Ever wondered if it possible to cross the Atlantic (between Europe and USA) for less than 50 euro? This trip report shows that it IS possible and how I visited Mexico, Miami, The Bahamas, Iceland, Denmark ánd Sweden in one week time on a budget of a 300 euro!

Bimini, The Bahamas

I am inviting you to first watch This awesome aftermovie I made about this trip! It is my first aftermovie, but more will follow!

I started planning this trip after the announcement of Icelandic airline WOW air to start flying between Miami and Europe against an introduction fare of 69 USD. With a small work-around (which unfortunately is not working anymore) I managed to get a flight from Miami to Copenhagen for EUR 40 pp and build the rest of this trip around it (a more detailed cost overview will follow in the end). The total expenses for this whole trip were a bit over 300 euro, that included all flights, accommodation and transportation costs!

First stop: Mexico (at night)
The ticket I had booked was a one-way flight back from Miami, so I had to get there first. I found a nice promotion by Aeromexico for which I could use you my KLM miles. I had the choice of a 4, 6 or 10 hour layover in Mexico City before the flight to Miami. Ofcourse I opted for the 10 hour one and took the chance to visit this country!

Before boarding the 12 hour flight from Amsterdam to Mexico I had to quickly stop by the supermarket to buy some gifts. Why, you might think. Well, this trip was not only about travelling the world but also meeting friends! In total I met 4 friends, crashed at their place and hanged out! Firstly for Mexico my friend Angelika, which I met during my travels, told me she has a good friend who lives their, Carlos, and that we should meet. We got in contact and decided to meet. As my flight landed at 1am we decided to meet in the morning at 7am before Carlos went to work. So now that I had an appointment for the morning we had to kill some time first, normally I would just go to the city center. But well, Mexico City might not be the safest place in the world to wander around in the middle night… But saying no is not my mentality, thus I researched the internet about safe means of transport and safe areas. It turned out Uber is the safest way of transportation and that the neighborhood around Paseo de la Reforma and La Condesa are even safe at night. So after clearing immigration (in Spanish!) and dropping our bags off at a luggage hold we got in the Uber to this area. We found out that luckily this area has some nice sights within walking distance. We wandered around for 2 hours after which we stopped for some REAL Mexican food (not like Taco Bell or Taco Mundo) at Tortas Al Fuego. This place is open 24/7 and serves very cheap delicious meals, no English menu’s so we had to use google translate and guess.

Real Mexican food

After the food we looked for a Starbucks for our morning coffee and decided to slowly head towards the city center. We ordered an Uber and asked the driver (or rather Google translate asked) if he could give us a small city tour until the sun was fully up because it is “not advised” to walk around their before dawn. He was happy to help and gave us a one-hour tour thru the city along some sights and even stopped at Plaza de la Republica before dropping us off at the main square in the center. Here we met Carlos which showed us around some sights in the city center, like Templo Mayor and the house of tiles. We finished at the top of the Torre Latino which has a rooftop restaurant where we had some breakfast. At 10am it was time for us to head back to the airport and for Carlos to go to work, as a gift I brought Carlos some Dutch cheese and stroopwafels. We used Carlos his hotspot to order an Uber and despite some traffic we were perfectly on time at the airport for our noon flight to Miami! We traveled hand-luggage only (more on this later) and breezed through security, so I even had time to buy Tequila for my friend Jecquard with whom we would stay in Miami.

 

Some pictures of our layover in CDMX

2nd stop: Miami
After a short 2,5 hour daytime flight, where we had a nice glimpse of the Florida Keys, we arrived in Miami. We arrived in the new terminal with fast border control so within 30min (it took me 1-2hrs several times!) we were on our way to the car renting station. Here I had a nice surprise for my brother: I booked a convertible! In Miami there is virtually no public transport so you NEED a rental and thus I thought: we are staying with a friend for free anyway so why not use those savings and upgrade to a really nice car! After the paperwork we walked to the garage and were able to pick any car from the convertible row, consinsting of Mercedes, Camaro’s and Mustang’s. We went for the Chevy Camaro  The convertible cost us $75 per 24hrs. This rate is built up as follows:
$25 basic rate for a car
$25 upgrade to convertible
$25 underage fee (<25yrs).

