Category Archives: Travel-Budget

Ways To Save On Accommodation In Europe

Camping. A word that strikes horror into the mind of many people of all ages. It’s the whole tent thing usually — or the idea of sleeping on the ground — or the bugs and crawly things. Yuck!!!

But what if you could save a packet of cash compared to the cost of a bog-standard and often rather characterless or ugly hotel room in Europe by staying in a campground? And what if it did not require sleeping in a tent to save that money? Do I have your attention yet???

Some campgrounds call them bungalows or cabins and some call them chalets. But if you can picture a miniature house that is all kitted out with built in furniture and bedrooms or bathrooms in Lilliputian proportions, that should give you an idea of what I am describing.

The examples below are from two out of three different stays that we had in campgrounds as we travelled from Germany to southern France and then up to Normandy in northern France. The two cabins that I took pictures of are quite different in appearance but in both cases they were well insulated and cozy and had double-glazed doors and windows for both energy efficiency and quiet from any exterior sounds. We had a brilliant night’s sleep in each of them, we had our own little kitchen to make ourselves a nice dinner and breakfast each day, and there was no noise from anyone down the hall in a hotel.

This first example was in the Auvergne, south of Burgundy in Central France. The campgrounds themselves were in a rustic area that was surrounded by farms on one side and a lake with a walking track on the other. The cabin we rented was rustic, rather ‘woody’ both inside and out, completely charming, and only cost us €39 for the night.

Mark at overnight cabin in the Midi-Pyrenees

Front porch of cabin

Larger of the 2 bedrooms in the cabin

Bathroom in the cabin

Kitchen in cabin

Diningroom through to bunkroom in cabin

The next example was a newer version of the cabin/bungalow/chalet concept and as you can see in the photos, it was an homage to pastels! We found this site whilst driving from the Atlantic oceanside stay in Mimizan that I wrote about in By The Sea, Bye The Sea — But Where Are We? up towards Normandy.

We stopped for the night in Parthenay and found the cabin below right at the edge of the medieval walled city. The tourist season had officially started since it was now after June the 1st, but it still cost us less than €70 per night for a two bedroom cabin.

Compare that to the cost of the average 2-star rated hotel room in Parthenay (€68 for the cheapest one on the day that I am writing this) that has no kitchen and no second room to sleep in if your partner is snoring or coughing or whatever and you can see why we seek these places out when we are on a driving trip.

Prior to checking in, we went to the supermarket and picked up less than €20 in groceries and had a lovely dinner that evening plus a healthy breakfast the following morning with muesli and organic yogurt accompanied by a freshly brewed expresso. Yum!

Cabin in Parthenay, France

Livingroom-diningroom in cabin at Parthenay, France

Kitchen in cabin at Parthenay, France

Larger bedroom in cabin at Parthenay, France

Smaller bedroom in cabin at Parthenay, France

Exterior deck with dining area in Parthenay, France

If a noisy hotel room in a generic motorway chain costs you upwards of €65 per night off season or €99 and up in season, how would you like to spend a mere €39 off season and €69 in high season for your own wee house? Saving an average of €30 per day adds up to a lot of extra sightseeing or purchases! And almost all of these places offer an extra 10-20% discount for stays of over 3 nights. So you can unpack and settle in for a few days with a temporary home base from which to explore a region.

The easiest way to find these little gems is by doing an internet search on, for example, campsites in France (or whatever other country in Europe you choose) with bungalows/chalets/cabins. Many of them have websites that list the features on offer plus a clearly stated price per night, per week, or the discounted rate for multiple nights.

Additional perks of these cabins usually include a swimming pool, a playground for children, and oft-times a bar or restaurant and a mini-market for last minute groceries or shampoo.

Why not give it a try and travel through Europe in a more relaxed manner by staying in family-friendly and wallet friendly accommodation.

Posted on 20 June 2011

Berlin – With Earplugs In Place!

Working our way around Europe, being very frugal, living like a local, interacting almost exclusively with each local population, and being prepared to be a bit inconvenienced at times was always firmly in our minds.

Deborah's temporary office nook

We knew when we left Australia in December and then the comfort of the family home in Norfolk, England (that we have been using as our European base), we would need to maintain a good sense of humour and the ability to live in flow.

