The Student Backpacker

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This was by far the biggest challenge I’ve set myself travel-wise. For the past year or so (especially since France), I’ve felt the need to set myself a true challenge, and while stuck at work, this was the one that stuck out the most. After literally hours of skyscanner browsing & spreadsheet making during my downtime, I realised it was possible. I had it in the back burner while I restarted university, and one day I decided to just send it and book the trip.

My goal was to travel to 3 completely different countries, excluding where I started, and eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in each one, all with a full budget of £50 for the whole day; flights, trains, airport shuttles, food and any extras all included in the frankly daft budget. I did have quite a meticulous route planned out to make this possible, relying on some tight timing, tricks and European connections.

Starting in Zagreb airport, I’d need to take an early morning flight to Basel, where I’d have 2 hours to have breakfast and get to the train station. A train would see me up to Karlsruhe where I’d have time to enjoy lunch & sightsee before jetting off to Palma for a nice, evening dinner (hopefully by a beach). It seemed like a natural, yet challenging route. Combining tight transfers and rushing about but still having a diverse feeling route; starting in Croatia, going to Switzerland, Germany and Spain where all three feel ‘different enough’. With that being said, the challenge starts!

breakfast – basel

I got to Zagreb airport with less than 2 hours to spare. I felt panicked, but it was completely empty when I got there. In fact, security didn’t even open until nearly a full hour of me getting there! First in the queue and relaxed security meant I could daydream about getting a coffee from the already open stalls, however I had to abstain until Basel out of principal. That being said, the challenge officially started at 05:45AM when my flight took off.

I landed at 7:10AM, itching to bolt off the plane; I had less than 2 and a half hours to get from that plane, onto the train with a full stomach. Thankfully Swiss/French efficiency and a lack of a stowaway bag helped me out tons and I was on the first bus I could find. Mistake no. 1 sadly happened here, I don’t know what bus I took, but it was 3 CHF more than I originally expected. With 1/25th of my whole budget lost already, this next step would HAVE to go to plan…

Rolling up outside of Basel SBB, I had a little less than a hour and a half to get to Basel Bad Bf via the Marketplatz (a 40 minute walk), while fulfilling my checklist. Now as an aside, I really didn’t have the budget to get any food, so my solution was to prey on people’s generosity and curiosity in Europe’s richest country by potentially asking for free food and crucially, selling Jaffa Cakes… Yup.

Now I think the idea has merit; I’ve seen a few people selling homemade cookies and stroopwaffles in Geneva and Zurich, only problem is they had all day and good summertime weather. The first nearly hour was dark and gloomy, the only people out were commuters. My idea was to shuffle away from train stations and tram stops, to find the ones spending leisure time in the Marketplatz area. With the time of day and year, people just weren’t out much on that particular Tuesday. That, combined with the constant rain, made it incredibly rough.

All obstacles aside, I did manage to approach a few people, but I got rejected (quite badly), and it shot down my motivation. These things are about perseverance and are very mood-dependent, and in hindsight a rainy day was going to be a real challenge to get any money. But, the second purpose of this segment, and about the whole wider trip, was to push myself outside my anxious shell. After a few rejections I crawled right back in it and ended up getting a train station coffee and local pastry. Oh well.

At the very least, I managed to walk along the Middle Bridge, see the river view in the mist along with the random Käppelijoch/Joch Chapel, also briefly stopping to witness (but not enter) the Clarakirche church. Either way, this was quite a blow; I needed to earn some extra money for the rest of the trip or cut down costs somehow somewhere…

lunch – germany

After a terribly disappointing start, I waffled down my food while still ‘technically’ in Switzerland, and at 09:27, boarded the most rickety, soviet style train I’ve ever seen (The Flixtrain up to Berlin). This gave me a solid 2 hours to recharge and reset.

My original plan was to spend the time I had in Baden-Baden, it’s a fun place name, deep in the picturesque Black Forest and holds some meaning to me in the form of a show I watch (Jet Lag) having been there. Plans quickly changed when I processed my cousin (the same one I went to Budapest with) lives in a town further up the line called Karlsruhe, and somehow the train tickets remained the same price! Makes me think if the full train ride to Berlin costs much more.