So all in all it was approx. 30 euro a day per person, including all insurances and no deductibles (eigen risico). We arrived at my friend’s place Jecquard around dinner time, so after dropping our bags we went for dinner. My brother was tired of the trip so we drove him back to the house and Jecquard and me continued to downtown Hollywood for some drinks, as it was Friday night! Hollywood is the city where I spend 7 months for my internship so I know it pretty well and love going out there.

 

Hollywood beach and downtown Miami

The next day Jecquard was off because it was Saturday, so we decided to tour around. We started the day with some American breakfast at iHOP afterwhich we continued to downtown Miami. Here we first walked a bit around Bayside and went to the EPIC hotel, this is one of my favorite spots in Miami, because they have a rooftop pool which can be used when you order drinks at the bar, and the views are incredible! We decided to grab a Corona and relax a bit! We decided we wanted to go the beach, but as the weather was amazing I knew it would be virtually impossible to find a parking spot in Hollywood Beach without paying the jackpot. So, I messaged my Airbnb host I stayed with a few months ago with some friends (for Ultra 2017) and asked if I could use his beachfront parking (for free). He responded it was okay and thus we headed to the beach, where we spend the rest of our Saturday. We went for dinner at the Hollywood Beach boardwalk. Because the next day we had an early morning flight to the Bahamas we decided to take it easy and not go clubbing. We visited some bars in Hollywood, also the Old Hollywood Beer House, where we played some old skool games and where the vibes are always good. Around midnight we called it a night and went to bed.

The roofdeck bar & pool at the EPIC hotel!

Board games at the Hollywood Beer House

3rd Stop: Bimini, Bahamas
It wasn’t actually our plan to go to the Bahama’s. But.. somehow we came across this new airline Silver Airways, which started flying between Florida and some Bahamian Islands. In May 2017 they started a new route from Palm Beach to Bimini, and the fares were priced extremely low. I can’t remember exactly but we paid under $10 for our flight to Bimini. I think they forgot to promote the route because what happened upon arrival at Palm Beach airport was bizarre. We left around 7am that morning and after we dropped off our Camaro at the airport (you can drop off your rental at any given place in Florida without charges when renting Alamo) and approached the Silver Airways check-in desk, the lady said this: you must be Marco Koevoets and your brother flying to Bimini! I was shocked, I haven’t showed my passport or ticket and just entered the terminal, how could she know?! The lady quickly explained that they only had a morning flight to Bimini and that there were only 3 passengers on board today, thus concluding we must be the Koevoets brothers! How amazing, we had a (semi, with one other women) private jet to the Bahamas!! When we boarded the flight the pilot explained us that we HAD to stay in our seat for the full flight because of the weight distribution, but as the flight was a mere 25 minutes this wasn’t a problem! The flight itself was funny with only 3 passengers, 2 pilots and one flight attendant. We also had some nice views of the Bahamian Islands out of the window and within 30 minutes after taking off in Florida we were in front of Bahamian border control.

 

The “semi private” jet experience to Bimini, Bahamas!

Unfortunately I don’t have friends that live on the Bahamas, thus this was the only country where we needed paid accommodation. Online we found a nice harbor that also offered motel rooms for a good price. They only accepted bookings by phone and we had to pay cash, so I made a reservation by calling them and when we arrived a nice room was waiting for us. The airport is at another Island than the main Bimini island, thus we had to take a ferry boat from the airport to get to our accommodation. Upon checking in we decided, Dutch as we are, to rent bikes to explore the small island (it is just a few kilometers long and under 1 km wide). But as soon as we got our bikes it started pouring. There was a cute bar around the corner where we decided to drink a beer and after an hour or so the rain stopped and the sun started to shine! The rest of the day we explored the island and its facilities. There are a few luxury hotels on Bimini mainly aimed at cruiseship passengers. The cruiseship passengers were wearing bracelets but we just walked in and were able to use the infinity pools and lounge chairs without anyone questing us about bracelets. Acting as if you belong there and not causing problems gets you into some very nice spots I can tell!

