I love visiting Europe. I’ve been many, many times. But I do have one MAJOR issue with it: as the British would say, it is “too bloody expensive.”When you consider that the American dollar is in the toilet compared to the Euro (and certainly to the British pound), travel gets super expensive. Furthermore , in major destinations for Americans like London, Dublin, and Paris, there are 5 billion tourist traps out there designed specifically for the purpose of milking as much money as possible off you.
It is for this reason that I often like to travel elsewhere. Travel in South America, Africa, and parts of Asia, comparatively, can be ridiculously cheap. Your only real expense is the initial plane ticket (which will, to be fair, often be significantly more expensive than your run-of-the-mill ticket to Europe.) The difference is how LITTLE you will spend during your time in these other countries versus Europe. You can save a lot of money by going to these off-the-beaten path destinations, especially if you forsake some of the big name tours/attractions, or if you opt for a local guide to take you to whatever the major attraction is.
Sometimes, however, rural Uruguay just isn’t doing it for you. You need your fix of European culture. The good news, which many people overlook, is the fact that many of the best things to do in Europe are FREE, or at least cheap. Maybe the Beatles were onto something when they said, “The best things in life are free.” We can only hope.
Take Dublin, for example. There are a host of free places to visit in Dublin. Furthermore, the author of that guide has some great tips of ways to travel on the cheap in Dublin elsewhere on the site. Some glaring things many travelers forget: don’t take the taxi. They’re expensive. You wouldn’t take a taxi every day at home, would you? So why do it in Dublin, where the minimum fee is going to be $4 euro? Eating out, if you must do it, presents another opportunity to save. Go for the Prix Fixe lunch menus, if they offer one. Also, consider that takeaway prices for food may be cheaper than dining-in prices; so why not grab a bite to eat and take it with you to the park or a favorite neighborhood? You’ll get much more of a feel for the local culture that way.
England is another good example; here’s another guide of free things to do when you visit Britain. Many museums in Europe actually have free admittance. I don’t want to sound bitter here, but this seems to be because, unlike in the United States, many European countries recognize the need to PROMOTE the arts and culture, rather than relegate it to a backroom that only the rich can afford to enter and appreciate. Some museums in the Bay Area are starting to charge over $20 for entrance. This is insane. If you keep it free, you can reach a lot more people. The high entrance fee deters people of more limited means from the joy of artistic discovery. But I digress. Getting back on point, there are many free attractions in Europe, and you should take advantage of them.
On a final, more obvious note, many of the iconic destinations in London are buildings. And while you may have to pay to go to the top of some, if you just wish to see the place, a building is, well, a building. It is public. And free. So stare at Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and the Millennium Bridge all you want. Go and spend the day in Hyde Park. You don’t always have to mortgage the next 3 years of your life to afford a perfectly pleasant European trip. It just requires a little budgeting.
