Tag: budget

Categories
Product Reviews Tips USA

Tired of flying or driving with the kids? Consider MegaBus

(This is a guest post by Sherry Ott, from her recent trip via MegaBus. I’ve been curious about these newer budget bus services, so I asked for her reactions. Thanks, Sherry!)

All aboard the MegaBus for budget travel (courtesy MegaBus)Travel on the US East Coast has changed.  “Taking the bus” is no longer looked down upon; in fact, it is quickly becoming the transportation choice up and down the coast and in the Northeast (and expanding to the Midwest.)

I’ve ridden buses all over the world, but I recently took MegaBus from New York City to Boston to give this American version of budget bus travel a try.

Ticketing

Megabus is hip to technology, so the best and easiest way to purchase your tickets is online at www.megabus.com. It’s a pretty standard web ticketing process, however I did manage to screw my ticket up (all my own fault) and booked 1:30AM instead of 1:30PM and realized this the day before I was to leave.

My screw up in ticketing allowed me to test out the purchase ticket in person option too – so for review purposes it worked out!

You can purchase tickets at a little booth across from the loading area in New York City.  The people there weren’t the friendliest, but they were quick.  Unfortunately when I went to rectify my ticket situation in person (as the call center person suggested I do), I found out that there were no more tickets left to sell for my bus and I would have to wait Standby.  This wasn’t exactly in alignment with what the customer service agent said, so the whole situation had my travel stress level quite high.

Boarding

The boarding process reminded me of kindergarten.

Everyone had to stand in line, in the hot sun, while ONE guy tried to go around and check everyone’s tickets.  There were no signs for the lines, which resulted in a very inefficient process of people arriving and interrupting the ONE guy checking tickets to find out where to go. The seats were not assigned on the bus (note from Sheila: this could get interesting with kids) so once you got on, you chose your seat.  One guy also loaded luggage – so the whole process seemed a bit slow, and hence our bus took off about 20 minutes late.

Luggage

I found out once I arrived at the loading area that MegaBus has a strict ONE bag policy.  Unfortunately I had two – plus a carry-on with laptop.  They clearly have the luggage policy labeled on their website, but I apparently missed it.  They don’t technically check luggage or provide receipts, but instead you place your ONE piece of luggage in the storage area of the bus.  I got around the policy by asking a woman next to me in line who didn’t need to check a bag to claim mine – whew.  It appeared the luggage policy was very loosely applied without a lot of predictability.

Cost

Even though the prices are like travel in less developed countries, the style isn’t.  In Vietnam, a four hour backpack bus trip to Mui Ne cost me about $10USD – and so did this trip to Boston!

The prices are great – especially if you book in advance.  The ticketing online provides you a confirmation number which you simply show to the guy checking you in.  Many people simply held up their phones and showed him the number; no need to print out a receipt.

For families this is an excellent option as a family of four stood with me in the Standby line and bought all of their tickets for $100; much cheaper than four airline tickets!

The Ride

This is where MegaBus as compared to airline travel shines…each seat has a power outlet, and free wireless internet access is available to all.  The signal was great and I had no problem using that signal for four hours.

Each seat was reclinable, and fairly comfortable.  However, one downside about the seating was that unless you have a small notebook computer, the laptop space is really  cramped since there isn’t much room to put the laptop on your lap without hitting the back of the seat in front of you.  This setup made it really hard to type; practically impossible.  Plus – at times, the ride was rather bouncy, so if you are prone to motion sickness – working on your laptop might not be the best thing to do.  The setup was great for watching movies – but a bit of a pain to type of this review.

Tips To Make the Experience Better

My best advice is to bring a  jacket, even in the summer.  The bus became very cold after two hours.  The temperature didn’t seem to regulate.  Even the big guy next to me got cold!

Also – make sure you bring some snacks.  On my 4 ½ hour trip to Boston, we didn’t stop once – so be prepared.

Overall Impression

I’d use MegaBus again, but I would also recommend to book in advance; Standby was a bit of a pain.

It definitely was more simple and cheaper than my other options to get to Boston; air or train.  Plus, I found it to be just as comfortable AND I was able to have an internet connection!  Bravo MegaBus!

To learn more about MegaBus in the US, go to their website at https://us.megabus.com and see their routes all over the US which provide some great alternatives to short air travel!  You can also follow them on twitter at @megabus or on the MegaBus Facebook page.

