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The Grand Tour - The Frugal Traveler Does Europe on a Budget - New York Times
I am posting this link so others can follow the travels of the Frugal Traveler - something we will all became if the economy continues the way it is going 
Pat
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Frugal Traveler - Travel - New York Times Blog
About the Grand Tour
This summer, the Frugal Traveler is embarking on the Grand Tour, reimagining the classic European journey as a budget-minded, modern-day jaunt. Over 12 weeks and on less than 100 euros a day, Matt Gross will circle the continent in search of cool hotels, memorable meals and contemporary culture. New columns and videos will be posted every Thursday, with updates and frugal tips throughout the week.
Frugal Traveler Alerts
Get text messages informing you of the latest Frugal Traveler articles and blog posts. Text FRUGALALERTS to 698698.
Standard rates my apply To stop receiving alerts, text STOP FRUGALALERTS to 698698.
May 21, 2008, 4:26 pm
In Dover, a Not Quite Grand Start
There are, I’ve long believed, two kinds of places in this world: destinations and way stations. Dover, England, is definitely the latter.
A ferry near the cliffs of Dover.This small town, nestled in a valley between the famous white chalk cliffs, is home to the world’s busiest passenger port; its ferries take almost 14 million people and more than 2 million cargo trucks across the English Channel every year. The port dominates the town, and when there’s construction on the A20 road, the trucks — bearing French, British, Czech and Turkish plates — rumble through its center all night long. No one lingers in Dover — not unless they have to.
I had to. I arrived in Dover from London by train (£24.30 one way, or about $47.87 at $1.97 to the pound), planning to spend three days there — probably twice as long as the average tourist. My reasoning was twofold. First, since few visitors stick around, I hoped to find bargains aplenty, offered by eager — nay, desperate — hoteliers and restaurateurs. Second, I wanted to follow, as precisely as possible, the route of the 18th-century Grand Tourists, for whom Dover was their launching pad, a place to collect their thoughts and belongings and to savor one last, brief moment of Englishness before encountering the Continent.
Truly, this was the more important factor, because over the next 12 weeks I am embarking on the Grand Tour, retracing the steps of the world’s first tourists, making a few new footprints myself and doing it all on a budget.
Why Europe? Why retrace a route established centuries ago and since beaten into the dirt by countless millions of tourists? Why write about the most written-about countries in the world? Why spend money in the most consistently expensive region of the planet?
Read more …
May 22, 2008, 11:48 am
Pride and Shame in Calais, France
Calais had just enough beauty, and more than enough friendly faces, to make it the perfect introduction to France.
A room at Le Cercle de Malines. Click to enlarge.One of the best was my bed-and-breakfast, Le Cercle de Malines (12 rue de Malines, +33-3-21-96-80-65, Le Cercle de Malines - Chambres d'hotes de charme). It has lovingly decorated rooms representing different parts of the globe (Kenya, Indochine, Rome) and low prices—Venice, my room, was just €53 a night. And its proprietor, Anne-Sophie Bisschop, is a host par excellence.
The worst, as my video also shows, were the city’s homeless refugees. Untold scores of migrants, mostly young men in their 20s, have clustered in Calais, hoping to smuggle themselves across the channel to Dover, England, just some 19 miles away. While they wait, the refugees have set up makeshift camps along the French channel port. The majority of the 200 or so I saw were Eritreans, Iraqis, Afghans and Palestinians, many of whom had spent 18 months getting to this point—others longer.
“You cannot imagine,” a young Eritrean man told me before joining a food line provided by La Belle Étoile, one of few aid organizations that are helping. He was right.
Pat
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++
Frugal Traveler - Travel - New York Times Blog
About the Grand Tour
This summer, the Frugal Traveler is embarking on the Grand Tour, reimagining the classic European journey as a budget-minded, modern-day jaunt. Over 12 weeks and on less than 100 euros a day, Matt Gross will circle the continent in search of cool hotels, memorable meals and contemporary culture. New columns and videos will be posted every Thursday, with updates and frugal tips throughout the week.
Frugal Traveler Alerts
Get text messages informing you of the latest Frugal Traveler articles and blog posts. Text FRUGALALERTS to 698698.
Standard rates my apply To stop receiving alerts, text STOP FRUGALALERTS to 698698.
May 21, 2008, 4:26 pm
In Dover, a Not Quite Grand Start
There are, I’ve long believed, two kinds of places in this world: destinations and way stations. Dover, England, is definitely the latter.
A ferry near the cliffs of Dover.This small town, nestled in a valley between the famous white chalk cliffs, is home to the world’s busiest passenger port; its ferries take almost 14 million people and more than 2 million cargo trucks across the English Channel every year. The port dominates the town, and when there’s construction on the A20 road, the trucks — bearing French, British, Czech and Turkish plates — rumble through its center all night long. No one lingers in Dover — not unless they have to.
I had to. I arrived in Dover from London by train (£24.30 one way, or about $47.87 at $1.97 to the pound), planning to spend three days there — probably twice as long as the average tourist. My reasoning was twofold. First, since few visitors stick around, I hoped to find bargains aplenty, offered by eager — nay, desperate — hoteliers and restaurateurs. Second, I wanted to follow, as precisely as possible, the route of the 18th-century Grand Tourists, for whom Dover was their launching pad, a place to collect their thoughts and belongings and to savor one last, brief moment of Englishness before encountering the Continent.
Truly, this was the more important factor, because over the next 12 weeks I am embarking on the Grand Tour, retracing the steps of the world’s first tourists, making a few new footprints myself and doing it all on a budget.
Why Europe? Why retrace a route established centuries ago and since beaten into the dirt by countless millions of tourists? Why write about the most written-about countries in the world? Why spend money in the most consistently expensive region of the planet?
Read more …
May 22, 2008, 11:48 am
Pride and Shame in Calais, France
Calais had just enough beauty, and more than enough friendly faces, to make it the perfect introduction to France.
A room at Le Cercle de Malines. Click to enlarge.One of the best was my bed-and-breakfast, Le Cercle de Malines (12 rue de Malines, +33-3-21-96-80-65, Le Cercle de Malines - Chambres d'hotes de charme). It has lovingly decorated rooms representing different parts of the globe (Kenya, Indochine, Rome) and low prices—Venice, my room, was just €53 a night. And its proprietor, Anne-Sophie Bisschop, is a host par excellence.
The worst, as my video also shows, were the city’s homeless refugees. Untold scores of migrants, mostly young men in their 20s, have clustered in Calais, hoping to smuggle themselves across the channel to Dover, England, just some 19 miles away. While they wait, the refugees have set up makeshift camps along the French channel port. The majority of the 200 or so I saw were Eritreans, Iraqis, Afghans and Palestinians, many of whom had spent 18 months getting to this point—others longer.
“You cannot imagine,” a young Eritrean man told me before joining a food line provided by La Belle Étoile, one of few aid organizations that are helping. He was right.