Arriving in Karlsruhe, I had about 6 hours before my flight, at least I thought. This gave me plenty of time to spend time with Izzy, run a few errands, explore the city and plan lunch. In no particular order, I took the strange tram/underground/regional train hybrid transit system they have there to the Marketplatz, listened to the whimsical gothic bell song, strolled the main shopping streets and finally got some deodorant for the rest of my travels as I felt stinky. I checked out the central Palace and beautifully autumnal gardens, and I got led to the all-important restaurant for lunch.

When in Germany, of course I had to try my first, proper traditional Schnitzel with potato and cranberry sauce to complete. Now, I won’t properly get into it yet, but it was absolutely amazing. Paired with a fresh German Pilsner? Exactly what I needed. And the best part about it all, Izzy went ahead and paid for the whole meal! And I promise it wasn’t staged, and definitely wasn’t forced at gunpoint.

We went back to her apartment so I could organise myself fully and we could chat some more. I gave her my gift I had for her, and proceeded to unload all of my crumbled, unsold Jaffa Cakes to her. I didn’t want to lug them around any more, and no one in Palma at 9PM by the time I’d get there would be buying something they can probably easily get anyway, especially considering the amount of brits there. Besides, she genuinely seemed to want them, so it was a win-win! She walked me to the weird train/tram stop, gave me directions and off I went. This is where the relaxation abruptly ended and, in typical me fashion, things unravelled quickly.

I didn’t know how the transport worked, and I kinda thought it was all free naïvely, so I hopped on freely when I figured out I indeed did need a ticket, however it was a bit late for that. Either way, ticket inspections apparently never happen on that particular line so I should’ve been fine.. I was not. The inspector clocked me the station before I got off, and through my sheer foreignness figured out which station I would be getting off at to connect to the airport. Through a middleman, the inspector realised my situation; I had less than 10 minutes before my connecting bus left, and the plane departed at 6:20PM (It was 5PM at this point). After some back and fourth and a passport check, he urged me to get a ticket at the machine before leaving or get fined, which I happily tried to do.

Well over 5 minutes of fighting the poorly translated machine, glitchy screen and confusing settings, I actually had to leave it, it just wouldn’t lt me take a payment. I took a photo ‘just in case’ and scrambled to find the right bus stop. I had a minute or two to scan the area for a ticket machine, because as far as I knew these buses are either free, or more likely payable on the bus itself. When the bus pulled up and asked me for a ticket, my heart genuinely sank. I pointed to my card, then took out some euros, and he just shook his head and emphasised I needed a ticket. The challenge easily could have ended here. I am so unbelievably lucky (and slightly jammy), because after a minute of this and probably annoying the other commuters, he just let me on for free no strings attached. What a rollercoaster.

Not even done yet, I arrived at the world smallest airport (in my books) in Karlsruhe/baden-Baden airport, with 35 minutes before my flight. Even though there were effectively no queues because it’s so small, the security was the least relaxed of the whole trip. They were the only ones to pat me down, and even demanded I separated my liquids from other toiletries, as my clear bag was ‘too big’. Either way, I made it through, just to find out my flight was delayed by an hour. I did all of that for nothing. And I was now trapped in a tiny hut of an airport with no budget left to even get a coffee. On that note, onto the last country.

dinner – palma

Thoroughly exhausted, I arrived at the airport at 8:45PM, behind schedule. I let the challenge slip just a tad here by getting a return airport ticket for €10, opposed to a €5 return, still more expensive than the €2.50 or so I read online… I seriously need to do more research next time. For the sake of the challenge, I’ll go with an expenditure of €5 for this blip, even though the day after I had to pay again as my return ticket was ‘invalid’, multiple providers operate the route, so look out.

Come quarter to 10PM, I limped into the hostel, feet still damp from Basel, back sweating from the newly-found Spanish heat and energy low from all the travelling. I crashed into my bed and sorted myself out, getting ready to brainstorm my next moves when I bumped into someone I was sharing the hostel with called Kathryn. She enticed me to meet her group and drove a hard bargain for me to go out and have Chinese food.

