Because Europe is so expensive these days, vacationing there requires new approaches to travel, or the redefining of old ones, especially for the independent traveler. The dollar is down, but it need not knock out plans to visit the Continent or the United Kingdom this summer.
Americans bound for Europe traditionally are drawn to capitals, normally the most expensive cities. The allure of Paris, London, Rome, Madrid, Copenhagen and Stockholm is undeniable. But you can experience the capitals without staying in them. There are smaller cities and towns 30 minutes to two hours away by train that are desirable and less expensive places to stay.
The idea is to choose one, two or even three cities to use as a base and commute. You do as the airlines do, setting up your own hub and spoke system, staying in a hub and radiating out to the places you want to visit. Many of these oft-overlooked cities and towns can provide a more intimate European experience. Overall, very little is sacrificed by traveling that way.
The hub and spoke system can be applied to touring a single country if you wish. Where you go becomes a matter of priority and taste.
The frequency of European trains, and a Eurailpass that allows unlimited travel, enables you to plan an affordable trip and see a lot without having to change hotels every two or three days. You choose your hub cities, book a hotel convenient to the train station and take day trips to your chosen destinations, including capitals. You literally can have your pastry and espresso, and afford a cognac, too.
The keys for anyone going to Europe are planning, prudence and prepaying, unless you want to mortgage the house or spend the rest of the year paying off credit card bills. The more planning you do, the better chance you have of containing costs. Prudence pays off when it comes to dining and shopping. If you don`t frequent the pricey restaurants at home, don`t feel compelled to spend $100 for two for dinner in Europe, as some people do. The same applies to shopping. There are few bargains with the dollar as it is. If you plan to shop, check the price of the same items at home before you go.
Prepaying is important because the more you can pay for in dollars before you go, the better off you`ll be because no one expects the dollar to bound upward in value. By prepaying, you also have a better idea of how much your trip will cost.
For most travelers, however, the all-inclusive package tours are an increasingly popular way to go. They not only include air fare, but accommodations, sightseeing, transfers, continental breakfasts and some meals. But a tour isn`t for everyone. The free-wheeling traveler can secure reasonable rates for auto rentals, hotel and rail travel, too. The process requires that you study, shop and use a savvy travel agent.
You can find fly-drive packages offered by every international airline that allow flexibility in seeking out B&Bs and country inns. And you can find hotel chains with prepayment plans in U.S. dollars.
Pullman International Hotels, for example, lets you lock in rates of $69 and $89 a room in three- and four-star hotels in 35 cities and towns in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Utell International, a reservations firm that represents 1,500 hotels all over Europe, has a program called Paytell, that enables you to prepay for rooms at the foreign exchange rate of the day. The properties range from pricey to moderate, with many rooms that are less than $100 a day for two. Foreign carriers also have hotel programs that can save you money. All can be booked through travel agents.
Other prepay schemes, such as the Holland Leisure Card, available for $10 in the U.S., covers a multitude of discounts on museum admissions, public transportation, hotels, auto rentals, concerts, tours and attractions.
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For transportation and flexibility, nothing beats the Eurailpass. The train pass allows access for Americans to travel throughout the 16
participating countries (France, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, West Germany, Finland, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). With the Eurailpass, you can travel from Scandinavia to the toe of Italy and from France to Greece without having to buy another train ticket. The pass is also good on certain buses and ferries and for 20 percent discounts at some Pullman Hotels, often near train stations. A first class Eurailpass, good for 15 days of unlimited travel, costs $298; for 21 days, $370.
Planning a hub-and-spoke trip requires studying maps and reading guidebooks and train timetables to plot your itinerary. In the process, you become more familiar with cities and towns, distances between them and the efficient European rail network. Eurailpass publishes a ”Eurail Traveler`s Guide” and a ”Through Europe by Train” timetable, available by writing to Eurailpass, P.O. Box 325, Old Greenwich, Conn. 06870-0325. The most detailed rail schedules, however, are in the ”Thomas Cook European Timetable,”
available for $16.95 plus postage from Forsyth Travel Library by phoning 800- FORSYTH (800-367-7984).
My own two week hub-and-spoke trip began with two nights in Amsterdam, enough time to overcome jet lag and enjoy a day trip to Haarlem, a 15-minute trip away. Sights include the lively market in the town`s center next to a church and buildings from the 15th Century, the Frans Hals Museum and the home of Corrie Ten Boom (subject of the movie, ”The Hiding Place”) and her family, who hid Jews from the Nazis during World War II.
From Amsterdam, I continued by overnight train to Bologna, a 17-hour, 912-mile trip via Cologne and the Rhine River. I booked a first class bedroom for two, but it was occupied only by me. The sleeper supplement was $62.23, instead of double the amount for a single. The alternate on this particular train was a second-class couchette for six, which can be cramped.
