As someone who contends that they live below their means, and aggressively saves for a home and retirement how can I justify a pricey trip “across the pond” to France?
If you know anything about world currencies you know that the dollar is currently in the doghouse. One American Dollar will get you about .65 of a Euro. Put it another way if I spent 1000 Euros in Europe is more then 1,500 USD.
Ouch
So yeah the Dollar pretty much sucks but I am saving more then enough to make up for the lousy exchange rate.
1) Airfare: Flying directly into Charles De Gaulle airport on Paris costs around $1300 bucks per ticket. We chose to fly into Luxemburg for less then half that, spend two days in a very small country then take the high speed train to Paris.
2) Lodging: In Lux. We are going to use my Hilton points for free hotel rooms. Hopefully we will not have to pay sales tax on the room. In Paris we are staying with my Aunt and Uncle who have rented an apartments for six months.
3) Food: It is going to be a challenge for me, I love eating out, especially in the thousands of open air cafes that Pairs has to offer. But if we limit ourselves to a nice dinner every other night, we should be in great shape.
4) The Sights: Hilary has done a bit of research and lots of the attractions: Eiffel Tower, Louvre, the Orsay have free or discount prices at the non-peak times.
5) Getting Around: Paris has a great subway system and we plan to use it. Cabs are a huge waste of money.
Moral of this story: if you do a little research before hand you can reduce costs without reducing the fun.
Nerd. You forget that both of us are bringing money. So if each of us pays for dinner every other night, we can go out every night! I think the amount of alcohol one of us likes to consume is the expensive part of dinner. Plus we saved so much on everything else, it will be fine. Leave your frugal hat here. Also, high speed train=super cool.
Was this complaining about Xchange rate or gloating
about a fab vacation? Have fun!!!!
May I suggest trying to call back to America via a calling card at a pay phone at 3 in the morning after a few too many beers….always a good idea. Just make sure you can speak the same language as the operator. Ah, forget it, Spanish will be close enough. Have a great time, buddy.
Glad to see that you guys got there OK. Please do not bring any Socialism back with you. We already have more than enough here to go around. I’m looking forward to seeing loads of pics.