Just Back from Europe: 10 Lessons of Rewarding, Cost-Conscious Travel

My daughter's recent trip to Europe (to Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and Poland) was of one month's duration, and my own recent trip there (to Poland) was for four days. We both agreed, on returning, that no matter how frequently we fly trans-Atlantic, and for whatever length of time, there were lessons to be learned or emphasized from the experience. (Some are painfully obvious, but need periodically to be discussed.)

[image error] Photo Caption: Street scene in Gdansk, Poland. The Wordsmith/Frommers.com Community

1.) Increasingly, the most pleasant and yet economical way to experience Europe is to establish a base in one city for five days to a week, and to rent an apartment rather than a hotel for lodgings. Pauline did this in Northern Ireland, where she and her family stayed for a week, later in Krakow (Poland) where she and her younger daughter stayed for five days, and later in Gdansk (five days). In all three places, a housekeeping apartment gave them both the most pleasant of spacious lodgings for far less than they would have spent at an equivalent hotel.

2.) The best means for obtaining such an apartment were local real estate brokers in two locations (found through Google) and an actual apartment owner in another. She concluded that she had greater confidence in the worth and value of those apartments than if he had gone through one of the giant international real estate brokers that can't possibly be familiar with all the properties they rent.

3.) Never change your money at airport or train station kiosks, or by using any commercial money changer -- all of them basing the transaction on badly disadvantageous rates of exchange. Use those facilities only for the smallest amount of money you will need on arrival, and then change all additional amounts at a bank ATM machine now found in every city. ATMs give the best rate.

4.) Unless you are certain you will need to use unattended gasoline filling stations or unattended rail ticket kiosks in the course of your trip, don't succumb to the offer of a U.S.-issued chip-and-PIN credit card. Currently, the cost of such cards and the rates of exchange on the foreign currencies loaded into them, are grossly unfavorable. You can generally rely on your own, U.S., magnetic-stripe card unless you know in advance that you will at some point need to use an unattended kiosk.

5.) Using one of the budget airlines -- Easyjet or others -- for your intra-European trips may save you a great deal of money, unless you are carrying large and heavy suitcases whose weight will incur catastrophic extra charges. If you are traveling light, then even the charge for your checked luggage will fail to wipe out the savings these airlines provide.

6.) Be careful to turn off "data roaming" on your cellphone while traveling in Europe. Charges can otherwise be disastrous.

7.) Sharing dishes at a European restaurant is an important means of saving money. Portions are usually huge, too much for comfortable dining, and you will not simply save large amounts but emerge from your meals feeling vigorous and at ease.

8.) Independent sightseeing is almost always to be preferred to the escorted variety. By not taking guided tours on hop-on hop-off buses, Pauline and her daughter felt like discoverers when they stumbled onto the Royal Road in Gdansk or into the historic cores of Krakow and Warsaw. They later took a walking tour of both Krakow (lousy; they aborted 15 minutes into it; it was a free one) and Gdansk (very good) to get some background, but approaching it on their own and forming their own impressions was much more satisfying.

9.) Reading about the destination in advance makes an enormous difference. Because Pauline read about the rapaciousness of the Teutonic Knights before she arrived in Poland, she had a very different reaction to Malbork that she would have derived from the sanitized version conveyed by the local tour companies.

10.) Finally, make a check-list for the contents of your suitcase, and adhere to it. If you do, you'll end up taking half the clothing you otherwise would unnecessarily bring, and your trip will be tremendously improved by the tiny suitcase you bring along.