Also, if we were going to have this long-planned trip work out well and since Europe is not exactly a budget location for travel, we’d need to find ways to stretch the euros — hence the working along the way scheme. So far, so good.

So — alright already!!! I’m living in a very noisy flow!!! And here is exactly where I am sitting as I write this post — on a white plastic garden chair in the corner of our temporary kitchen.

Here in Berlin, in addition to having a wonderful time seeing this gorgeous city, we are helping our friend Stefan to renovate the house that he has purchased and which he hopes to be moving into in 4 weeks time. Fingers are firmly crossed on that one right now because most of the house still looks like a bomb site!

This will be a beautiful place once it is complete since the rooms are spacious and there is so much light flooding in from the front and back.

It’s the traditional European style of construction — thick masonry block walls covered with brick or render on the outside and hard plaster on the inside. And it is spread out over 5 levels. You’d never guess from the outside (which looks just fine!) what is going on within. So here below is a little peek at what will need to get resolved in the next few weeks if Stefan is going to move in as planned. CLICK on the photos to enlarge.

Rubble in one of the bedrooms

Mark checking the stability of a crumbling wall

Mark and Stefan discussing the renovation

Crumbling door frame

Crumbling entry door area

I am listening to a house FULL of contractors right now — the 2 or 3 electricians, the 2 plasterers, and the 3 heating contractors plus my husband Mark. All of the hard surfaces that this house is constructed of just echo any noise again and again.

It was a little bizarre to be sound asleep at 8:30 this morning with earplugs in and hear 3 voices open the door and say, “Ooops!” I kept my eyes shut tight, they closed the door, and I raced to the bathroom to quickly put some clothes and wash my hair in the sink (with not very warm water) before they turned off all of the water to move the pipes around before installing the new radiators.

We’ve had 2 days of very cloudy weather and the solar panels are not getting enough charge to heat the water in the huge tank up to nice-and-hot. Hence the lukewarm showers and hair washing. However, Mark has had instructions today in the art of oil-furnace back-up water heating. Sheesh!!! It’s quite an interesting contraption!

Right now I can hear normal drills, electrical sanders, trowels against hard plaster, the tapping of chisels, a hammer drill, and hammers — not to mention the sound of heavy feet as those fellows clunk their way up and down the stairs to all 5 levels of the house. I have my orange earplugs in, too!!! The whole house is vibrating with sounds and it’s making my heart race quite a bit.

At least at night it is beautifully peaceful and we sleep well. The neighbourhood is incredibly silent once darkness falls. A temporary small ‘apartment’ has been created out of 3 rooms up on the top floor and that’s where we are living for now.

We eat dinner, have a bath in the huge bathtub (not pictured), and then cuddle up side-by-side to watch a movie. Fortunately I have enough movies and British television shows in my computer to keep us occupied since there isn’t enough light in the bedroom to read by.

Late today the electricians are doing the final-fix (at least I hope that they are!) of the outlets and then perhaps we can have some lamps on in the evening instead of just one lamp and some tealight candles.

But at least it’s atmospheric with the candlelight. We are very relaxed once everyone leaves and we certainly have a sense of humour about it all!

Temporary bedroom setup

Temporary kitchenette

Blue bathroom - partially crumbling bu functional

Hanging Out In Hannover

Hannover in Germany — visually beautiful, very tranquil, and we barely had time to scratch the surface of it!

After leaving Rotterdam at 1 PM, we arrived in Hannover at about 7 PM. It was still bright and sunny and our hosts for two nights, Peter and Maria, were waiting for us out in the garden. Over a lovely and light supper, we discussed all sorts of topics and made plans for the next day. Mark and I would be out and about on our own since Peter was attending to his medical patients and Maria was off to her Hatha Yoga and weekly grocery shopping.

I took so many photos (hundreds in fact!) that I will have to space them out over several posts. So come back often to see what else is online. And when I post the smaller versions, do take the time to click on them and see all of the detail in the larger ones.

