The cost of Prague to Istanbul

OK, I know its taken a while but here is the first useful post on this blog, the one that tells you just how much money you would need to get from Prague (or indeed Norwich) to Istanbul overland.

Norwich to Prague
Bus from Norwich to Stansted Airport (in lieu of a lift from a close family member) - 20GBP
Flight with Easyjet STN-PRG - 27GBP
Prague 90min transport ticket - 1GBP
Subtotal - 48GBP per person

Hungary
Train from Prague to Budapest (online special) - 550Kc (approx 18GBP)
East Side Hostel, Budapest - dorm bed per night - 5Euro (approx 4.4GBP)
Beers in the nice pub on the same street - a couple of quid
Self catering in the supermarket (bread, cheese, crisps, beer, noodles) - about 3GBP
Entrance to the Szecheyni thermal baths - 3200Hf (about 10GBP)
Train from Budapest to Szeged - 2800Hf (almost 9GBP)
Small train from Szeged to Subotica - just a couple of quid.
Subtotal - 55GBP (includes 2 nights in Budapest) per person

Serbia
Shared taxi from Subotica to Novi Sad - 800SD per person (roughly 7.5GBP)
Downtown Hostel, Novi Sad - dorm bed per night - 10Euro (9GBP)
Shopping (pasta and ayvar sauce) - about 1GBP
Train from Novi Sad to Belgrade - 210SD each minus 20% discount for group of 2 - 370SD (less than 2GBP per pax)
Food in Belgrade (Borek, bread and pate, crisps, 2 beers) - under 3GBP
Night train from Belgrade to Sofia - 2000SD (just under 20GBP)
Subtotal - 42GBP per person

Bulgaria
Sofia to Plovdiv train - 9leva (4GBP)
Food (crisps, yoghurt) - 3leva (1.5GBP)
Plovdiv to Istanbul bus - 40Leva (17GBP)
Visa for Turkey (certain nationalities only, British yes, Czechs no) - 20USD (14GBP)
Subtotal - 23GBP per person

Grand Total - 120GBP per person (plus the Turkish visa if you need it), plus the 48GBP per person cost of getting from Norwich to Prague.

It turned out to be more expensive than we first thought but there were a few reasons for this. Firstly, it was cold, and often raining, so hitch-hiking was not really possible. Secondly, we wanted to see a couple of places enroute (Monika had never been to Budapest and I wanted to see Norwichs sister city of Novi Sad). Also we wanted to visit the baths in Budapest. Finally, we had couple of beers as we knew we would not have the access to much good beer for the next 8 months or so!