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15 cheaper ways to tour Europe
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With the weak dollar, you have to travel smart. That means doing a lot of research before you leave home and avoiding the places and things that suck up your money — within reason. After all, you are on vacation.
Ouch! Ai! Aie! Autsch!
That’s the sound you’ll be hearing all over Europe as U.S. travelers discover how very weak their dollars have become.
The last time my husband and I visited France, in 2002, the dollar and the euro were more or less equal. On our return trip five years later, the euro was about 40% stronger — and it made a big difference in where we stayed, what we ate and, to a lesser extent, what we did with our time.
You can still have a wonderful visit, but the following tips will help you stretch your money at a time when $6 coffees and $300 shoebox-sized hotel rooms are the norm:
Research like crazy — and be flexible. There’s no substitute for shopping around when it comes to finding great deals on airlines and hotels. No single source always has the best prices; I’ve booked cheap vacations from consolidators, travel agents and third-party travel Web sites as well as directly with airlines and hotels. Several of our friends also swear by the package deals offered off-season by airlines, including United and Virgin. Check them all out, and make sure to look at different departure and return dates. Traveling midweek generally cuts costs, and moving your visit by a few weeks can also save a bundle. Also, check your frequent-flier miles; although it’s harder to book reward flights in peak seasons, you may still be able to find seats on less-popular routes and flights.
Consider a non-euro destination. You can still travel cheap to certain European countries that don’t use the euro, but you have to pick your non-euro country wisely. Americans’ top European destination, the United Kingdom, still uses the pound but is no bargain; ditto for Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland. But Eastern European destinations such as Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania offer culture, dramatic architecture and a decent exchange rate.
Where we go
| International destinations of U.S. travelers | |
|---|---|
| Western Europe | 40% |
| United Kingdom | 14% |
| France | 9% |
| Italy | 7% |
| Germany | 6% |
| Netherlands | 3% |
| Spain | 3% |
| Ireland | 3% |
| Switzerland | 2% |
| Austria | 2% |
| Asia | 19% |
| Caribbean | 18% |
| South America | 9% |
| Central America | 7% |
| Eastern Europe | 4% |
| Oceania | 3% |
| Africa | 2% |
Rent an apartment. If you’re staying at least a week in one place, renting a flat is often more economical than staying in a hotel. We found a cozy little apartment on Ile St. Louis in Paris that worked out to about $150 a night, including all fees; the least expensive hotel we could find in the same neighborhood was more than $200 a night, not including taxes. The apartment had a kitchen, which saved us money on meals, and a washer/dryer combination, which allowed us to pack exceptionally light. Of course, it was on the fifth floor of a building that had no elevator, but we figured the exercise was good for us. You can find apartment rental agencies in every major city; locate them with an Internet search, or ask your well-traveled friends for recommendations.
Don’t overpack. Too much stuff means you’ll wind up taking taxis instead of the cheap public transit that connects most European airports and city centers. You also could pay extra if you have more luggage than airlines allow. I toured India with a single suitcase and managed a 10-day trip to France with one carry-on bag, so I’ve learned that packing light pays off. (You might want to stuff a collapsible duffle bag into your suitcase, however, to bring home any treasures you buy overseas.) Stick to one basic color scheme for clothing, like dark blue or black, and try to make sure each piece works with all the other pieces for maximum variety. Good leather walking shoes, preferably in black, are another must; nothing screams “U.S. tourist” like white sneakers.
Tip the right way. It’s not true that Europeans don’t expect tips, but it is true that the rules are different. Use a guidebook to brush up on the rules of each country before you land, and avoid the mistake I made of overtipping a Parisian taxi driver by $20 and failing to tip a wonderful Italian waiter who bent over backward to make our evening memorable.
How it happens, what you can do to help prevent it and why you may be tempted to give up your seat voluntarily.
Use the right credit cards — and call your issuer. A few years ago, using your MasterCard or Visa for most purchases was a great idea, since you got the best possible exchange rate (the one offered to major banks). Now, many major issuers — including Bank of America, Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo — are tacking an extra 2% fee on top of the 1% fee charged by Visa and MasterCard. Only two cards, Capital One and Discover, waive the fee entirely, and Discover isn’t widely accepted outside North America. Check with your card issuers to see which issuer charges the least, and use that card for most of your purchases. Be sure to take at least one extra card and to let your issuers know in advance when you’ll be out of the country. On our honeymoon in Spain, our credit card issuer cut off access to our card, convinced that our overseas purchases were a sign of fraud. Fortunately, we had a spare card with us, averting what could have been a disaster.
