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<p>A rather provincial view of the world? </p>
<p>As we say in Texas … Calmom, bless your heart!</p>
<p>We have also used hotwire and priceline for over 8+ years. And yes that is what we used for graduation in 4 weeks as well. The discounted rate for the “football” and “club” parents was $225 per night.</p>
<p>Same hotel hotwire price $40ish, and it has free breakfast!</p>
<p>Love, love hotwire. To figure out which hotel is which use betterbidding.com Priceline can be cheaper, but not always.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I’m becoming a great fan of Hotwire (Priceline, not as much). Gave gotten into hotels I could not otherwise afford, especially for DC! I guess the key is flexibility & willnigness to buy without being POSITIVE about where you’re staying before buying</p>
<p>Hostels in Europe can be nice. And they do have a lot of older clientel and sometimes private rooms. Just a matter of reading up on the reviews and avoiding any that emphasize things that are not appealing to you - like the place with the “yay free porn and here’s where to hide your drug stash” reviews I read when I was planning the girlscout trip (though now I think that was a hotel). I even went personally and checked out a couple of youth hostels in London when I was planning the trip and would have been fine staying in them. My brother and his wife are real tightwads and always stay in hostels when they travel around Europe. He is turning 60 this year and she. (when they came to visit us here in the states a few years back they tried very hard to convince me we should all stay in a hostel when we went to San Antonio for a few days - as my husband had recently been very ill and was on Oxygen 24/7 and I had booked well in advance and had a nice hotel right on the riverwalk at a very good price I was not willing to change).</p>
<p>O.K. . Airfares still are still too high. Hope that window opens soon. On to hostels and hotels. D and her entourage 
have scoped out several choices and read reviews on a bunch of them. It appears that the 3 of them will stay under or barely over $150 US a night at a mix of hostels and small hotels. Does that sound about right? Would y’all book these in advance? Seems to defeat the freedom of travel a little too much to me but D is pretty conservative about things like this.</p>
<p>Curmudgeon – Has your D looked at Venere.com for in her search for hotels? I found this site, recommended by several seasoned travelers on the Fodors European forums, to be very useful in filling in the gaps left after searches using kayak.com. I was also looking to book quads (or two rooms) and found some excellent deals on independent hotels in Milan, Florence and Paris. One nice thing about Venere is that your credit card is not charged until you check into the hotel. I can’t recall the penalty for a last minute cancellation as this never came into play. Worth taking a look, however.</p>
<p>Maybe a suggestion if airfares remain too high…</p>
<p>Rent either a convertible or small RV (sleeps 4 maybe), depending on preference and cruise up and down the CA coast on highway 1. Stop and see the sights in SF, Big Sur, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara…taste wine and visit in Sonoma and Napa counties, hit disneyland for a day or two, surf, watch the whales and sea lions…</p>
<p>Do the touristy things and then do a bunch of non-touristy things. The small RV would let them pick and choose hotels when they want and then sleep at the beach when they feel like it. The convertible would force hotels but that can be good and bad. Use hotwire and priceline for the trip with the cheapest prices you can find. Kinda like a treasure hunt with a scavanger hunt thrown in.</p>
<p>Have some of it planned out and other stuff just winging it. Maybe the zoo in san diego along with surfing and great mexican food! Catalina island…San Juan, or visit all the missions…</p>
<p>My kiddos would love this, thought yours might too if Europe doesn’t work out.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Thanks hudsonvalley. I’ll send it along. </p>
<p>And kat, I’ve suggested NYC, Montreal, and Quebec City. Train along the Hudson is quite nice up to Montreal.</p>
<p>dh just read in wsj that airfare to europe is probably as low as it is going to be for this summer season - that it is expected to climb some soon…
someone else noted that airfare is cheaper on Tues/Wed which I had previously heard several times , but then also noted that airfares jump in Fri/sat as weekend shoppers are looking - so I checked on a trip we are looking at for my son and his gf to the Middle East and yes, the fares went up some on the weekend.</p>
<p>There is also a train up through Alaska, maybe start in BC, drive some and take the train up through that area. </p>
<p>Doesn’t sound like you are having much luck in changing the destination though! I completely understand stubborn kittens…</p>
<p>But sometimes they have been known to change their minds.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>Have her consider a trip to Australia and New Zealand. There are som INCREDIBLE deals being offered right now on Virgin and Quantas, with multiple stops, for around $1000 total airfare. My s is there right now. Has had a helluva 3 week vacation (and no worries fromthat pesky volcano). And he did stay in a hostel for a night or 2 in New Zealand. Said many of the visitors would pick up a few hours of work here and there each day or so to be able to pay for their lodging and bungee jumping (apparently the decond highest in the world). Errr… he didn’t say what <em>kind</em> of work they did.</p>
<p>He’s been to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Frasier Island in Australia, and Queensland and Christchurch (I believe) in New Zealand. He didn’t make it over to Tazmania. Curmie-- talk to her-- Australia has been incredible. Just loooong flight.</p>
