Two truths about me: I love to travel, and I'm cheap. Erm, frugal. I've learned over the years that the second truth helps the first.
Some friends have asked how we can afford to travel abroad for long periods every few years, and some have assumed we are supported by a trust fund . There is no trust fund. This is the behind-the-scenes blog entry about how we travel without spending the retirement funds or the kids' college savings.
It's possible to spend heaps per night for a bed abroad, but I cringe every time I pass those hotels. Once, when I was in Europe and my great-aunt visited, we did the 'Eight Capitols in Ten Days' trip. I tried to talk her out of it, but it was her one shot at Europe, and she wanted to check all the countries and their capitol cities off the list. Anyway, we spent the nights in those kinds of hotels. Besides being overpriced, there is absolutely no way you are going to meet another human being traveling like that. It's anywhereville and nowhereville together.
Liam's favorite 'hotel' memories: The San Francisco hostel we stayed at last year where two fairly inebriated Sydnersiders taught him to play blackjack in the lounge. He listened to me speak French with a family at the shared breakfast table, and that is what inspired him to beg for a trip to France this year .
His other favorite hotel memory: We were in the west of Ireland on a rainy night when Liam had just turned six years old. I had to run down the street to the rental car to get my laptop and didn't want to drag two boys along in the dark and the rain. Andy wanted to stay in the room, but Liam wanted to come with me. In the ground-floor bar of the hotel, the owner persuaded Liam to stay with him behind the bar, pulling pints. I took care of my errand and returned to find Liam earning tips and expertly pulling pints of Guinness for the amused patrons.
Rented motorhomes, RVs, camping cars--whatever you call them, they are great value for a family. It's the rental car, the hotel/hostel, and the restaurant all rolled into one. We've hired one for a month to drive a counter-clockwise coastal tour of Ireland, another for two weeks to drive from Sydney to Uluru and Alice Springs, and the third this month to visit the Dordogne, the Pyrenees, the Loire, and the Massif Central in France.
Public transport is much cheaper for one traveler and maybe two, but by the time you pay for four tickets, it's cheaper to hire your own wheels . We figure a rental car would have cost us about 60 percent of the cost of the RV we drove this year. Fuel is more expensive than for a car, but it's not that much more.
Restaurant meals versus cooking most of your own and eating occasional lunches out--no comparison. Plus, we get to eat like the locals and visit with people when we're shopping and I ask the traiteur for his favorite pate recommendation, or get recommendations from other mothers about the best value foods to buy.
I hate dragging kids and luggage into hotels and living out of suitcases. It's just no fun. Whether it's the motorhome or the furnished apartment, sleeping in the same bed for a longer period is much more pleasant--except for climbing down the ladder from the bed over the cab every time I need to use the facilities during the night.
Okay, that's the justification. Now the fun: I like to cook, I like to shop for food and consider that a valid travel experience (more sociologist than menu reading). I like to wander streets and get to learn the alternate paths and shortcuts.
These photos aren't of cool skylines or famous sites; they are of our camping car, and our apartment.