Supermarchés pour une étudiante

I've been looking into some supermarkets that will be able to accommodate a meager 11.03 EUR/ day food budget. Two of the most promising places to buy all of my gastronomical needs are Monoprix and Franprix, which resemble small versions of Target, or so my research tells me. Though they are very American by conception (the French would never buy their meat from the same market as their cheese, wine, and definitely not from the same place as their toilet paper), these markets seem to offer some very French products at reasonable prices and at many locations across Paris. I will most likely still try to shop for my food à la parisienne (in other words, buying my meats, cheeses, wines, and breads from their corresponding specialty stores), but these supermarket prices may be too cheap to turn down.


One of my favorite and most chic French professors informed me of a cute sandwich cart in Paris that sells their gorgeous creations for what seems too good to be true: 1 EUR! Other fancier sandwiches can be purchased for 2 or 3 EUR -- still a steal. This very fabulous French professor of mine promises to tell me how these sandwiches taste when she returns from France, but at only 1 EUR a piece and wine at a mere 2,50, this sandwich cart and their lovely treats fit nicely within my budget: I can even buy 2 sandwiches and a glass of wine for every meal without going over budget! Check out Goutu for information on where to catch their sandwich cart in Paris.

Tours and Boats and Beers! Oh my!

My good friend, Chloe Skew, recently turned me onto a website that offers discounts on tours and activities booked in advance. She used the site, viator.com, when she visited Venice, so I decided to take a look for myself.

The only problem: I found way too many things that I wanted to do!

Luckily, the benefits of traveling during the off season have paid off yet again, cutting down viator's already discounted prices to something entirely manageable. The Serenaded Gondola Tour caught my eye for Venice, while I practically swooned over the Bavarian Beer Tour and Tasting listed among the Castle Tours for Munich. These links send you to Viator's generic listings, but I found that the our travel dates took the price of the Serenaded Gondola Trip down to 63 dollars per person and the price of the Beer Tasting Tour dropped to 35 dollars per person.


Still haven't made any purchases on these packages yet, but I'm getting more and more excited the closer I get to departure.

The Adventure Begins: Buying Airfare and Hotels

On September 1st, 2009, I will begin my 4 and 1/2 long trip as a poor student in one of the most expensive cities in the world: Paris, France. Though the exchange rate is most definitely not on my side, being a student has its advantages: namely, cheap airfare. Although I searched many discount travel websites, the cheapest airfare came from studentuniverse, a website that caters to student travel. I snagged a round trip ticket to Paris (CDG) for a mere 650 dollars.


While studying in Paris, I have the opportunity to explore neighboring European countries. With my boyfriend coming to visit me for my first week-long break at the end of October, I decided to go for a romantic city that I've always wanted to visit: Venice. Through Kayak.com, I was able to find round trip flights from Paris as low as 186 dollars (the flights to Rome were actually more expensive).



Even in the off season, finding a reasonably priced hostel or hotel in Venice was difficult. Most of the hotels in my budget were located quite far from the city center, but I was determined to find something within walking distance of all of the landmarks. We ultimately settled on a quaint little family owned hotel for it's great location, authentic European look, and complementary breakfast. We got a room with a queen sized bed for roughly 75 dollars/ night (plus taxes and fees). We were able to get this great rate since the room we chose has an adjoining bathroom between our room and the neighboring one, as opposed to private bathrooms per room. We agreed that we would be willing to share for the 100 dollar+ discount per night (and since each room contains a safe, we would not have to worry about theft). We also realized that one of the benefits of going to Venice during the fall was that we would not need air conditioning (the only amenity who's lack gave this hotel a less than 4 star rating). The 24hour check-in also made this hotel a great deal.

For Christmas, I wanted to visit Munich, Germany, where my mother lived for 3 years as little girl. Castles, locals beers, and an enormous Christmas market made Munich the ideal city for a Christmas vacation (and at a fraction of the price for a vacation to Berlin). Flights to Munich, Germany ran us about 136 total per person on Lufthansa. We were even lucky enough to find a flight that arrived in Munich early in the afternoon, and left in the evening.

Cheap hotels were not hard to find in Munich, so we got to be a bit more choosy. We ended up opting for the Best Western, a 4 star hotel located 1.3 miles from the city center and boasting a a sauna and large breakfast buffet. At 89 dollars/night (plus taxes and fees), our six night stay turned out to be a big steal.

Total Damage thus far: $960 per person for a 7 day vacation to Venice, Italy and a 7 day vacation to Munich, Germany

Stay tuned for more updates on the trip!