff were nice and the food was immaculate. Tortellini for lunch and waffles for breakfast? Fuck oath! To clear up any confusion, here is why I decided to travel via the US. I was on skyscanner every fucking day for months on incognito mode trying to find the best suited flight to travel to Europe with. After months of 2.3k flights with 8 hour layovers in fuck knows where, I finally come across a 2.1k flight with United. The 10 hour layover in San Francisco on the way home didn’t phase me as I had previously gone on exchange in SF, and knew it would be the perfect opportunity to go out and visit ye olde stomping grounds. Plot twist guys, 30+ hours of travel actually sucks ass. One 10 hour flight on top of a 15 hour flight is one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve ever had to endure. No amount of compression socks, CBD gummies, or unlimited entertainment allowed me to enjoy the flight there or back. I WILL NOT GO INTO HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO GET TO LONDON BECAUSE I AM STILL RECOVERING FROM THE TRAUMA SO HERE IS A TIKTOK INSTEAD. Not to mention San Francisco was pretty average. It was cold and dull, just like I remembered it. I deserved to be bullied on Tik Tok for it.
In conclusion, my Europe spending adventure was filled with both smart decisions and questionable choices. From splurging on a luxurious cabin at Defqon to indulging in mouthwatering Nando's meals, I embraced the "treat yourself" mentality. However, there were some lessons learned along the way. I discovered that sometimes convenience is worth the extra bucks, but I also fell into traps like overpriced bottled water and unnecessary merchandise.
While I may not be the best role model for budgeting, it's essential to find a balance between enjoying the moment and being mindful of your finances. Consider exploring different accommodation options, plan your transportation wisely, and think twice before splurging on items you may not need.