Sherry Ott is a refugee from corporate IT who is now a long term traveler, blogger and photographer. She’s a co-founder of Briefcase to Backpack, a website offering career break travel inspiration and advice. She also runs an around the world travel blog, writing about her travel and expat adventures at Ottsworld.

Categories
Book Reviews Tips

Cheapest travel destinations? Here’s your guidebook

worlds-cheapest-destinations_3rd_180pxWhen my Perceptive Travel blog editor Tim Leffel sent me a review copy of his guidebook The World’s Cheapest Destinations: 21 Countries Where Your Money Is Worth A Fortune, I was a bit skeptical.

It’s not geared specifically to family travel, and even though Tim’s an experienced Dad as well as a terrific travel writer, I worried that this particular book would get too “backpacker-y” for my blog’s readers.

Not to worry – although there are several countries listed where only the most intrepid parents would take the kids, I found a lot of good ideas here for my own travel planning.  There are super-helpful price ranges for each country, to help you plan typical expenditures for lodging, meals, transportation and seeing attractions.

At the end of each section, Tim describes what you can get in each country for the equivalent of one US dollar or less;  “3 rats on a stick in Laos” – yay! Humorous local color notwithstanding, he gives plenty of examples of less, um, exotic purchases.

His quick evaluations of each country’s best beer or local liquor are an “adults only” bonus.

Consider this book as a value-focused destination Idea Finder; it gives you a broad overview of what to expect at various budget levels, then you can plunge in and buy a country-specific guidebook (if you’re thinking south of the US, Tim has also written the excellent Traveler’s Tool Kit for Mexico and Central America.)

Some of the book’s best tips for parenting travelers:

***  Go long. Better to make a journey and stay in one place or region for two or three weeks than rage all over trying to pack in too many sights. With young kids, this goes double. Get off the plane or out of the car, slow down and stay awhile; you’ll learn and enjoy a place a lot more.

***  Take advantage of budget airlines within regions.  If you are going to country-hop, they’ve shrunk distances across Europe and Asia. For more airline ticket info, there’s BootsnAll’s own Cheap Air Tickets site.

***  Money quote from Tim: “If you demand pampering at every stage, you will pay pampering prices.”  Cheapest Destinations does NOT think that staying in Ye Olde Fleabag Hotel is such a fun idea; Tim insists that countries he lists as desirable have basic tourism infrastructure and support, and he’s also quite blunt about where you’ll find a “soak the tourists” mentality.

***  The book is very sensitive to the dietary needs of vegetarians; I like that and don’t see it too often. Tip if you’re vegetarian:  go to India.

***  Places that I personally want to take my family after reading this book? Jordan, Turkey and Guatemala. Tim is a fan of Spanish immersion classes in Guatemala, which he’s done with his wife and kids. It sounds terrific.

***  More places that intrigue me:  Honduras and Peru. Of course, the recent Shashi Bellamkonda guest post about Machu Picchu here on Family Travel already had me fired up.

***  Europe a must-do for you? Consider Hungary, Portugal and rural Spain (for more on kids in Spain, see Jeanne at SoulTravelers3.)

***  Bargain skiing – Transylvanian Alps in Romania, in the Czech Republic and in Turkey.

This is an excellent reference book if you have a globe in one hand, a budget in the other and kids in front of you saying, “When can we go someplace really cool?”

Normally after a book review I do a giveaway, but sorry, I’m keeping this one because Tim autographed it just for me.  He wrote, “To Sheila – step away from the laptop!”

Think the guy knows me pretty well?

You can buy World’s Cheapest Destinations here (where the purchase price goes to Tim and the publisher, without middlemen) and there’s an ebook version there as well. See this page for more purchase options.

Categories
Europe

Top 10 Ways for Families to Save on Travel in Europe

(This is a guest post by UK-based reader Ben Doyle of HouseTrip.com, about all sorts of ways to save on your family vacation to Europe. Thanks so much for contributing, Ben!)

Top Ten Ways for Families to Save in Europe

1. Where and when to go is obviously the first part of your planning. Central and Eastern Europe are typically cheaper than the West (think Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia and the Baltic countries.) The UK, France, Italy and Spain are certainly more expensive, although with the decline of the pound and Euro against the dollar, they are still affordable. You can also save money by avoiding high season – city trips are just as good in winter, but without the crowds, prices are much more favorable. Spring and Fall are a good compromise.