<p>Something I did in Europe one trip was to camp about every other night. It’s pretty cheap. I just used a tent and bags. However, I had a rental car so it made carting the stuff around easier. Camping in Europe isn’t what I’m used to out here in the west - out here one finds an isolated spot in the wilderness and just camps there or they find a forest or national park service campground in a scenic natural area and camps there. In Europe most of the campgrounds were in a town or adjacent to the edge of town - not in a wilderness area (although I guess they might have those too). This made finding them and staying in them easier but again, somewhat too civilized from what I was used too but I didn’t camp there for a wilderness expereince - at the time it was for an ‘economical’ experience. The campgrounds were usually a field of grass and had a building with showers, etc. Many of the Europeans are camping there in their little trailers and seem to have a great time of it. The ‘every other night’ was to allow some recovery time in between at a hotel.</p>
<p>In the last 10 years or so a lot more less expensive cookie cutter style motels have popped up in Europe - something they didn’t used to have. Chains in the UK include Travelodge and Premier Travel Inn. There are more chains elsewhere. They’re not full of culture and not terribly fancy or historical but they’re relatively inexpensive and plentiful. They’re comparable to a Comfort Inn (not as lowly as Motel 6). These kinds of motels are more plentiful in the outskirts of town rather than the city centers but somethimes there are some in the city centers as well (such as London) although the cost often increases in the city centers.</p>
<p>The only hotel reservations I’ve ever made on my European trips (outside of business ones) were for the arrival and departure nights since those were fixed and I knew where I’d be. In between I’d just manage to find someplace. I usually did okay but every now and then it’s a challenge.</p>
<p>If they have their hearts set on Europe for this big trip I think they should just suck it up and pay the airfares. In the grand scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal and they could pay the difference off in no time even with a lower paying part time job. They’ll likely regret it if they skip the trip for the sake of a few hundred dollar airfare difference.</p>
<p>Make sure she gets a travel book. Lets Go Europe or Lonely Planet</p>
<p>I just bought her the Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring. She already has two others and is a regular now on the tripadvisor forums. She knew about venere and will check out Fodor’s forums. A little data overload, but she is my D. Anything worth doing is worth more overdoing. ;)</p>
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<p>$150 seems a little on the high side for 3 people, but if they are going for smaller rooms (fewer guests per room), it is what it is. I don’t think I paid more than 30 euros for a bed, and that would’ve been almost $50 when I was there, but the exchange rate was almost at 1.6/1</p>
<p>What I would suggest, is that you book the next hostel from your current hostel. So, once you decide you are leaving Paris and taking the Thursday night train to Rome, you can book your Rome hostel for Friday night to whenever from Paris. This leaves you the option if you want to stay an extra day or something. But, it puts your reservation in ahead of the people who go without, and just plan on getting a bed when they arrive in the city.</p>
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That’s more my way of thinking. I’ll suggest it.</p>
<p>BTW, D called at 2:00a.m… Gee, she knows me pretty well (I don’t sleep much). Says they have given up on late June , now they want to go May 25th-ish. $300+ price drop. May it is. ;)</p>
<p>I used this when I traveled with my family to spain several years ago. Accommodations are well located, clean and she even suggests rooms. Lots of great information on traveling affordably. </p>
<p>[French</a> hotels - Spain hotels - Italian hotels - helloeurope.com homepage Guides to Budget Hotels in Europe from $40-$90 a night for 2 including a private bath in the room. Bonus - also avaliable Virgin Island rental short term and long term beach fro](<a href=“http://www.helloeurope.com/]French”>http://www.helloeurope.com/)</p>
<p>Thanks. Sending info to D so she can see if any libraries near her have it. </p>
<p>D’s bunch purchased their tickets to Rome (hey, at least I got them out of flying into London) yesterday for $772 (all taxes and fees included) from Cleveland one-stop going and coming, no tight connections. Cleveland, you ask? So did I. But both travel-mates can get to the Cleve by car (one lives there) so…at least SW flies from Dallas. Still , it saves her over $200 and saves the boys a bunch. </p>
<p>The bad news? She is home from the roomie’s wedding for 36 hours before she leaves for Rome.</p>
<p>Curm,
"Travel to Europe in June </p>
<p>The soon-to-be college grad wants to go for 2 weeks. Wants to see London, Paris, Barcelona, Florence, Venice, Rome but could drop London and Barcelona. "</p>
<p>Way too many places. I would focus on 2 and no more, better yet, one. So much to see at each. That many places that absolutely filled with culture, history and unbelievable pieces of art that one wants to stare forever and ever, that would be way too sketchy and kind of shallow experience if visiting more than couple cities.</p>
<p>I second Miami’s post. A week is the bare minimum one needs to spend in a major European city to be able to appreciate its cultural offerings! My friend who went to Paris for a week last year felt the same way.</p>