Bologna, the gourmet capital of northern Italy, is an oft-overlooked and rewarding city. It has more than 20 miles of arcaded sidewalks, an
architectural style that dates from its earliest days, two landmark leaning towers and an immense cathedral. Bologna`s university is celebrating its 1,000th anniversary this year. From Bologna, where I spent four nights, I made day trips to Florence, an hour and 10-minute ride, to see Michelangelo`s
”David” and other art treasures missed on a previous trip, and to Ravenna, 35 minutes away, to see its world- famous 5th and 6th Century Byzantine mosaics in several churches.
Bologna has excellent rail connections to half a dozen cities and towns, including Milan, all within a two-hour or so train ride.
From Bologna, my Eurailpass carried me to Lyon, France, a 1/2-hour trip. Lyon is France`s second largest city and, like Bologna, it`s known for its outstanding cuisine. (Lyon is the home of Paul Bocuse, whose Michelin three-star restaurant is seven miles from town. Within Lyon are three two-star restaurants, including Orsi, owned by Pierre Orsi, formerly chef at Chicago`s 95th Restaurant. In addition, Lyon boasts 11 one-star restaurants.) Within easy distance for day trips are Grenoble, Dijon, Vienne and Avignon, and if you wish to cross a border, Geneva, Switzerland.
My own choices were Grenoble, a pleasant town set in the French Alps, site of the 1968 Winter Olympics, and Vienne, an ancient Roman town with some ruins, including an amphitheater. The town, however, is better known for Restaurant Point-Pyramide, for years a Michelin three-star, now two, under reconstruction and scheduled to reopen in November.
As with Bologna, visitors can find ample things to do in Lyon, no slouch when it comes to sights, with at least four excellent museums, streets of antiques and art galleries and a Roman amphitheater. Unlike Paris, which boasts only the Seine, Lyon is divided up by two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone. The city spread out from its Roman beginning, with ruins still remaining, to a medieval city, crossing the Rhone and Saone Rivers with a progression of 18th, 19th and 20th Century architecture.
From Lyon I sped to Paris in two hours on one of France`s great TGV trains (Trains a Grande Vitesse) that rip along at 168 miles an hour. The day in Paris was planned so I could visit the new D`Orsay Museum, considered by many to be one of the finest in the world. D`Orsay proved to be an ironic last stop on a rail odyssey, because the late 19th Century edifice was one of Paris` great train stations. Although lovingly scrubbed and redesigned to display sculpture, decorative arts and most importantly a glorious collection of French Impressionist paintings, the station still seems to hold a faint essence of steam trains that used to rumble to parts of France.
My train rides covered 2,603 miles and would have cost $511 if each segment were purchased individually. The $298, 15-day Eurailpass covered all of it, save for about $6 spent on seat reservations on long distance trains and for the TGV. The TGV requires seat reservations and, during certain times, a supplemental charge. Seat and sleeping car reservations and train information are available at major train stations. In all, I was able to prepay round trip air fare to Amsterdam, my Eurailpass and 12 nights of hotels. The only out-of-pocket expenses were for food, tours, admissions and occasional taxi rides.
If you want to enjoy your vacation and take time for cafe-sitting and relaxing, it is critical that you place reins on yourself. The seductive quality of a Eurailpass is that it allows you to travel virtually every place in 16 countries. It`s like being a kid in a candy store.
An essential part of planning any kind of hub-and-spoke vacation is to make certain you don`t schedule an excursion every day. You can spend an hour or two relaxing on the train going to and returning from your outing, but there`s a bit of anxiety built into the process of catching trains, making certain you get to the station and finding the right train. It`s just one of those givens of traveling in a foreign country.
Some suggestions to add calm to your vacation:
– Spend a few hours a day cafe sitting. In European sidewalk cafes you can buy a coffee or a beer and sit without being hustled by a waiter. If you`re a news junkie, you can read the USA Today foreign edition, available in most cities, or the International Herald Tribune. You can read, write postcards, plan your next day`s itinerary and people-watch.
– Window shopping. It`s a favorite pastime. Carry a calculator that converts foreign currencies into dollars. That will dissuade you from shopping. With the American dollar as it is, there are virtually no bargains. – Cross-check several guidebooks to choose restaurants and avoid the where-to-eat-tonight syndrome. Friends can contribute ideas and hotel personnel can make suggestions. Find out where the locals go. Make
reservations. A handy restaurant reference with price information is the
”1988 Michelin Main Cities Europe” guide, which also contains hotel listings and tips on sights. If you`re bent on saving money, avoid the starred restaurants and stick to those with a couple of forks, indicating a comfortable place where you can get a very good meal at relatively reasonable prices. Or, skimp on lunch to spend more for dinner. You can always find a McDonald`s or a foreign equivalent. The French are hooked on fast food establishments, and not just the kids. Better yet, have a sandwich at a sidewalk cafe.
Most importantly, don`t over-schedule yourself. In retrospect, I would devote time to two hubs and spend more time in them. Hindsight is wonderful.