Platform 9 and 3 quarters of Harry Potter fame, Kings Crossing, London (photo by Sheila Scarborough)
Platform 9 and 3 quarters of Harry Potter fame, Kings Crossing, London (photo by Sheila Scarborough)

2. Shop around for flights. Before you can save money in Europe, you’ve got to get there – and it’s not cheap. There are occasionally excellent deals, such as these incredibly cheap flights from New York/Newark to London. Otherwise use a meta-search such as Kayak or Skyscanner to get an idea of the carriers to investigate. If your dates are flexible, you can then go to the individual airline websites for a closer look – certain dates are normally cheaper than others, and it can be hard to find this information from meta-searches.

3. Investigate your travel options within Europe. Budget airlines such as EasyJet and Ryanair offer extremely cheap flights, but it’s still worth booking ahead. Rail pass information is available on www.raileurope.com, or take a look at destination tourist sites such as www.visitlondon.com for information about local transport. London’s excellent Underground tube network offers cheaper tickets if you buy an Oyster Card, while day travelcards are normally available for unlimited daily travel.

4. Resist the temptation to move around too much. Focus on one city, region or country in depth instead of travelling large distances. You can easily base yourself in one place and take day trips – by doing this you will save on transport fees as well as the difficulty of long travel times with young children.

5. Look at budget hotel chains first if you want to stay in a hotel. Brands such as Ibis, Travelodge, EasyHotel and Etap offer simple, no-frills rooms for a fair price, and you can often find good deals if you book ahead. It’s worth enquiring whether the hotel can squeeze in an extra bed, as turning a double into a triple or a triple into a quad will invariably be cheaper than having to take another room. Hostels in Europe can also be a good alternative, with far more options than just dorm rooms. Many hostels offer private rooms that are ideally suited for families, and staying in a hostel also gives you the option of self-catering.

6. Consider a vacation rental. Holiday apartments, as they are often known in Europe, are widely available in both cities and countryside locations, and normally offer far more space than a hotel or hostel for a similar (or cheaper) price. They often represent better value than other forms of accommodation, especially for longer stays, and also allow you to spread out and experience life as a local, rather than a visitor. There are many good sites offering holiday apartment stays.

7. Try camping if you want to go rural. Campsites in Europe, especially France and Spain, are normally well maintained and offer a range of excellent facilities. For exploring the countryside, they can be an excellent alternative. Alan Rogers guides are the market leader and a lot of free information is available online at www.alanrogers.com. If sleeping in a tent isn’t your thing but you would like to explore the countryside, farm stays are an interesting alternative and offer a great cultural experience for your children (and you!)  If you’re considering going rural, it is also worth investigating car rental, to make it easier to transport your belongings – although remember that gasoline in Europe is much more expensive than in the US.

8. Start with free activities. Europe offers many free attractions and activities that will be enjoyable for all the family. Try www.FreeToDoEurope.net for ideas. After that, always investigate the possibility of family tickets for museums, attractions, tours and public transport. Local tourist offices normally offer good advice.

9. Eat out less and make lunch your big meal of the day if you’re eating out. Many restaurants offer excellent lunch deals, but try to stay away from tourist spots. Places that are full of tourists don’t offer the best eating experience or the best price. Menus translated into English are often another sign to look elsewhere. Instead, take a guidebook (look out for one with translations of food) and follow the locals to places that are slightly off the beaten track. And be careful not to overtip. Tips are often included and Europeans only tend to tip 10%, anyway. Ask fellow diners if you’re not sure.

10. Eat in, even if you don’t cook! If you’re staying in a hostel or holiday apartment, or if you’re camping, you can save a lot of money by preparing your own meals. Local shops and markets are a great cultural experience for all the family. But even if you’re staying in a hotel, you can still grab food for lunch, and you don’t have to go to much effort: locally produced breads, cheeses, meats and salad make a great meal. You may even find a delicious local wine to enjoy once the kids have gone to bed. Just don’t forget a corkscrew!

Ben Doyle is a British travel enthusiast and entrepreneur. He is one of the founders of www.HouseTrip.com, an online marketplace for European holiday apartments. He currently blogs at blog.housetrip.com.

Categories
Hawaii USA

Kids swimming with dolphins in Hawaii: worth the cost?

