Sept 18 - Sunny day, load the bags in our pre-arranged ride to the airport (with a private individual who charges us 25 Euros). It is a long ways out of town, about 40 minutes. The terminal is under construction with restricted access so a bit of a roller bag conga line to get in.
This is the first flight we are taking in four months. Amazing how far we went by land/sea in the intervening time. As such, we are careful to organize the bags for ‘flight mode’, which is much different than just throwing them in a bus luggage compartment.
The Air Serbia flight is no frills, the airplane has old, worn out seats, and only the water is free of charge. See parts of western Bulgaria before the clouds close in on the view.
COST SUMMARY:
This is our final day in the Balkans. However, giving a summary of all seven countries we visited does not represent well the average daily cost. I have already separated out Slovenia and Croatia, both significantly more expensive. The remainder (BiH, Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia, and Serbia) are close enough that they can be averaged together. I was impressed with how cheaply they worked out, considering we took several day tours that broke $100 each.
Projected daily cost from the pre-planning phase = $125/day
Realized daily average costs for Jul 31 to Aug 8, and Aug 13 to Sep 18 = $106/day
The share of this cost apportioned to lodging was 32%, food 26%, and transport 16%. Entry fees for touristic sites came in at 24%, high only because accommodation and food were so cheap.
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