 

Exploring Bimini

After using some of the pools we went to the beaches where we had some delicious seafood and a cocktail at one of the hotel beaches. After a nice relaxing time we wanted to snorkel, so we went to the northernmost tip of Bimini where we found a nice snorkeling spot. It was nice, but not very spectacular. On our way back to the motel we had to take shelter because another thunderstorm was crossing the Bahamas. This time there was no bar around and we had to wait under a house their rooftop. The bike ride lasted 30-40min and we stopped halfway to get some food where we met some nice locals. In the evening we walked around the nearby Radiohead beach where we saw a beautiful sunset behind the thunderstorms. Although it was weekend there was not much going on in the capital Alice Town, which has a population of roughly 300 people so we went to bed early so we could still do something the next day before our midday flight back to Florida.

Sunset at Radiohead beach

The next morning we woke up early and headed straight to the beach for some lovely breakfast and coffee at one of the beach shacks. After breakfast we had a full two hour left before we headed back to the ferry which brought us to the airport. The weather today was amazing, clear blue skies and sunny. Radiohead beach is famous for its snorkeling, so we used the entire morning to snorkel and relax at the beach. We had the beach virtually to our-self this morning next to a few locals selling coconuts and drinks. This side of the island is very quiet as there are no luxury hotels and thus no cruiseship passengers, only a few tourists who come by boat or like us, by one of the 3 daily offered flights.

Breakfast at Radiohead Beach

Airport Ferry

After this lovely morning we headed to the airport around 11.30. When we arrived at the airport there was almost nobody. Everything went smooth and 20min after leaving the beach we were at the gate. This is when it got interested.. There were two flights scheduled around noon, one to Miami and ours to Palm Beach. But, because the flight to Miami was cancelled there was some panic among the Miami bound passengers. I came up with the following idea “why don’t you join our flight to Palm Beach and get an uber to Miami?”. After thinking it through they realized this was actually a good idea and almost all passengers merged into our plane (or else they had to wait one full day in Bimini for the next flight). In total there were approx 25 people for both flights so it fitted in our 30-passenger plane and off we were to Palm Beach. Sometimes you need to think outside the box! I still hope the couple made their flight from Miami to New York as it was very tight!

Flying back to Florida

Next stop: Florida again
After the short flight we picked up our rental car, this time a Mustang convertible, and visited the Palm Beaches. After some more beach relaxing, visiting Donald Trump’s his immense Palm beach mansion and touring around with the roof down we drove a bit more north to Port St. Lucie where we visited friends and stayed over for dinner. We were back at Jecquard his place around midnight and went to bed.

Touring the Palm Beaches in the Mustang

The next morning was our last day in the States, car rentals have a 24hr renting period + 30min margin, we picked up our car at 1.30pm and our flight to Copenhagen was at 4.30pm, so we had to drop our car off at 2pm the latest. As it was a workday Jecquard had to work. So after breakfast we drove to his office to give back the key and I talked with some former colleagues (I did my internship at the same place Jecquard works). It was lovely to see them again! Next we visited Wynwood, the art district of Miami, for a lovely iced-coffee at Panter Coffee (highly recommended!). After the coffee we walked a bit around the art exhibition and decided to spend the last few hours in Miami on South Beach for some final beachtime before heading to the airport. We had two more hours of beachtime before heading to Miami airport. Upon arriving at the airport I was a bit late with returning the rental car and they wanted to charge me for a full extra day. I complaint and said I was only 30min later than the grace period, they understood and gave me a refund and kept it at the 24hr charge! Lucky me 🙂

 

Spending the last few hours in Miami!

