Financially

Planning a Trip to
3/6/2023

Greece
11 MAG PSMT UNIT 1 - Money,
Measurements and Relations

RUHLE, Ella
MR TRAIL
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
Assumptions and Relevant Observations..............................................................................................2
Mathematical Concepts and Techniques...............................................................................................2
Solution.................................................................................................................................................3
Income...............................................................................................................................................3
Income from Corn Street Café.......................................................................................................3
Income from Allowance.................................................................................................................3
Income from Gifted Money...........................................................................................................3
Total Income..................................................................................................................................3
Tax.................................................................................................................................................4
2023-2025 Developing a Budget........................................................................................................4
Effectiveness of Budget.................................................................................................................5
Pre-packaged Trip Budget and Itinerary............................................................................................5
Slef-Planned Trip Budget and Itinerary..............................................................................................5
Travel Expenses.............................................................................................................................5
Travel Insurance............................................................................................................................5
Accommodation............................................................................................................................5
Inflation Rate.................................................................................................................................6
Increases due to Inflation..............................................................................................................6
Allocated Food Allowance.............................................................................................................6
Transport.......................................................................................................................................6
Spending Allowance......................................................................................................................6
Total Self-Planned Trip Costs:............................................................................................................7
Exchange Rate...............................................................................................................................7
Excess Currency.................................................................................................................................7
Evaluate and Verify................................................................................................................................7
Refinements..........................................................................................................................................8
Strengths...........................................................................................................................................8
Limitations.........................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................9
Word count...........................................................................................................................................9
Bibliography...........................................................................................................................................9
Appendix.............................................................................................................................................10
Introduction
To comprehend and explore financial requirements within real life applications, this assignment will
compare a personally planned holiday to Greece to a pre-packaged holiday. A personal budget will
be formulated from the student’s part time job. This will consider other factors such as gifted money
and allowance, whilst factoring in fixed and discretionary spending, to successfully prepare a budget
starting from the 1st of Jan 2023 to the 31st of Dec 2024, to save for this trip on 1 st of Jan 2025. Based
on these variables, the budget will determine the maximum amount for this holiday, and which
option of holiday would best suit this personalised budget, created using a spreadsheet program. In
order to provide accurate and well supported calculations, this budget will also take into account the
price of inflation, which will be calculated using the compound interest formula, by taking the
average five years of inflation rates and applying that to the budget. The money will also need to be
converted into euros, using exchange rates to calculate the predicted amount. The assignment
specifies a set of guidelines that must be followed in order to complete the work, and these criteria
are demonstrated in the process of developing, refining, and creating a unique budget for a well-
documented vacation while showcasing the practical use of mathematical equations.

Assumptions and Relevant Observations

- The student is 18 years old, and owns a valid passport.
- The task states the student has a part time job. It is further assumed that the student works
an average of 10 hours a week during school terms, and 20 hours a week during the
holidays, while staying within the legal restrictions of the maximum hours in relation to the
Australian government.
- Travel insurance will be calculated in regards to the trip. The student will not get severely
injured during the trip, which could influence extra expenses unexpectedly.
- The calculated exchange rate of 0.638659€ has been utilised. This will not include
accommodation, flights and transport which will be pre-purchased prior to the trip in AUD.
- It has been assumed the student lives at home and therefore does not contribute to homely
expense including rent, electricity, and water bills, which would significantly affect the
personalised budget.
- It is assumed that there will not be cancellations regarding pre-booked accommodation and
flights before or during the trip, as this could increase extra unpredicted expenses.
- The student will be paid with an hourly rate of $15 during weekdays and $20 on the
weekends, a realistic wage in relation to fair work restrictions and will continue on this wage
with no raise for the two years of saving leading to the trip.
- It is assumed that the predicted inflation rate will not be calculated into the personalised
budget, and the student will not change their monthly expenses over the two years.

Mathematical Concepts and Techniques

This assignment focuses on the concepts and techniques showcased in Unit One including: money,
measurements, relations, and consumer arithmetic. The software used to calculate the budget and
the graph features within this document is Excel, with all technological calculation featured in the
appendixes. This software will ensure accurate and reliable calculations to create an in-depth
budget, with a detailed and well documented breakdown of costs, due to the precise nature of the
program.
Solution
Income
The main source of income comes from the student’s part time job at Corn Street Café, as well as
weekly allowance, and gifted money. These sources of income will be calculated to discover the total
sum of money earned from January the 1st 2023 to December 31st 2024. This will calculate
maximum budget for the holiday to Greece beginning strategically on January the 1st 2025

Income from Corn Street Café

Whilst working at Corn Street as a barista, the hourly rate earned is $15 on weekdays, and $20 on
weekends as a 16-17-year-old. On average, 10 hours are worked a week during school term, 20
hours a week during holidays, which will be continued until the overseas trip. As shown by through
the relevant calculations below, $200 is earned from Corn Street Café in a school term week’s work,
and $350 is earned in a week during the holidays. $25,150 is earned working in total over two years,
this is calculated by multiplying the student’s weekly wage the number of weeks until the trip, in
consideration of holidays and weekday and weekend rate.

