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The
Dime Store Trick:
Do all your shipping in dime stores, drug stores and grocery
stores. Average cost of a gift: $3 to $5. Buy products
 by their packaging or promise. A package of any
brand of French or Italian coffee in the market costs a mere $3.The best dime stores in Frence are Monoprix and Prisunic;
in Italy, Upim and Standa.Try the new Tesco Metro, a grocery store on Oxford Street
in London, for not only food gift but great health and beauty
aids, such as, Bath by Chocolate, a foaming bath gel for $3.
Also note that The Body Shop products are sold half price
in the U.K. only.
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The Fixed-Price Menu Trick: Fixed menus for lunch
and dinner are available all over Europe, even at starred
Michelin restaurants, meaning you can dine very well for $40 per
person in Major cities or less in the countryside.A five-course meal at the two-star Michelin restaurant at the Hotel
du Palais in Biarritz, France, for $50 per person including
tax and tip.
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The
Fixed-Money Trick: Use credit cards for the best
exchange rate, or use traveler's checks bought in the your
home town in foreign denominations so you pay no fee to
exchange money.
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The Currency Con Trick: Porters at rail stations and airports have fixed prices
that are high. Forget them. Keep one-pound and 10-franc coins to pay for caddies at English or
French stations where trolleys are not free.
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The
Postcard Trick: Postcards and postage from Europe
are outrageously expensive -- in France a single card sent to
the U.S. will cost you about $2. Forget cards entirely, or buy
cards in bulk when discounted and mail when you get home. Try
asking fancy hotels, stores and restaurants for free cards.
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Two
Chanel Secrets: (A) Chanel products and most
major French brand names in makeup and fragrance are half-price
in France. (B) Walk into any dime store in Europe and buy the Bourjois
brand of makeup. It's made in the same factories as Chanel and
is priced in the $5 to $10 range.
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The
Duty-Free Trick: Take the free duty-free giveaway
from your plane as your arrive in Europe, and use it to compare
prices in duty-free shops as you travel. Chances are your plane's
prices are lower, and you can buy on the flight home.
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Take
advantage of VAT refunds:
The tax refund program available in all European Union countries
makes gift buying a bit cheaper. When making a purchase, ask for
a refund form. Before departing the country, take the form to an
airport agent, who will hand over the refund in cash. The catch
is that you must spend a minimum amount -- usually around $200
-- before a refund is possible. In cases like Austria, where
value-added taxes are more than 25 percent on some luxury goods,
the savings can be substantial. For more details on VAT, please
click on:
[ Travel Abroad, You May Be Entitled To A Refund Of VAT ]. |
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- Suzy Gershman -
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In addition to
above tricks, there are other
money-saving ideas on transportation ,
dining, and others.
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Never
change your dollars into foreign currency at a commercial
money-changing kiosk or storefront, even at an airport:
If you must change money at an airport, change the smallest
amount your courage will allow. Many commercial money-changers
take commissions of up to 10 percent. (Some tiny storefront
money-changers near Piccadilly headline a 2 percent rate for
buying pounds, but conceal in tiny type their 9.5 percent rate
for selling pounds.) Look for a bank, the biggest you can find,
and change your money there; you'll get the best available rate
and pay the lowest fee. Better yet, search for a bank ATM
machine that honors your card -- they are increasingly found all
over the world -- and you'll get an even better rate and terms. |
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Make lunch, not
dinner, your main meal: Since most Western Europeans eat their
biggest meal in the middle of the day, many restaurants offer
excellent deals on prix fixe midday meals. In Paris, for
example, La Pause Gourmand (27 Rue Campagne Premiere) offers a
two-course lunch, including salad, quiche and a drink, for about
$5.50. In Madrid, the Caf'e de Oriente (2 Plaza de Oriente)
serves up three tasty courses and a glass of wine for $9. |
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When
eating at restaurants abroad, split, share and divide:
The size of portions in most tourist restaurants overseas
is enough to feed a family. When two of you dine, order one
appetizer and one main course, then split those dishes between
you; you'll still send uneaten food back to the kitchen, and
you'll save money. |
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Eat
where the locals do: It's obvious but true: The
best way to find out about local favorites is to get off the
tourist track. The Zagat guides to restaurant in various
European cities have useful sections on good deals. |
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Have
a picnic meal at least once a day: Almost every
European city has open-air markets with wonderful cheeses,
breads and meats that make for inexpensive and filling suppers.