My son and I at Dolphin Quest Hawaii on the Big Island (photo courtesy Dolphin Quest)There are a wealth of family-friendly activities on Hawaii’s Big Island, in part because it is, well, pretty doggone big.

If you want beaches, mountains, volcanoes, jungles or towns, it’s all there….and don’t miss the annual Parker Ranch Rodeo coming up on July 4.  Yes, a rodeo on a ranch in Hawaii. I told you they have everything!

One well-known activity is a dolphin encounter at the Big Island Dolphin Quest facility located inside the sprawling Hilton Waikoloa Village resort (we’re talking 62 acres and 1,240 rooms) on the Big Island.

You can also arrange encounters with wild dolphins through companies like Dolphin Journeys, but of course this means finding native spinner dolphins in the ocean.  There is no guarantee you’ll have an encounter of any significant length with wild creatures. Hey, you’re in their “house” on that one.

My son and I participated in a Dolphin Quest Encounter Deluxe during the So Much More Hawaii blogger’s press trip.  As guests of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, I did not have to pay for the experience (although I did pay for some photos and a video) but at a regular cost of about $260/person with tax included, I spent a lot of time in the waters of the Waikoloa lagoon thinking, “is this moment worth $520 plus souvenirs?”

I know, I know, “experiences of a lifetime” are supposed to be priceless.

On some levels, that is quite true.

On others, it is just a marketer’s way to get you to whip out the wallet and justify extravagance.

What about this particular dolphin experience?  Well, it depends.

The experience was very well-run by the Dolphin Quest staff. We learned a ton about dolphins, their habitats and habits, and the education/research work that Dolphin Quest does on behalf of their Atlantic bottlenose dolphins (yes, Atlantic dolphins in a resort lagoon in the Pacific. They are fed Atlantic food as well.  I leave it to my readers to mull the ecological ramifications and geographic cognitive dissonance.)

My nine-year-old son and I had plenty of time in the lagoon water with a small group, getting close to the dolphins and learning their names, their quirks and their cleverness.  The trainers obviously know their charges very well and care for them a great deal.

If my son had come home and announced an immediate intent to become a marine biologist, I’d be all over the “spend whatever it takes when it’s priceless” philosophy, but he didn’t.  He enjoyed himself, he thought it was very cool, but he mostly wanted to go swim in the Waikoloa resort’s quite phenomenal pool after our dolphin moment.

So, here are my thoughts on such dolphin encounters….

If you’ve budgeted for this and have the cash available and this is really important to you AND really important to your child, then go ahead.

If you sorta like dolphins (and who doesn’t?) then you can still see and hear them just fine simply by staying at the resort and walking around the lagoon. Ask for a room near the dolphins, and you can hear them whistle and click and splash all you want.  A footbridge crosses over the lagoon; my son and I stood and enjoyed their antics for quite awhile without paying a cent.

The point of this post is not to be a travel killjoy or budget weenie, but to let you know that, hey, it’s OK to say “No, thanks” to big outlays of money for fantasy-ish experiences.

If your kids mostly want to go hang out by the swimming pool, those moments may bring priceless travel memories as well.

Categories
Blog Tips Video Posts

Need a laugh? Low-cost airline spoof video had me rolling

Y’all know I can be pretty tight-fisted, right? I’ll happily spend money when it makes sense to do so, and for things and experiences that are special, but when it comes to transportation and hotels, I’m okay with your basic clean versions.

I simply want to get back and forth and have a decent night’s sleep and shower while I’m there. My best experiences are usually OFF the aircraft and OUTSIDE of the hotel.

So, while living in Europe, my family and I did fly the notoriously cheap Ryanair a few times, because how else could I get from the Netherlands to Pisa, Italy and back for a family of four for about US$150?

The wise traveler must know what he/she is getting into with cheapo airlines, however, which is why I think this video spoof of discount airlines is so funny. They pack in almost every problem you’ll run into – surprise extra fees, ground tours that may suck, fees for luggage (especially checked luggage) and of course satellite airports that are MILES from their namesake.

Continue reading “Need a laugh? Low-cost airline spoof video had me rolling”
Categories
Site reviews Tips

Hunting for travel deals? Don’t forget these Web sites

Google search "coupon" (courtesy Bramus! at Flickr CC)We’re so used to using search engines like Google or the new Bing Travel to look for travel deals (and metasearch engines like Kayak or Travelocity to book trips) that it’s easy to forget one “old school” way to do it….