We were walking through a leafy suburb on our way to the train station when we spotted this first oddity. In every other place we have lived, you have to “Dial Before You Dig” so you don’t snap an underground electric or telephone cable — or sever a water or gas line. I’ve never been in a place where you have to check for unexploded munitions from the World War II before you dig for services! Apparently this type of service exists in many places in Europe since unexploded ordinance is still quite an issue. The previous link cites one study, and this one from 2010 which was a feature on NPR also discusses the ongoing problems.

Munition van checking the ground near new construction

Leaving the suburbs, we took the short 15 minute ride into the city on an ultra-clean and very smooth train, emerged from underground, and walked to the beautiful Hauptbahnhof (the main train station) a block away where our host had told us we could find the Tourism Bureau and obtain a walking map of the inner city area.

As we walked, we saw countless beautiful buildings with intriguing bits of architectural detail. The city is a feast for the eyes and as I mentioned before, I took hundreds of images along the way. I supposed that the best way to deal with that overload of photos is to create a slide show at a future date. But for now, here are few examples of what we saw. Enjoy!

Ornate tiles and door in central Hannover

Stone door surround - left side

Stone door surrround - right side

Memorial fountain & neo-classical building

And finally — this little gruesome bit of stone carving. Come back again soon for more images from Hannover!

Gruesome face carved in stone on the side of a building

How Wonderful and Quirky Is Edinburgh

Look up, look up! Re-tune your eyes so you fill your memory with the many snippets of marvelous things scattered about the city — tiny pieces of poignant sculpture — partial bits of quotes or poems — monumental architecture with almost-hidden carvings — all of it weaving a mysterious cloak that wraps this city up tightly.

Quirky, quietly beautiful, and never failing to amuse with the non-stop parade of ‘interesting’ residents and visitors alike, Edinburgh has so much going for it as a travel destination.

Squeezed between the shopfronts on the Royal Mile is a perfect example — the carving over Paisley Close which commemorates the survival of one young lad who was found amidst the rubble of several collapsed buildings in 1861. “Heave awa’ chaps, I’m no’ dead yet” is inscribed above the arch.

"Heave awa' chaps, I'm no' dead yet" sculpture above Paisley Close arched opening in Edinburgh, Scotland

Under the category of sweetness, where else in the world do you expect to see three charming teenage boys walking across a bridge in the heart of a city, two of them holding hands, and one of them wearing his kilt. It put a smile on the faces of everyone that they passed.

Kilt wearing, hand holding teenagers in Edinburgh, Scotland

Stereotypes exist for a reason, and the sheer determination, outright stubbornness, and frugality of the Scottish nature were all on display in bits and pieces on our travels. Our 2 week visit certainly convinced us that the lovely Scottish friends that we had back in Australia derived their fearless attitude and ferocious tenacity from their ancestry as well as their general personality.

The beauty of Edinburgh manages to mask the occasionally simmering resentment of the governing powers down in London. That historic anger was certainly on display in the National Museum of Scotland where the arresting poster below found quite a few people stopping, nodding their heads up and down in agreement as we watched, and creating a strong impression on me that those decades old resentments are still not forgotten.

National Gallery of Art & Edinburgh Castle Atop The Hill

Margaret Thatcher 'Oil Vampire' poster

But under the category of just-plain-quirky, how about the whiskey store right next door to the health food store? Or the wine shop that is an ‘homage’ to the old sci-fi film, Planet Of The Apes? Click to enlarge them and have a giggle!

Odd choice of shops to be side-by-side

A quirky homage to Cornelius from Planet Of The Apes

Calligraphy on wall of National Museum of Scotland: Declaration of Arbroath - 1320 AD

My most recent visit was my 4th time in Edinburgh and I have still barely scratched the surface of what there is to see and do. Trust me, I’ll be going back!

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Eco Edinburgh — Part Three

Another day at GreenWorks in Edinburgh, Scotland and the sun-filled blue skies have brightened everyone’s mood. The building work is proceeding apace and the structure looks a bit more complete every day.

Progress on the overhead structure

Director Ellie Mills is normally ‘chained’ to the office and making ‘on the fly’ decisions, sometimes with baby Sula in a backpack. But she was clearly relishing the chance to get outside in the sunshine and wield a hammer today as she nailed timber shingles to the end of the emerging building structure.

