sorting out the money

I've been trying to get my head around just how much money we're going to need while we're away. We've paid for the major travel expenses, most of our sightseeing in London and some for Paris and Rome, deposits on the three apartments (and the London one needs to be paid in full before we leave). So basically it's down to the balance of the accommodation, some entry fees and local transport, and food and basic supplies for the apartments.

We'll have a kitchen and a washing machine in each place, so we can live fairly cheaply (we like good food, but we're not really 'foodies'; we're not into serious shopping - no plans for French frocks or Italian boots; and we're not even going to attempt to see everything in one trip - we'd prefer to spend some time soaking in the local culture rather than paying to go into every museum and gallery and tourist attraction and historical site). We'd like some nice meals out over the five weeks, but we're not hunting Michelin-starred restaurants or the latest trendy and expensive bistro.

So what's it going to cost? How long is a piece of string?!

I joined the Slow Travel online community some time back, and there is a wealth of information, both on the main site and in the forums. At the risk of sounding daft, I asked this very question. I can look up exchange rates, but that doesn't tell me a lot about the cost of living in another place. One reply I received said that 20 euros per day should be fine in Rome if we're doing our own cooking, and that wouldn't be skimping on groceries - Italians would live on less that that most days, but we obviously won't be buying in bulk or from discount supermarkets out in the suburbs.

So what I've come up with is allowing 100 GBP per day in England, and 100 euro per day in France and Italy, pre-loaded onto a Travel Money card along with the apartment rent balances for Paris and Rome, accessible via ATMs and which can also be used like a credit card at point of sale (and which is NOT linked to a bank account). I'll take 100 GBP in cash to get us started. And I'll also have my normal ATM card and credit card as backup, although I'm hoping not to use them.

And I just have to hope I've got it roughly right!