The visitor’s Web sites that belong to the destination where you’re going.

For example, this fall I’m going to be attending the Association for Women in Communications (AWC) conference in Seattle WA, and speaking at the Oklahoma Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Tulsa OK.

Here’s where I’ll be looking around….

***  The Visit Seattle Web site has links to various deals and a lodging booking engine running down the right side of its Visitor Center Page, plus you can follow @SeattleMaven on Twitter for up-to-date local info.

***  The Visit Tulsa Web site has local accomodation deals all on one page, and a free discount coupon book for local attractions that I can order ahead of time  —  it would be nice if it was also available online, though, like the one from Hutchinson, Kansas or these deals from Fort Worth, Texas. Don’t forget @VisitTulsa on Twitter, either.

Be persistent; some tourism Web sites inexplicably bury the links/info for discounts.   Look hard for family packages that combine lodging and tickets to an attraction – SeaWorld San Antonio has these all the time.

Continue reading “Hunting for travel deals? Don’t forget these Web sites”
Categories
USA

A one-tank Tennessee and Alabama budget road trip

(This Southeast Bargain Loop post is a guest contribution by budget travel expert Tim Leffel; he’s a Nashville resident when he’s not traveling with his family in Mexico and Belize.)

Friends at the Chattanooga Aquarium (photo courtesy Tim Leffel)In these tight economic times, here’s a one-gas-tank family road trip loop that won’t break the bank.

As the author of the books The World’s Cheapest Destinations and Make Your Travel Dollars Worth a Fortune, I get a lot of calls from reporters and readers asking for cheap family travel ideas. My main advice for domestic travel is to spend time outside the big cities and major tourist draws.

Smaller towns and cities are frequently half the cost when it comes to lodging and attractions.

The following loop takes place around my home town of Nashville, Tennessee, and has some great travel spots with kids.

Start in any of the destinations covered below if arriving by car or plane, or arrive in Atlanta and get out of town, driving the two hours to Chattanooga.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

This is, hands down, one of my favorite small cities in the U.S. for family travel. The revitalized downtown is a case study in how to create a pedestrian-friendly and bike-friendly central core on two sides of a river.

There are quite a few hotels in the thick of things, or stay at the Holiday Inn Chattanooga Choo-choo (where I recently scored a Priceline deal under $50 a night) and take the frequent electric shuttle bus to downtown. The excellent fresh and salt water Tennessee Aquarium here is $22 adults/$15 kids compared to $5 more each at Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium. Or you can spend a bit more and get a combo ticket with the IMAX theater. Don’t bother printing out the fake coupons on the Chattanooga tourism site though: it’s the same price if you just walk up to the window.

There are plenty of other attractions you can drop money on here, so pick carefully between famous Rock City, Ruby Falls, the Incline Railway, a minor league baseball stadium, and the Children’s Discovery Center. On the north side of the river there’s a great restored carousel (50 cents a ride for kids 12 & under), a theater, an attractive park, funky shops, and reasonable restaurants.

Chattanooga, Tennessee carousel (photo by Tim Leffel)From Chattanooga you can head two hours northwest to Nashville or southwest to the Unclaimed Baggage Center on the way to Huntsville.

Unclaimed Baggage Center, Alabama

Nearly equidistant from Chattanooga and Huntsville, Alabama’s Unclaimed Baggage Center is where homeless bags and their contents end up. Imagine a giant Goodwill store filled with things you actually want to buy. People tend to take their best stuff on vacation, so clothes are often near-new and I bought two shirts that actually still had tags on them. Naturally there are lots of sun hats, snorkels, MP3 players, and suitcases, but also a wide range of other items, from books to golf clubs to unopened cosmetics. I scored about $200 worth of stuff for $60 and I saw some families filling up entire shopping carts.

There’s no cost to look around and there’s a cafe on site if you need to rest up for a second round.

There’s no real reason to stick around this area for the night, so move on to Huntsville, but stop by Cathedral Caverns on the way and take in an impressive cave complex for $10 adults, $5 kids.

Huntsville, AL

Huntsville‘s main claim to fame is the National Space and Rocket Center. At $25 for adults and $20 for kids (combo ticket with a movie), this is not a cheap stop, but the center packs a lot into that admission charge.

Continue reading “A one-tank Tennessee and Alabama budget road trip”
Categories
Product Reviews Tips

Hotel deals to help your travel budget

Planning on some summer day trips with the kids?  Turn at least one of them into an overnighter with a free night at one of the Intercontinental Hotels properties.

