‘Food, drinks for ₹1.85 lakh’: Bengaluru couple breaks down ₹6.85 lakh budget for 15-day Europe trip
The couple’s expenses for a three-person trip to Europe prompted a range of reactions on Instagram.
An Indian couple’s transparent financial breakdown of their recent European vacation has caught the internet’s attention. Sharing on Instagram, Megha and Shubham revealed that their 15-day summer journey through Amsterdam, Belgium, and Italy for a family of three cost ₹6.85 lakh. The couple listed major expenses such as flights, local transportation, and sightseeing. What surprised social media the most was their food bill, which touched ₹1.85 lakh.

“How much does a 15-day Europe summer trip for a family of 3 really cost in 2026? Flights, hotels, trains, food, shopping, gelatos, and all the little surprises in between,” reads the caption of a post shared along with a video on the joint Instagram page of the couple, Megha and Shubham.
The video opened with a text insert that read, “What our summer Europe trip cost.” As the clip continued, Megha shared how people share pictures and memories from their trips but the couple have chosen to give a detailed breakdown of their 2026 trip for a family of three for 15 days. The couple revealed that they visited Amsterdam, Belgium, and Italy.
The detailed breakdown:
“Flight, visa and insurance: ₹2.1 lakh. Accommodation: ₹95,000,” the couple shared, with Megha adding that the accommodation expense was low as at some places they stayed with their family and friends.
The couple then revealed that for their transportation within Europe, which included flights, trains, trams, and buses, they had spent nearly ₹80,000.
“Now coming to expenses on our food and drinks. Let’s just say there was a lot of gluttony involved,” Megha jokes, adding “Food and drinks: ₹1.85 lakh.”
While they paid a lot of ₹75,000 for sightseeing, their miscellaneous expenses were about ₹40,000. At this point, Shubham calculated, “That brought our total Euro trip expense to ₹6.85 lakh.”
Megha continued, “Was it expensive. Very. Would we do it again?” Shubham responded, “In a heartbeat.”
(Hindustantimes.com has reached out to the duo who go by “the12absproject” on Instagram. This report will be updated when they respond.)
What did social media say?
An individual wrote, “Everything is good. How come food and drinks are so expensive? Did you also spend on others when going for lunch and dinner? For 2 people, it seems a lot.” The couple responded, “No, not really. But per day we almost spent 10k on food, which included breakfast, lunch and dinner. So that's not much. I think in India we would spend that much too. So for 15 days that's 1.5lakhs. Along with that we spent on desserts, drinks on top of that.”
Also Read: Gurugram techie says ₹1.5 lakh salary 'feels like ₹15,000' after EMI and rent
Another expressed, “We covered 9 countries for 22 days with Indian Punjabi lunch and dinner, complimentary breakfast daily, 3 to 4 star accommodation in every place, beautiful and comfortable coach for 4 lakhs , it was a superb trip.” The couple replied, “That’s awesome.” A third posted, “Wow. Hope you enjoyed it a lot.
ABOUT THE AUTHORTrisha SenguptaTrisha Sengupta works as Chief Content Producer at Hindustan Times with over six years of experience in the digital newsroom. Known for her ability to decode the internet’s most talked-about moments, she specialises in high-engagement storytelling that bridges the gap between viral trends and traditional journalism. Throughout her tenure, Trisha has focused on the intersection of technology, finance, and human emotion. She frequently covers personal finance and real estate struggles in hubs like Gurgaon, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, while also documenting the unique challenges of the NRI experience. Her work often highlights the movements and philosophies of global newsmakers and personalities like Elon Musk, Mukesh Ambani, Nikhil Kamath, Dubai crown prince, and MrBeast. From reporting on Amazon or Meta layoffs and startup culture to the emergence of AI-driven platforms like Grok and xAI, she provides a grounded and empathetic perspective on the stories shaping our world. When not decoding the internet, Trisha is likely offline: lost in a book, exploring a historical ruin, or navigating the world as a solo traveler. She balances her fast-paced career with family time and a healthy dose of curiosity, currently trading her "human" sources for silicon ones as she masters AI to future-proof her storytelling.Read More

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