Europe on $5 a Day - stories?

EarlVanDorn
Wed, 06 Jan 2016 23:02:05 +0000

My daughter and I have taken several trips to Europe over the past few years. Twice we stayed over after a family vacation, and once we went by ourselves. We weren’t quite on a super-budget plan, but we did try to save money. One of the best ways to save is to get a really cheap airfare or find a 60,000-point reward ticket, which we usually are able to do.

One thing I’ve done several times is to buy Choice Hotel points during an annual Daily Getaways promotion that has been held anywhere from March to June each year. These points are offered for about .45 cents each. I was able to use 10,000 points as part of a special to get some very nice rooms at a hotel off St. Mark’s Square (three times!), as well as Paris redemptions for 16,000 and 20,000 points (so that comes out to $45, 72, and 90, all of which are good rates for the hotels where we stayed. Note that to get these points you need lightning fast fingers, because they sell out in about 15 seconds.

We spent a few days traveling on the Saar and Mosel on bikes and staying at youth hostels or point hotels. One of the things we noticed is that there are no youths in the official you hostels. Plenty of families, youth groups, young couples, old couples, etc., but no college kids. The food wasn’t too grand and was in desperate need of salt, and I was unable to find a salt shaker anywhere. So if you plan on staying at any of these hostels, pack your own salt; ketchup, too.

All in all we had a grand time, and I’d love to try to do a full 10 days or two weeks on bikes. You really see things in a different way from the seat of a bike.