10€ to London! How much does it really cost?

I have travelled a lot recently, I've been flying around Europe for about 3 months within the last year.
We always see those tempting offers for flights cheaper than a train ticket out of town, but is it really that good of a deal?
I will give you an example how it could turn out based on my numerous flights to London.

You need to calculate

Airport transfers
Flights
Luggage fees (if any)
Public Transport
Survival (food and drinks)
Living
Sightseeing

Flight

There are quite a few airports around Vienna, the most important ones for flights to London are LNZ Linz and VIE Vienna.
For some Airports in some countries you can find cheap airport buses for very far distances, keep that in mind. One good example is CRL Charleroi, Belgium.
You should book two months in advance to be safe, sometimes you can find cheap flights just two weeks in advance.

My decision making to chose between LNZ and VIE is as follows:

Example 1: Flying from VIE is more expensive but much more comfortable.
Example 2: Flying from LNZ is good for the budget but much more time intensive and airport transfer needs to be booked very early to be cheap. Arrival Airport is different, when you dont want to go to London Liverpool Street you might be better off flying to Stansted, London Stratford would be a good example.

Price Comparison one direction:
VIE-SEN: Transfer VIE 13€, Flight 50€, Transfer SEN-Liverpool Street 15€. SUM 74€
LNZ: Transfer LNZ 12-22€, Flight 10-25€, Transfer STN-Flexible 7,5€+ SUM 30-55€

Luggage Fees:
This is a complex story on its own, every airline has its advantages and disadvantages, I don't want to promote any airline so this will be something for you to research.
Lets assume that hand luggage fees are included, you can make it just with hand luggage when you travel smart. I suggest you to buy a luggage lift scale, it's cheap and all you have to do is lifting the luggage to know how heavy it is.

Public Transport

Calculate that you might have to pay for transportation to get to your desired airport transfer, in Vienna it would be 2,3€ or 15€ when you have to travel from Graz to Vienna.
In London you can chose between train, underground and buses. Trains are the most expensive and the bus would be the cheapest option. Getting an Oyster Card after arrival is worth it, its a prepaid card for public transport and you have to pay less. It also tracks your movement which can be very comforting to know.

Buses in London are 1,5 GBP and you can switch once for free within 90 minutes if I remember correctly, you need the movement tracking card to be able to do that.

Underground is 4,9 GBP for one direction without the Oyster Card.
calculate your fares here https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares
Lets assume you have decided to take a cheap room in Zone 5, that would make 56,2 GBP for the 7 day travel card. http://content.tfl.gov.uk/adult-fares.pdf
That is a lot to be honest, I think you can get away much cheaper with the oyster card. You can calculate your expected fares with the single fare finder https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares/single-fare-finder

Living and Survival

Single rooms start between 17 GBP and 27 GBP. Make sure to book early, a room for two is usually not much more expensive and not double the price.
22*6 Nights = 132 GBP

Lets assume you take the lunch deal in the super market for 5 GBP and you get microwave food for 5GBP as your dinner, 2*0,5 Litres water a day for 0,5GBP each. For breakfast you have 0,5 litres of milk with cereals, lets make that 1 GBP/day. +2 GBP / day for water or similar on the go / day.
makes 14 GBP / day. Lets just make it times 7 because we know you will spend more than that, makes 98 GBP in total
You might add your daily stupid spending rate for coffee, energy drinks, gums, whatever you are in to.

Sightseeing

There are definitely some expensive options for sightseeing.
But!

Most museums are free.
Walking the parks and the river Themse is free
The Emirates Air Line is 3,3(Oyster) - 4,5 GBP
Tower Bridge is 5 GBP
Tower of London is 22 GBP
Sky Garden is Free

Be aware that some destinations require to book online in advance, make sure to do it early to get a spot.

Souvenirs

Magnets are 5 GBP
You might want to buy some chocolate, which should be 7,5 GBP / kg ;)

Makes the trip in total

Return-Flight + Transfer median sum: 106EUR
Buses and Underground: ~35-70 GBP
Living: 132 GBP
Suvival: 98 GBP
Sightseeing and Souvenirs: 25-50 GBP
TOTAL (minimum)
COST PER DAY 55 GBP
COST PER WEEK 384 GBP
COST PER MONTH 1.669GBP
COST PER YEAR 20.022 GBP

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