Guests can earn a free night by registering at https://www.GetAFreeNight.com and staying two nights at any Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites or Candlewood Suites around the world (except for Japan) between May 4 and July 3, 2009.

I racked up my two nights this past weekend; I had to go to two different areas in Houston anyway to research my upcoming articles for Texas Highways magazine, so after a search for good rate on the InterContinental Hotels (ICH) Group Web site, I landed at two different Candlewood Suites on Friday and Saturday night.

Continue reading “Hotel deals to help your travel budget”
Categories
Site reviews Tips USA

Tried Priceline yet? We just did.

I know I sound like the last one to the party, but my husband and I just got a hotel room through Priceline and thought we’d share our experience….in case there are, what, 6 other people who’ve never tried bidding at a travel auction site.

I like to reach those niche readers 🙂

My husband Chris needed a cheap room midweek in November in Reno, Nevada for a teacher’s conference.  It was late-breaking news that his school was sending him to the event, so we were looking for a room only ten days beforehand.  Admittedly, tourist-heavy places like Reno, Las Vegas and Orlando have zillions of hotel rooms, so this wasn’t a terribly strenuous test of Priceline.

The driving factor was location; we needed the hotel to be close to the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, but of course travel auction sites only give you general areas/regions to choose from.  Chris’ school would have paid for his room at the conference hotel, the Atlantis Hotel and Casino, but only if he doubled up, and he decided that he wanted the privacy of his own room.

Hey, if you had to deal with high schoolers all day, then me plus two kids and four cats at night, you’d want your own room, too!

Our favorite Kayak cost comparison site had OK prices at the Atlantis, but we wanted to experiment with Priceline.  We checked out the how-tos ahead of time on the Bidding for Travel Web site, and read Wendy Perrin’s blog post on the best ways to bid for travel. There are also good Priceline tips at About.com’s Budget Travel.

Budget Travel magazine’s 105 supersmart strategies said this about Priceline:

“While Priceline is now a full-fledged booking engine, it’s most valuable for its bidding system. We like it for hotels in cities, but be wary of two-star hotels and below, and research neighborhoods in advance. BiddingForTravel.com has examples of successful bids. The law of supply and demand means you’ll do better at business hotels on weekends, at resort towns on weekdays, and anywhere off-season.”

Before buying, Chris chose the section of Reno that has the convention center. He requested a four-star facility, indicated he wanted a non-smoking room with a King-sized bed, and put in a bid of $45/night.

After a few seconds, Priceline said “Bid accepted” and revealed that he’d be staying at the Peppermill Reno Hotel Casino, about a 10 minute walk from the Convention Center. He also got a follow-up email saying that his bid was accepted.

He was given options of adding a rental car and/or airport ground transportation, but he used Peppermill’s regularly scheduled guest bus and didn’t need it. He also declined options for various area guided tours like skiing at nearby Heavenly, or a Lake Tahoe helicopter tour.

Chris was happy with his hotel, which appeared to be pretty full. He joined both the Peppermill and Atlantis casinos (free) and used their member cards to log into a slot machine which gave him a few starter dollars for gambling.

For $45/night (breakfast not included) he got a nice room and a brisk walk to the conference each morning.

Key takeaways:

  • Hotel rooms and other purchases from travel auction sites are generally nonrefundable.
  • Be prepared for a walk or dealing with transportation if you get a hotel on the far edges of your desired region.  If you have kids, ensure that they can handle a walk on crowded city streets.
  • For the best “bang for the buck,” bid on fairly high-level properties. It doesn’t make too much sense to get a room at a Days Inn or Motel 6 through Priceline.
  • Be flexible. Chris requested a King room but found when he checked in that they were out of King rooms that were non-smoking. He was fine with a room with two Queens.

Any other good tips, readers?

Categories
Europe

Budget Hotels in London, Paris and Rome

After a Fun Ride on the London Eye (Scarborough photo)

(Updated 29 May 2006.)  This is an article from the LA Times (this post originally linked to the same one in the Chicago Tribune but the URL changed.)

I can vouch for the London County Hall hotel that is mentioned; the location is unbeatable for getting around, with quick access to three different Tube stations plus lovely walks and views along the Thames looking across at Westminster.

Big thumbs up for the London Eye for kids, too.