We went out and had a buffet style dinner between us 5, sharing many drinks afterwards with the owner, who even kept the place open late for us. No, it may not be the beachside ‘authentic’ meal I imagined, but it was a true core memory. We got some beer on the way back and ended up playing pool, beer pong and table tennis until 4 in the morning. What a great way to end the challenge, but did I pass or fail?

the cost breakdown: did i win?

Weellllllll, let’s see. I’ll break this up into 3 sections: The main transport, Food, and Other costs.

For transportation, I spent £15.97 on my Zagreb to Basel flight, €5.50 (£5.02) on the Basel to Karlsruhe train, and £13.01 on the Karlsruhe to Palma flight, coming in at exactly £34.00 in total.

For the food, the Coffee and pastry in Basel was a steep £7.56, the lunch was completely free, and the Dinner? A shameful £25.52. That equates to a whopping £33.08.

The extras were pretty limited, and included the 6.60 CHF (£6.40) airport bus, a £1.48 deodorant bottle and €5 (£4.40 as of today) in cash for the airport shuttle in Mallorca, totalling £12.28.

Now what does this mean for the overall challenge? Well I flat-out failed. Without any food costs, I spent £46.28, giving me a £3.72 budget. Yeah, if I managed to sell some Jaffa Cakes I may have been fine, but some may argue that’s cheating. And if I persevered I may have gotten free food, so it is still possible, I just didn’t get there. I also mucked up with using my regular card and switching between paying in euros and letting my bank do the conversions, or the retailer do it for me, either way isn’t great, I really should get travel cards next time or just pay in cash more! That being said, all in all I ended up spending a total of £79.36, a cool £30 over budget.

The flights were fully on Skyscanner, and the train on Trip.com. You can also get good hotel/hostel deals on Lastminute.com, Trivago and Hostelworld. As a bonus, also check out GetYourGuide for activities and city walks if you have more than a few hours in a place, trust me, it’s worth it!

food & country rankings

Straight out the gate, Germany has to win the food category. As tasty as the Chinese food was, and as good as the memories are – meal for meal it’s nearly a draw. The tipping point for me is the simple fact the Schnitzel is an authentic dish to the country, which does make it more special to me. The Chinese food, despite being very clearly not a Spanish cuisine, was still excellent and cooked by the sweetest couple ever. The Basel coffee and pastry were good to be fair, the pastry was a ‘Nussgipfeli’, essentially an almond croissant and a perfect accompaniment to coffee. Sadly, it just wasn’t quite enough to come close to the other countries, especially at that price.

In terms of countries, the answer isn’t so easy. If I’m talking about the challenge itself within the 24 hours, probably Germany. The hostel memories and meal along with the genuinely pretty nice weathers all night long made Spain that much more enjoyable, but nothing beats family, especially exploring somewhere that someone you’ve seen so much before has been casually living in for months, it’s a weird feeling to explain, but it was nice. That, and Germany was a country that I had never been to beforehand somehow, so it was very rewarding finally being able to go.

That being said, if you include the day after in Spain, then it quickly becomes the winner. Sorry Germany, but I spent a full day in Palma and the temperature peaked over 30°C, considering I haven’t been to a hot beach in years, that swim was my trip highlight perhaps above Venice. Maybe not, but maybe. It’s close.

can you do this?

I definitely could’ve found a cheaper breakfast, and yes, I absolutely could’ve gone for a budget dinner instead of an all-you-can-eat Chinese feast. But honestly? By that point I knew I’d blown the budget, and the whole point of these challenges isn’t to fully torture myself, it’s to push myself, make memories, and have fun doing something absolutely ridiculous.

The truth is: this challenge is possible. I just didn’t manage it this time. With better timing, a summer crowd, a more reliable plan (and maybe fewer Jaffa Cakes), I genuinely think someone could pull it off. Maybe even me, if I try again… which I probably will, because I’m stubborn.

If you want to try it yourself, learn from my mistakes: pick cheaper routes, plan transfers smartly, don’t assume transport is free, and for the love of all things budget travel, get a travel debit card. And if this inspires even one person to book that chaotic trip they’ve been dreaming about? Then it was worth the £30 overspend.

Try the challenge; it’s stressful, ridiculous, and honestly a lot of fun. And if you did like it, check lot my Marrakech blog for a similar sense of urgency, and look out for future challenges!