How much money i need in U.S.D to take to the US and Mexico?
by admin on Monday, March 8th, 2010 | 5 Comments
Hi there!
Im an Australian going over to America for a total of 6 weeks! Spending 28 days traveling the west coast and attending boxing and UFC fight nights! All tickets prepaid! Im doing a 7 night Carnival Cruise to Mexico! Once again – ticket prepaid!
I need daily or weekly guesstimates on:
4 star Accommodation:
Rough eating out guide:
Car rental:
Minimal Alcohol:
Then for mexico:
Alcohol!!! haha:
Cheap Souviners:
Anything else you could add to my list be my guest! Any type of help would be greatly appreciated!
Remember just keep it in US currency. Google is good for those basic currency conversions 
BTW… Leaving in 1 week! Thought i should maybe do a budget!
Thanks for your time!
Per day or week?
Be careful with Mexico! I live in the US and they gave a HUGE warning to Spring breakers that theres a big drug war breaking out down there and to stay away. Look it up!
600.00 to 800.00 U.S.D. per day.
Less than a hundred dollars a day. Your food on the cruise ship are already covered by your cruise ship ticket. So your only expenses will be when you’re off the ship on excursions ashore. Most tours can be paid for by credit card.
Alcohol!!! haha: one dollar beers.
Cheap Souviners: one to five dollars.
Check with your bank to see if you can withdraw money from ATMs in Mexico from your bank account in Australia. Then you can get money as you need it.
I would use ATM in USA and Mexico so you are limited to spending what your bank account holds. (I can withdraw cash using my VISA charge cards too – what the hay – play now, pay later!)
Don’t pay any attention to warnings from US Agencies about travel in Mexico – they just want to keep the money in the US!
Enjoy your vacation!
Accommodations: A nicer hotel will cost about $150 to $200 a day. A cheaper one will cost about $60 to $100 a day. Any less than that and you’ll be staying in a dump.
Food: Figure about $15 – $20 a meal. More if it’s a nicer place or you have drinks. Less if you just grab a burger or something like that.
Car rental: Figure a total of about $300 for a week, after taxes and fees. It would be a bit more for one with a GPS system in it, which you may need since you’re not familiar with places around here. They may also tack on another fee if the pick-up and drop-off cities are different. Also, check with your insurance company to see if your current car insurance policy covers rentals. If so, you’ll save the $20 or more per day extra the rental companies charge for full coverage.
Alcohol: Drinks at a bar cost anywhere from a couple dollars for the cheap stuff during happy hour to several dollars for top shelf at a nicer place. Drinks on a cruise are about $5 to $7 each on average (this includes a 15% gratuity).
Alcohol in Mexico: Drinks will be a couple to a few dollars each at a restaurant/bar.
Cheap souvenirs: These will vary from a couple bucks for a souvenir shot glass to 10 dollars or more for one of those stupid giant sombrero hats.
If you’re going to go out drinking, you might want to budget on cab fare. A cab ride of 5 to 10 miles might run you $10 to $20 one way. But, it beats getting arrested for drinking while driving, which would pretty much ruin your vacation. Not to mention the several thousand dollars in fines and legal fees that come along with it.