GreenWorks Director Ellie Mills nailing shingles

Late yesterday afternoon designer Ola was outside with a colour chart trying to decide what the final colour scheme for the building would be. And baby Sula was, thankfully, happy to be passed around and amused by whoever was handy at the moment. Here is a shot of Sula and my husband Mark last evening and you can tell from Sula’s rosy cheeks that she has been out and about in the fresh air. Just as I was about to upload these photos, Mark mentioned that for a person who normally enjoys the company of a cat, babies are not that bad on occasion.

Ola checking the colour chart

Mark keeping Baby Sula amused

I’m away for now — out into the sunshine to take some photos of the materials in the yard. Then I’ll be back to the office to stay warm while I edit photos and write survey questions for the volunteers. More soon!

Deborah editing photos and public relations material

Eco Edinburgh — Part Two

In the short few hours since my departure last night, a structure had begun to form atop the decking. It was Day Two for us here at GreenWorks in Edinburgh, Scotland and the workers were powering on, enjoying every moment of non-rainy building time.

Wall building

Walls in progress

Our hosts, Ellie and Simon and baby Sula, seem to have a revolving door of volunteers for this project and I admire their ability to think on their feet, balance an 8 month old child in shifts, and steer a group of volunteers who are working with power tools. Fortunately we have a mature group of people here with rather a lot of construction skills amongst them. I am the odd-one-out since my tools are cameras and a computer, but I’m thrilled to be able to bring public relations and photojournalism to the mix. The hours do pass quickly in a bit of a blur though!

Ellie in the office

Simon and Sula in the office

Off to edit photos. More tomorrow!

6 Simple Steps To Save On Your Trip To Amsterdam

The misty mornings, the postcard-perfect views over almost every canal, the ease of getting around, the sensible and eco-friendly bicycle culture, the friendliness of every single person we met — these are just a few of the joys of travelling to one of my favourite European cities, Amsterdam!

Brouwersgracht Canalside

Here are 6 simple steps that helped us save money by ‘living like a local’ while we were there for 8 days recently.

1. Rent an apartment instead of staying in a hotel. I did a web search on “short term apartments in Amsterdam” and the links that caught my eye were not the very expensive commercial ones. Instead, I was drawn to two very similar sites — Roomorama and AirBnB. After searching through the options on both sites for an arrival on a prime travel-booking date of New Year’s Eve, I chose Roomorama based on the variety of apartments still available and was very pleased with the apartment that we rented in the Jordaan area. Both sites contain a range of prices and neighbourhoods.

2. Cook your own meals in that apartment — and that means shopping for groceries!

Cracker aisle in Amsterdam grocery

Grocery shopping in Amsterdam

Just by getting out and walking around the neighbourhood on our first day, we quickly discovered that Albert Heijn grocery stores were scattered all over Amsterdam in every district.

The word “winkel” means shop, so the click-on link above takes you to a map of their shops both within Amsterdam and in other parts of the country.

Even when you are moving past the obvious and easy choices of fruit and vegetables, food looks pretty much the same all over Europe, North America, and Australia or New Zealand in spite of the name on the package being quite different.

Besides, it’s fun to pick up your winkelwagon (shopping cart) and put some items in there like unknown cheese varieties, milk or butter in many shades and sizes, or these crackers to the left with mystery names.

Home cooked dinner in Amsterdam

Here’s an example above of one of the delicious meals that we cooked in the apartment with locally sourced groceries.

3. Use public transport such as trams, trains, and buses.

Tram at Museumplein

OV-Chipkaart for Amsterdam

One of the nicest things about Amsterdam is the ease with which you can traverse the city by using a combination of trams and buses along with trains for the suburban trips. A sensible way to save money is to refrain from buying individual tickets for each journey and to instead purchase a multi-trip pass sold by GVB — the public transportation company.

After doing some online research, we decided to purchase an OV-Chipkaart which would allow us several days of travel on any of the trams or buses in Amsterdam. These durable plastic cards are the size of a credit card, are valid for 5 years, and are rechargeable with a credit card at ATM style machines scattered all over the city. These ‘hole in the wall’ recharge machines are usually located right next to a bank ATM.

There is a wonderful series of network maps and tourism site maps on the GVB website. Just click on the link to find them.