Total weekly budget = weekday wage x number of hours at weekday + weekend wage x number of
hours at weekend

*all calculations using technology are featured in appendixes.

Income from Allowance

$10 is also received in weekly allowance from the student’s parents, for completing jobs at home,
through the two years of saving this will equal $1040, by multiplying $10 by the number of weeks to
the trip.

Income from Gifted Money

During the student’s birthday and Christmas, $200 is gifted from the student’s grandparents, which
in total will be calculated to show $400 over the two years.

Total Income
The total sum of money earned from January the 1 st to December the 31st is $26,590
*all calculations using technology are featured in appendixes.

Tax
Within Australia, the tax-free threshold for Australian residents in currently $18, 200, when divided
by the weeks in the year, it is clear the income that is tax free earned over a week in $350.

As the student never exceeds to make this much in a week, the income remains tax free.

2023-2025 Developing a Budget

The personalised budget created will include: the student’s regular income, regular expenses, and
provide accurate saving for the trip. Regular expenses include food allowance, recreational activities,
including entertainment and activities with friends, and necessities such as clothing and shoes.
Displayed below are the regularly received income minus the estimated values of each expense to
create a realistic two-year budget.
*all calculations using technology are featured in appendixes.

Effectiveness of Budget
The total budget for January 1st 2023 to December 31st 2025 is $9,195 x 2, which will be $18,390, and
therefore this will be the maximum budget put towards a trip to Greece. This means, through
accurate and realistic budget calculations, a trip to Greece can be afforded, after calculations of
living expenses.

Pre-packaged Trip Budget and Itinerary

For the packaged holiday the deal was found on the website Expedia (Expedia, 2022).

This packaged trip includes a 14 day stay the Palladian Home a 4-star hotel in the city central of
Athens, Greece from January 1st - January 15th 2025, as well as all airfare, taxes and fees. This pre-
packaged holiday come to a price of $4, 228. This holiday package was chosen to exclude: methods
of transportation, activities, tours, and included meals, to create a larger sense of freedom for the
student, however this trip still counts as a package holiday as it was put at least two parts of the trip
together (ABTA, 2022). This will mean however, that all of those costs will be added on top of the
pre-existing cost of the package deal, and will be calculated separately.

Slef-Planned Trip Budget and Itinerary

Travel Expenses
As flights cannot be booked two years in advance, an estimated inflation rate will be applied to
costs, for flights book on the 1st of January, to the 15 th of January 2024. Using Flight Centre as a
comparison website, 379 flights were found. The cheapest flights were $2, 854, however the flight
has two stops and would last the duration of around 47 hours. Comparing this to a more expensive
option of flying with Qatar airways, which would cost $3, 183, this flight would last about 21hours
each way with only one stop. This flight would be the more efficient option and chosen for the trip,
as it is faster, and only minimally more expensive.

Travel Insurance
To cover overseas medical emergencies, pre-existing medical conditions, luggage and trip
cancellation cover, travel insurance will be $180.51, by the travel insurance company: Allianz.

Accommodation
Accommodation was found at the same hotel as the package deal in the Palladian Home, where
standard singe room goes for $113.17 a night, and would cost a total of $1584.38 for the entire stay.

This can only be booked for a year in advance so inflation rates will be calculated on top of this cost.
Inflation Rate
Australian annual inflation rates fluctuate, and as the costs associated with the trip are in two years
they are likely to increase due to inflation, therefore the mean inflation rate over the past 5 years
has been calculated in order to provide the most accurate predicted inflation to apply to the costs.

(1.9 + 1.6 + 0.8 + 2.9 + 6.6) ÷ 5 = 2.76

∴ the average inflation rate for the past five years in 2.76%.

Increases due to Inflation

A= P (1 + (i/100)) ^n

A= $4,947.92 (1 + (2.76/100)) ^1 = $5, 084.48

Travel expenses including insurance, and accommodation cannot be booked two years in advance,
so one year of inflation has been calculated to the cost of booking in 2024.

This amount was rounded to $5, 085, which will add $131.99 into the budget calculations.

Allocated Food Allowance

A food allowance has been allocated as $50/day for groceries as well as eating out throughout the
student’s stay.

50 x 14 =$700

Transport
Approximately $66.67 for a 30-day personalised KTEL bus card, which is the main form of public
transport in Greece, and provides bus lines and ferries (this is exchanged from €45).

Spending Allowance
$100 a day will be allocated for spending allowance. This will include visiting tourist attractions such
as the Acropolis museum -€12 a ticket--, the Temple of Olympian Zeus –free—the Temple of
Hephaestus --€4 a ticket--, and the Benaki Museum -- €30 a ticket--. This will also include different
chosen tours such as the Athens, street food tasting tour-- $74.71 for the day--, or the Piraeus, and
coastline: blue hop-on-hop off bus --$23.35 a ticket--. This money will also contribute to any
shopping the students wishes to do in Athens.

$100 a day

= 100 x 14

= 1400
Total Self-Planned Trip Costs:

*all calculations using technology are featured in appendixes.

