Paris on a Budget

As we prepared for our trip I asked a friend who had lived in Paris if she had any suggestions of what to see. She sent me a great list of 20 things we could do on a budget. Sometimes when taking kids it can get really expensive really quickly. I appreciated having this list...it helped a ton. Thanks Melanie.


This is a top-20 list for visiting Paris on a budget:

1) Walk around the Sacre Coeur basilica and the fun little shopping streets of Montmartre - free
2) Walk by the Moulin Rouge when it's dark enough to see the lights, but early enough that the scary people aren't out - free
3) Walk through the Jardin du Luxembourg to the street where the Pantheon is - free (although it's perhaps 4 euros to go inside the Pantheon)
4) Eat a gelato at Amorino - around 4 euros
5) Walk around and go inside the Notre Dame - free; climb up the belltower - a few euros (but that's such a cool Parisian thing to do)
6) Eat a crepe - prices range from 7 to 15 euros; to some extent you get what you pay for
7) View the Eiffel Tower from Place de Trocadero, particularly at night - free; then, get a macaron at my favorite macaron place, Carette - 2 euros; add the most amazing hot cocoa to the order - an additional 8 euros (but it's like drinking liquid chocolate)
8) Eat a pain de raisin or pain du chocolate for breakfast - 1,60 euros
9) Go to Le Pain Quotidien for a breakfast of bread and different chocolate and nut and fruit spreads - 7 euros, more if you add cheese, meat, hot cocoa
10) Stand under the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower - free (it's probably worth it to pay to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower once; the view from the Arc is kind of cool over the Champs D'Elysees, but I'd probably save my money for something else)
11) Take a boat tour of the Seine - 11 euros, but only go with a company that gives each person their own headset
12) Go to the Pierre Lachaise Cemetary and look for the graves of famous dead people, or go to any other cemetary just for kicks because they are kind of cool
13) Ride the ferris wheel at the Place du Concorde - either 5 or 10 euros
14) Go to the following museums, in this order: Orangerie, d'Orsay, Louvre, Marmottan, Jacquemart-Andre - you can get a discount double whammy price for both the Orangerie and d'Orsay; if you want to have a couple days of just going to museums, the Paris museum pass gets you into a whole lot of places for one set rate, but you'd have to go from museum to museum to museum to make it worth it
15) Visit the gardens of the Rodin Museum - 1 or 2 euros (the museum itself is also quite nice; I think it's an additional 4 euros, but you should like sculpture because that's all they have there)
16) Hang out in front of the Centre George Pompidou, check out the fountains, and people watch - free
17) Read in the Tuilerie Gardens - free
18) Walk along the Seine and cross all of the bridges, my favorite (Pont Alexandre IV) - free
19) Check out the mini statue of liberty - free
20) Walk along Rue Sainte Honore to see where the super rich people shop (seriously, onesies for babies for over 100 euros) - free

Have a great trip and feel free to add to the list if you know of something or somewhere else to visit in Paris if on a budget.

Traveling with Kids - Week One

With one week to go the packing begins. It is fairly easy to pack for oneself when traveling, but packing for a family with children takes some organization. Where to start?

I start by laying out the children's clothing and shoes. I gather everything they are taking and pull out the suitcases (in our case, the carry-ons). At this point I grab a piece of paper and a pen. Each child has a sheet with their name on the top. As I pack something in their carry-on I immediately write it down. This may seem cumbersome, but in the end I don't have to unpack everything if I can't remember who was missing socks or a rain coat. I pack it all, write it down and zip it away. If I remember something that needs to be added to the carry-on I jot it on my list and pick it up when I am out. On our last trip I couldn't remember who forgot to pack their sunglasses. Luckily it was written down and I could simply look at my notes.

When packing to travel, I have learned that less is more. The only exceptions for us are socks and underwear. Then I take double. Being stuck with nowhere to wash clothes is the pits. Having clean underwear and socks somehow makes it doable.

The other thing I do before we leave is put some of our lights on timers and hand out a couple house keys for friends, family and neighbors...for those just in case moments.