4th stop: Iceland  
The trip to Iceland was on WOW air. This airline charges for everything and food is really expensive, so we decided to stock up some cheap Dunkin Donuts sandwiches for a few dollars and filled our empty water bottles at the water fountain. This helped us through the 8 hour flight to Reykjavik without spending money! As I said before we were a bit later at the airport than anticipated, this worked out pretty well for us! As this flight was pretty full checking in late resulted in getting an extra legroom seat in the back of the plane (they first give away the regular seats and once they are given away you get an XL seat at no extra charge!). So I ended up with an XL seat and there was nobody next to me, thus I was able to sleep pretty well! During the flight I started chatting with my neighbor in the row behind me, she was from Key West and on her way to visit Iceland. After I gave her some tips on things to visit in Iceland she told me she never saw snow before in her life and asked me where she could buy a winter jacket after I told her it was going to be cold in Iceland.. Florida people haha

It was a full house, but not for me! And yes, all flight attendants were blonde!

Icelandic breakfast at 4.30am, it was already well into the daylight!

5th stop: Copenhagen
After a short 2 hour layover in Iceland, where we were able to get some fresh air outside the airport, it was time to fly further to Copenhagen. In Copenhagen we took the metro to the famous Nyhavn where we walked around. This day I met with Hjalmar, a friend from University who is half Danish and happen to be in town as he was visiting family and friends (more on this later!). He took the time to guide us around and we saw some nice sights, like the Mermaid and views from an observation tower.

 

City tour by Hjalmar!

6th stop: Sweden
The final stop of this trip was Malmö. After a nice afternoon in Copenhagen we took the train across the border to Malmö where we met with Javi, a friend from Spain who now lives in Malmö. I met Javi during his exchange in Utrecht and we kept in touch ever since! He picked us up from the train station, just after he finished work and we walked around the city and chilled in a park before heading to his place where we spend the night. The next morning we had a little bit time left to walk around the city center before heading back to Copenhagen airport for our flight back, which is 15min by train from downtown Malmö.

Malmö city center

The flight back home was with Transavia, and we were able to get it for a highly discounted price of just EUR 10 (this trick does not work anymore!). Actually, it did not make a difference if I bought two or three tickets and that is the reason why I asked Hjalmar if he wanted to go to Copenhagen because I would buy his return flight. He agreed and I bought the flight for him in exchange for the guided tour he gave me the day before! Good deal right? The flight home was only 1 hour and went smoothly. This was the end of a very busy but so awesome mini world trip! I was really happy I did so much and met so many people in such a short time! Want to know what this trip costed me? I will explain it next!

Cost overview
This overview shows how much I spend during this trip on the fixed items like flights, accomodation and transportation costs. The costs per person (so rentals/ubers/hotels are split).

Flights
Amsterdam – Mexico – Miami:                EUR 55 (+25k airline miles)
Palm Beach – Bahamas – Palm Beach:  EUR 40 (approx)
Miami – Iceland – Copenhagen:              EUR 40
Copenhagen – Eindhoven:                          EUR 10 
Total                                                                      EUR 145

Accommodation
Miami:                                                        Free
Bahamas:                                                   EUR 45
Sweden:                                                      Free
Total:                                                            EUR 45

Transportation
Ubers in Mexico:                                      EUR 10
Rental C\car 2 days:                                EUR 65
Rental car 1 day:                                        EUR 30
Airport ferry Bimini:                              EUR 5
Metro Copenhagen:                                EUR 4
Train Denmark-Sweden RT:               EUR 22
Total                                                              EUR 136

The fact that I traveled to so many countries on this trip for approx 300 euro proves once again that travelling doesn’t have to be expensive, as long as you are able to use some smart tricks and are flexible enough! Ofcourse you don’t always have friends living in the places you want to visit, but you can get in touch with locals via couchsurfing for example!

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