Exchange Rate
Food allowance and spending allowance need to be exchanges into euros which are used in Greece.
It is recommended that the student regularly checks the exchange rates leading up to the trip as
they change daily, however an online calculator has been utilised to calculate with the current
exchange rate.

2100 x 0.638659 = 1341

When they convert their $2, 100 of requires cash into euros they will have €1, 341.

Excess Currency
At the end of the trip it is assumed that there will some euros unspent, which can be converted back
to AUD. When assuming the remaining amount will be 10% of the converted amount the remaining
euros converted back to AUD would be $211.04

€1, 341 x 10% = €134.10

€134.10 x 1.57355 = $211.04

Evaluate and Verify

In order to complete the task of comparing a pre-packaged and self-planned trip to Greece through a
produced two-year savings budget, technology and mathematical concepts and techniques were
successfully applied, meeting all the requirements and creating a realistic trip. Calculated though
Excel, the most expensive budget required for a two-week trip to Greece shows as $7,356.87. In
comparison to the budget calculated from the income and expenses between 2023-2025,
$18,390.00 was made, therefore the student clearly has the financial means saved to realistically go
on the trip. Through the overall comparison of the pre-packaged trip and the self-planned trip it is
clear the self-planned trip is more expensive by $539.38; hence it is recommended the student
choose the pre-packaged trip as the more suitable chose, as it is more affordable and more efficient
through it being pre-planned. Although is some cases choosing a self-planned trip would create
more freedom for the student to choose flight times, and accommodation, this pre-packaged trip
has flexibility through flights, and would stay at the same hotel with either option. After the trip, it is
predicted there would be around $11,572.51 left, therefore is an unpredictable event takes place
before or after the trip that is not documented through observations and assumptions, there is
enough money for a suitable contingency plan, in an emergency.
*all calculations using technology are featured in appendixes.

Refinements
In order to create a more reliable trip comparison budget would be enhanced through the use of the
cheapest flights in the self-planned trip instead of the fastest which were originally used. This
refinement to the model, increases the validity of the budget for the sake of a more accurate
comparison of trips and more reliable solution. The updated budget is displayed below with flights
that cost $2,853 instead of $3183, interestingly this continues the fact the pre-packaged trip is
cheaper for the student.

Strengths
-Use of Excel and other technology allowed for accurate calculations, improving overall precision.

- Government websites were used in order to create an accurate weekly wage, as well as predicted
hours weekly without exceeding the legal limit for a school student.

- Through calculating the mean inflation rates for the past five years, the amount is more accurately
predicted, considered through relevant calculations.

Limitations
- The currency conversion calculator does not consider or include possible conversion fees attached
to converting the money.

- Exchange rates cannot be accurately calculated as rates fluctuate daily, resulting in the precision
being affected.

- Different travel packages would go for different costs, meaning more pre-packaged trip would need
to be evaluated to draw a more reliable conclusion on the most effective trip.
Conclusion
Through the personalised budget calculating two years’ worth of saving, after subtracting realistic
expenses, $18, 390 was saved, which would act as the maximum budget for the student’s trip to
Greece. When comparing the pre-packages trip to the self-planned, it is clear the pre-packaged trip
would be cheaper by a significant amount. After taking into consideration appropriate expenses,
exchange rate, contingency planes and inflation, it is recommended the student choose the pre-
packaged trip as the more suitable option.

Recommendations
Further recommendations within the budget would be including time-off for external exams, which
would have been calculated into the budget, and in correlation would lose the student several weeks
of income. This would have been a practical component to factor in relation to the real-life
application of this budget.

Word count
2150

Bibliography
Athens Transport Tickets and Cards. (2011, June 26). Athens Transport.

https://www.athenstransport.com/english/tickets/

Australian Government. (2019). Welcome to the Fair Work Ombudsman website. Fair Work

Ombudsman. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/

Expedia. (2019). Travel: Cheap Flights, Hotels, Packages & Car Hire | Expedia.com.au.

Expedia.com.au. https://www.expedia.com.au/

Flight Centre Australia | Search. (n.d.). Secure.flightcentre.com.au. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from

https://secure.flightcentre.com.au/rPFPIVzE/results

Palladian Home Boutique Athens, Greece | Book Online. (n.d.). Palladianhome.reserve-Online.net.

Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://palladianhome.reserve-online.net/?checkin=2024-01-

01&rooms=1&adults=1&children=0&nights=14&currency=AUD

Top benefits of booking a package holiday. (n.d.). ABTA. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from

https://www.abta.com/tips-and-advice/planning-and-booking-a-holiday/top-benefits-of-

booking-a-package-holiday#:~:text=The%20definition%20of%20a%20

XE: Convert AUD/EUR. Australia Dollar to Euro Member Countries. (2019). Xe.com.

https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=1&From=AUD&To=EUR
Appendix
Appendix 1: travel insurance

Airfare for the 1st of January 2024

Airfare for the 15th of January 2024

Appendix 2: accommodation in Palladian Home

Appendix 3: Athens ticket fees

Appendix 4: currency conversion

Appendix 5