We purchased our cards at the GVB Ticket Office in the Tourist Information building at Stationsplein, directly opposite the huge Central Station. But they are also available from dispensing machines in places such as Schiphol Airport.

4. Buy a Museum Pass and save, save, save!
Most visitors to Amsterdam will be planning on a visit to one or more of the stunning museums here such as the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum, the Anne Frank House, the Stedelijk Museum, the Amsterdam Historisch Museum, and many more.

For the avid museum-goer, you can purchase the Museumkaart which is sold at the entry of most of the major museums for €39 plus a one-time €4.95 administration charge for issuing the card. We used our card at all 5 of the museums that I have just named and once you get past 3 admissions at an average of €15 each, the card has paid for itself. Our next two museum visits after that were essentially free.

You will receive another plastic card that is the size of a credit card and this one is valid for a full year. It certainly encourages you to come back for another visit during that 12 month period because the card covers over 400 museums, castles, and sites of significance all over the Netherlands, not just within Amsterdam.

5. Shop and eat where the locals do and avoid the streets where the tourists are.

Taking a break in a local cafe

Expresso at a Turkish cafe

Whether you are buying a croissant at a bakery, taking a break for lunch and a coffee, or stopping for a cocktail and some snacks, save yourself a lot of money and get off of the main tourist thoroughfares. Run away from cafes or restaurants where you see tourists with guidebooks on the table! Instead, seek out the neighbourhood cafes where the locals are reading their newspapers in the local language.

A perfect example of the shopping locally concept was the pastry run that my husband made one morning for croissants. He was up quite early on one of our first mornings in Amsterdam and he walked down to one of the main tourist streets and purchased four of them for €7. The following morning, after we had done a thorough perusal of our neighbourhood, he purchased four much nicer and much fresher croissants in our local bakery for €3.20 — a more than 50% savings.

You can apply that same principal to just about everything including the ubiquitous cup of coffee. Instead of paying €3.50 for an expresso or €3.90 for a far-too-milky latte, why not head down to the local Turkish cafe for a rich, fragrant, and strong cup of java at the budget friendly cost of €2.25 or less. Yum!

6. Sort out how to access money before you leave home.
Two of the fastest ways to burn up extra cash are by making too many visits to the ATM machine for cash whilst travelling and by using your credit card too liberally. A far better set of strategies are to
(a) have a few hundred euros with you upon arrival. We ordered this currency from our local bank in Australia and it was free of any transaction fees. Your own bank will almost always give you a much better exchange rate than those airport stands or street-side foreign exchange shops.
(b) keep your withdrawals to a minimum and take out more than you normally would back home. Your linked bank back home will most likely charge you a foreign ATM fee in addition to the foreign currency exchange fee. If you are withdrawing €100 at a time instead of €300-500, you will be paying an average of $8.50 in US or Australian dollars/£5.50 in British funds for each of those €100 withdrawals. So it is far more sensible to take a larger amount out each time.
(c) use a linked banking network. You will probably always be charged the currency exchange fee by your bank since they are simply passing on the cost of conversion to you. But what if you could find a way to bypass the on-average $5-or-more fee for using an overseas ATM machine that does not belong to your own bank? I made a point of opening an account in Australia with a bank that was a member of the Global Alliance. By using a bank that is associated with this international group of banks, I can access my money for FREE (not including the mandatory currency exchange fee) at banks throughout the world. Check with your own bank prior to departure to determine if they participate in such a network. Then you can use the same method to save you some money that you can happily spend on food or fun instead of fees!
(d) find out what it will cost you to use a credit card overseas for purchases. You certainly get the most accurate foreign exchange rate when you use credit cards, but they also attract rather a lot of fees with every purchase. On average, most banks charge a whopping 5% of the cost of the purchase for the ‘convenience factor’ of using your credit card abroad. And on top of that, you will also be charged a currency conversion fee. Save yourself the resultant shock when you check your online bank statement and be informed about your options and the costs involved before you depart on your trip.

Hundreds of euros can be saved by following the strategies that I have outlined above. By doing a bit of advanced planning, you can relax and spend your travel money where you want to spend it, not where you are forced to spend it.

NOTE: All prices were current at the time of writing in 2011.