Traveling with Kids - Week 2 Tie Up Loose Ends

What to do with the yard? Are the prescriptions ready to go? Dentist visits out of the way?

There are a million little things that need to be done when going on vacation. Depending on the length of the trip you may need to arrange for someone to care for the yard, water the plants, take care of the dog, make any doctor or dentist visits.

I did not know that in order to take a prescription it needs to have a prescription label with your name on it. I understand why, I had just never thought about it before. I ran into a problem. My son had been given samples of a medication for his skin and a mail in prescription. I did not start soon enough to get the prescription filled so we ended up scrambling at the last minute to see what we could do. I figured we would just take the samples...no can do. Just be aware that if you have medications to take, arrange it all a few weeks before hand to be certain everything is good to go.

Here are a few things we do two weeks before leaving:

1. Stop our mail at the post office
2. Arrange for someone to mow the lawn
3. Arrange for someone to take our plants and water them while gone
4. Call credit card companies and let them know we will be traveling so the cards aren't flagged 
5. Gather our kids friends addresses so they can send post cards
6. Be sure you have bed bug spray if staying in hostels, third world countries or low end hotels. I found one on amazon that is all natural so I don't worry about my kids being affected by it
7. Think about getting motion detectors or timers for lights 
8. Make yourself a note to turn off the water to the house to prevent any possible floods
9. Get a little money - cash or euros in Europe for small incidentals

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. 

One important thing that I left off the packing list is Sport Stick, Runner's Glide, etc. It is an anti-shaffing ointment. Invaluable for long walking days, hiking or running. 

Traveling with Kids - Week 3 Getting Excited

Preparing kids for the experience of a lifetime.

Amid all the preparations it is easy to get consumed with itineraries, shopping, or organizing and it becomes easy to forget that kids become more excited when prepared for the trip. To do this, here are a few suggestions:

1. Involve them in the decision making. Give them several options of things to see or do and ask them what they prefer to do. This allows them to be part of the planning and in so doing they become excited to visit the places they chose.
2. Read books that take place in the location you are traveling to. This enhances their understanding of historical events and gets them thinking, questioning and looking forward to the visit. The best website I have found is this travelforkids site. I love it because within each country and city are lists of activities to do and things to see. At the bottom of the page are book suggestions that take place in a specific area or in a different era. This is extremely useful and reduces the time needed to find appropriate books.
3. Watch movies related to the area. For example, if visiting Germany there are so many options. The Book Thief, The Diary of Anne Frank, Monuments Men or Disney's Night Crossing. Austria? The Sound of Music. I even love Ocean's Eleven if visiting Italy:)
4. Buy a large wall map and mark all the places to be visited with push pins. This gives kids the visual of where they are now and where they will be going. This was a hit at our house.
5. Print our phrases from each country and let them practice.
6. Look up information on the climate, social habits, lifestyle, history of each place and read it together or have them read about one portion and share what they learned with the family.
7. Eat food from the area you will be traveling to. 

Activities like these can enhance the child's experience. I was in college the first time I went abroad. We went to Switzerland with Dr. Barton to study french. We travelled for 3 weeks before arriving in Switzerland. We stopped in Rome and Italy to see some of the world's famous art work. Before leaving I was required to read The Agony and The Ecstasy. This is one of the best things I did in preparation to go. It opened my eyes to the work that went into the creation of these pieces of art and I was in awe. I thank Dr. Barton to this day for giving me some required reading.

Traveling with Kids - Week 4 Credit Cards

Four weeks before leaving is a great time to take a look at which credit cards are available and the terms of current cards.

Why is this important? 
Many credit cards impose an international fee per transaction. This will eat your money faster than anything else. Be aware of:

• If the card has international fees
• What is the charge for cash advances (getting money out of the ATM)
• Is there a yearly fee associated with the card
• Are there any bonuses (airline miles for signing up and spending $2K-$3K in the first 3 months)
• What is the dollar to sky mile ratio
• APR 

We found that the Barclay MC and the Bank of America chip and pin visa worked the best for our needs. We wanted a card with no international transaction fees, one that earned us sky miles and one with a reasonable yearly fee. 

