Europe – Maximizing Your Budget

Susan Sullivan, in Texas, travels with some women-friends and asked if I had any tips to s..t..r..e.. t..c..h those Euros further.

There are 1,000′s of articles and books on that subject, but this is what I do, have done, and suggest.

If you’re talking about two weeks, limit yourself to one country, two at the most and travel around.

Train hop - buy a rail pass – single, or multiple country – RailEurope. Try not to ever train on a Saturday or Sunday without a reservation on popular routes unless you have a 1st class pass or ticket. It is mobbed!

Use your ATM card. I’ve always found it to have the best conversion rate and, on a side note, love to hear that little machine chugging away, spitting out my money!

We aren’t backpackers/youth hostel people, and don’t like sharing bathrooms with others (unless there is no choice) so I’m not talking “spending months in Europe on $1,000.” And, a little spontaneity goes a long way for me. I like to start with a beginning hotel reservation, and then move on. Try , or Hotelopia. However, most airports, and train stations have room-finding booths, and can help you if that’s your druthers.

Air? Just keep searching all the sites…try entering different days…sometimes it makes a huge difference travelling on a Thursday vs. Friday. Look at some of the “cheap” airlines…check cheapo or visit AirfaresBasement.com to find low cost quality fares

For summer think:

- Slovenia (including the tour operator we are going to use in May, Helia)

- Turkey – go on the Adventure Center site – they only have 77 different Turkey trips to choose from

old Roman theater

Antalya

- Croatia

- or Greece.

Mountain resort areas in France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria are great places to go. Summer hotel rates go down while the majority of Europeans rush to the beach areas. You can bike, hike, walk, golf, soak in the atmosphere, spa or do nothing.

There are so many beautiful, charming, and reasonable places to go in these countries, a few we’ve been to are:

Kitzbuhel and Mayrhofen, in Austria;

typical Tyrolean town in Austria

Interlaken, Zermatt (see previous articles on Zermatt), and anywhere along Lake Geneva, in Switzerland;

Annency,Chamonix (Mont Blanc area), in France;

soaking up atmosphere in Chamonix

Meran/Merano (not glass-blowing Merano around Venice but Merano in the Bolzano area), the regions of Lake Como (how about the real Bellagio), Lake Orta, etc. Many other areas of Italy are very hot during the Summer. Save Rome, Florence, Venice, Tuscany, Amalfi Coast for off-season.

Food? It’s difficult to get a terrible meal…a crowded restaurant filled with locals is usually a good sign…ask your hotel/pension for recommendations. Look at the menus posted outside every restaurant. Breakfast is usually included wherever you stay – stoke up! And you may also want to eat Dinner at your hotel – 1/2 Board (Breakfast and Dinner) is sometimes more reasonable than eating out. Dinners are more expensive than a comparable meal in the U.S. would be, and portions are much smaller. That’s not necessarily bad…a 1/4 of a chicken instead of 1/2 a chicken (U.S. portion-size) helps take a little weight off. You can economize by shopping for a meal at the local market or supermarket. Cheese, meats, pastries, wine or beer for dinner makes a great meal, and you know everything is fresh.

Ask for a carafe of ordinary tap water in restaurants. It is perfectly safe to drink in most of the countries mentioned above. Occasionally, a restaurant will refuse and then you have the option to buy a bottle or, walk out…been there, done it. Once upon a time, you had to grovel…big time…before a waiter would bring “ordinary” tap water to your table, but how times have changed! Even Europeans have carafes of tap water on their tables these days.

Anything else? E-mail, and I’ll try to answer…Bon Voyage, Ciao and Happy Planning!