VISITING London can be great, but one couple decided to ditch the Big Smoke for a trip abroad and they managed to do it for less than a day out in the capital.
Nick Choudhury, 45, and his girlfriend, Laura Allcock, 45, decided they wanted a trip abroad but had a tight budget and schedule.
So, the duo decided to fly to Milan in Italy and back, in just a day, for £27.
The couple set off from London Stansted at 7:25am on November 8, arriving in the fashion capital of the world just a couple of hours later.
During the day, the couple spent a total of £115 each, which included their return flights.
Nick, a programme manager from Ealing, London, said: “Planning trips is a military operation for us – we have to work around budgets, childcare and school holidays.
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“We both always wanted to travel but being grown-ups just got in the way of life.
“We wanted to go away for the day and get as much value for money as possible, while still enjoying ourselves.
“On the way home, we were asking ourselves ‘is this all we spent?’.”
The couple had seen other people doing similar ‘extreme day trips’ online for a while, but Milan was their first time trying one for themselves.
“It was such a nice day,” Nick added.
When in Milan the duo started by enjoying a coffee and a pastry each, they then purchased an all-day metro ticket (£6.70pp) so they could hop on and off transport as they liked throughout the day.
According to Nick, the metro was comparable to the tube in London.
As for activities, the couple headed to Piazzale Cadorna and explored the square before heading to the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘Last Supper’ – they spent €15 (£13.26) on tickets.
Nick said: “The reverence hits you straight away.
“You can feel the history, it’s calming. It takes you to another place.”
After this they decided to hop on a tram to the cathedral and wandered around Piazza del Duomo.
They also visited the famous shopping arcade, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
The couple had prebooked one activity online, which was to go into the terraces of the cathedral – Duomo di Milano.
This cost £22.91 per person and included a pass to use the lift.
Nick said: “It’s stunning, the level of detail is crazy. I would recommend pre-booking that.”
Starbucks then provided a cheap spot for another coffee and pastry.
The final activity the couple chose to do was to visit the Navigli canal district, with picturesque canals and a vibrant social scene.
While the couple didn’t book a sit-down meal, they snacked on street foods such as panzerotti – deep-fried cheese-filled dough pockets – to ensure they didn’t go hungry.
They were even invited into a cafe by a host who said they had no customers, so he gave them a discount on their order as a result.
Following this, the duo got back on a bus – which cost £17.63 per person, for a return – to the airport and landed back down in London Stansted at 11:45pm, where they had parked their car for £17 for the day.
Nick said: “We wanted to get the main bits done – any more and we would have been rushed.
“We wanted to experience Milan in a relaxed way.
“We used public transport and walked as much as possible. Milan is a very connected place.”
He added: “We’ll definitely go back – and I’ve already booked another ‘extreme day trip’ to go to Pisa in December with my children.
“It was great – and it cost no more than if we’d been out in London for the day.”