Both cards offered 40,000 miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. One card waived the yearly fee the first year and neither card has international transaction fees. We decided to go with the Bank of America card specifically because it has a chip and pin associated with it. The card itself has a chip embedded into it. Some places in Europe do not accept a card unless it has these specific features so we thought we would be safe and get it. With airfare alone we were able to earn the bonus points no problem. 

The Barclay MC has a 2 point per dollar spent towards sky miles/travel. They also give you 10% back in miles when you book your travel points through them. This is the best deal we could find. The Bank of America visa gives 1.5 points per dollar and no interest the first 12 months. Still a good option.

Be aware that each time you need to withdraw money a cash advance fee is incurred. It is better to put everything on the card and pay it off when you get home. Take some cash or euros for those small out of the way places that may not take a credit card, they still exist.

Check into this early enough to apply and receive the card without having to pay rush fees. Depending on credit scores, the Barclay card states it can take up to 4 weeks to hear back if not immediately approved. 

My philosophy is to get a card that works for you by earning money, points, or travel rewards.

Traveling with Kids - Week 5 Organization

About 5 weeks before we leave (if not sooner) we purchase a small 3-ring binder. This binder will stay with us throughout our trip.

It's purpose? To help us keep track of all things related to our trip.

I have never before used a binder and I found it to be extremely helpful in keeping us organized. We just kept it in our backpack and pulled it out whenever there was a question or we needed the paperwork. One example is in Berlin. In order to go visit the Freitstag building you must be pre-approved and show the email to them at the entrance. No email no entry. Or the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Tour in London requires pre-purchase of tickets. Using a binder dramatically reduces the stress level when traveling with kids as well as giving parents a peace of mind that everything is there ready to go.

It is helpful to have the following information handy and organized so no one is scrambling during the trip to remember where to go, the hotel name or what day and time we need to be somewhere.

What do I put in the travel binder?

• Hotel, hostel, resort reservations - in case of mix-ups we have the confirmation with us.
• Paperwork to pick up transportation cards in other countries - In London the kids get discounted or free travel if we purchase Oyster cards for them at least one month before our travel dates. This is done on-line and then we choose where in London to pick them up when we arrive and what date we will pick them up. Trying to remember all the details without the binder would be difficult because we are trying to remember so many other things at the same time. there are museum passes and city cards that work the same way. 
• Venue reservations - Because many are pre-purchased it is important to know when we need to be there. We would hate to miss our play in Prague because we weren't organized.
• Itinerary - Convenient to have an idea of what we would love to see and what else is available to us in the area. 
• Emergency phone numbers / Insurance information - Friends in the area, family members back home, etc.
• Hotel addresses and phone numbers - To call a day before to double check the reservation or if we are going to be checking in later than we are suppose to.
• Receipts - It is so nice to keep track of how much money is being spent. I found that as I researched into how much it would cost our family to do a trip to Europe I found only 1-2 people who actually knew. I find this info helpful in the future to know how much we need to save to go.
• Budget - Knowing how much we have allocated in each country or for each day alleviates excessive over spending.

After deciding what you are going to keep in your binder, you can start putting everything in it as you go. 

Traveling with Kids - Week 6 Shopping

Six weeks before we leave I find myself starting to gather the clothes and other items from my packing list. By starting early I can shop the internet for the best buys and look at local discount stores as well. By taking time to look I have saved lots of money and walked away with fantastic deals on great outdoor clothing and shoes.

Check out my favorite place to shop online. Go to www.sierratradingpost.com and sign up for the email. You will receive lots of additional discount offers off the already lower prices. If you click through this link HERE it will activate a $10 coupon for your first purchase :) I am able to buy $60-70 pants for around $20 on a regular basis. When I find something I think we need I place it in my cart and wait for the discount email each day. It usually will drop lower in price than the normal sale price and that's when I snatch it up. My kids travel pants, rain gear, shoes, and luggage all came from this site. They have a great return policy as well.

I have been able to find things such as travel money pouches, eye masks, travel pillows at stores such as TJMaxx for a lower price than I can find anywhere else.