As a tourist, eat one meal a day picnic-style, from cold
ingredients. No one can properly digest two multicourse hot
meals a day, yet we all intend to visit restaurants twice a day
when we travel, spending unnecessarily large sums. Do, instead,
as you would at home (where lunch is often a light sandwich
meal): Pick up bread, pat'e, cheese and wine from the foreign
equivalent of a delicatessen or food section of a department
store and consume them picnic-style on a park bench or alongside
a river (or even in your hotel room). You'll save money, avoid
discomfort, and eat healthfully at the same time. |
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Never
make a phone call, change money or send out laundry in your
hotel: Hotels regard each of these activities as
profit centers, and some of them mark up the cost of the
transaction to an unconscionable extent. Change your money at a
bank; go to a phone center or public booth for your calls; take
your clothes to a commercial or coin-operated laundry. |
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Patronize
art museums on their "free" days:
Although most places charge a modest admission fee, nearly all
waive the costs one day a week, usually Sunday. The Prado
and other major museums in Madrid have complimentary admission
on Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday. The Louvre,
Versailles and other Paris museums are free on the
first Sunday of every month. In Lisbon, the Museu dos
Azulejos, Museu National de Arte Antiga
and others are free on Sunday mornings. In Brussels, the Ancient
Art Museum is always free. |
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Buy
a Eurailpass: With its impressive web of trains
running through 17 European countries, Eurail is an efficient
way to get about. It's an especially good cost-saver for those
26 and younger who want to see a lot in a short time: A 15-day,
second-class youth pass costs $388. A range of other options are
also available, including passes for older travelers and
long-term visitors. Buy tickets in the United States for a 10
percent discount. |
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Fly
Europe's new budget airlines between cities: The
past couple of years have seen a flurry of low-cost carriers
that can get you from one end of the continent to the other ofr
as low as $49 one way. Belgium-based Ryanair (+44-541-569-569, www.ryanair.com)
specializes in transport from Brussels across the continent.
Tickets between London and Brussels currently are going for a
rock-bottom $10. Virgin Express (+44-207-744-0004, www.virginexpress.com)
flies between Brussels and nine other European cities. |
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Rent
a car: Driving between European cities can be
cheaper than the train, particularly for couples or families. In
Germany, for example, a round-trip train ticket between
Frankfurt and Berlin runs about $400 for two. But any of rental
car vendor may rent you a basic economy car for nine days in
Germany at the end of April for $304.71, including taxes and
fees. But the cost of gas, which runs as high as $5 a gallon in
some European countries, should be factored in. Also, some
countries slap a service fee of 12 percent or more for pickup or
drop off at airport or train stations, so you can save even more
by taking a bus or subway to an inner-city location and renting
from there. |
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Take
public transportation to and from the airport: In
most cases, you can forgo the high costs of taxis from the
airport by taking an airport bus or train into the city. In
Paris, taxis from Charles de Gaulle into the city run about $50,
compared with $6 on the RER B metro line. |
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Buy
a daily or weekly pass on city bus or subway systems:
In London, for example, a weekly travel card, usable on buses
and subway, goes for about $58, while individual tickets cost a
minimum of $1.80. |
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Finally,
pack light, save money: Travelers who don't
become heavy-spending beasts of burden, dependent on expensive
porters and taxis, unable to shop around among several hotels,
condemned to collapsing in sweat at the first lodging they see.
Limit yourself to one medium suitcase per person. |
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- Arthur Frommer & Gary Lee -
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(408) 262-2304