Fees for international transactions
| Issuer | Fee |
|---|---|
| Capital One | 0% |
| Discover* | 0% |
| Washington Mutual | 1% |
| American Express | 2% |
| Pulaski Bank | 2% |
| Barclays/Juniper Bank | 2% to 3%** |
| Bank of America | 3% |
| Chase | 3% |
| Citibank | 3% |
| GE Money | 3% |
| HSBC | 1% to 3%** |
| U.S. Bank | 3% |
| Wells Fargo | 3% |
Use your ATM card for cash. Banks are cashing in by charging higher fees for overseas transactions, but you’re still better off using ATMs than most currency-exchange kiosks. Just make sure you withdraw large amounts — $200 to $300 at a time — so that the $1.50-to-$3 fees your bank charges don’t add up. (Also, make sure you know your numeric PIN — European keypads usually don’t have letters on them — and try to make your withdrawals at a bank during business hours, in case your card gets eaten.) If you do use a currency-exchange service, pick one that posts the rates at which it buys as well as sells currency. The rip-off places are the ones that post only the selling price, or the ones that have more than a 5% gap between the two prices.
Keep your receipts. If you shop a lot, you can get a refund of the value-added tax (VAT) you pay in European countries. This is something you’ll need to do at the airport on your way out of the country, but the small hassle can be worth the savings — up to 25% of what you spent. Follow the instructions in your guidebook for claiming your refund.
Investigate to save. Speaking of guidebooks, get one that’s compatible with your budget and tastes. In my young, single days, I was a huge fan of the Lonely Planet guides and Rick Steves’ “Through the Back Door” books. They’re perfect for the budget-minded traveler, with excellent information on hostels, cheap eats and inexpensive amusements. I still check one of these out of the library when planning our trips. But now we tend to take more upscale books like Fodor’s that offer more midpriced options, as well as detailed guides to museums and cultural attractions. Read through a few guidebooks at the bookstore before you decide.
Get a museum pass. Most major cities allow you to buy one-, three- or five-day passes that get you into major museums. Not only do these passes tend to pay for themselves with just a few visits, but they also allow you to skip the hours-long lines at popular museums like the Louvre in Paris and the Uffizi in Florence. That alone would have been worth paying a premium.
Scope out transit options. Public transportation in Europe tends to be efficient, cheap and safe. The Tube will get you just about anywhere you need to go in London — including back and forth from Heathrow. Trains and the Metro do the same in Paris. Many other cities, such as Florence and Venice, are small enough that you’ll be able to walk just about everywhere you want to go, or you can rent a scooter. There’s really no reason to rent cars, which are expensive to park in cities; save that for trips to the countryside. Your guidebook will tell you where to buy transit passes. Another great option: renting bicycles. Despite narrow streets and cobblestones, most European cities are very bike-friendly, and you can cover a lot of ground with little effort. In Paris, a road that runs along the Seine River is off-limits to cars on Sundays and holidays, and fills instead with walkers, skaters and whole families out for a bike ride.
Eat like the natives. A popular piece of budget travel advice is to eat your largest meal at lunch, when prices are cheaper. But we’ve found dinner to be the main social event in most countries, and have had good luck getting overseas friends (or friends of friends) to give us recommendations for great places — some pricey, some not. In order to splurge, we typically have light breakfasts and picnic lunches in local parks. We also alternate less expensive dinners in university districts, which cater to starving students, with fancier dinners recommended by city natives.
How it happens, what you can do to help prevent it and why you may be tempted to give up your seat voluntarily.
Shop like a native. One way to really save money is not to shop at all, but few of us can resist the urge to bring back some booty. For the best deals, avoid the shops and stalls around tourist attractions; instead visit the department stores and even grocers that locals use. Which would you rather have: an Eiffel Tower refrigerator magnet or a jar of real French jam? A cheap plastic statue of the David, or a bottle of Italian olive oil? I’m also a big fan of real flea markets, not the overpriced tchotchke markets aimed at tourists that you find operating in city centers most days of the week. Typically, the real flea markets are held once or twice a month in slightly-off-the-beaten-path neighborhoods and attended mostly by locals. In Florence, for example, I found great deals on secondhand pottery, antique fabrics and old lithographs, along with headless Barbies and enormous vinyl record collections, at the flea market on Piazza dei Ciompi; it’s held on the last Sunday of each month. Prices are negotiable, so you’ll need to exercise your haggling skills.
Check out the countryside. This advice is purely “do as I say, not as I do,” because our love of museums keeps us pretty much nailed to big cities. If you can break away from urban areas, though, you’ll often find more reasonable rates for food and lodging in rural areas and smaller cities.
Next time, go in the shoulder season. Technically, winter is the cheapest time to visit Europe, but six years of living in Alaska made me allergic to cold weather as well as reluctant to cart the heavy coats, hats and gloves needed to survive a February day in London. Instead, we tend to visit Europe in the spring or fall, when hotel rates are still cheaper than the busy summer season and there are (relatively speaking) fewer tourists.